Brun Water for Dunkelweizen

[aaronm13]

Making my first attempt at water chemistry this weekend for a Dunkelweizen and I'm so confused about it. I thought I had it all figured out using the Munich water profile and had all my additions calculated. First mistake, using Munich as my profile or so I discovered last night while doing more reading.

I use bottled water now for my brewing as my tap water can come from 3 different sources. The profile of this water is

Calcium 10ppm
Magnesium 2.5 ppm
Sodium 9ppm
Chloride 12ppm
Sulphate 10ppm
Bicarbonate 25ppm

Looking around I can't seem to find a general consensus on whats a good profile for this style as they all seem to differ greatly. The Munich Boiled profile in Brun Water seems very low on calcium and chloride just like my water. One profile I found was from braukaiser who knows his German beers. A profile I seen from him is

Calcium 80ppm
Magnesium 10 ppm
Sodium 26ppm
Chloride 33ppm
Sulphate 16ppm
Bicarbonate 165ppm

Does this look like a good profile for me to follow or is there a better built in one on Brun Water?

I can get all numbers pretty much using salts except Bicarbonate. This is what I can get too,
Calcium 80ppm
Magnesium 5 ppm
Sodium 25ppm
Chloride 31ppm
Sulphate 22ppm
Bicarbonate 30ppm

I get a ph of 5.36 too which looks good to me. Really don't want to mess up this brew as it's my first time using additions so would love some advice before i go crazy reading up on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[JimRausch]

I used to use the various 'city specific' water profiles, but now just go with the descriptions- ie. yellow full, balanced or dry, etc. I read too many posts, including from Martin, that indicate that in many cases we have no idea on how the various brewers in the classic brewing cities are actually treating their water prior to brewing.

 

[JimRausch]

To further answer your Q, Braukaiser definitely knows his stuff, and I would be very comfortable using a water profile from him. As far as the bicarb specifically, my understanding is that there is no ideal #, and in general you want to keep it low. So, to me the profile you are proposing looks good.

Calcium 80ppm
Magnesium 5 ppm
Sodium 25ppm
Chloride 31ppm
Sulphate 22ppm
Bicarbonate 30ppm

 

[aaronm13]

Thanks Jim, what would a Dunkel come under? Brown full, balanced or dry?

Sorry, was replying as you posted again. Think Kai's profile would have me most comfortable using so might just go with that. Just can't use chalk as I can't run it through Co2.

 

[mabrungard]

There is little need for calcium in brewing water when brewing lagers and weizens. The grain provides all the calcium needed for yeast nutrition and the main effect of calcium in water is to help yeast flocculation. Flocculation is not really a goal in lager or weizen brewing.

Definitely don't target bicarbonate levels in any profile. The bicarbonate level is only a starting point and the demands of the mash pH are what define what the actual bicarbonate or acid additions should be.

For a weizen, I would lean more to the Full or Balanced profiles since you probably don't want too much sulfate in that water, which may dry the beer's finish too much.

 

[aaronm13]

Just to follow up. I brewed on Saturday and this is the water profile I used in case anyone is interested for future reference

Calcium 80ppm
Magnesium 5 ppm
Sodium 25ppm
Chloride 31ppm
Sulphate 22ppm
Bicarbonate 30ppm

This was my procedure so please point out anywhere I might have gone wrong. I added all my strike water additions and checked the pH of the water before I added it to the grain. Got a pH of around 5.6, probably could have added a drop more lactic acid but I thought I was close enough to let go. Mash water additions went in and the water pH was around 4.9. I forget to take a pre boil pH check of the wort but the post boil had a pH of 5.5-5.6. Again a small bit high but wasn't sure if I could have made any adjustments post boil. I'll definitely remember to check the pH before I boil next time. Am I going to be ok with the final pH I got? Was shooting for 5.39 according to Brun Water. To me I think I was definitely in the ball park but .2 might be a huge difference. Going to brew a Pliny the elder clone next and will hopefully get a more accurate result learning from my mistakes this time. It's a great piece of software by the way once you get your head around it. Pretty overwhelmed at first.