There is no simple way of knowing how much Calcium would be lost in the mash where it reacts with the phosphate released from the malt in the phytase reaction and the phosphate in the pH5.2 . . . . I could probably have my tame chemist (or the A2 students) calculate it for me. Of course with the right equipment you could measure the calcium present in the mash liquor prior to the mash, and in the wort after the mash and that would give you a definitive answer. I would bet that you will loose as much calcium as you have alkalinity . . . . in your case thats a lot. Throwing Gypsum or calcium chloride (or DLS) into your boiler could very well improve your break and subsequently beer clarity and stability. Use Promash, Beersmith or Grahams Water Calculator to determine how much to add (Try for a minimum of around 100-150ppm for Pale Ales).Gurgeh wrote:interesting stuff...
I use 'ph5.2' to sort out my mash PH.
my water has around 200 mg/L
Aleman told me that my calcium would take a massive knock due to this lazy way of treating water. how much of a knock?
would I compensate by adding DLS in the mash or would that be screwing up the PH5.2? could i add it in the boiler instead?
Of course if you were to measure your alkalinity with a suitable test kit and then add CRS to reduce that down to a sensible level for brewing, then you would have to add no calcium as none is lost using acid treatment
