Salt Additions - Where To Get

[technocat]

Back to basics, while this thread is live, I know that breweries historically clustered around water supplies that produced superior beers, such as Pilsen, or Tadcaster and Burton in the UK.

Do the minerals, such as gypsum, result in great beers because of the effect of the water in the mash, or during the fermentation? I'm keen to adjust my water for UK bitters and will try to get a water report from my local council but obviously need to do WATER 101 to get a handle on all this.

Mineral additions to a water profile of the style of beer you are trying to emulate definitely puts the icing on the cake IMHO Unfortunately with Beersmith and I am not sure about Promash you have to arrive at the quantities needed manually as Beersmith doesn't work it out for you. Also you should get a water profile on your supply from the local authority so you can adjust your additions accordingly. I live rural and rely on rain water which is fairly benign so I am pretty well in the distilled water category. More on this subject can be found on John Palmer's How to Brew chapter 15 Understanding Ph of mash.

Cheers