Brewing Kolsh, ion concentration advice sought

[UltraHighABV]

I have been getting low efficiency's lately (brewhouse and conversion)

Heres's what I have fixed/controlled for so far:

-maintaining solid and lengthy mash time/temp (maybe 150 solid for 75 min)
-2x sparges of 2 galls each with ultravigerous stiring
crushing grains 3x at the LHBS
making sure mash pH is around 5.5-5.6 when measured at room temp, with PhosAc.

Still getting bad efficiency, like 60% brewhouse


I started looking at the water profile, her it is in nut shell: ( in ppm)
Ca+2 11.0
MG+2 3.9
Na 10
Fe undisclosed (0)

Bicarb (HCO3) 44.3
Carbonate (CO3) 0.4
Sulfate 17
Chloride 9
Nitrate/Nitrite unknown/undisclosed
Fl- 0.4


Total hardness as CaO3 43
perm. hardness 6
temp hardness 37

ALKALINITY 37



Palmers book says:

Ca+2 should be 50-150,
Mg+2 should be 10-30
SO4-2 should be 50 to 150 for normal bitter beers sodium should be 70-150
Cl- should be 0-250

Could my calcium and MG levels be a cause of the low efficiency? I ave controlled for all other aspects. I am typically increasing my gran bill 1.25x to me my desired OG





My next question, is what should i alter these levels to when making a kolsch? Which was an optimal/distinct water prpfile/chemistry.



Thanks in advance for looking this over, oh an our Chloramine level is 2 ppm. Add a camped tablet or let it ride?

if you add a camped, which ion does it chelate, so that I can calculate much of the salts I want to add to the water

thanks, as always, insight appreciated.

 

[madscientist451]

I did some hunting around on google and came up with this water profile for the Cologne, Germany area:

Looking at the water analysis (trinkwasseranalyse) put out by the RheinEnergie in August 2010, the water profile for Cologne (Koln) is currently:

Calcium (Ca) 109.9 +/- 5.0 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg) 14.6 +/- 0.8 mg/l
Sodium (Na) 37.2 +/- 2.1 mg/l
Chloride (Cl) 65.4 +/- 4.0 mg/l
Bicarbonate (HCO3) 275.9 +/- 8.2 mg/l
pH 8.33

For your efficiency issues, I would suggest getting a PH meter and determine where your Mash PH is.
An alternative is just adjust your water to something close to the above and see how the beer comes out.
Some people worry about efficiency too much at the homebrew level. If you aren't getting the gravity points you want, maybe just add more grain to the recipe and go with it.
An interesting experiment would be to brew a few gallon batch with your untreated water and then another batch matching the water profile above and see if you notice the difference in the finished beer, and which one you prefer.

 

[ajdelange]

making sure mash pH is around 5.5-5.6 when measured at room temp, with PhosAc.

What is a PhosAc?

Still getting bad efficiency, like 60% brewhouse

Use more grain or sparge until runoff is down to at least 4 °P (check sparge pH or acidify sparge water).

I started looking at the water profile, her it is in nut shell: ( in ppm)
Ca+2 11.0
MG+2 3.9
Na 10
Fe undisclosed (0)

Bicarb (HCO3) 44.3
Carbonate (CO3) 0.4
Sulfate 17
Chloride 9
Nitrate/Nitrite unknown/undisclosed
Fl- 0.4


Total hardness as CaO3 43
perm. hardness 6
temp hardness 37

ALKALINITY 37

That's great for a Kölsch. You are especially fortunate in the low sulfate as you can use noble hops if you like. Add half a tsp of CaCl2 per 5 gal and you should be in great shape. This is to increase the chloride an make the beer a bit more robust - not for the calcium but augmenting the calcium is good too. Or you may wish to brew it with the water as is and experiment with adding CaCl2 tot he finished beer to see how you like (or not) the supplemental chloride.

Could my calcium and MG levels be a cause of the low efficiency? I ave controlled for all other aspects.

Not likely. Of course that raises the question as to why your efficiency readings are so low. Perhaps it is measurement. Be sure to stir the wort thoroughly or to withhold sampling until the wort has been boiling vigorously for a few minutes.

My next question, is what should i alter these levels to when making a kolsch? Which was an optimal/distinct water prpfile/chemistry.

The optimal water chemistry is the the one that gives you the best beer. This will require experimentation to determine. Start with a simple and modest calcium chloride addition.

Thanks in advance for looking this over, oh an our Chloramine level is 2 ppm. Add a camped tablet or let it ride?

Especially in a delicate beer like a Kölsch you do not want chlrophenols so do use a Campden tablet.

if you add a camped, which ion does it chelate, so that I can calculate much of the salts I want to add to the water

When chloramine is reduced by metabite the reaction products are ammonium ion, chloride ion, sulfate ion, hydrogen ion and potassium or sodium ion depending on whether potassium or sodium metabisulfite was used. The quantities of these ions produced are in a table at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=361073

 

[UltraHighABV]

thanks for the detailed reply; much appreciated

 

[Qhrumphf]

I did some hunting around on google and came up with this water profile for the Cologne, Germany area:

Looking at the water analysis (trinkwasseranalyse) put out by the RheinEnergie in August 2010, the water profile for Cologne (Koln) is currently:

Calcium (Ca) 109.9 +/- 5.0 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg) 14.6 +/- 0.8 mg/l
Sodium (Na) 37.2 +/- 2.1 mg/l
Chloride (Cl) 65.4 +/- 4.0 mg/l
Bicarbonate (HCO3) 275.9 +/- 8.2 mg/l
pH 8.33

For your efficiency issues, I would suggest getting a PH meter and determine where your Mash PH is.
An alternative is just adjust your water to something close to the above and see how the beer comes out.
Some people worry about efficiency too much at the homebrew level. If you aren't getting the gravity points you want, maybe just add more grain to the recipe and go with it.
An interesting experiment would be to brew a few gallon batch with your untreated water and then another batch matching the water profile above and see if you notice the difference in the finished beer, and which one you prefer.

I would NEVER use that water profile for a Kolsch. The sulfate/chloride is alright (edit: misread sodium as sulfate, seems sulfate isn't listed, but my point remains valid), so the OP would basically be adding a whole bunch of alkalinity just to have to neutralize it with acid. The OP's water is much better, especially if a little CaCl is added as AJ suggested.

I learned a long time ago to throw out using the "classic city" water profiles, and actually focus on the flavor I wanted in my beer.

OP, you also could try dropping the pH to 5.3 or so instead of 5.5-5.6. I find pale crisp beers like Kolsch much better at the lower end of the pH range. I reserve that upper range for Stouts and Porters.