How's my water for a kolsch?

heywolfie1015 said:

I plan on brewing a kolsch soon and was thinking that my alkalinity is a little high for such a light beer. Consequently, I was thinking about diluting 1:1 with purified water when I mash.

My water profile is actually pretty well suited for a lot of styles. Low calcium and low-ish magnesium, but otherwise pretty good on everything else:

Ca: 29
Mg: 9.1
Na: 49
Cl: 55
SO4: 44
CACO3: 113

I read on HBT that I should try to get CACO3 for a kolsch to ~50-75ppm, so I figured the easiest way to do that is just dilute by 50%. (It doesn't get much easier than pouring in a gallon of distilled water and then filling up the bottle with tap water...) Does that sound like a good plan, given my water profile? This will be the first time I try messing with my water, so I'm trying to be as informed as possible before getting to it.

Thanks much.

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remilard said:

I would add gypsum to get to around 75 ppm sulfate and then use lactic acid (or acid malt) to get the rest of the way.

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kryolla said:

Sounds good but get TH spreadsheet and watch Bobby videos then mess with the numbers. Its not that difficult

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