As I’m preparing to brew my first lager, a Dortmunder with Mandarina Bavaria (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=24745.msg317325#msg317325) , I have 2 questions:
Brewing water: should I really aim for the hard Dortmund water profile?
Dortmund Brewing Water: Calcium 225, Magnesium 40, Sodium 60, Chloride 60, Sulfate 120, Carbonate 180
Is Weyermann pils slightly undermodified, and do I need a multiple rests in the mash?
if those are PPM figures- I sure wouldn’t. i’d use 30-40PPM calcium, 10-20 mag, 10-20PPM sodium, 50-60PPM chloride, 100-150PPM sulfate.
Yes ppm. “1-200PPM mag” is 1-2 ppm?
And how about carbonate? Asking because my tap water has 180 ppm, so I could dilute…
Fat fingered the mag…corrected to 10-20ppm. Bicarbonate s going to be a factor of your water, mineral additions., and your target ph. If your target PH for mash is say 5.3, your need to bump the ph up or down will result in xxppm bicarbonate. I don’t focus on bicarbonate …it lands where it lands based upon my target of all other minerals and PH.
Weyerman pils works fine with a single infusion, wouldn’t worry about a step.
i use about the same profile as ken;
Water profile:
Ca 107 Mg 4 Na 21 Cl 70 SO4 115
but my Ca number was north of 100 and this was from a post from before I built from RO, so i imagine if I targeted the SO4 and Cl, the resulting Ca would be lower.
I like your recipe - i have a Mandarina Pils that is lagering right now…
My profile is similar to Paul’s, as Dort lager often has a fair amount of sulfate ‘mineral’ character. My last one had ~ 80ppm Ca, 10ppm Mg, 50ppm CaCl2, and 120ppm SO4. I felt it had a similar overall character to DAB Original, which I love when it’s fresh (and not green bottle skunked).
OK, that’s all in the same ballpark. Thanks folks!
i was using general ranges for reference. my actual water profile was 34ca, 20mg, 111sulfate, 54 chloride with so4/cl ratio of 2.1
Answers to your questions: no, no, and no. Or, maybe, no, and no. The Dort water profile is fine, there’s not really anything wrong with it. But need a step mash? Heck no.