brewing a hefeweizen with hard water

400d · 01-23-2012, 01:59 PM

hey guys,

I have 163 ppm HCO3 in my water.... I'll brew a hefeweizen tomorrow with this water - I just wanted to ask do you find this too hard for the style?

What off flavors should I expect?

Is it possible to get a good hefeweizen with such a water?

I can't buy any distilled water today to dilute it, so I'm stuck with 163 ppm bicarbonates...

I have regular salts for adjusting brewing water (CaSO4, CaCl, MgSO4) and i have 80% lactic acid.....what can I do about it? If I lower the ph to 5,5 with lactic acid, would it fix the beer taste at all?

**ajdelange** · 01-23-2012, 05:28 PM

Hefeweizens seem pretty durable given that you use the right yeast strain.

Bicarbonate at 163 is quite a bit and will doubtless result in a mash pH higher than desirable. Using lactic acid to lower it to 5.5 is a fine idea.

The result of proper mash pH as opposed to overly high mash pH was best put, IMO, by the guy who said "all the flavors seem brighter".

mabrungard · 01-23-2012, 09:15 PM

A Hefe should have a degree of tartness in the finished beer. Having judged hundreds of these beers, I'd say that the biggest fault in the beers I judged was likely that the brewer failed to adequately reduce their water's alkalinity.

A 5.5 mash pH target might still be a little too high in my opinion. For this style, I'd suggest targeting 5.3 at room temperature. This assumes that the OP has a calibrated pH meter.

I would also suggest that keeping the overall mineralization of the water relatively low. If the calcium content is already over 50 ppm, there is little need to increase it. Avoiding any additional sulfate is also strongly recommended. This style has no hop focus.