English Porter Water Profile

[schmahly]

Hey all, I'm racking my brain here and need some opinions. I have RO water. Here is my grain I'm using and what my water profile is currently.

Grain:
21.6lbs 2-row
1.64lbs oats, Flaked
. 85lbs Munich malt
1.706lbs 80L
1.132lbs 120L
1 133lbs Brown Malt
.996lbs Chocolate Malt
.314lbs Carafa II
.409lbs Carafa III


Current water profile:
Ca - 57
MG- 0
Na - 29
SO4 - 15
Cl2 - 25
Bicarbonate - 182 (plan to add 3.6g of baking soda and 3.2g of calcium carbonate to the mash only)

Projected pH of 5.37

So what are your all thoughts? And thank you for any help on this!

 

[schmahly]

I should add that this will be a 12 Gallon batch total.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Brown Porter from Brewers Friend
Ca 62
Mg 15
Na 50
Cl 75
SO4 100
HCO3 115

 

[Northern_Brewer]

So what are your all thoughts? And thank you for any help on this!

Go to the source - Murphys are one of the main analytical labs for British brewers and their suggestion for porter is

Ca 100
Mg 10
HCO3 100
Cl 300
SO4 100

You can always tell Americanised water profiles for British styles as they never have enough calcium - Brits always have at least 100ppm Ca to ensure the flocculation you need for serving on cask (and it also helps the mash enzymes) and the historical dominance of Burton means we're not afraid of high mineral levels in general, whereas the influence of German lager brewing on the US means USians tend to go too low with salts.

 

[AlexKay]

Don’t add chalk (calcium carbonate). It doesn’t dissolve.

I personally like ~20 ppm (or more) of sodium in porters, and if you need to add base, there’s nothing wrong with baking soda.

 

[eshea3]

Go to the source - Murphys are one of the main analytical labs for British brewers and their suggestion for porter is

Ca 100
Mg 10
HCO3 100
Cl 300
SO4 100

You can always tell Americanised water profiles for British styles as they never have enough calcium - Brits always have at least 100ppm Ca to ensure the flocculation you need for serving on cask (and it also helps the mash enzymes) and the historical dominance of Burton means we're not afraid of high mineral levels in general, whereas the influence of German lager brewing on the US means USians tend to go too low with salt

I've been using the Murphy's water profile for quite some time. My usual procedure is to get the calcium to the appropriate levels. That usually results in my being unable to obtain the precise levels for chloride and sulfate, so I shoot to get those as close as possible while maintaining the appropriate ratio. I'm fortunate to be acquainted with a high level BJCP judge who also travels in England a bit and he seems to find my beers satisfactory.