This past weekend, I got to brew a big batch of beer at a brewery. The brewer I worked with there insisted that we slowly add salts throughout the duration of the mash. When I asked him why, he said that's how he was trained, and didn't give a real explanation. As a chemist, I can't think of a reason why this is better than dissolving the salts before the mash. Dissolved ions are dissolved ions. What difference does it make? Can anyone else weigh in here?
Continuous adding of salts during the mash
- Thread starter Brewddah
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<--- This chemical engineer also thinks it's a dumb idea.
Well bicarbonate dissolved at the beginning of a mash will immediately start to absorb malt acid thus keeping mash pH from plummeting at strike whereas bicarbonate dissolved at the end of the boil won't. Conversely, calcium dissolved at the beginning of a mash will immediately start reducing mash pH whereas calcium added at the end won't. Either of these two examples will, of course, if withheld until late in the mash, exert the associated effect at the tail end of the mash or in the kettle. Thus one might think of using such a technique to taylor mash pH profile during the mash.
If this was why your man was doing this he ought to know that this was why he was doing it. Otherwise, it is part of the brewing art he was taught and that's about all I can say. IOW it makes no sense to me to do things this way but perhaps if I talked to this man's teacher(s) I'd have more thoughts on it.
It'd take one hella convincing proof of theory to get me to complicate my brew day by breaking the salt (and presumably acid?) additions into multiple additions.
Puhleaze!
Cheers!
Puhleaze!
Cheers!
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