Kolsch - Help with Water

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Grannyknot

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Doing a Kolsch this coming weekend, and after doing some reading on the internet it appears that a true Cologne Kolsch uses very soft water.

Here's my recipe for 5.25 gallons in the fermenter:
10lbs German Pilsener
0.5lb Munich Light
1.5oz Mt Hood @ 60min
0.5oz Mt Hood @ 5min
Wyeast 2565 Kolsch yeast at 58* for 3 weeks. 68* for 2 weeks. Cold Crash for 2 Weeks.

Now, I know that Mt Hood hops aren't traditional in a Cologne Kolsch, but I'd like the water profile to be close. Here is the water report for my town:
Alkalinity 67 ppm
Aluminum 13 ppb
Chloride 14 ppm
Hardness 91 ppm
Iron 10 ppb
Manganese 1 ppb
pH 7.2 Standard Units
Sulfate 26 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids 110 ppm
Zinc 115 ppb

Far from being soft water, I know. So, without doing a small chemistry experiment, would I be any better off buying distilled water for this recipe?
 
That water is a bit too alkaline for a Kolsch IMO. If you want to purchase some distilled H2O add some Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) to bring the Ca+ up to 60-75ppm and try that. BTW Mt Hood are a genetic derivative of Hallertau and will work just fine in a kolsch. I would ditch the late addition, however. If you want a little extra hop use a small middle addition @ ~30 minutes.
 
I agree with BigEd.

You can soften up your water by diluting with distilled, but you may need to add back some ions.

I feel it is more important to hit good pH for the mash and final beer, than to worry about the water profile from Koln. There are several water addtion excel sheets out there, and they are easy to use. Definitely get at least one, and see how your water needs to be treated to get to the 5.2-5.6 mash pH.

Also, remember to use a 90 minute boil time for this, as Pilsner malt can generate a lot of DMS precursors, and you need to boil them out.

Good luck!
--LexusChris
 
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