Some guidance on this water profile...

[Pugs13]

Well here is my water profile that I will be working with...any suggestions. This is for a 5 gallon Dry Irish Stout batch. I am not sure if my mash volume is entered right. I know that we are using 1.5qt./lbs. of grain. Also, I was thinking of diluting with distilled water maybe doing 80/20 mix to bring my pH down but how can I raise my RA to accomadate an SRM of 34-35 without raising the pH? I have not entered anything yet for additions. Well take a look. Thanks.

Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 78
Mg: 27
Na: 10
Cl: 2
SO4: 15
CaCO3: 328

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 3.8 / 3.2
RO or distilled %: 75% / 0%

Total Grain (lb): 9.0

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaSO4: 0 / 0
CaCl2: 0 / 0
MgSO4: 0 / 0
NaHCO3: 0 / 0
CaCO3: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid (ml): 0
Sauermalz (oz): 0

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 20 / 46
Mg: 7 / 16
Na: 3 / 6
Cl: 1 / 1
SO4: 4 / 9
Cl to SO4 Ratio: 0.13 / 0.13

Alkalinity (CaCO3): 82
RA: 64
Estimated pH: 5.66
(room temp)

 

[ajdelange]

4:1 dilution would bring your alkalinity down to around 65. That should be enough. Forget that you ever heard anything about needing a particular RA for a particular color. In fact your pH will probably be a bit high (but not so high you need to do anything about it) in a typical dry stout recipe. You will probably want to add 1/2 tsp calcium chloride after the dilution.

 

[Pugs13]

4:1 dilution would bring your alkalinity down to around 65. That should be enough. Forget that you ever heard anything about needing a particular RA for a particular color. In fact your pH will probably be a bit high (but not so high you need to do anything about it) in a typical dry stout recipe. You will probably want to add 1/2 tsp calcium chloride after the dilution.

Seriously, I appreciate the patience and help with this. How does the mash volume look? Did I enter that in right? We are getting about 75% efficiency out of our tun.

 

[Pugs13]

How does this look. I played around with it a little. I am not sure on the chloride to sulfate ratio though.



Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 78
Mg: 27
Na: 10
Cl: 2
SO4: 15
CaCO3: 328

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 4 / 3.2
RO or distilled %: 75% / 0%

Total Grain (lb): 9.0

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaSO4: 0 / 0
CaCl2: 2 / 0
MgSO4: 2 / 1
NaHCO3: 0 / 0
CaCO3: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid (ml): 0
Sauermalz (oz): 0

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 56 / 66
Mg: 19 / 26
Na: 3 / 6
Cl: 64 / 37
SO4: 55 / 52
Cl to SO4 Ratio: 1.16 / 0.71

Alkalinity (CaCO3): 82
RA: 31
Estimated pH: 5.62
(room temp)

 

[ajdelange]

Alkalinity is a little high. I'd go to the 4:1 dilution you originally proposed to get alkalinity down a bit further. That will lower mash pH a bit more. I'm guessing to 5.5 or so but it could be a bit higher.

I see you added some Epsom salts. No reason to do that really. Magnesium is not flavor positive. If you wanted some sulfate you could use a bit of gypsum rather than the Epsom salts.

It's good to have chloride between 50 and 100 - rounds out the beer in general. The desirable amount of sulfate depends on how you want the hops perceived. In a stout I generally keep it low because a stout is about the roast/chocolate character of the roast barley - not the hops. Your taste may vary, however. The sulfate to chloride ratio is another thing like the RA/SRM tie - in. Best forgotten. Chloride and sulfate each has its own effects.

 

[Pugs13]

This may be better. I got it to come down a bit by diluting and I can still be able to use this water from a local source for a marketable stand point.

Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 78
Mg: 27
Na: 10
Cl: 2
SO4: 15
CaCO3: 328

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 4 / 3.5
RO or distilled %: 80% / 0%

Total Grain (lb): 8.9

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaSO4: 2 / 0.75
CaCl2: 2 / 0.75
MgSO4: 0 / 0
NaHCO3: 0 / 0
CaCO3: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid (ml): 0
Sauermalz (oz): 0

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 82 / 93
Mg: 5 / 15
Na: 2 / 6
Cl: 64 / 48
SO4: 77 / 63
Cl to SO4 Ratio: 0.84 / 0.76

Alkalinity (CaCO3): 66
RA: 4
Estimated pH: 5.55
(room temp)

 

[Pugs13]

Alkalinity is a little high. I'd go to the 4:1 dilution you originally proposed to get alkalinity down a bit further. That will lower mash pH a bit more. I'm guessing to 5.5 or so but it could be a bit higher.

I see you added some Epsom salts. No reason to do that really. Magnesium is not flavor positive. If you wanted some sulfate you could use a bit of gypsum rather than the Epsom salts.

It's good to have chloride between 50 and 100 - rounds out the beer in general. The desirable amount of sulfate depends on how you want the hops perceived. In a stout I generally keep it low because a stout is about the roast/chocolate character of the roast barley - not the hops. Your taste may vary, however. The sulfate to chloride ratio is another thing like the RA/SRM tie - in. Best forgotten. Chloride and sulfate each has its own effects.

How does this look? This may be as low as I can get the pH...this is of course by not concerning the RA...