First A.G Lager- water treatment help needed

[bassman]

With half a dozen successful A.G. ales done I'm now about to do my first lager. I have up to 7 Kg of lager malt and some Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops I'll be using White Labs WLP830 German Lager yeast. My water is hard and has a pH of 5.8. Should I add a quantity of distilled water to reduce the pH? if so how much?

[shepp]

Do you know the mineral content of your water?

[rpt]

The pH of your water is irrelevant. You need to know its alkalinity. To test this get a Salifert kit. Only then can you work out how to treat it.

[MTW]

I'm about to do my fist lager too, having done 40-50 ales. For 6 quid, I've bought three 6x2L mulitpacks of Tesco Ashbeck to avoid ending up with too minerally a profile by treating my own water. Just a bit of calcium chloride and gypsum (to get the calcium in the right area), and I should be there.

[Jocky]

Honestly if you want to get into water treatment then you need a salifert alkalinity test kit and (ideally) a pH meter.

Without, you'll still make lager, so if you're not doing it for ales then maybe for the first lager you can omit it too.

[orlando]

Honestly if you want to get into water treatment then you need a salifert alkalinity test kit and (ideally) a pH meter.

Without, you'll still make lager, so if you're not doing it for ales then maybe for the first lager you can omit it too.

Before that you need a water report from someone who knows what brewers are looking for. Ask wallybrew on here to do this for you. Anything else is blind archery.

[sram]

I'll second the, get a water report from wallybrew. I've just this week got a report from him.

[john luc]

When brewing you can hide in a stout and get away with some things but Lager is a highly strung sort of a lass . You need good water.

[rpt]

Anything else is blind archery.

Isn't that a Paralympic sport?

[Sadfield]

I'm about to do my fist lager too, having done 40-50 ales. For 6 quid, I've bought three 6x2L mulitpacks of Tesco Ashbeck to avoid ending up with too minerally a profile by treating my own water. Just a bit of calcium chloride and gypsum (to get the calcium in the right area), and I should be there.

Although I normally treat my (high alkalinity) water for ales, I have used this method as a quick fix for lager. The bottles have all the relevant info printed on the label, I then used this info along with the relevant profile in GW water calculator on this site, for the extra additions. Worked great.

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[MTW]

I'm about to do my fist lager too, having done 40-50 ales. For 6 quid, I've bought three 6x2L mulitpacks of Tesco Ashbeck to avoid ending up with too minerally a profile by treating my own water. Just a bit of calcium chloride and gypsum (to get the calcium in the right area), and I should be there.

Although I normally treat my (high alkalinity) water for ales, I have used this method as a quick fix for lager. The bottles have all the relevant info printed on the label, I then used this info along with the relevant profile in GW water calculator on this site, for the extra additions. Worked great.

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Yes, I've run the figures through that. The only thing missing on the bottles in alkalinity, which I've measured as 16ppm CACO3 in Ashbeck myself.

[john luc]

Just re read that op and I be surprised that your drinking water is 5.8 PH.

[Sadfield]

I'm about to do my fist lager too, having done 40-50 ales. For 6 quid, I've bought three 6x2L mulitpacks of Tesco Ashbeck to avoid ending up with too minerally a profile by treating my own water. Just a bit of calcium chloride and gypsum (to get the calcium in the right area), and I should be there.

Although I normally treat my (high alkalinity) water for ales, I have used this method as a quick fix for lager. The bottles have all the relevant info printed on the label, I then used this info along with the relevant profile in GW water calculator on this site, for the extra additions. Worked great.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

Yes, I've run the figures through that. The only thing missing on the bottles in alkalinity, which I've measured as 16ppm CACO3 in Ashbeck myself.

I don't have one to hand, but doesn't the label give the bicarbonate value anyway?

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[orlando]

Anything else is blind archery.

Isn't that a Paralympic sport?

Not in the hands of a brewer.

[orlando]

Just re read that op and I be surprised that your drinking water is 5.8 PH.

Agreed, suppliers are obliged to keep it close to neutral. Irrelevant to a brewer anyway but another reason for having a proper analysis.