Planning to brew a German Pils on Presidents day (Next Monday) and was hoping some others could weigh in on their experience with style and water. From research it looks like this water can have a higher content of sulfate and chloride than say a bohemian or czech pils. How important is hardness/alkalinity here? I am trying to decide if I should dilute my existing water source or just go all RO and build it up. If I build it up from RO I guess I would go with Kai's Pilsner Water profile. Made a helles last year with my existing water and it just wasn't right -not bad, but not great. Looking to make improvements :rockin:
So i guess the real question is, if you have moderately hard water, do you just build up from scratch or try to work with what you got?
My water averages below.
Calcium (Ca) - 38ppm
Magnesium (Mg) - 9ppm
Sodium (Na) - 21ppm
Chloride (Cl) - 41ppm
Sulfate (SO4) - 40ppm
Hardness/Alkalinity - Alkalinity (CaCO3) 82ppm
Recipe would be Weyermann Pilsner malt for the majority, possibly a few ounces of carapils. Acid malt for pH adjustment based on the ez water calculator and my decided water. Magnum for bittering and Hallertau for flavor/aroma hops. ~350-400 billion cells of WLP830.
So i guess the real question is, if you have moderately hard water, do you just build up from scratch or try to work with what you got?
My water averages below.
Calcium (Ca) - 38ppm
Magnesium (Mg) - 9ppm
Sodium (Na) - 21ppm
Chloride (Cl) - 41ppm
Sulfate (SO4) - 40ppm
Hardness/Alkalinity - Alkalinity (CaCO3) 82ppm
Recipe would be Weyermann Pilsner malt for the majority, possibly a few ounces of carapils. Acid malt for pH adjustment based on the ez water calculator and my decided water. Magnum for bittering and Hallertau for flavor/aroma hops. ~350-400 billion cells of WLP830.