Water profile for a Koelsch?

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Dr_Deathweed

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Kinda simplifying a question from my earlier very long post. Does anyone have a reliable source for an optimal water profile for a Koelsch?
 
Kölsch (not Koelsch) is one of my favorite light beers to brew.
Let me look in this month's BYO magazine, it had several pages on this beer...

they don't mention water profiles at all. they say over and over that the key to kölsch is the malt, hops, and especially the yeast being given the right temperature (pseudo-lager).

I have pretty hard tap water, and my kölsch comes out fine...I don't seem to have any of the problems associated with light beers made with hard, high pH, high bicarbonate water.

good luck!
 
Cool, thanks for the reply. I had seen it spelled both Kolsch and Koelsch, but thanks for setting me straight on that.
 
i got my german speaking brewing friend to do some digging online and he found the data. website is here. there are 4 tabs for 4 different geographic areas, and the one that's useful to us is koln-rechtsrheinisch. for those of us who don't care to learn german, the numbers are:

Ca= 83.6 ppm
Mg= 13.6 ppm
Na= 30.3 ppm
SO4= 75.9 ppm

there are no numbers for carbonate (CO3) or chlorine (Cl), but there are numbers for nitrate, fluoride, an phosphate. these numbers seem to be in line with what mrkristofo posted, maybe a bit lower. i'd say as long as you're in the ballpark between these sets of numbers you're good.
 
Sweet, thanks. Yeah, those numbers seem to be in the same ball park as numbers I found elsewhere:
Ca= 104
Mg=15
Na=52
SO4=86
Cl=109
Bicarb=154

These just seemed a bit off to me because I was thinking a lighter, pilsner type water profile. Thanks for y'alls help!
 
What do you guys think, just worked up this profile and it seems pretty suitable for me.

This page can be used for copying and pasting

Starting Water (ppm):
Ca: 3.2
Mg: 0.7
Na: 6.5
Cl: 4.2
SO4: 3.5
CaCO3: 16

Mash / Sparge Vol (gal): 3.5 / 5.5
RO or distilled %: 0% / 0%

Total Grain (lb): 11
Non-Roasted Spec. Grain: 0
Roasted Grain: 0
Beer Color (SRM): 4

Adjustments (grams) Mash / Boil Kettle:
CaSO4: 2 / 3.142857143
CaCl2: 3 / 4.714285714
MgSO4: 1 / 1.571428571
NaHCO3: 0 / 0
NaCl: 1 / 1.571428571
CaCO3: 0 / 0
Lactic Acid (ml): 0
Sauermalz (oz): 2

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):
Ca: 99 / 99
Mg: 8 / 8
Na: 36 / 36
Cl: 159 / 159
SO4: 117 / 117
Cl to SO4 Ratio: 1.36 / 1.36

Alkalinity (CaCO3): -103
RA: -178
Estimated pH: 5.38
 
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