Spreadsheet says my starting water has a RA of 9. That's not going to be enough.The beer I'm brewing has a SRM of 48. (Biggish American stout.) 6G recipe. 16.5 lbs of grain. Mashing with ~4 G of waterThe spreadsheet tells me I want a RA in the 451-510 range. From what I recall of the "Brew Strong" podcasts I don't really want it quite that high. An RA of 250 will be plenty. (Correct?)So, what I want (at least what I think I want) is:1) RA up around 250.2) Ca up around 50-100 ppm3) Reasonable Chloride/Sulfate ratioTo raise the RA I can add chalk, baking soda, or some combination thereof. If I use just chalk my Ca figure goes way high (450+ ppm). If I use just baking soda my Ca figure stays way low. So I'll try a blend. 3g chalk, 6g baking soda of each gets me to an RA of 255, Ca at 86 ppm. So far so good.Chloride/Sulfate ratio is "Very Malty". I think I want to be more in the "balanced" range. So I add gypsum. Takes juuuust a touch - 1/2 gram of gypsum - to get that to balance. This also raises the Ca to 92 ppm, which is fine.So, am I done? Add 3g chalk, 6g baking soda, and 1/2g gypsum to my mash and call that good water for a stout?Final water:(ppm)92 Calcium2 Magnesium317 Alkalinity as CaCO3108 Sodium22 Chloride22 SulfateRA = 250pH 7.3Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 112Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.19Cations / Anions, me/L 1.5 / 1.4ppmSodium, Na 12Potassium, K 1Calcium, Ca 15Magnesium, Mg 2Total Hardness, CaCO3 46Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)Sulfate, SO4-S 6Chloride, Cl 22Carbonate, CO3 <1Bicarbonate, HCO3 26Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 21
Water adjustment for a stout
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 06:04 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 06:24 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 06:25 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 06:39 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 06:48 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 07:03 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 07:43 PM
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Posted 27 August 2009 - 08:02 PM
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Posted 28 August 2009 - 06:01 AM
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Posted 30 August 2009 - 06:02 AM
Just mashed in. I went with this ^^^ method. (My actual salt amounts were slightly higher since I upped the strike water amount from 4G to 5.2G.) Will have to see how it goes.Yeah, I'd be curious, too, to know how it would work both ways (chalk vs. no chalk) too. Not curious enough to do all the work required, but curious enough to say, "Yeah, I'd be curious, too".Hmm. Another way to go (at least in spreadsheet world) is to use just baking soda (8g) to get the RA up and then add a combo of Calcium Chloride (2g) (have to check and see if I have this) and gypsum (2g) to give me enough Calcium and to balance malty/bitter.
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