I'm brewing a 20 liter (5.28 gallon) batch of russian imperial stout (67.7 SRM) with quite a lot of roasted malts.
Grain bill:
7,50 kg Pale Malt (Weyermann) (6,5 EBC) Grain 1 80,6 %
0,68 kg Amber Malt (100,0 EBC) Grain 2 7,3 % (Roasted malt)
0,56 kg Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1199,7 EBC) Grain 3 6,0 % (Roasted malt)
0,34 kg Carafa Special I (Weyermann) (900,0 EBC) Grain 4 3,7 % (Roasted malt)
0,23 kg Caramunich III (Weyermann) (139,9 EBC) Grain 5 2,5 %
Would something close to the "Black Balanced" water profile from Bru'n water be a good target?
"Black Balanced" profile:
Calcium 60
Magnesium 10
Sodium 20
Sulfate 47
Chloride 38
Bicarbonate 160
(RA 84)
(SO4/Cl ratio 1.2)
My starting water is:
Calcium 18
Magnesium 1.5
Sodium 1.8
Sulfate 17
Chloride 1.5
Bicarbonate 45
I batch sparge and will target two equal runoff volumes. To do that I would need to mash with 22.5 liter and sparge with 13.8 liter.
I only have CaCO3 (Chalk) and NaHCO3 (Baking Soda) available for adding alkalinity and have been fiddling around with the Bru'n water spreadsheet to figure out my water additions. This is what I came up with:
Mash water (22.5 liter):
0.9g Gypsum
0.5g Epsom Salt
1.6g Baking Soda
1.8g Calcium Chloride
1.1g Chalk
Sparge water (13.8 liter):
0.6g Gypsum
0.3g Epsom Salt
1.1g Calcium Chloride
This would give me a finished water profile:
Calcium 69.1
Magnesium 3.5 (I know its lower than the target)
Sodium 21
Sulfate 47.1
Chloride 40.1
Bicarbonate 156.9
(RA 78)
(SO4/Cl ratio 1.2)
According to Bru'n Waters estimation this would give me a room temp mash pH of 5.4.
Does this final water seem reasonable for an imperial stout?
Would it make sense to skip the CaCl2, MgSO4 and CaSO4 in the mash and add all those to the boil instead since they all will lower pH and I guess that is something I do not need with all the roasted malt that will be in the mash. I would of course need to compensate by lowering the additions that add alkalinity to the mash water.
Would you acidify the sparge water (given my water and proposed additions) even though I batch sparge and have all those roasted malts in the mash?
Grain bill:
7,50 kg Pale Malt (Weyermann) (6,5 EBC) Grain 1 80,6 %
0,68 kg Amber Malt (100,0 EBC) Grain 2 7,3 % (Roasted malt)
0,56 kg Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1199,7 EBC) Grain 3 6,0 % (Roasted malt)
0,34 kg Carafa Special I (Weyermann) (900,0 EBC) Grain 4 3,7 % (Roasted malt)
0,23 kg Caramunich III (Weyermann) (139,9 EBC) Grain 5 2,5 %
Would something close to the "Black Balanced" water profile from Bru'n water be a good target?
"Black Balanced" profile:
Calcium 60
Magnesium 10
Sodium 20
Sulfate 47
Chloride 38
Bicarbonate 160
(RA 84)
(SO4/Cl ratio 1.2)
My starting water is:
Calcium 18
Magnesium 1.5
Sodium 1.8
Sulfate 17
Chloride 1.5
Bicarbonate 45
I batch sparge and will target two equal runoff volumes. To do that I would need to mash with 22.5 liter and sparge with 13.8 liter.
I only have CaCO3 (Chalk) and NaHCO3 (Baking Soda) available for adding alkalinity and have been fiddling around with the Bru'n water spreadsheet to figure out my water additions. This is what I came up with:
Mash water (22.5 liter):
0.9g Gypsum
0.5g Epsom Salt
1.6g Baking Soda
1.8g Calcium Chloride
1.1g Chalk
Sparge water (13.8 liter):
0.6g Gypsum
0.3g Epsom Salt
1.1g Calcium Chloride
This would give me a finished water profile:
Calcium 69.1
Magnesium 3.5 (I know its lower than the target)
Sodium 21
Sulfate 47.1
Chloride 40.1
Bicarbonate 156.9
(RA 78)
(SO4/Cl ratio 1.2)
According to Bru'n Waters estimation this would give me a room temp mash pH of 5.4.
Does this final water seem reasonable for an imperial stout?
Would it make sense to skip the CaCl2, MgSO4 and CaSO4 in the mash and add all those to the boil instead since they all will lower pH and I guess that is something I do not need with all the roasted malt that will be in the mash. I would of course need to compensate by lowering the additions that add alkalinity to the mash water.
Would you acidify the sparge water (given my water and proposed additions) even though I batch sparge and have all those roasted malts in the mash?