Bru'n Water Suggested Alkalinity

[danwlx]

Hi all,

Brewing a stout at the weekend and working out water treatment. My water looks like this vs the suggested 'Black Balanced' profile when entered to Bru'n Water:

Desired Total Hardness: 191
Actual: 167

Desired Alkalinity: 132
Actual : 137

Desired RA: 84
Actual: 92

To my untrained eye this looks a good match, however with no treatment my mash PH is a predicted 5.7 and to get to 5.4 it is suggesting acidifying to the following:

Alkalinity: 44
RA : -4

I'm confused as it would seem that my alkalinity and RA figures are being taken well below the desired to get to the correct PH. I'm sure there is something obvious I am missing here, can anyone point it out?

Thanks for any help!
Dan

[killer]

I'd just leave it alone for the first one. See how it turns out. If you can brew a good stout without water treatment then good for you....

[mozza]

So far it's never been wrong for me. I take ph reading now with every brew and it's always bang on so I'd go with what it says to be honest

[killer]

So far it's never been wrong for me. I take ph reading now with every brew and it's always bang on so I'd go with what it says to be honest

I'm also a fan of Brunwater - I use it for all my pales and milds - I do find stouts to be very forgiving though - it's the one style where my untreated beer has been better than my treated beer.