Hard or Soft Water for a Stout

[lslbrew]

I brewed for a long time with extract before going to all grain so water was not much of an issue. I have since gone all grain and have brewed several pale ales and IPAs using hard water. I do have a water softener in my house but have been getting my brewing water from the line before it goes thru the softener. I am working on converting my house stout recipe to all grain and am wondering if I should use hard or soft water. I keep getting lost in the chemistry of "if you have this water, you need this or that". I need to try making the stout with a baseline before I start making water changes and cannot tell if it will be better to keep using the hard water or not.

 

[Lefou]

You'll want to use a moderately hard water profile for a stout, filtered for chlorine compounds. It really won't be too much different from your IPA or pale ale water. Dark grains will acidify the wort, so a bit of added gypsum (CaSO4), CaCl2, and maybe a bit of bicarbonate if you want, would get your water up to snuff.

If you have a water conditioning unit for softening, it typically uses salt crystals to remove calcium and remove permanent hardness. That particular water will have a high amount of dissolved sodium and hydroxide ions that will change the feel and pH of your house water. As a kid, we had on of those units in our house and I still recall the changes it made to the hard iron-laden, sulfate-rich stinky water we had on tap. It makes for great bubbles, but sucks for drinking water.

Got a carbon filter on your refrigerator? If you do, it removes much of the mineral and particulate matter along with the chlorine compounds. You can do a simple pH check on a sample - cheap pH test kits can be found in a pool supply store. Once you're familiar with that, you can add minerals or dilute to your heart's content using any basic water or mash calculator online to season your water.

 

[mabrungard]

It depends on the stout. Irish dry stout can benefit from water with low alkalinity while all other stouts are better when made with more alkaline water. The hardness of the water is less of a concern, but you will want at least 40 to 50 ppm calcium in the water along with either sulfate or chloride for flavor. Beers made with no ionic content tend to be bland tasting.

 

[aeviaanah]

I just made an Irish stout with soft water. The best stout I've ever made..