Multi-Step Infusion & Water Adjustments

[bdgrfrisch]

What is the process for adding water salts when doing a multi-step infusion mash? Do you add it all with first infusion, or divide it up for each infusion? Or is it wiser to add all salts to the whole of the mash water? I was always under the impression that a lot of the salts won't properly mix into plain water (I use r/o water)like it will in the mash.
Cheers.

[a10t2]

It depends on what the salts are for. Anything that's used for pH adjustment should be distributed evenly in all the mash liquor (although I'd actually add them to the mash along with each infusion). If it's for flavor, just add to the kettle.

Edit: In hindsight, Kai's suggestion makes perfect sense and I clearly don't know what I'm talking about.

[Kaiser]

You should add them all to the mash at the beginning. For the most part pH is a function of grist and the total amount of (pH active) minerals present. Hence the suggestion to add them all at the beginning.

Kai

[bdgrfrisch]

Now that you put it that way it sure does make sense.
It has to do with amount of grain, not the amount of water mixing with the salts.  That's why a thick or a thin mash (and everybody had a little different idea on that) would still use similar recommendations for brewing salts.  Just that the first infusion would just be more thick than an average mash.
Thanks & Prost!

[redzim]

You should add them all to the mash at the beginning. For the most part pH is a function of grist and the total amount of (pH active) minerals present. Hence the suggestion to add them all at the beginning.

Kai

But you still add the fraction of minerals for sparge water with the sparge water, correct?  At least, your spreadsheet breaks it down into "mash" and "sparge" amounts....

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year to all....  I'm brewing Jamil's Traditional Bock today.....

-red

[mabrungard]

It does depend upon the water and grist.  There could be cases where adding minerals to the mash would be counterproductive. So its not so easy to just say...add them all at once.  Since the OP indicates that they start with RO water, there could be cases where a bit of alkalinity needs to be added.  If they are step infusing, then adding all the alkalinity producers at once could really throw off the mash pH. 

There are only a few styles that benefit from step mashing.  Looking at one of the most extreme cases would be the typical Hefe in which you might start with a rest in the 110 to 125F range and then want to boost it to the 150F range.  That step infusion could approach the original mash in volume.  That will definitely throw off the water chemistry. 

In the case of stepping from just a Beta rest temp to an Alpha rest temp, the infusion volume is probably minor.  Then I can agree that throwing all the minerals in wouldn't be a big deal.