EZ Water For Stout/Porter

[HopSong]

I'm trying to work with EZ Water. I'm not smart enough to work with Bru'n Water it seems.

I'm trying to build a profile that is between Balanced and Malty as it is, for the most part, an American Stout or an American Porter.

I've put in my water profile (city) and made some adjustments with CaSO4, CaCl2 and MgSO4 along with a touch of Acidulated Malt and some Lactic Acid. My city water, as commented on in an earlier post, should be very good for dark beers. The numbers w/o any mods are:
Ca- = 24.5; Mg= 23; Na= 9.3; Cl= 8.6; SO4= 16.8; HCO4= 162

I"m doing a full volume boil so there is no sparge water involved. I get a resulting pH of 5.46 based on the above. The resulting Water Profile for the Mash Water is in ppm;
Ca= 130; Mg= 27; Na= 9; Cl= 148 and SO4= 103 Cl/SO4 Ratio= 1.44

Overall, for my inexperience, this looks pretty good. The only things that look way questionable low is the Na and the high(er) Mg.. I thought of modifying the Mg down to 0 oz and adding NaCl.. but, there seems to be now way with EZ Water to simply add some table salt and adjust the Mg.




Suggestions?

 

[Yooper]

I don't use EZ water, as it estimates high for me, but your original numbers look great.

Your second set of numbers with the additions do not look as good. The sulfate is way too high- so take out the MgSo4 for sure and the CaS04. The chloride is too high- keep it under 100 ppm in all cases and in most cases even lower.

Can you take out all sulfate additions, add only CaCl2, and post your numbers? I think that would be far preferable.

Sodium doesn't need to be increased, but you can if you feel that you must.

 

[HopSong]

If I go with unadjusted city water and the grain bill with no added salts, I get:
pH= 5.82.. seems high but can be adjusted with saurmalz or lactic.

Effective CaCo3= 133; Residual Alkalinity 102; Est Mash pH 5.82 (desired 5.4-5.6)

Resulting Water Profile:
Original as in prior post. According to EZ I should be shooting for:
CA= 50-100; Mg= 10-30; Na= 0-150; Cl= 0-250; SO4= 50=350.

W/O additions, my Cl / SO4 Ratio = 0.77 which seems WAY too low for a stout???

Adding 2 oz of CaCl2 brings my Ca= 64 and Cl2= 17.. but the Cl / SO4 ratio skyrockets to 4.65 and the pH is 5.76

 

[Yooper]

Forget you ever heard the expression sulfate chloride ratio! Those guidelines you have listed above are far too broad to be useful. In all cases you do not want to go over 100 ppm of chloride. There is no reason to add sulfate to a stout. Generally speaking, less is more. Target a mash pH of 5.6, keep the calcium at 50 ppm or thereabouts using calcium chloride to get there. That should be about perfect.