I'm preparing to brew the "Doing it in the Dark" Schwarzbier recipe from BCS. I'm using Bru'nWater for water adjustments and starting from RO. I'm using the "brown malty" profile but skewing the numbers toward the "brown balanced" profile, shooting for somewhere in between. My problem is that I'm having a hard time raising the pH to an acceptable level. I can get the pH to 5.3 by adding plenty of chalk and baking soda, but the problem then is that my sodium level is way up at 44.4. I do plan to dissolve the chalk under CO2 gas ahead of time.
So, first question - is that sodium level too high, or should I just go with it?
Otherwise, should I leave the dark grains out of the main mash, and just use them to cap the mash before the sparge? I guess I'd be losing some gravity points by doing it that way.
This recipe calls for chocolate malt, Carafa II, and roasted barley. I'm kind of at a loss here, but thankfully the brewday is about a week out and I have a whole community of pros at my fingertips here. Help a brother out! Thanks.