Water Chemistry Funtime!

[Savage06]

Water chemistry fun-time!
Brewing an imperial stout with the below malt bill:

Pale 2-Row (UK) 14.0 lb 78 % Mash 38 3 °L
Flaked Oats 1.5 lb 8 % 33 2 °L
Roasted Barley (US) 1.0 lb 5 % Mash 33 300 °L
Chocolate (US) 0.75 lb 4 % Mash 29 350 °L
Special B (BE) 0.5 lb 2 % Mash 34 115 °L

I am going to cold steep the dark grains overnight at a ratio of 2qts water to 1lb grain. I like the smoother flavor it imparts and not have to deal with the extra acidity during the mash.
My base profile is extremely soft:
ca - 6ppm
mg - 1ppm
na - 7 ppm
cl - 9ppm
so - 5ppm
Alklanity as ppm CaCO3 - 15
PH - 7.2

Going to shoot for a malty dark profile they have set as is below

ca - 100 ppm
mg - 5 ppm
na - 35 ppm
cl - 60 ppm
so - 50 ppm
HCO - 265

I'm always on the fence of even chasing any sort of set profile and I mainly just deal with additions of Gypsum, Cal Cl, and Baking soda as well as lactic acid to hit target mash PH

Should I bother adding all of the salt additions in the mash then adjusting ph as need be or should I just adjust the mash for PH then add the salts during the boil?

So I'm looking to add 5g Gypsum, 6g Cal cl, and 3g Baking Soda to get in the ballpark and then acidify the mash with 6.15ml of lactic at 88% to hit a ph of 5.4.

I am going to add the dark grains at mash out and sparge them.
Or should I just add salts post mash.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Baking soda is a base, I almost exclusively use acid to address my mash PH. My 3 standard ammendments, that get me to most of the profiles are Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt), and, like you, Calc. Cl. and Gypsum.

 

[Savage06]

Yes, I add it for a small hit of sodium though the question is if I'm not mashing the dark grains will the additions of gypsum and cal chloride have any effect on the mash outside of slightly changing the PH.

If I am adding them mainly for flavor perception of malts and hops should I just throw it in the boil?

 

[jbaysurfer]

Yes, I add it for a small hit of sodium though the question is if I'm not mashing the dark grains will the additions of gypsum and cal chloride have any effect on the mash outside of slightly changing the PH.

If I am adding them mainly for flavor perception of malts and hops should I just throw it in the boil?

I know brewers who do this for Calcium Chloride, but gypsum solubility in high temperatures is questionable at best. I try to add my gypsum before I even heat my strike water. If I'm treating my sparge water with it I dissolve it in room temp water first before adding it to the HLT. You could do the same and add it into the mash or boil I suppose: