Water and PH for stout

[dan125]

If it's of any use - I have a very similar alkalinity of approx. 220ppm and add CRS to all my brews. I just use a bit less in stouts.

 

[didinho]

I always check PH when I mash roasted grains, to avoid tannin extraction.
I keep it around 5.5 and I also acidify sparge water.

 

[Covrich]

Here is a wild one then

I have only done one stout and it came out pretty good, however I put all my roasted grains in room temp water and did a cold steep before straining out and adding to the mash at the end.. would you still treat the water the same? because you're essentially removing the balance in the mash right..

 

[TartanSpecial]

I'd have thought you'd need to treat the water (CRS) for the mash as if it were a pale ale since you won;t have the acidic roasty malts in there to help pull the ph down....but you'd still want to add calcium chloride vs gypsum since you'll want to emphasise maltiness. I did that for a recent porter...added CRS as if it were a pale ale, since I cold steeped all the roast malts, and the mash efficiency was good.