PB Milk stout recipe for the weekend brew. What do you think?

[Turfgrass]

78.3% Maris Otter
8.7% chocolate
4.3% Carafa III
4.3% Lactose (8oz)
4.3% rice hulls

5 gal batch

US-05 yeast

60 min boil

Mash Ph 5.6

Peanut butter by apex flavors

I haven’t figured out the hops yet, but I have 4oz of Fuggles
(2oz @ 3.5%aa and 2oz @ 4.9%aa)

Tap water- ppm
Sodium 57
Calcium 40
Mag 5
Sulfate 4
Chloride 87
Carbonate <1.0
Bicarbonate 107
Total Alk 88
Total hardness 121


Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thx in advance.

 

[Shade]

Well .. starting with water, more chloride than sulfate will make for a malty beer, which is good, but that balance is quite high in the chloride side. It's worth learning the power of one of the water adjustment tools like Bru'n water, that suggests 39ppm sulfate, 28ppm chloride for a balanced dark beer. That said, to bump the sulfate (easily) will bump the calcium or magnesium above the normal range. So probably go as is but if it's no good, consider starting with RO water.

Re the grain bill, base malt + chocolate, carafa and lactose is a winner. You could add some crystal as well (similar to the chocolate %). Not sure why rice hulls, there's no oats or wheat to cause sparging issues, I'd leave them out.

US-05 is fine, won't add a lot.

Re hops, you want a bit of bitterness. The %'s don't indicate what gravity you are aiming for so can't say what IBUs you might need but the Fuggles seems pretty low bitterness (for my taste at least). I would think you'd want at least .6 BU/GU ratio (maybe 1060 OG, 40 IBU).

Peanut butter is an odd choice but if you can make it work with chocolate, has to be a winner.

 

[GnenieGone]

+1 for water adjustment. Like the ratio but add more gyp/CaCl or lactic acid for a 5.4pH target. Lower will lessen the chance for Phenols. No rice hulls needed. I personally like some roastyness with roasted barley to take the place of rice hulls. And some crystal80 wouldn't hurt. Not sure your ABV level but at 7% I'd shoot for a 30-35IBU This is the less bitter side, but .6 ratio as stated above should be fine. It's personal preference. I wouldn't use anything that adds hop flavor. Just 60min addition only. Magnum would be perfect.

PB powder? Add at flameout or prior to bottle/kegging, boil water on side, add powder to dissolve first. I've tried to mix in during secondary and it just clumps up.

Good luck!

 

[Turfgrass]

I’ll keep the grain bill as is to avoid getting to flavor complicated as this will be my first attempt at a stout. Rice hulls will be eliminated.

I’ve read a bit about adding potassium meta to brew water for elimating chlorine and clormines. When do you add? Mash and sparge water I assume??

As far as the tap water goes....I could always mash in with RO/distilled and build a mash water profile and use straight tap water for sparging. I have a 10 gallon HLT with a HERMS coil, so lugging gallon jugs every brew wouldn’t be fun.

I’m using Beersmith for all calculations and here are some notes If interested.

Estimated OG 1.056
Estimated pre boil 1.046
Estimated final 1.015
Ibu bitterness 36.2
Bitterness ratio .644
Color 34 arm
Abv 5.5

 

[Turfgrass]

Well .. starting with water, more chloride than sulfate will make for a malty beer, which is good, but that balance is quite high in the chloride side. It's worth learning the power of one of the water adjustment tools like Bru'n water, that suggests 39ppm sulfate, 28ppm chloride for a balanced dark beer. That said, to bump the sulfate (easily) will bump the calcium or magnesium above the normal range. So probably go as is but if it's no good, consider starting with RO water.

Re the grain bill, base malt + chocolate, carafa and lactose is a winner. You could add some crystal as well (similar to the chocolate %). Not sure why rice hulls, there's no oats or wheat to cause sparging issues, I'd leave them out.

US-05 is fine, won't add a lot.

Re hops, you want a bit of bitterness. The %'s don't indicate what gravity you are aiming for so can't say what IBUs you might need but the Fuggles seems pretty low bitterness (for my taste at least). I would think you'd want at least .6 BU/GU ratio (maybe 1060 OG, 40 IBU).

Peanut butter is an odd choice but if you can make it work with chocolate, has to be a winner.

I could always build a mash water profile, but filling a 10 gal Herms HLT would be a drag every brew. Where do you feel my tap waters ca, so4 and Mg should be given a high chloride? Thx

 

[Turfgrass]

Here is a screen shot should I go the distilled and tap water route. Sodium and chloride reduce and overall more manageable salt additions.