Should I add the baking soda?

[vegas20s]

So here the deal. I've been reading like crazy to get better at this home brew thing ( which is subsequently driving my wife crazy). My next batch is going to be an American Oatmeal Stout. I'm just juicing up the IBUs from an oatmeal stout Mini mash recipe I found on byo.com. Here's what it looks like....

* 6 lbs. amber, dry malt extract
* 1 lb. crystal malt, 60° Lovibond
* 1.5 lb. American six-row pale ale malt
* 18 oz. oatmeal (quick)
* 0.5 lb. chocolate malt
* 0.5 lb. roasted barley
* 1/2 tsp. Irish moss, for 15 min.
* 1 oz. Columbus hop pellets (12.4% alpha acid), for 30 min.
* 1 oz. Columbus hop pellets (12.4% alpha acid), for 10 min.
* ale yeast


I'm going to toast the oats and possibly ( because I'm not sure if I want to tackle this yet) make some fresh roasted Chocolate malt to add to the freshness of this brew. Sounds great right!

Here is where I need to know if I'm getting to complicated with the whole mini mash deal. I've been reading John Palmers how to brew in preparation for my mini mash event after taking in all that he has to say on water ph and hardness and looking up Las Vegas' water report I've come to find that our tap water would make a pretty good dark hoppy beer ie: an American stout.

Only thing is that after I used the spread sheet that he gives you on the web site I think I need to add some baking soda to up the ph a bit.

The instructions on byo.com don't talk about PH but I'm the type of person that want to be perfect at every thing he does, but at the same time I don't want to over complicate the process if I don't have to.

Should I worry about the ph so much with a mini mash or am I making a big deal out of nothing

 

[jppostKW]

So here the deal. I've been reading like crazy to get better at this home brew thing ( which is subsequently driving my wife crazy). My next batch is going to be an American Oatmeal Stout. I'm just juicing up the IBUs from an oatmeal stout Mini mash recipe I found on byo.com. Here's what it looks like....

* 6 lbs. amber, dry malt extract
* 1 lb. crystal malt, 60° Lovibond
* 1.5 lb. American six-row pale ale malt
* 18 oz. oatmeal (quick)
* 0.5 lb. chocolate malt
* 0.5 lb. roasted barley
* 1/2 tsp. Irish moss, for 15 min.
* 1 oz. Columbus hop pellets (12.4% alpha acid), for 30 min.
* 1 oz. Columbus hop pellets (12.4% alpha acid), for 10 min.
* ale yeast


I'm going to toast the oats and possibly ( because I'm not sure if I want to tackle this yet) make some fresh roasted Chocolate malt to add to the freshness of this brew. Sounds great right!

Here is where I need to know if I'm getting to complicated with the whole mini mash deal. I've been reading John Palmers how to brew in preparation for my mini mash event after taking in all that he has to say on water ph and hardness and looking up Las Vegas' water report I've come to find that our tap water would make a pretty good dark hoppy beer ie: an American stout.

Only thing is that after I used the spread sheet that he gives you on the web site I think I need to add some baking soda to up the ph a bit.

The instructions on byo.com don't talk about PH but I'm the type of person that want to be perfect at every thing he does, but at the same time I don't want to over complicate the process if I don't have to.

Should I worry about the ph so much with a mini mash or am I making a big deal out of nothing

With that amount of grain i wouldnt worry about the ph for a while until your doing all grain and have a few more brews under your belt. looks like a good recipe and oatmeal stout is next on the brewgenda for me as well

 

[Blender]

My guess is that you don't really need to worry about it with this type of beer. I would try to remove the chlorines or cloramines from the water though.

 

[vegas20s]

In case your wondering here the specs on Las Vegas' water....


Calcium (ppm) 78
Magnesium (ppm) 26
Alkalinity as CaCO3 (ppm) 134
Sodium (ppm) 92
Chloride (ppm) 95
Sulfate (ppm) 245
Water pH 7.7

http://www.lvvwd.com/assets/pdf/wq_summary_lvvwd.pdf

 

[wildwest450]

Also, the ph of your tap water is not important. It's the mash ph you need to be concerned with. My tap water is 7.9, but drops to the mid 5's after dough in.

 

[Edcculus]

I wouldn't sweat mash pH with minimash. Get your process dialed in first. Then start worrying about water chemistry and mash pH.

 

[maida7]

I wouldn't sweat mash pH with minimash. Get your process dialed in first. Then start worrying about water chemistry and mash pH.

+1 I would skip it and brew the beer.

Beside your water has a lot of sodium and the baking soda will exacerbate that. When you get into the water adjustments you probably will want to use chalk to increase the alkalinity for the darkest of beers.

Your sulfate is also very high. You could probably dilute your tap water with some RO water to reduce all the mineral content.

 

[pearlbeer]

If you are worried about it, buy some RO water from the Grocery Store. Or buy some 5.2 from your LHBS

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1692&osCsid=9713f82fce6625aefd6a805cc1a6aee0

 

[vegas20s]

+1 I would skip it and brew the beer.

Beside your water has a lot of sodium and the baking soda will exacerbate that. When you get into the water adjustments you probably will want to use chalk to increase the alkalinity for the darkest of beers.

Your sulfate is also very high. You could probably dilute your tap water with some RO water to reduce all the mineral content.

Yeah I was kinda thinking that would be the case. The baking soda put the sodium content into the upper limits of acceptableness for brewing. Where does one get Chalk for brewing, besides the LHBS of course?

I know pushing the limits using this water but I want to use what I have if I can.

Plus it seem like we have pretty good water for a pale ale or esb.

 

[wildwest450]

According to the charts, a 10-15 srm beer in the bitter range is what you water is suited for. I wouldn't sweat it for now though.

 

[vegas20s]

so an american or an imperial/double IPA on the upper end of the srm range for that style would do well with our fare city's water.

Maybe I'll go for an IPA with this next batch.