Water For Lager
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skinfull
Water For Lager
Can anyone advise how to treat water for Brewing a lager any advise would appreciated.
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Aleman
- It's definitely Lock In Time
- Posts: 6132
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:56 am
- Location: Mashing In Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Which style of 'Lager',
Bohemian Pilsner - Typically very soft, and very few minerals
Munich Helles - Typically hard, lots of minerals (Low alkalinity through water treatment)
Dortmunder - Again hard, but lower in minerals than a Munchner
and thats before you add, Vienna, Ofest , Maerzen , bocks, dopplebocks, etc etc
Bohemian Pilsner - Typically very soft, and very few minerals
Munich Helles - Typically hard, lots of minerals (Low alkalinity through water treatment)
Dortmunder - Again hard, but lower in minerals than a Munchner
and thats before you add, Vienna, Ofest , Maerzen , bocks, dopplebocks, etc etc
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Aleman
- It's definitely Lock In Time
- Posts: 6132
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:56 am
- Location: Mashing In Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Ok,
I would generally try and aim for a water with low alkalinity say, below 30 . . . now you can do this by using ASDA Value or Tesco Ashbeck Or Aqua Pura water, which is available fairly cheaply . . or using an alkalinity test kit, you could always use CRS to reduce the alkalinity to the desired point.
Now if you are looking at a 'Standard British type of lager' You put the liquor in a keg, and force carbonate it, chill and serve
If I knew I was in an area with a highish level of sulphate (Say over 150) then I would look at reducing my hop usage to generate a gentle bitterness . . . again its what the Munich brewers do, Helles are hopped to a much lower level that the bohemian pilsners of the same strength. . . . The benefit of diluting your liquor with water that has less dissolved minerals in is that you can tailor the water to the beer you want to brew.
Another thing to consider is that there is a lot of balls spoken about water treatment, reduce your alkalinity to below 30 and brew the beer . . . once you know what it tastes liek with no treatment then look at changing things for the next brew.
I would generally try and aim for a water with low alkalinity say, below 30 . . . now you can do this by using ASDA Value or Tesco Ashbeck Or Aqua Pura water, which is available fairly cheaply . . or using an alkalinity test kit, you could always use CRS to reduce the alkalinity to the desired point.
Now if you are looking at a 'Standard British type of lager' You put the liquor in a keg, and force carbonate it, chill and serve
If I knew I was in an area with a highish level of sulphate (Say over 150) then I would look at reducing my hop usage to generate a gentle bitterness . . . again its what the Munich brewers do, Helles are hopped to a much lower level that the bohemian pilsners of the same strength. . . . The benefit of diluting your liquor with water that has less dissolved minerals in is that you can tailor the water to the beer you want to brew.
Another thing to consider is that there is a lot of balls spoken about water treatment, reduce your alkalinity to below 30 and brew the beer . . . once you know what it tastes liek with no treatment then look at changing things for the next brew.
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mysterio
I would say keep it simple. Water is the least of your worries. Treat for chlorine, but don't worry too much about mineral content unless you're trying to brew an exact regional clone of something. Get some PH strips and test the mash, try and get in recommended range. 5.2 stabiliser works for me, but you could use acid malt, or even some dilute phosphoric acid. Even if you dont bother with PH, It will still make a good beer.
Keep the grist and the hopping simple, a good first timer lager is a Munich Helles (light) beer. All malt and very little hops. I like 100% pilsner malt but some Munich malt up to 10% is popular too. Aim for a gravity something like 1.047. I like to mash in at 50 then bring it up with direct heat or infusions to 65C after about 5 or 10 minutes. Just add bittering hops to get to about 15 IBUs, use Hallertau. This will get something similar to Spaten Helles.
Not sure about dried yeast but my favourite liquid yeast is White Labs Czech Budejovice, very clean and tasty. Build a big starter, decant off the starter beer once it's fermented out and pitch it at 10C if you can, if not pitching at ale temps and bringing it down to 10C works great too.
Keep the grist and the hopping simple, a good first timer lager is a Munich Helles (light) beer. All malt and very little hops. I like 100% pilsner malt but some Munich malt up to 10% is popular too. Aim for a gravity something like 1.047. I like to mash in at 50 then bring it up with direct heat or infusions to 65C after about 5 or 10 minutes. Just add bittering hops to get to about 15 IBUs, use Hallertau. This will get something similar to Spaten Helles.
Not sure about dried yeast but my favourite liquid yeast is White Labs Czech Budejovice, very clean and tasty. Build a big starter, decant off the starter beer once it's fermented out and pitch it at 10C if you can, if not pitching at ale temps and bringing it down to 10C works great too.