[adama]

I'm going to be brewing up a sweet stout here pretty soon and  I have a couple questions about the water. I'm going to be cold steeping the dark grains and adding them late in the boil, so my first question is; would I use the water profile for a stout or for a light malty ale since I will only be mashing the base grains? Second, what pH should I shoot for with the absence of roasted grains in the mash? Thanks for the help guys. Cheers!

[denny]

I'm going to be brewing up a sweet stout here pretty soon and  I have a couple questions about the water. I'm going to be cold steeping the dark grains and adding them late in the boil, so my first question is; would I use the water profile for a stout or for a light malty ale since I will only be mashing the base grains? Second, what pH should I shoot for with the absence of roasted grains in the mash? Thanks for the help guys. Cheers!

I'd use the profile for whatever color the beer will be without the cold steeped portion.  And aim for the normal 5.2-5.4 mash pH.

[nateo]

I know Martin has said he prefers 5.5 in dark beers. If you add dark grain, you're adding acidity to the beer, whether you add it in the mash or post-mash. A slightly higher mash pH would make a slightly higher kettle pH, which would be better able to buffer the acidity from the roasted grain.

[jmcamerlengo]

Get your pH in your mash right as Denny mentioned. 5.2-5.5 is subjective to your tastes. Since you are doing the cold steep option its at your discretion with the water. One option would be to add your calcium chloride/sulfate to the mash to get your 50 ppm of calcium and sulfate to chloride ratio then add salts to the kettle to get some of the taste you want if you really want that bite that say a London water has.

FWIW I do the cold steep option with my sweet stout and just add calcium chloride and a little gypsum to the mash, and a little more to the kettle to achieve about 50 ppm calcium.

[hopfenundmalz]

Get your pH in your mash right as Denny mentioned. 5.2-5.5 is subjective to your tastes. Since you are doing the cold steep option its at your discretion with the water. One option would be to add your calcium chloride/sulfate to the mash to get your 50 ppm of calcium and sulfate to chloride ratio then add salts to the kettle to get some of the taste you want if you really want that bite that say a London water has.

FWIW I do the cold steep option with my sweet stout and just add calcium chloride and a little gypsum to the mash, and a little more to the kettle to achieve about 50 ppm calcium.

London water is relatively low in SO4 at 34 ppm, and Cl is at 32 ppm. The times I have toured Fullers brewery, you do see the bags of gypsum by the HLT, and they say that they Burtonize the water. To what level was beyond the guides knowledge.

[jmcamerlengo]

Get your pH in your mash right as Denny mentioned. 5.2-5.5 is subjective to your tastes. Since you are doing the cold steep option its at your discretion with the water. One option would be to add your calcium chloride/sulfate to the mash to get your 50 ppm of calcium and sulfate to chloride ratio then add salts to the kettle to get some of the taste you want if you really want that bite that say a London water has.

FWIW I do the cold steep option with my sweet stout and just add calcium chloride and a little gypsum to the mash, and a little more to the kettle to achieve about 50 ppm calcium.

London water is relatively low in SO4 at 34 ppm, and Cl is at 32 ppm. The times I have toured Fullers brewery, you do see the bags of gypsum by the HLT, and they say that they Burtonize the water. To what level was beyond the guides knowledge.

Correct it is low as far as we know. I guess I should clarify my post and say that adding calcium chloride and gypsum to the mash to get your 50 ppm of calcium(which would put your SO4 and Cl levels right in the low 30s range) and then adding some chalk or something to the boil to get that carbonic bite that some stouts will have. I personally dont care for that taste but its an option!