# Is there a way of removing an overzelous CaCl addition?



## scmgre (17/4/13)

I added to much calcium chloride to a wheat beer mash and the resulting kegged beer tastes awful. I can taste the chloride so much that it reminds me of a swimming pool. is there anything i can add to the keg to precipitate it out or should i just chuck it and learn from the experience.
I have since started doing sour mashes instead to lower the PH of the mash and add a tasty twang.


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## peas_and_corn (17/4/13)

Add more wort, you can't take brewing salts out of beer.


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## manticle (17/4/13)

how much did you add?


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## Lurks (17/4/13)

Must have been a lot?!


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## eamonnfoley (17/4/13)

Never add more than a teaspoon of anything if you aren't a water expert. Just learn how to manage pH.


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## Lecterfan (17/4/13)

The best I've done with over adjusted beers is blend them. Sometimes this creates a really drinkable beer (depending on combos). I have ruined beer with calcium sulphate but not calcium chloride. Still, the night is young...


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## felten (17/4/13)

Swimming pool? do you mean chlorine (or medicinal/bandaid) rather than chloride (salty)?


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## Bizier (17/4/13)

add corriander and lacto...


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## scmgre (18/4/13)

i added to much Ca Cl and screwed the brew i was a bit caught up with the whole improve my efficiency bollocks, all my other beers have been fine apart from this one and i think i added double the recommended maximum hence the foul taste. I don't want to risk ruining another brew by blending, it's already been in the keg for 2 months. I actually have a degree in chemistry but i was never actually very good at it  I think i will use it to break up partys when I want people to leave . I mean chlorine taste as in dish water taste.


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## scmgre (18/4/13)

is the coriander and lacto a serious suggestion i might just give it a try.


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## drsmurto (19/4/13)

CaCl not CaCl2. Chlorine and chloride are not the same thing.

Chlorine is used in a swimming pool and if you are getting that taste/smell then you either used bleach in your process or are mistaking the smell for medicinal. Too much CaCl2 will make the beer taste minerally/metallic/salty.

Exactly how much CaCl2 did you add?

You have a bachelor degree in applied science? From where?


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## scmgre (28/4/13)

DrSmurto said:


> CaCl not CaCl2. Chlorine and chloride are not the same thing.
> 
> Chlorine is used in a swimming pool and if you are getting that taste/smell then you either used bleach in your process or are mistaking the smell for medicinal. Too much CaCl2 will make the beer taste minerally/metallic/salty.
> 
> ...


hi Dr Smerto I have an honors degree in chemistry from Manchester university(graduated 1997 with a 3rd) I then did a masters in computing to get a job 
I don't use bleach to sanitise just washing up liquid followed by iodophore. The chemical addition was Calcium Chloride I was definitely over the recommended amount. The after taste I get is one I associate with badly washed salad that tastes of washing up water. It is definitely due to the CaCl2 probably very subjective.


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## asis (28/4/13)

Are you mixing the idophore correctly? If not it can leave a similar medicinal/chloine flavour that you are discribing. (Personal experience doing the same, took some figuring out)


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## scmgre (28/4/13)

Thanks Partial Man, I use one mil per litre which is the dilution recommended and I use a kids Nurofen syringe to measure it  its expensive! I used the same sterilising process with all my other beers to no ill effect. I am pretty sure it was the calcium chloride, perhaps i'm just sensitive to it or i am not describing the taste properly. Anyway i will supplying it at a pig roast along with better beers next week  So hopefully it will get drunk and the problem will go away


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## manticle (28/4/13)

gareth - How much, exactly did you add and at what point or points did you add it?


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## scmgre (28/4/13)

I added it in the mash ton to change the acidity as I was hung up on efficiency (53%) (since switched to BIAB and get 71% and an hour extra in bed, so happy).
I think it was double the recommended maximum PPM amount from the water adjustment spreadsheet when combined with the ryde water catchment report  so totally my own incompetence. Recommended maximums are obviously there for a reason. 
I don't know the exact number of grams i think it was around four. but i have changed laptops and lost the details


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## manticle (28/4/13)

4g shouldn't be too crazy. I see Ryde's levels are around 25 ppm. Anything up to 100ppm and even a bit beyond should be fine. 250 is about the max for both beer and drinking quality but 4g to the mash shouldn't see you approach anywhere close.

I also see that your water supply is disinfected using chloramine. Could this be the issue? Do you do anything to remove the chloramines from your water?

RO Filter, metabisulphite etc?


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## scmgre (28/4/13)

manticle said:


> 4g shouldn't be too crazy. I see Ryde's levels are around 25 ppm. Anything up to 100ppm and even a bit beyond should be fine. 250 is about the max for both beer and drinking quality but 4g to the mash shouldn't see you approach anywhere close.
> 
> I also see that your water supply is disinfected using chloramine. Could this be the issue? Do you do anything to remove the chloramines from your water?
> 
> RO Filter, metabisulphite etc?


Erm nope, I just took it from the tap. Every beer before and since has been ok.
It might be a combination of that and my subconscious as a couple of the blokes from up the road said it was not too bad, (but they only had one glass after polishing off my Sour mashed pale ale, then they headed for the door so it might have been politeness )


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## manticle (28/4/13)

Also remember that your water report is averaged out from a number of readings over a period of time so there's a chance chloramine dosage was increased during the period you used the water.

It's one possibility - disinfectant, medicinal, band-aid and/or dettol type flavours can all come from residual chlorine.

Anyway to answer your original question - I'm unaware of anything that you can use to remove the chloride from your beer and if it is a result of chlorine/chloramine, my experience suggests it gets no better.


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## scmgre (28/4/13)

So i should be able to taste too much chloramine in the water before heating it for the dough in? 



manticle said:


> Also remember that your water report is averaged out from a number of readings over a period of time so there's a chance chloramine dosage was increased during the period you used the water.
> 
> It's one possibility - disinfectant, medicinal, band-aid and/or dettol type flavours can all come from residual chlorine.
> 
> Anyway to answer your original question - I'm unaware of anything that you can use to remove the chloride from your beer and if it is a result of chlorine/chloramine, my experience suggests it gets no better.


so i should be able to taste the chloramine in the water before heating for the dough in. probably a good idea for me in future.


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## manticle (28/4/13)

My water is chlorinated, not chloraminated and mostly the chlorine taste is absent or present only subtly. However whether it's just different palates on different days, I do notice a difference here and there in the drinking water taste. Some days present, some days not. Fortunately for chlorine, heating to strike is pretty much enough to drive the small amount in Melbourne water away. Chloramine is more resistant to heat.

Campden (K or Na meta-bisulphite) or RO are the most effective methods I know of but i think there are others and I believe chloramine does respond to heat/boiling - just takes longer than chlorine.


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## djar007 (28/4/13)

Is it true that chloramine will eat into even stainless? Seems a worrying claim to me.


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## manticle (28/4/13)

I know chlorine can pit stainless which is why you don't use bleach to sanitise it but I would hazard a guess that the levels in most Australian water would only make their effects felt over a very long period of time (along with many other causes of deterioration in metals).

Not something i would get worked up about.


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## felten (29/4/13)

Wheat beer yeast is POF positive (phenolic off flavour) as well, that's where the clove like flavours come from. Have you used a phenolic strains of yeast before without problems?

ed. assuming you used a phenolic yeast.


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