Water Profile for Oatmeal Stout

Hey guys,

So I am putting together a recipe for an oatmeal stout. Actually, tweaking a recipe I found in one of Papazian's books. I am running into problems with my water chemistry, as often happens with me. I feel like when I research water chemistry, there is absolutely no consensus. I am hoping ya'll can help me out

The Papazian recipe calls for 4tbsp of gypsum added per 5 gallons, if using very soft water. I use R/O water from a grocery store which I consider "very soft water" (maybe I am wrong in that consideration). Anyway, the amount of gypsum seemed to be way overboard, so I researched a bit online and came to the bertusbrewery.com "How to Build Your Water" article...

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/02/water-chemistry-how-to-build-your-water.html

Here, he says he uses R/O water but doesn't use gypsum. His baseline basic profile is adding 1tsp. of CaCl per 5 gallons, and 2% acidulated malt. Then, he says for a stout, he just skips the acidulated malt. Still no gypsum.

Now, of course, Papazian is clearly the giant who has a wealth of knowledge, but why am I seeing such contradicting information from what seems to be a pretty successful homebrewer? This will be my first stout I have ever brewed and I know the water profile is typically softer for a stout, but I am not sure what source to listen to.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys!


- Brad

 

Ha! This exact same subject came up in a club meeting last weekend. The bottom line is: Don't rely on anything from Charlie about water. He has no clue.

Sulfate is OK for black and brown beer brewing, but only in small doses. Adding a bunch of gypsum is not the way to go.

 

That's what I thought! 4tbsp. for a stout seemed outrageous!

 

Buy the water book and be done with it. It's excellent and gives good suggestions.

 

If using RO water for an oatmeal stout, if recommend plugging your grain bill and water into something like brewers friend or Bru'n water to find out what your mash pH is. You most likely will be in the proper range. If not, your CaCl/gypsum additions will put you where you need to be. If you are however, you can save your mineral additions and put it all in the kettle after the mash , if you desire to add them for their flavor contributions.


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