Quick question about my water

Hello all.


I just recently started working on water chemistry, and I want to make sure I'm on the right track. I have a 10 gal batch of a ~7% stout that I will be brewing soon and I want to get some thoughts on my salt additions.

Here is my source water profile:



I am using this calculator to figure it out: http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/


I think I'm going to add the following salts to the mash (9.31 gallons):

5 grams Baking Soda
2 grams Gypsum
2 grams Calcium Chloride


According to the calculator, it will be "malty" and "good for dark beers". Am I way off? Am I in the right ballpark?


Thanks in advanced!

That should be fine. If you want a calculator that keeps your brewing information on your computer without being tied to the internet, check out Bru'n Water. Of course, you should also read through the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water website. That will help you decipher what you're doing with any calculator.

Enjoy!

Max, you actually want to use this calculator when you go to Brewer's Friend: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=L977HHV

This is the new calculator that has many improvements over the old one. I already loaded your water profile into a record that is tied to the link. In the new calculator you can also specify the grain bill and it will make a prediction of your mash pH.

For the stout, you are probably fine w/o the baking soda. I would skip it.

Kai

Kaiser said:

Max, you actually want to use this calculator when you go to Brewer's Friend: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=L977HHV

This is the new calculator that has many improvements over the old one. I already loaded your water profile into a record that is tied to the link. In the new calculator you can also specify the grain bill and it will make a prediction of your mash pH.

For the stout, you are probably fine w/o the baking soda. I would skip it.

Kai

Click to expand...

A few nights ago someone wanted some 'quick help' and I suggested he put his info in it and post back the link. He declined so I dropped it. My point wasn't that I would have been able to provide much help maybe but I think people entering the data into ANY calculator shows they are making an effort and may just work things out themselves along the way and perhaps gain a little more understanding of the process. Also just the repetition of seeing some entries and what other people are doing will probably help things start to sink in. I'm sure there are lots of lurkers that go take a look.

Thanks for the feedback! I kept in the baking soda to increase the PH, but I dropped it to 3g.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=SNXXC40

You indicated that only 25% of the stout's color is coming from roasted malts. Is this correct or did you mean that only 25% of the specialty malts are roasted malts.

I assume since you are just starting to worry about mash pH you don't have a means of measuring it. Correct?

I'm a bit hesitant on the baking soda and if it helps or hurts your beer.

Kai

Kaiser said:

You indicated that only 25% of the stout's color is coming from roasted malts. Is this correct or did you mean that only 25% of the specialty malts are roasted malts.

I assume since you are just starting to worry about mash pH you don't have a means of measuring it. Correct?

I'm a bit hesitant on the baking soda and if it helps or hurts your beer.

Kai

Click to expand...

Kai, thank you so much for all the feedback and sorry for not responding sooner.

I do have a means of measuring my pH, and up until now I've never really put much effort into it. My recipe is actually a "porter" (at least that's what I'm calling it), but it's way out of style and is more like a stout. Here's the grain bill (for 10 gallons):

10 lb American 2-row
11 lb Maris Otter Malt
2 lb Brown
1 lb American Chocolate Malt
1 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Special B Malt
1 lb Rye Flaked
.5 lb De-Bittered Black Malt (Mout Roost 1400)

EDIT: Using the Malt Bill tool, I think this might be more what I'm looking for:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/?id=N1HMKS9

Though, I'm not sure whether things like Special B or Brown Malt should be considered "Crystal" or "Roasted"