Stout 3rd brew

Im going to be doing my first stout with my father. We have brewed two previous batches and this will be our first stout and also first attempt with our new 13 gallon burner system.

A few questions i have:

What water do you guys use?
We have been using bottled water but I read about RO water. Not sure what that is or were to get it.

Do I add anything to the water like calcium to buffer or anything like this?

How much water do I start with now that Im using a larger pot and propane burner? The guy at the store said to start with 6.5 gallons.

Im going to return the the thread and continue to ask questions as they come up.

Thanks for any replies.

 

First off are you doing All Grain or Extract?

For All Grain:

1. RO water is reverse osmosis water, it is practically distilled, and the only reason you would want to use it is if you are adding salts back, gives you a clean slate.

2. Depends on your bottled water's chemistry. check out bru'n water to help. Basically roasted malts will add acidity to your mash which could push your PH in your mash out of range...so you will want to add some buffers to bring your PH back to an appropriate range.

For Extract

RO or distilled water is perfect to use for what you are doing, you will not need to add anything to it. I buy RO water at a grocery stores that I bring buckets into to fill up.


Since this is your first batch on the new pot, 6.5 gallons is a good starting point. when you boil is over (I am guessing you are doing an hour boil) check how much you have in your pot, and this will be your boil off rate (every system will be different).

 

Hard one. I am for 150-200 chloride and 50 sulphate. The rest of the treatment depends on your RA and grist. Ours is around 160ppm out of the tap and we come in slightly high still with up to about 30% darker malts. We have used 200 CaCl and 100 CaSO in the hope that extra calcium brings us down a bit more, but pH is always on the edge of wanting to drop off a cliff.

Usually we acidify the HLT for everything else so if we've previously brewed a pale I don't acidify. I've elements in the bottom so never fully drain and usually have 10% or so remaining. The RA of the HLT after being diluted by the refill is usually 90-110ppm depending on the volumes of the previous brew.

At home I used to use 10mg bicarbonate of soda per 1L per 15% dark malts which used to reliability get me in the ball park. At home it was 110ppm out of the tap.