I have used Bru’n water to determine the water adjustments necessary for a recipe. This recipe will require a step infusion mash. 1st water addition will be 5 gals., 2nd will be 3 gals.
Would I add 5/8ths of the salts to the 1st infusion and remainder to the second, or do I just add what is required to the mash at the beginning. I’m assuming that it may throw the mash out of balance by adding all at once. Right or wrong?
This is an interesting question.
I know determining the ph and amount of salts to add not only has to do with the amount of water but the total amount of grist as well. Im interested to what Martin has to say about this. If it were me I would personally add the salts in 2 increments. But lets hear what the more educated folks have to say.
I dunno if I’m “more educated”, but when I do something like that I look at what the water profile, especially pH, will be like either way. Obviously, for flavor the most important consideration is to get all the salts in there one way or the other. But I look at what using only part of them in the initial mash will do to the pH and what the pH might go to if I add the infusion water without treatment.
I suggest that you look at the mash in two steps within Bru’n Water also. With your grain bill and 5 gallons of water, see what the appropriate mineral additions should be. Then look at the same grain bill with 8 gallons and see what the appropriate mineral additions should be. Add the difference in the mineral amounts to that second step infusion.
One thing to note with respect to the mash is that the only minerals that really matter in the mash are hardness contributors, alkalinity contributors, and acids. Those are the minerals that a brewer would want to concentrate on adjusting for their mash and any steps.
The relative or total amount of sodium, chloride, or sulfate doesn’t really matter in the mash. Those ions can be added in the mash or kettle with relatively equal effect.
Excellent info, Martin! That’s kinda how I do it, but your advice to look at the difference between the 2 water amounts is great.
Perfect. That’s what I needed to know. Thank you Martin.