help with my water report

[Unibrow]

Just got my first water report - can anybody chime in on this? It seems like hard water, and I wanted to brew a light Kolsch, so not sure I have the right stuff here. ANY advice is helpful, thanks!!!

Calcium 59
Magnesium 15
Sodium 10
Chloride 24
Sulfate 24
Alkalinity (CaCO3 ppm) 163

 

[BigEd]

Just got my first water report - can anybody chime in on this? It seems like hard water, and I wanted to brew a light Kolsch, so not sure I have the right stuff here. ANY advice is helpful, thanks!!!

Calcium 59
Magnesium 15
Sodium 10
Chloride 24
Sulfate 24
Alkalinity (CaCO3 ppm) 163

It's not so much hard as it is high in alkalinity. Dilution with distilled or RO is probably the only sure solution to utilize that water for a light beer like Kolsh but the dilution ratio would be so high IMO the best thing to do is just start with distilled or RO water. Add some Calcium Chloride to get the Ca+ up to 60-75ppm and brew with that.

 

[duboman]

You can use a water calculator like EZwater or bru'n water. Enter your values and choose your style of beer.

Some sort of acid addition will help lower the alkalinity as well. The most important thing is getting your mash pH set to proper range with the grain bill.

 

[Unibrow]

It's not so much hard as it is high in alkalinity. Dilution with distilled or RO is probably the only sure solution to utilize that water for a light beer like Kolsh but the dilution ratio would be so high IMO the best thing to do is just start with distilled or RO water. Add some Calcium Chloride to get the Ca+ up to 60-75ppm and brew with that.

Good advice from this and duboman

I will get some distilled water and use the ez water calc