Epsom and gypsum after boil or before?

[Intothevoid]

HI guys

ive gone into the realms of water treatment and would just like to know before I add the two above mentioned treatments if anyone has added these before or after the boil, seems a bit of a gray area

Cheers

[BigMouth]

I treat the water as it's heating as strike water. My treatment consists of just a Camden tablet as I'm in Yorkshire so the water is obviously beautiful

[Intothevoid]

cheers bigmouth
im hoping I get a reply from someone using these salts.
I might just go with my gut instinct and add them at the start of the boil, just ive seen some counter arguments saying post boil. its a bloody minefield!

[Dennis King]

I don't use Epsom salts but do use Gypsum and Calcium Chloride and add 50% to the mash grains and 50% to the start of the boil

[london_lhr]

ive gone into the realms of water treatment

You want to treat the alkalinity of the water for the MASH ph to fall into the correct range (ph 5.2 to 5.5).
Therefore treat the water BEFORE the MASH!
Did you get a proper water report done? That is the basis of water treatment!
Please have a look at http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewto ... f=44&t=907
Very good advice about water treatment.............
Cheers.
! Mistyped ph corrected !

[dshar]

4.2 ph??

[BigMouth]

My point is that if you wish to treat the water then the only time you have water is before the mash.
So do as you want up front to have the water you want for your brew.
Otherwise you're really talking mash ph, which, i hear and if you're measuring, should be about 5-6. This is slightly acidic as neutral (water) is 7. There is a product called 5.2 (clue may be in the name) but although I've not used it, I know others like it.
Sounds to me like you want to harden your water and add magnesium. I would ask why you want to do this.
You can get a full analysis of the water in your area to know where you're starting from.

[HTH1975]

I can’t see the point in treating post-boil. Pre-boil sometimes for adjusting chlorine:sulphate bias (common to add additional calcium chloride to boil in stouts here in North Yorkshire).

The key to mash pH is calcium. You want enough to react with the phosphate in malted barely to drive down the pH to the desired 5.2-5.4 range.

Good amounts of calcium will also help limit the pH rising towards the end of the mash. As an example, Sierra Nevada acidifying their sparge liquor to 5.7 to aid with this.

[HTH1975]

Regarding magnesium, I’m assuming you’d be adding this for yeast health reasons. It’s common to add zinc near the end of the boil to aid fermentation, but never needed to add magnesium, but that’s just based on our liquor here in North Yorkshire.

[guypettigrew]

With the help of experts on this forum my knowledge of water treatment has come on leaps and bounds over the last year or so. Special thanks to Eric.

First things first. Until you know the composition of your water there's no way you can know how to treat it for the types of beers you want to brew.

Your best bet is to contact Wallybrew from here and ask him to analyse your water. Great bloke, and top quality analysis.

After that you can think about how to treat it.

As others have said, getting the alkalinity to the right level is probably the most important thing. Adjusting the levels of calcium and various other things (sulphate, chloride, magnesium etc) follows on from getting the alkalinity to the point you need it for your chosen variety of beer.

Hope this helps.

Guy

[mabrungard]

Adding either of those salts to your water is fine, but be sure to limit the resulting magnesium content if you're going to use Epsom. Since most mashes need a bit of acid to help bring the mash pH down, its more beneficial to add those salts to the water prior to mashing. They will help depress the pH. That has many benefits.