Bicarbonate level for Janet's Brown?

I am brewing Tasty's Janet's Brown this weekend, using 100% distilled water since my town's water report is worthless (need to do a Ward's test!), and will be building up my water to what Tasty's hoppy profile for the beer is, which is:

Ca 110
Mg 18
Na 17
SO4 350
Cl 50

The question is what should I aim for a bicarbonate level, since Tasty did not list his. I was playing with 150 HCO3. Is that too high for a hop forward brown ale?

Generally the proper bicarbonate level for brewing is 0 or as close as you can get to it. If dark malts are being used in great enough quantity they will pull mash pH low and in those cases some alkalinity will be required. Bicarbonate can be used for this but lime is generally preferable as it doesn't introduce sodium. The goal is to get the mash pH right.

Thanks. Dark malts are only 3.2% of the grain bill, so will redo my water numbers without bicarbonates.

You will probably be OK then but it is always comforting to have a pH reading.

Because of the high calcium level that is needed to supply the desired sulfate level, brewing with water with near zero alkalinity or bicarbonate content will not produce a desirable result. I've tasted far too many hoppy beers that come across without 'punch' because the brewer started with RO or distilled water and didn't bump the alkalinity up to match the effect of the high calcium content. In other words, the mashing water's RA was too low.

As AJ guides, get the mash pH right. My recommendation is to try and target a mash pH of around 5.4 and that will help accentuate the hopping and bitterness. Near zero bicarbonate content with that much gypsum is going to depress the mash pH below that level.

Color me skeptical on that one. 110 mg of calcium would be expected to lower mash pH by 0.1 relative to a DI water mash. In a mash such as described by OP assuming the base malt to have DI pH of 5.62 (at the low end of the spectrum) and the 3.2 % colored malt to be 60L caramel the predicted pH would be 5.47 w/o any added bicarb. If, OTOH, the base malt had DI pH of 5.8 (and typical buffering) the predicted pH would go to 5.63.

Obviously, the actual mash pH should be the determining factors but I don't think any bicarbonate will be needed.

The colored malt in the 3.2% of grist is chocolate at 420L. There is also 1.25 lbs of crystal 40, which is an addition %age of 7.9. Brewers Friend is giving me a 5.61 grist in distilled pH.

Just received a pH meter that I had overnighted, so will calibrate and use tomorrow and report back!

Thanks for input everyone!


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That changes some things. For the high pH base malt predicted pH is 5.48 - no bicarb needed. At the low pH base malt limit the predicted pH is 5.37. Still OK but these predictions are based on assumtions. Use the meter. It's a good idea to do this one about a pound of the grist with a quart and a half or so of the water. This will tell you what's likely to happen with the main mash and, if the test mash pH is too low, you can add some bicarb.

ajdelange said:

That changes some things. For the high pH base malt predicted pH is 5.48 - no bicarb needed. At the low pH base malt limit the predicted pH is 5.37. Still OK but these predictions are based on assumtions. Use the meter. It's a good idea to do this one about a pound of the grist with a quart and a half or so of the water. This will tell you what's likely to happen with the main mash and, if the test mash pH is too low, you can add some bicarb.

Click to expand...

That is a great idea, but of course I saw your reply after I already brewed. Thanks for all the help! I got a mash pH reading of 5.51 after letting the sample cool, even though the Etekcity pH-2011 meter has ATC, being a $18 meter I was a little leery. But looks like I was in the ballpark.