American Stout Questions

[MikeM]

For my 3rd all grain I'll be doing an American stout.
1) What water profile should I shoot for, London or Dublin?
2) This will be my first time adding brewing salts. Do I add the salts to the mash?
3) If I'm using brewing salts, will adding 5.2 to strike and sparge water hurt at all?
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Nanobru]

If your making American Stout, use American water! If you do use salts, its easiest to mix all the water at one time. I like to do it in the HLT, transfer to MT to mix with grains, but it depends on your system.

 

[944play]

1) What water profile should I shoot for, London or Dublin?

If you go for a Dublinesque profile (add chalk and gypsum to the mash, depending on your base water), you can skip the 5.2 altogether.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

 

[chefchris]

If your making American Stout, use American water! If you do use salts, its easiest to mix all the water at one time. I like to do it in the HLT, transfer to MT to mix with grains, but it depends on your system.

You need to add the salts to grains/water. If you toss them straight into water, they'll just sink to the bottom.

I would suggest looking up E-Z Water Calculator by -TH-.

 

[Nanobru]

Salts dissolve

 

[mithion]

Salts dissolve

Calcium Carbonate (chalk) doesn't. It needs an acidic environement (the mash for example) to dissolve. As for the water profile you want to target, you should find a commercial American stout you like, find out where it's brewed and try to find out if they mess with their water to brew their beer. If they don't and just use tap water, you can find the local water authority and ask them for a water report. I've poked around and have found a substantial variation in water profiles around the country so you can't really say what "American" water really is like. Here in Reno, the water is pretty soft which makes it pretty good to brew dark beers and even lagers to a certain extent. In San Diego (a city I frequently reference for my water adjustments), their water is hard and is good for more bitter beers. Google is your friend .