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Wrong Mineral Addition

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bobo1898

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So yesterday was brew day. I was running on four hours of sleep between the two previous nights, so super exhausted and not thinking.

I was to add gypsum and quite a bit of calcium chloride to my water to meet my desired profile. I grabbed both containers and made my additions as I heated up my strike water. When adding this, I noticed that the consistency of the chloride was different from what I remembered but thought nothing of it. I also noticed that when I added it to the strike water, the water stayed very cloudy but, still not thinking, continued on.

Midway through my mash, I had my buddy (who came after I made the additions), measure out the gypsum and calcium chloride for the sparge water. As he was measuring them out he confirmed if I said calcium chloride, to which I said yes. He then said that what I had out was calcium carbonate (chalk). My heart sank just a little bit because he was right.

I immediately checked my numbers in Bru'n Water to see how bad my Sulfate to Chloride ratio was. I was targeting 1.2 and was actually at 5.8 without the calcium chloride. So I measured out the chloride that I needed and added it to the mash giving it a good stir. Again, this was 30 minutes into the mash and I don't mash out, so it would have still been converting while doing the vorlauf and sparging.

What this did though, was put my calcium content to 125 and my bicarbonates a lot higher. My pH was still around 5.35 and I missed my gravity by 6 points.

Should I be concerned about taste with the high calcium level? Was it okay to add the chloride when I did? The gravity sample seemed to taste okay. Will people get sick?
 
bobo1898 said:
So yesterday was brew day. I was running on four hours of sleep between the two previous nights, so super exhausted and not thinking.

I was to add gypsum and quite a bit of calcium chloride to my water to meet my desired profile. I grabbed both containers and made my additions as I heated up my strike water. When adding this, I noticed that the consistency of the chloride was different from what I remembered but thought nothing of it. I also noticed that when I added it to the strike water, the water stayed very cloudy but, still not thinking, continued on.

Midway through my mash, I had my buddy (who came after I made the additions), measure out the gypsum and calcium chloride for the sparge water. As he was measuring them out he confirmed if I said calcium chloride, to which I said yes. He then said that what I had out was calcium carbonate (chalk). My heart sank just a little bit because he was right.

I immediately checked my numbers in Bru'n Water to see how bad my Sulfate to Chloride ratio was. I was targeting 1.2 and was actually at 5.8 without the calcium chloride. So I measured out the chloride that I needed and added it to the mash giving it a good stir. Again, this was 30 minutes into the mash and I don't mash out, so it would have still been converting while doing the vorlauf and sparging.

What this did though, was put my calcium content to 125 and my bicarbonates a lot higher. My pH was still around 5.35 and I missed my gravity by 6 points.

Should I be concerned about taste with the high calcium level? Was it okay to add the chloride when I did? The gravity sample seemed to taste okay. Will people get sick?
Click to expand...

If you punch it in and it says it's safe for consumption you are okay but if not dump it it's not worth risking health over beer
 
<<<<Should I be concerned about taste with the high calcium level? Was it okay to add the chloride when I did? The gravity sample seemed to taste okay. Will people get sick?>>>>

The chalk probably did nothing to your beer, other than sit on the bottom, as it does not properly dissolve. Frankly, I'd throw the chalk away.
As you know, not the best time to add chloride, but you may have had enough time for it to do its job.
As Ck27 says, plug the numbers in Bru'nWater.  All you can do at this point is give it a taste test. I doubt anyone will get sick.
 
Ck27 said:
If you punch it in and it says it's safe for consumption you are okay but if not dump it it's not worth risking health over beer
Click to expand...

Thanks Ck27 and Baron, will do when I get a chance to.

Baron Von MunchKrausen said:
Frankly, I'd throw it away.
Click to expand...

Baron, you'd just toss the beer? Even if it can be consumed? Obviously the chloride addition was not ideal. I was just trying to save the beer at that point. The gravity sample tasted fine but we'll see what happens when fermentation completes.

Thanks for the responses guys.
 
I don't know what your final HCO3 concentration comes out to, but if you look at the Burton water profile in Bru'n water, the target calcium is 275 ppm.  If you're at 125, then you're good.  I've done IPAs where I've targeted this profile.

In "How to Brew", John palmer says the recommended range for Ca is 50-150, and that greater than 200ppm, it will tend to minerally. He doesn't give a number that makes you 'sick'

FWIW, the target Burton water profile for HCO3 is 270 ppm. 

You did well to have the pH at 5.35 - suggesting that there probably wasn't actually much of the chalk that dissolved. 

I wouldn't be throwing it away a beer because the calculated Ca was 125ppm. 

Also, when you put it in Bru'n water, take note of the where those numbers are calculated ie in the mash water or in the final water profile
 
bobo1898 said:
Baron, you'd just toss the beer? Even if it can be consumed? Obviously the chloride addition was not ideal. I was just trying to save the beer at that point. The gravity sample tasted fine but we'll see what happens when fermentation completes.

Thanks for the responses guys.
Click to expand...

No !! Toss the chalk ! It does very little to move Ph
Sorry I wasn't clear.
 
Thanks guys. Beer seems to taste fine, although I haven't reached final gravity yet. Might have stalled around 1.020 where I'm expecting 1.016 or so. I probably can move it over to secondary and maybe it finishes up.
 
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