Water for a Stout

[DBear]

Howdy

I have never brewed a stout nor any beer this dark or with this much roast.

Here is my water report (ward labs)


calcium 54.0 mg/l
magnesium10.0 mg/l
sodium 20.0 mg/l
sulfate 66.0 mg/l
chloride 37.0 mg/l
bicarb 106.0 mg/l
alkalinity 97.0 ppm CaCO3
Residual alkalinity 53

Using Brukiaser's water sprsht

beer color 37 SRM
roasted % 25 % (% roast of non base malts)
estimated mash pH 4.8

To raise ph this low would call for chalk to and playing with the sprsht it seems like a lot of chalk @ +7gr. just get me to 5.1 ph. I'm lookng for a ph around 5.4.

Does this sound like a lot of chalk for 6gal batch and will it disolve fully in the mash/sparge?
What have you done with water for stouts?

-Cheers

 

[Nateo]

Dough in and test your pH. I doubt you'll need that much, if any, chalk to raise the pH.
It is basically impossible to estimate pH from SRM. My residual alkalinity is about 80 and I frequently need to add acid to LOWER my pH when making dark beers.

I do like adding some kosher salt to my sweeter beer to bring up the sodium and chloride levels. Usually like 1/2tsp or so.

 

[kanzimonson]

Baking soda raises the alkalinity and requires about half as much chalk... just don't let it take your sodium levels over 75-100ppm.

And just to ease your mind, 7g of chalk is not a crazy amount of salt to be adding, especially for a dark beer.