Imperial Breakfast Stout Water Profile

[Twang]

Does anyone have a water profile that they recommend for an imperial coffee stout?
Grain Bill
2Row (1.8L): 8lb / 76.2%
Oat (2.5L): 1lb / 9.5%
Chocolate Malt (340 L): .5lb / 4.8%
Black Barley (550 L): .5lb / 4.8%
CaraWheat (45 L) .5lb / 4.8%

BIAB 5.75gallon water

Right now I am targeting Brun Water's Black Malty:
Ca: 60
Mg: 10
Na: 20
SO: 47
Cl: 38

I am using distilled water and my pre-mineral addition pH is 5.52. I usually shoot for 5.40.

With these additions (gram/gal):
Gypsum: 0.30
CaCl: 0.33
Pickling Lime: 0.10

I can achieve this profile:
Ca: 56.5
Mg: 0
Na: 0
SO: 44.2
Cl: 42.1
pH 5.50

My concerns / questions:

• Is this a good water profile to shoot for with this style?
• Should I aim for a lower pH?
• I can't increase my sodium while keeping Calcium up without pushing the chloride or pH too high. I've read sodium helps to accentuate the malty flavors.

 

[MaxStout]

Does anyone have a water profile that they recommend for an imperial coffee stout?
Grain Bill
2Row (1.8L): 8lb / 76.2%
Oat (2.5L): 1lb / 9.5%
Chocolate Malt (340 L): .5lb / 4.8%
Black Barley (550 L): .5lb / 4.8%
CaraWheat (45 L) .5lb / 4.8%

BIAB 5.75gallon water

Right now I am targeting Brun Water's Black Malty:
Ca: 60
Mg: 10
Na: 20
SO: 47
Cl: 38

I am using distilled water and my pre-mineral addition pH is 5.52. I usually shoot for 5.40.

With these additions (gram/gal):
Gypsum: 0.30
CaCl: 0.33
Pickling Lime: 0.10

I can achieve this profile:
Ca: 56.5
Mg: 0
Na: 0
SO: 44.2
Cl: 42.1
pH 5.50

My concerns / questions:

• Is this a good water profile to shoot for with this style?
• Should I aim for a lower pH?
• I can't increase my sodium while keeping Calcium up without pushing the chloride or pH too high. I've read sodium helps to accentuate the malty flavors.

I used a very similar profile for the RIS I did last summer, and had good results.
You don't want to lower pH, as those dark malts will bring it down already.
Don't add sodium. It's chloride that will accentuate the malty flavor. Use calcium chloride for that.

 

[mabrungard]

Boosting mash pH in darker beers does help take the 'edge' off roasty flavors that can occur when pH drops too far. 5.4 to 5.6 has worked well for me. The minor sodium content in that Blacky Malty profile is not going to make much in the way of difference in flavor. However, I can attest that sodium is a positive enhancement in darker beers. Approaching 100 ppm Na can still be tasty. Producing that Na content with either CaCl2, NaCl, or Baking Soda are viable alternatives.

Don't worry too much about Ca content in your water. One of the main results of having a decent Ca content (>40 ppm) is to help the yeast flocculate. I've found that dark beers tend to clear pretty well, regardless of the Ca content. So don't fret if the Ca content isn't at the 60 ppm recommended by that profile.