Water Adjustments - Timing Question

Ok, so I have done a few batches now using salts to adjust my water and it's becoming apparent I need to add my salts in each step as opposed to how I first started doing it - by dumping 8 or 9 gallons of filtered tap water into a kettle, putting the salts in to get my desired profile, and dividing it up between the mash and sparge steps - didn't pay much attention to pH.

For my last brew, an IPA, I used the Bru'n Water calculator as I usually do, and figured the salts I needed to get the profile I wanted based on pre-boil volume and noted on my brew sheet the amount of Gypsum that was going into the boil. I then proceeded to recalculate for CaCl using the volume that was going into the mash. I then added that amount of CaCl and about a 1/4 of a Campden tablet ground up into my mash at dough-in, and my pH settled in at 5.4. I added Phosphoric Acid and the other 1/4 Campden tablet to my sparge water and it settled in at pH 5.5 at room temperature. and finally; I added the Gypsum at the start of the boil.

At the time it seemed logical to me that to calculate the total amount of CaCl needed for this brew, I'd use the total water going into the mash as that's where the CaCl is being added - I may have overlooked the fact that the mash water will become part of the boil volume and as such, should've had the amount of CaCl that corresponds to the total boil volume which likely would've given me another point or two reduction in mash pH, assuming I'm understanding this stuff correctly. Using all light malts, I also know adding CaCl to the mash will help bring the pH down and is also good for conversion.

Are there some basic how-to's or hard fast rules out there for dividing up your salt additions during each phase of the brewing process, or is it really THAT important to keep them separated? Could I just add all of the CaCl and Gypsum to the mash based on total boil volume, or should I hold the Gypsum for the boil? My goal is to maximize the benefits of water adjustments without adding one thing that gets canceled out by a later addition of something else. I also want to be sure the salts I'm adding at each step are actually making it into the water and/or not being left behind in the grain (I know some minerals are less soluble than others depending on several factors...)

I like the Palmer logic that it's most critical in the mash, so his sheet focuses solely on that (available from his site below.) 

Someone here pointed me to EZ Water, which I just checked again, and they've really expanded it a lot.  Might be worth a new look at that one. 

The image is a screen shot of my modified Palmer sheet where I added some of the things that are now built-in to EZ water.  In practice, I aim for the low-to-middle ranges of Palmer for the mash, and then have a second addition for the boil that is 50% of those mash amounts (except for baking soda which is strictly just for pH adjustment of dark-grain mashes).  If you look at my online recipes, those numbers are in the Taste Notes section. 

I got the 50% idea from the earlier EZ sheet; they didn't explain why, but had a check mark to add a 100% duplicate addition in the boil.  I figure some minerals do get stuck in the mash grains, so I used 50%.  Ever since starting that, the break material has been much greater, which I attribute to the additional calcium. 

I put each addition in the pot before adding the mash grains or starting the sparge into the boiler.  I gather my water the night before in buckets and do the campden then.  I put a drop of phosphoric acid in as I fill the HLT to lower the pH of my alkaline sparge water. 


http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-3.html

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

I've only used Bru'n and CaCl the last few batches so I'm no expert.  I put the additions in the mash water as it's heating up and same with my sparge water.  The last two brews I've had 90+ percent mash eff.  I was getting about 80% before and got there by ensuring 60-90 minute sparge.

Mark

It is always more reliable add sorts to wort instead of water. The acidity of the wort greatlyimproves the aability of the salts to dissolve. There are three reasons to add salts:

1. For best fermentation.  This is generally calcium and magnesium. 
2. For mash ph control. This is generally calcium (ph down), carbonates (ph up) 
3. Flavor control.

1 and 3 are dictated by the ion concentration in the finished beer. 2 is dictated by the ions in the mash alone. 

I use ez water to calculate my salt additions. I adjust the ph of the mash using CaCl, CaSO4, and baking soda. I use these salts to get ph below 6,and I use lactic acid to make final adjustment to 5.4 (room temperature). 

About half of the ion concentration will be absorbed by the mash, thus will not end up in the kettle.  I add my salts to my dry grains. They get stirred in as I mash in.

I use ez water to adjust my finished my finished beer ions, as well. At this point I'm looking to control sodium, chloride, sulfate... Particularly the ratio of chloride to sulfate. I stay close to 1:1 for normal beers. I up the sulfate to 7:1 for hoppy beers.  I drop the sulfate to 1/2 the chloride for malty forward beers.  I target about 50 ppm of sodium, regardless of style, as a flavor enhancer. Basically, like salting your food.

I add these salts directly to the kettle as it is coming to a boil. I will make a final ph adjustment in the kettle if required to keep the phone below 5.8. Tannins and other bad tasting phenols can be extracted from hops if the ph is above 5.8. 

Finally, a word about water. i in Texas. My water is pretty hard, and has about 100ppm of calcium carbonates.  This makes blond beers (really anything below 10 srm)  tough to mash because the phone doesn't want to come down no matter how much calcium I add.  So, I dilute my tap water 50/50 with distilled.  You need to have a copy of your local water report before you should make additions per the above.