I live in Seattle where there is relatively neutral water.
Ca ppm = 26.2
Mg ppm = .37
Total Hardness CaCO3= 67
Alkalinity= 18.9
I used Palmer's nomograph to flesh this whole thing out and it basically tells me I'm brewing with 5.7 pH water. I'm going to try to brew a dark oatmeal stout this weekend (SRM ~25-30) and using the nomograph I calculated I'd need about 180 ppm bicarbonates to get my RA into the right range (6.0). Palmer wrote you might want to split up your salt additions between chalk and baking soda. Long story short:
I came up with about 10 tsp chalk (145 ppm) and 9 tsp baking soda (35 ppm) in a 4 gallon mash to get my pH after the addition of dark grains up to 6.0. This will be my first go at a darker style beer and in my very un-educated opinion that seems like a lot of salt addition... am I wrong or should I go ahead with these additions?
Ca ppm = 26.2
Mg ppm = .37
Total Hardness CaCO3= 67
Alkalinity= 18.9
I used Palmer's nomograph to flesh this whole thing out and it basically tells me I'm brewing with 5.7 pH water. I'm going to try to brew a dark oatmeal stout this weekend (SRM ~25-30) and using the nomograph I calculated I'd need about 180 ppm bicarbonates to get my RA into the right range (6.0). Palmer wrote you might want to split up your salt additions between chalk and baking soda. Long story short:
I came up with about 10 tsp chalk (145 ppm) and 9 tsp baking soda (35 ppm) in a 4 gallon mash to get my pH after the addition of dark grains up to 6.0. This will be my first go at a darker style beer and in my very un-educated opinion that seems like a lot of salt addition... am I wrong or should I go ahead with these additions?