So i am doing JZ Munich Helles my H20 is CA 48 Mg 5 Na 7 Cl 38 and So4 40 Ratio Cl/So4 .95 RA 16. This is with 75/50 Ro and tap. Ph is a little high 5.75. Does this look ok for the style. This will be my first lager. Any suggestions.
That pH is too high for most beers. Get it down to the 5.3 to 5.4 range. I don’t know what you are using to estimate your mash pH, so do use a good tool.
How high is the alkalinity of the tap water if the RA for that blended water is 16? It may be a requirement that you use a little acid in that water to further drop the water alkalinity and get the mash pH in a proper range.
The chloride and sulfate levels are quite modest and should be appropriate for a malt-focused beer like a Helles.
Add acid to that water until the mash pH is in range. Be sure to keep the alkalinity of your sparging water low too.
It’s the mash pH that is of primary importance, not so much your water’s. You might be OK as is but I don’t think a little more Ca+ would hurt. You could start by diluting further with RO and add enough Calcium Chloride to bring the Ca+ up to 75ppm. That will also further reduce the SO4 and RA somewhat as well which for a soft and light beer like Helles is probably a good thing.
Well my Water report is: NA 27, CA 66, Mg 20, Cl 18, Bicarb 262 and Total Alk 224. Ph is 8.1. This is without any adjustments. I use EZ water cal. I normally get my PH to 5.6 and conversion is fine i think. I normally split my water 50/50 and add both CaCl or Gypsum to push towards a malty or a bitter profile. I obviously need to understand the water additions better. I have always struggled to get my PH down. My system has a 20 Gal HLT in which i need 16 Gal to cover the HERMS coil. I also sparge with this without cutting my water havent noticed any problems yet. My system is like “The electric brewery” one.
Your water has a lot of alkalinity. Cutting it with RO helps but you might want to consider cutting it even further for light colored beers to really get that residual alkalinity low. I would also suggest you follow mabrungard’s advice and adjust your sparge water too.
I have water that is very similar to yours. Almost the same alkalinity, little lower on the other numbers. If I am brewing a helles or pilsner or something similar I go with 100% RO water and add back minerals. The last Helles I did I used the following:
100% RO water
.1 gram/gallon gypsum
.1 gram/gallon epsom salt
.5 gram/gallon CaCl
This got me right in the ballpark across the board for “yellow malty” profile on Brun Water.
I thought it turned out nice and managed a 1st place in the “light lager” category in a good size competition - so others thought it was on the mark overall too.
Did the same thing with sparge water.
[quote=“Braufessor”]I have water that is very similar to yours. Almost the same alkalinity, little lower on the other numbers. If I am brewing a helles or pilsner or something similar I go with 100% RO water and add back minerals. The last Helles I did I used the following:
100% RO water
.1 gram/gallon gypsum
.1 gram/gallon epsom salt
.5 gram/gallon CaCl
This got me right in the ballpark across the board for “yellow malty” profile on Brun Water.
I thought it turned out nice and managed a 1st place in the “light lager” category in a good size competition - so others thought it was on the mark overall too.
Did the same thing with sparge water.[/quote]
Thanks for that, that looks good.
