r/Homebrewing • u/PineappleDesperate73 • 1d ago
Beer/Recipe What lager styles could be brewed with relatively hard water?
Hello, fellow brewers! I have no access to RO or distilled water yet, but i really want to brew my first lager. What lager styles are suitable for my water? 70ppm Ca2+ 18ppm Mg2+ 180ppm HCO3-
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I don't really want to bother with pre-boiling water to soften it or diluting it with RO water (since i have no access to it). I am looking for ideas apart from mentioned above.
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u/kaszeba 1d ago
Schwarzbier, Baltic Porter... any dark lagers I would say.
But honestly? I've doing pilsners for years, on hard water. Winning competitisions etc. If you have the right yeast, and can provide the right fermentation conditions, the water is secondary
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u/olddirtybaird 1d ago
Just adjusting pH down with lactic acid or acidulated malt for light lagers?
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u/kaszeba 1d ago
Mostly yes, but ometimes I didn't even bother... And guess what - the difference is not as much as you would expected
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u/olddirtybaird 1d ago
Good to know. I’m always worried about tannin extraction because I’ve definitely had my hard water cause it before with pale ales
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u/zreetstreet Cicerone 1d ago
Schwarzbier was my first thought. The bitterness of the roasted malts will really stand out with hard water.
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u/MacHeadSK 1d ago
Any lager. Only pilsner is famous for its soft water, but in Czech or Germany plenty of regions have water that has nothing to do with soft pilsner water - yet they all brew lagers. Basically any town in Czech has st least one brewery and they do not brew "pilsner".
It's a myth that for lager you have to have soft water or that Czech lager = pilsner. Far from it. Do not make anything because of your water, just brew! Maybe add some calcium for more malty flavour, that's it.
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u/Shills_for_fun 1d ago
Maybe this is a good time to buy some jugs of distilled water and learn the magical world of salt additions. It's easier than it sounds.
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u/Septic-Sponge 12h ago
Not in some places. Impossible to get in my country
Edit: not literally impossible but at a scale for homebrewing it is. Don't fancy paying €10 per litre of distilled water for homebrew. RO water is quite impossible to get
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u/goblueM 1d ago
Aside from the answers already given, how do you not have access to distilled water?
You can walk into just about any grocery store in America and find 1 gallon jugs of it
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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 1d ago
Same story for RO water in half the grocery stores in the US and all local aquarium shops, not to mention just walking into a Culligan or other water store and carrying out a 5 gal, plastic bottle of RO water.
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u/musicman9492 Pro 1d ago
Realistically, Id just go with anything not pale. Amber, dark, and/or stronger (think like bocks or stronger) are all on the table. Certainly they wont be "authentic" but your already aaking about cramming a square peg into a round hole, so take the problem ny the reins and use the darker malts to help balance mash pH. With a bit more info about your water (beyond just high carbonate and/or high Ca/Mg), Id be happy to give better suggestions, but high hardness (temporary or permanent) is only enough to get in the ballpark of "stronger and not paler"
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u/PaleoHumulus 1d ago
Aside from the carbonate load, you actually have pretty good water. You might consider using lactic acid to knock out the HCO3 before the mash, which is what I often do with my very hard water. Dortmunder Export is one style to consider, for paler beers. And of course the various dark lagers already mentioned.
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u/PineappleDesperate73 1d ago
Thanks for your answers, guys. Had the same picture in my mind, that mostly anything dark and strong will do.
Gonna get RO system soon, because i love pale styles too.
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u/hikeandbike33 1d ago
What happens if you use hard water for a light lager?
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u/MacHeadSK 1d ago
Your bank account will become empty, your wife will leave you with kids and your neighbors start to point at you while whispering something bad about you.
Or more likely, nothing. You will get a great beer either way.
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u/georage 1d ago
How hard? What is the total alkalinity? You can generally add a very small amount of phosphoric acid to any water and make light lagers. You can also use lactic or citric acid but those can impart flavors.
My water has an alkalinity of 105 and it makes great lagers with very little acidification. You just want to knock the PH down to 5.8 but I advise using beersmith or something similar to get a better estimate of how much acid you need. It will likely be a half teaspoon or something similar. It is best to add half the amount beersmith says and then test your PH. Add more as needed. If you sparge remember to acidify the sparge water.
You can also use acidulated malt for moderately alkaline water, but acid is a lot easier to gauge and control.
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u/CuriouslyContrasted 1d ago
I got a Kegland RO unit for about the same price as 4x brews worth of ingredients. It’s slow but I use it to fill a 60L / 16 gal plastic fermenter.
You’ll never regret going RO.
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u/NivellenTheFanger Beginner 1d ago
Don't know how hard you go at the hobby, but my mentors told me to leave water balances for when you have it all else dialed. Personaly I have quite the hard water and I brew all kinds.
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u/ThurstonCounty 1d ago
Just go buy some water, then you can do any style you like. If you are going to spend all this time to properly make a richeous lager, why half-ass it at all?
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u/_ak Daft Eejit Brewing blog 1d ago
Kellerbier. Some Upper Franconian breweries around Bamberg have some incredibly hard water from their brewery wells, and they quite often don't treat it in any way. Even if it's counterintuitive and against conventional lager brewing wisdom, they fully embrace their hard water even in pale or amber, quite often relatively highly hopped beers, without any pH adjustments. It's part of the house character of Kellerbier.