[morticaixavier]

I don't recommend adding salts to the grain or to the mash since it is much more likely that those salts and their ions won't be well distributed in the wort. The best approach is to add salts to the strike and sparge water and mix well for about a minute. That way, you are guaranteed that the ions are well-distributed. 

The other option is to add all salts to the kettle, but then you may miss out on some beneficial effects of having those ions in the mashing water (pushing down wort pH, reducing oxalate in your wort, etc). If your starting water quality is already above 40 to 50 ppm calcium, then those benefits are already in place...you can add your minerals directly to the kettle with little detriment.

So the challenge we have is that our city water is crappy and inconsistent.  We decided to use RO.  This means I need to add salts back in.  Adding to the mash is easy, but what about to the sparge, if I want to keep the salts out of my HLT?  I could add salts directly to my water collection tank, but I'm afraid it won't dissolve.

Why are you concerned with keeping the salts our of your HLT?

[rtemplen]

I don't recommend adding salts to the grain or to the mash since it is much more likely that those salts and their ions won't be well distributed in the wort. The best approach is to add salts to the strike and sparge water and mix well for about a minute. That way, you are guaranteed that the ions are well-distributed. 

The other option is to add all salts to the kettle, but then you may miss out on some beneficial effects of having those ions in the mashing water (pushing down wort pH, reducing oxalate in your wort, etc). If your starting water quality is already above 40 to 50 ppm calcium, then those benefits are already in place...you can add your minerals directly to the kettle with little detriment.

This is the information I was searching for today. I started debating whether to add my water additions to the heating strike water or directly to the mash. The reason is for the last RIS I brewed I noticed that something had precipitated out of the final heated strike water in the kettle (or never fully dissolved, though I think at one point everything was dissolved), so my concern is the water I calculated with Brunwater was not what ended up in the Mashtun. What would have caused these salts/minerals to precipitate out of solution? Is there an order for adding additions? Are there limits to how much carbonates should be added? Is there a recommend time or temperature to add certain additions?

Here is my house treated base water: Ca 20ppm, Na 7ppm, HCO3 66ppm, Cl 2ppm, CaCO3 54ppm
Here were my RIS additions gram/gal: Gypsum 0.1g, Calcium Chloride 0.2g, Epsom Salt 0.2g, NaCl 0.08g, Baking Soda 0.5g, Pickling Salt 0.29g
Brunwater calculated Mashing profile of: Calcium 86ppm, Magnesium 5ppm, Sodium 51ppm, Sulfate 35ppm, Chloride 49ppm, Bicarbonate 286ppm

Guidance is greatly appreciated!