water profile second look

[laughingboysbrew]

I've read through the primer. I'm still a water newb, so looking to see if I'm on the right track.

I'm going to brew my first batch (IPA) with a custom water profile. I'm using EZ Water Adj spreadsheet. I'll be starting with RO (assuming 0's across the board). Via the calculator, my grain bill should yield a pH of 5.57 which would be ok, but the resulting water profile is out of "acceptable" ranges. So, to get it within ranges, I was thinking: Gypsum 4g, Epsom 4g and Chalk 6g for a ~10gal batch. This gives me the following water profile:
Ca: 105
Mg:12
Na:0
Cl:0
SO:121

Estimated pH rises slightly to 5.58. Am I good to go?

 

[ajdelange]

You never want to add chalk to mash or mash water for a couple if reasons. First off, it raises mash pH. You don't want that here or in any but dark beers. In fact, quite the opposite - you want acid in most cases. Second, and some think this is the good news, chalk takes a long time to dissolve and react so that the pH destroying effect is only about half what you might expect (though still detrimental). The problem is that any that makes it through the sparge will continue to raise pH in the kettle and even the fermenter.

Chalk can be used in preparing brewing water but it is an involved process that requires bubbling CO2 through the water and monitoring of pH while doing that. Furthermore, the effort is usually un-done when the prepared water is heated, the CO2 escapes and the chalk precipitates as a consequence of which it is almost always a waster of time.