If you wanted to make this water more suitable to a German Pils, what would you do for a 7gal batch?
Na…8
K…<1
Ca…17
Mg…6
Total Hardness…68
NO3-N…1.3
S04-S…<1
Cl…2
C03…<1
HC03…93
Total Alkalinity…77
I would increase the Ca and cut the HCO3.
Maybe use some RO water to drop the HCO3 and some CaCl2 and Gypsum to raise the Ca.
I used RO water and salts to make a profile like this, and it worked really well for a crisp N German Pils.
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Various_water_recipes#Pilsner_water
I’d dilute 50-50, then add equal parts CaSO4 and CaCl2 to get the calcium back up to 50 ppm. ~0.3 g/gal each should be about right.
I’m going to have to disagree. For a German pils, that much carbonate is not at all out of line. I would add calcium sulfate to get you up to 50-150 ppm Ca (depending on how much SO4 you want), but nothing else. Make that beer first, then decide how you want to tweak the recipe and/or water. YMMV
On my judges scoresheet, under Overall Impression:
“Tightly made example. A bit less sweetness by using a touch of sulfate of chloride may help…I prefer drier examples like Trumer…”
Pretty sure that should say “or chloride”, but adding chloride tends to increase the perception of sweetness - so if you’re looking to please this judge then you should add CaSO4 to add to the perception of dryness.
Have you gotten similar feedback from other judges? And what do you think of it?
+1 to a T.
I agree that you want to add some sulfate and chloride to the water. With that much bicarbonate, you might also want to add some acid malt (2%-3% of the grist) to bring the pH down.
More info:
I know Jim, and he’s only gotten feedback from one judge. I agree with you, Tom, I wouldn’t make any big changes based on this single comment. I advised him to try a couple different things and compare the results based on his own tastes.
Wait, let me change my answer . . . ;D
Add calcium, sulfate & chloride.
You’ve nearly got a good pilsner water.
Make sure to keep that magnesium down where it is.
Try to keep a nice balance between the sulfate & chloride.
Having had a Trumer yesterday, my pils is too sweet, at least for my tastes.
Here is the grain bill that was based on an NHC recipe from the Jamil Show.
Batch Size (Gal): 12.00 Wort Size (Gal): 12.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 19.38
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 11.80
Anticipated SRM: 3.8
Anticipated IBU: 44.5
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Pre-Boil Amounts
Evaporation Rate: 2.00 Gallons Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 14.00 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.041 SG 10.17 Plato
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
85.2 16.50 lbs. Pilsener Belgium 1.037 2
9.7 1.88 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
5.2 1.00 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
If it’s too sweet, you have a number of options. Add some CaSO4, based on your water I think it’ll be a good thing. Drop your mash temp, that will help it dry out. Cut the carapils a bit.
Any of those things will help lower the perception of sweetness, but if you’re trying to dial it in I’d change one thing at a time.
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks.
I’m considering dropping the carapils altogether.
I’m currently mashing at 148F, for 90mins. Maybe drop the mash temp to 146F?
How much gypsum would you add for a 7gal batch?
I’m not saying I’ll be making all of these changes all at once. Just getting all of my options before me.
I would not go below 148F. At this point, I’d say cut the carapils to 3%.
For the sulfate, it’s your call. You want the Ca in the mash to be between 50 and 150 ppm. If you go for the high end of that you’re looking at 2.2 grams per gallon of mash water. That gives you ~325 ppm of SO4 in the mash, but that’s not important - if you don’t treat your sparge water that number will come back down.
I wouldn’t go for it all at once though, I would start with 1 gram per gallon and reduce the carapils and see how it turns out. But that’s me. 
Thanks again.
The few times that I’ve added gypsum to an IPA, it’s been directly into the boil kettle. I guess in the case of the pils ,SO4 goes into the mash tun…
With your water, I’d be adding calcium to the mash every time. I know I would, because my calcium levels are as low as yours. Which calcium salt I add depends on the recipe, but I go up to at least 50 ppm in the mash just to aid conversion.
OUCH!!
Here’s a thread of interest.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=1812.0
…and a small power point that might help.
I somehow feel like a water chemistry challenged entity that lives in a high mountain desert.
I posted my water report under that heading recently and would like to understand how to better
modify this water (thanks tom for the input over there) But you fellas all are going on about how to
modify your water with so many ppm of this salt or that salt and I gotta ask do you all have
a water chem lab in your kitchen? How in the world are these exacting levels of minerals determined
and or implemented to change your water chem? I was following some of Kai’s literature and gleaned
the method to ad the chalk under carbonation to some water to dissolve it…but the additions that are
mentioned in this thread leave me in the dust… ???
I mean, I can get 10 gallons of RO water…then add some of my water back to the mix, but to understand
what the resulting chemistry of that mix will be is highly challenging to my understanding of what I have actually arrived at