Brewing a Zombie Dust clone....water and alkalinity for mash and sparge

[Tpost704]

I am planning a 5 gallon Zombie Dust clone partial mash (recipe below) and am a bit confused by the alkalinity of my water. I got my ward labs results back (also below) and have been playing around with it in Bru'n Water. I understand that my alkalinity is high in my source water. I figured acidifcation was going to be needed for my sparge water, but at 2 qts of water per lb of grain, my estimated mash ph is 5.32 without and other adjustments. I can't imagine that the alkalinity of the mash doesn't need adjustment seeing as it is so high. I am just getting into water chemistry so i'm just trying to get a grip on everything before I brew. Is there something I should be doing to my mash do reduce alkalinity even though I can hit an acceptable ph with just grain? I attached my Bru'n Water file below for reference. Thanks for the input!

Recipe

6lb extra light DME
1lb American - Munich - light 10L
0.5lb German CaraFoam
0.5lb American Caramel/Crystal 60L
0.5lb German - Melanoidin

1 oz Citra First Wort
1 oz Citra 15 min
1 oz Citra 10 min
1 oz Citra 5 min
1 oz Citra 1 min
3 oz Citra Dry Hop 7 Days

English Ale Yeast s-04

Water Report

pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 370
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.62
Cations / Anions, me/L / 6.7 7.0

ppm

Sodium, Na 11
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 83
Magnesium, Mg 28
Total Hardness, CaCO3 324
Nitrate, NO3-N 2.8 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 9
Chloride, Cl 16
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 336
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 277
Total Phosphorus, P < 0.01
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01 "<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

 

[LarMoeCur]

I would not recommend making mineral adjustments when extract brewing. You don't know what minerals were in the water used to make the extract. I recommend using RO or distilled water only. A mini-mash 1# of munich is not worth the time or efforts. Just order the equivalent in munich extract and save yourself the headache.

If your dead set on the mini-mash, I would not make any adjustments your pH 5.32 is right in the wheel house of 5.2-5.6. Your water pH is neutral so I wouldn't worry about the alkalinity.

 

[Tpost704]

Thanks for the response. For this batch I think I'll take your advice.

What are your thought on the water for when I make the leap to all grain. Is my source water workablem Should I blend RO water with my source water? Or just build my water profile from RO?

My overall goal is to not cut corners and make the best beer that I can.

 

[LarMoeCur]

Thanks for the response. For this batch I think I'll take your advice.

What are your thought on the water for when I make the leap to all grain. Is my source water workablem Should I blend RO water with my source water? Or just build my water profile from RO?

My overall goal is to not cut corners and make the best beer that I can.

Water adjustments really depend on the style of beer you are brewing. If you trust your water report then use it. Tap water is cheap. I've done everything from 100% RO build up to 100% tap water to a blend of each to reach my desired water profile. Of late I've been doing more 100% RO build up because I'm not sure I can trust my water report. Corpus has had some water treatment issues and the Chlorine/Chloride levels have went through the roof. Readings have been all over the place. So, I took those variables out of play.

What I would do is a few days before you do your first all grain. Get your water profile together and post what your planned additions are here. There are people here who have forgotten more about water chemistry then I'll ever know. They will chime in and point you in the right direction.