Water Profile - Good for Pilsner?

[Brew Dad]

After brewing for 11 years, I decided it's finally time to make a pilsner. I'm pretty sure my water is good enough to make a decent pilsner, but the amount of HCO3 has me a wondering: At 33.4 ppm, will it significantly affect the mash ph? Anything else in my water profile I should be messing with? What do you pilsner brewers think? Thanks y'all.

My Water Profile
Ca 4.5 ppm
Mg 4.4 ppm
Na 1.3 ppm
SO4 1.8 ppm
Cl 2.2 ppm
HCO3 33.4 ppm

 

[Oldsock]

You'll probably need to add some acid to get the pH down, even with a lower HCO3 not having any specialty malts would make for a mash pH that would be a bit high. This is assuming you want to do a Bohemian Pilsner, for a German Pils you could add some gypsum (more calcium would be a good addition for most of your beers).

 

[yuppiecruncher]

How ya doing man? I was wondering how you got your water information (in reference to your post in 2011). Did you test it yourself at the tap or did you talk to someone? Any help would be appreciated. I've brewed a few beers before, but now I'm trying to get more consistent results and adjust my water profile. Thanks!

Ian

 

[cyanmonkey]

How ya doing man? I was wondering how you got your water information (in reference to your post in 2011). Did you test it yourself at the tap or did you talk to someone? Any help would be appreciated. I've brewed a few beers before, but now I'm trying to get more consistent results and adjust my water profile. Thanks!

Ian

Ward Labs is where most people send their water to get analyzed. It's not terribly expensive and they have an option strictly for brewing.

Another option is to buy distilled or RO water from a store and brew with that (which is exactly what I do).