Munich Helles mineral content

[Jocky]

I'm looking to brew a light and clean Helles in the next week, and I'm really not sure where to go with my water.

I have hard water, that is relatively low in everything else except calcium. My usual regimen is to use half a campden tablet, treat with CRS down to about 30-60ppm (about 1.1ml/l) alkalinity for pale beers, a lot less for dark beers (no treatment in a recent imperial stout!), and then add Epsom salts, gypsum or calcium chloride in small amounts to push up the sulphate or chloride in the direction I want.

Sodium as Na, mg/L 11.9
Potassium as K, mg/L 1.3
Magnesium as Mg, mg/L 2.3
Calcium as Ca, mg/L 113
Chloride as Cl, mg/L 22.2
Nitrate as NO3, mg/L 26.7
Phosphate as PO4, mg/L 3.0
Sulphate as SO4, mg/L 12
Total alkalinity as CaCO3, mg/L 257
pH 7.13
Total residual chlorine as CL2, mg/L 0.02

I've seen that Helles should be 'minerally' but I'm not entirely sure what that means. Anyone with experience of making the style can give me a push in the right direction?

[Aleman]

Given that level of alkalinity treating with CRS is not necessarily going to produce an ideal profile for a Helles. Using individual acids will allow you to get a decent level of sulphate and chloride. Personally I'd be tempted to use the slaked lime treatment to knock the alkalinity down by half, and then use and salts acids . . . that way you don't go over the top in terms of total sulphate and chloride added, but don't worry about being higher than the 'ideal' or 'perfect' published profiles. I'd probably aim for a 1.5 :1 sulphate to chloride ratio with sulphate at about 150 although 200 is not over the top.

2mg of magnesium sulphate per 30L of liquor added to the mash directly would fix any perceived lack of magnesium.

[Goulders]

Interesting. What about alkalinity, aim for around 25ish?

[Aleman]

Interesting. What about alkalinity, aim for around 25ish?

Seems like a reasonable setting for a Helles

[Jocky]

Is the distinction between 'Munich' Helles and the Helles brewed elsewhere with much softer water the higher levels of sulphate/chloride used for Munich Helles?

Given that I don't currently have slaked lime to hand, but I do have Tesco Ashbeck easily to hand, or even RO water without too much difficulty, I am wondering if I either dilute my water or just use one of those instead.

[Aleman]

If I'm honest, I don't see the point to diluting the water, just to add stuff back to bring things back to where they were or take them higher, it is a way of reducing the mineral content of the liquor though.

Slaked Lime treatment is a classic German Technique . . . if a little time consuming and requires advance planning / preparation, it's readily available on eBay and is quite cheap considering the amounts you use.

As you said a Munich Helles is a Helles beer brewed with the higher sulphate content of Munich (and its nearby surrounds) . . . the real trick is that the hopping rate is lower to handle the sulphate. For a really 'minerally' beer try a Dortmunder

[Jocky]

Cool, thank you.