Water for a kolsch recipe

Hello everyone!

I plan on brewing my first kolsch on Sunday. I want to make sure that my water is as close to possible given my time constraint. I do not know my water chemistry and I do not have any minerals to add. I can pick up basics from the home brew shop tomorrow, but I realise that water chemistry is tricky and ultimately I want to test my water and learn more about water which will take some time (that I don't have for this brew)

As such, what would be the easiest way to prepare my water? Should I boil down some water to the amount required? Would this soften it enough and keep enough of the good stuff needed for conversion and all that stuff (see, I don't know much about water chemistry so go easy on me!)

Any hints would be great.

Thanks!

Are you doing extract or all-grain? If you're doing extract, don't sweat it, if your water tastes good for drinking you can just use it.

If you're doing all-grain, have you ever done an AG batch before? Without knowing *anything* about your water, it's really hard to know what to tell you.

I can tell you that I use straight Cleveland tap water with a small percentage of acidulated malt to brew my Kolsch, and it comes out fantastic (medaled in the last 2 competitions I entered). But without knowing where you are or what your water is, we can't really help you - unless you want to use distilled or RO water and build it up from scratch.

Well, that's what I was considering. I'm using tap water in Leeds UK. I was considering distilled and then working it up.. I was also considering boiling, which I heard does soften the water...

Sorry - all grain

My malt bill is all Pilsner plus a very small amount of wheat.

Have you brewed any other all-grain brews before? How did they turn out?

Yes many times - all have turned out good but I have read that kolsch requires exceptionally soft water.

Here is something I found for the water in my area:

SubstanceTypical valueUK/European limitUnit
Calcium47.3000-mg Ca/l
Magnesium6.6175-mg Mg/l
Residual chlorine - free0.18-mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total0.26-mg/l Cl2
Coliforms00no/100ml
E-coli00no/100ml
Aluminium26.712200µg Al/l
Colour1.3420mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity331.352500µS/cm
Fluoride0.0661.5mg F/l
pH (Hydrogen Ion Conc.)7.156.5 - 10.0pH Units
Iron15.77200µg Fe/l
Manganese2.6250µg Mn/l
Nitrate8.883750mg NO3/l
Nitrite0.00930.5mg NO2/l
Sodium15.69200mg Na/l
Turbidity0.1544NTU
Copper0.03942mg Cu/l
Lead2.20125µg Pb/l

It looks like my water is pretty soft, but I'm no expert. Opinions?

I wouldn't worry about it too much the if you're generally happy with the way your AG brews turn out. Maybe acidify your mash a bit more than you usually do, but even if you don't it still may turn out just fine.