Overland Park KS Water Report (Haze issues and dull lager)

[jlangfo5]

Hey! I just moved into the area and was wondering if someone could help me interpret the local water report. I have brewed three batches so far here in town and have had haze issues that I have not experienced before. Also, I would like to get into making crisp tasting lagers as well.

I put my minerals into Bru'n water and it looks like my mash pH might be high.

I appreciate any feedback here,

Thanks!

Here is my local water report as listed by WaterOne's website.

 

[bruteforce]

Posting to follow. I just moved to OP about 3 months ago. And yeah, pH here is crazy high. Next time I'll be adding a decent amount of acid to my mash and sparge water.

 

[mabrungard]

It's not terrible water, but if you haven't been acidifying the mashing and sparging water, that would easily lead to the poor results you report.

 

[ajdelange]

Your alkalinity is only a wee bit high (50 is the desirable maxiumum) so your mash pH should be OK if you use a little crystal malt in addition to the base. With Weyermanns Pilsner (pneumatic) malt and 10% of their 20L crystal, for example, you should be at around pH 5.6 (room temperature). This is OK but you will get brighter flavors if you go a bit below by adding 2% (est'd pH 5.47) to 3% (est'd pH 5.40) sauermalz.

Haze is a different matter. IOW a mash pH of 5.6 isn't going to make the beer hazy. Look elsewhere for an explanation for that. Possibilities are a lot of iron (didn't see it listed in the report), failure to do a protein rest, incomplete saccharification and infection. And there are others that aren't coming to mind.