Need Help W/ Water Additions- Chocolate Cherry Cake Stout

[Bostrows128]

Diving into the realm of all grain here! Not completely a newb (came up from the ranks of extract, partial mash, and moving into the big leages). That being said my personal tap water is pretty poopy, leaves my beers a tad bit watery and my wines a bit skunky so I'm starting with good ole distilled water. Figured I might as well do this right with some help from you guys of course! Anyway, I'm making a Cherry Chocolate Cake stout (the recipe I found in a BYO magazine) but I wanna possibly spice it up who knows. Here's the recipe-

Chocolate Cherry Cake | Sweet Stout All Grain Beer Recipe | Brewer's Friend

"Chocolate Cherry Cake" Sweet Stout beer recipe by sprint10. All Grain, ABV 6.96%, IBU 38.33, SRM 48.76, Fermentables: (Pilsner, White Wheat, Flaked Oats, Chocolate Malt, Brown Malt, Caramel / Crystal 60L, Black Malt, Black Barley) Hops: (nugget, East Kent Goldings) Other: (Lactose, Cherry...

www.brewersfriend.com

I'm looking for a thicker mouthfeel (ya know tired of drinking water) but I want some of the coffee and obviously, the chocolate notes to shine. Fruity is a must as it's in the name and am contemplating adding some cinnamon when I add the nibs.

Any help is appreciated just looking for a starting point here, I'm sure ill be able to figure this stuff out eventually. If you have any recipe suggestions for this let me know as well!

TL;DR: help me figure out my water additions to make this beer pop!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

When adding flavorings to a beer, one needs to have a solid recipe for the base style.

Consider starting with water adjustments appropriate for a stout, then 1) exBEERiment with adding minerals in the glass, and 2) apply the findings to the next iteration of the recipe.

 

[DonT]

I start with reverse osmosis water and add salts to the mash and boil. I use those RO machines at the grocery store. Two bucks for 5 gallons.
A great read to learn how to do it is This... The whole website is pretty informative and worth a read. I also use this calculator.

That should get you close to what you're looking for...

 

[Jag75]

Does your tap water have chlorine taste to it? Sometimes our water makes great dark beers while making lackluster light beers. That's my case . For my light beers I use Bru n Water and build up from RO.