G
GottBeer
I'm fairly new to all grain brewing and lately I've been paying more attention to my mash pH and water chemistry. Typically all the grains are mashed together and with my water supply I usually add a bit of baking soda to my mash water to raise the alkalinity when brewing dark beers. But now I'm thinking of tackling "The Other Michael Jackson (Black Witbier)" in the current issue of Brew Your Own, and this recipe calls for mashing just the pils malt, wheat (flaked), and oats (flaked) and not adding the dark specialty grains until recirculation and sparge (in a sense it seems like the dark grains are being steeped in the lauter tun). So my question is, should I be adjusting my brewing water to target just the light grains in the mash and essentially ignore the late addition of the dark grains (at least in terms of pH)? And any reason to mess with the sparge water (e.g., for tannin extraction)? I appreciate any feedback.