# Mash Water Chemistry for a RIS **URL:** \ **Category:** Brewing Processes\ **Created:** [October 20, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236 "2016-10-20T21:52:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/1 "2016-10-20T21:52:14Z")
I live in LA and am looking at brewing an Imperial Stout. This is the basic water profile here, any suggestions on what I should add 93 mg/l caCO3 - Total Alkalanity 113 mg/l HCO3 - (BiCarbonate) 36 mg/l Calcium 133  mg/l  total Hardness as caCO3 7.5 ph 47 mg/l Phosphate 71 mg/l Sodium 78 mg/l sulfate 80 mg/l chloride Any suggestions on what I should do for an RIS?  I could go with filtered water and additions or should I go with Distilled water and build everything? Thank you for the advice. ---
**Author:** ![jonhughey\_att.net](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/jonhughey_att.net/32/6277_2.png) [@jonhughey\_att.net](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/jonhughey_att.net)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/2 "2016-10-20T22:03:20Z")
> [@nicosan1](#): > > I live in LA and am looking at brewing an Imperial Stout. > > This is the basic water profile here, any suggestions on what I should add > > 93 mg/l caCO3 - Total Alkalanity > 113 mg/l HCO3 - (BiCarbonate) > 36 mg/l Calcium > 133  mg/l  total Hardness as caCO3 > 7.5 ph > 47 mg/l Phosphate > 71 mg/l Sodium > 78 mg/l sulfate > 80 mg/l chloride > > Any suggestions on what I should do for an RIS?  I could go with filtered water and additions or should I go with Distilled water and build everything? > > Thank you for the advice. I’d run those numbers through Brunwater and see where that leaves your pH given your grist - it’s pretty favorable water for dark beers. If you can bump your mash pH up to even 5.5, you’ll make a really nice beer. ---
**Author:** ![brewinhard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@brewinhard](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/brewinhard)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/3 "2016-10-20T23:24:25Z")
Yeah, the water looks pretty good, i think for a stout. You may need to add a bit of baking soda/pickling lime into the mash to get your pH up a bit depending on the amount of acidic roasted grains you are using. My last RIS settled in at 5.6 pH and it is very smooth in the roast department with nice chocolate notes. ---
**Author:** ![jonhughey\_att.net](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/jonhughey_att.net/32/6277_2.png) [@jonhughey\_att.net](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/jonhughey_att.net)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/4 "2016-10-20T23:31:28Z")
> [@brewinhard](#): > > Yeah, the water looks pretty good, i think for a stout. You may need to add a bit of baking soda/pickling lime into the mash to get your pH up a bit depending on the amount of acidic roasted grains you are using. My last RIS settled in at 5.6 pH and it is very smooth in the roast department with nice chocolate notes. Yeah, I normally recommend 5.6 for stouts, too. But my understanding (Martin may shoot me down) is that the mg/l = ppm. If that’s true, bumping up to 5.6pH with 71ppm Na could push him up too far on his Na. ---
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/5 "2016-10-20T23:56:02Z")
This is my recipe, doing about 2.5 gallons. 11 lbs maris otter .75 lbs roasted barley .5 lb Special B .25 lb Caramunich .5 lb american chocolate .5 lb british chocolate .75 oz magnum at 60m 2 oz of EKG at 5 min 2 packs of London Ale w/ starter. ---
**Author:** ![mabrungard](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/mabrungard/32/12430_2.png) [@mabrungard](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/mabrungard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/6 "2016-10-21T00:02:29Z")
70 ppm Na should be OK for a stout. I’m surprised with the low Ca value. I wouldn’t add any more Cl to the water, but for a big malty RIS, having more sulfate would be OK. The sulfate will help dry the finish out and that is helpful when brewing a high gravity beer. Burton Ale is a big malty beer that was brewed in Burton on Trent and it was highly regarded and it was also reputed to be a forerunner to RIS. Adding a bit more gypsum to bring the sulfate into the 100 to 150 ppm range could be OK. I would target 100 ppm to begin with and try out a touch more gypsum in your glass of that beer to see if it helps or not. ---
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/7 "2016-10-21T00:08:06Z")
The Sodium, Sulfate and Chloride look high after entering in to BrunWater, the expected PH without any additions would be 5.58 according to that too. Should I dilute back with say a 1/4 distilled water and add back say a gram of baking soda? ---
**Author:** ![jonhughey\_att.net](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/jonhughey_att.net/32/6277_2.png) [@jonhughey\_att.net](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/jonhughey_att.net)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/8 "2016-10-21T00:11:56Z")
> [@nicosan1](#): > > The Sodium, Sulfate and Chloride look high after entering in to BrunWater, the expected PH without any additions would be 5.58 according to that too. Should I dilute back with say a 1/4 distilled water and add back say a gram of baking soda? No!  5.58pH would make a fantastic stout. Perfect water for it. ---
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/9 "2016-10-21T00:15:03Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@nicosan1](#): > > > > The Sodium, Sulfate and Chloride look high after entering in to BrunWater, the expected PH without any additions would be 5.58 according to that too. Should I dilute back with say a 1/4 distilled water and add back say a gram of baking soda? > > No!  5.58pH would make a fantastic stout. Perfect water for it. Thanks for the advice, so I will just go with filtering my water, and using for this, no additions to the mash.  Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![hopfenundmalz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/hopfenundmalz/32/11193_2.png) [@hopfenundmalz](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/hopfenundmalz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/10 "2016-10-21T02:44:38Z")
What is up with that Phosphate level? No Magnesium? ---
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/11 "2016-10-21T14:05:49Z")
> [@hopfenundmalz](#): > > What is up with that Phosphate level? No Magnesium? Magnesium at 11, Phosphate at 47 mg/l aka ppm ---
**Author:** ![hopfenundmalz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/hopfenundmalz/32/11193_2.png) [@hopfenundmalz](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/hopfenundmalz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/12 "2016-10-21T14:18:33Z")
> [@nicosan1](#): > > > [@hopfenundmalz](#): > > > > What is up with that Phosphate level? No Magnesium? > > Magnesium at 11, Phosphate at 47 mg/l aka ppm Yeah, I know that is equivalent to ppm. 47 ppm seems very high. Martin, do you have any knowledge about that? ---
**Author:** ![mabrungard](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/mabrungard/32/12430_2.png) [@mabrungard](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/mabrungard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/13 "2016-10-21T17:34:23Z")
47 PPM is quite uncommon. Are you sure the units are correct? ---
**Author:** ![nicosan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@nicosan1](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/nicosan1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/14 "2016-10-21T20:21:43Z")
Actually its 47 Micrograms per liter according to the LA Water Quality report, so that would be about .047 mg/l.  I misread that. ---
**Author:** ![hopfenundmalz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/hopfenundmalz/32/11193_2.png) [@hopfenundmalz](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/hopfenundmalz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/mash-water-chemistry-for-a-ris/24236/15 "2016-10-22T01:56:32Z")
> [@nicosan1](#): > > Actually its 47 Micrograms per liter according to the LA Water Quality report, so that would be about .047 mg/l.  I misread that. Thanks for double checking. That is in a good range.