Dry Stout Alkalinity

I am having trouble getting my alkalinity into the stout range without excessive sodium or calcium additions. Here is my water profile (as CaCo3):

Calcium 98
Magnesium 35
Alkalinity 40
Sodium 12
Chloride 20
Sulphate 39
Ph 9.5

Residual Alkalinity -51

Any suggestions?

I found this spreadsheet app on the forum a while ago; you can find it by searching for "Mash Water Chemistry Calculator"

Anyway I plugged in some of your numbers and it solved with the following additions. This recipe is for 8 gallons, the units are in tsp for each addition.

You'll want to get the zip file and modify this more yourself to tweak it

Chalk(CaCo3) 1.70
Gypsum (CaSO4 2H20) 0.63
Baking Soda (NaHCO3) 0.86

View attachment DryStoutAddAlkalinity.zip

Thanks for the info. I guess I am going to have to live with either high sodium or high calcium. Incidentally, do you have any idea how much acidity a roasted grain, like a black patent, will add to the mash? I'm guessing that the residual alkalinity is going to depend largely upon the amount of darker malts added to the mash.

I don't know exactly how much acidity is added, the attached spreadsheet above gives you an idea of how the SRM affects the amount of residual alkalinity you'll need to start with in your water.

The above additions give you a fairly close approximation of what you'd want for calcium/sodium/sulfate/RA in a dry stout. Given the water you have.