Making a Hefe with Sydney (potts hill plant) water

[Topher]

I'm gonna do a Hefe soon. But when I plugged the Sydney water numbers and the grain etc into ez water the mash ph is sky high. The salt additions required to bring it down seem like too much. It pushes some of the mineral levels over the recommended range.

I guess I can try and get some acid, but thought I'd check here first.
Has anyone made a Hefe or similar pale beer using similar water?

I guess I want to know is firstly, is relying on the spreadsheet and the Sydney water pdf accurate enough?
At what point do I stop making additions and start adding acid? Or Am I worried about nothing and should I just chuck the grains in with a fistful of gypsum?

I have ph strips (but I think they not very accurate), but no ph meter.

 

[klangers]

Mate haven't done a hefe but have made a few pilsners with Sydney water - unadjusted. Worked out nicely. Sydney water really should be ideal for pale beers - the town of Pilsen after all had very clean water with little to no dissolved solids.

 

[mckenry]

I think you might be making a mistake somewhere. Sydney water doesnt require much of anything to get a balanced water.

What do you have (for potts hill) and where are you trying to get to?

I use about 200g acidulated malt and small salt additions for a 50L batch.

 

[Topher]

Thanks. That makes me feel better. I'll check and post the numbers later, but was saying expect a ph of over 6.

 

[Blind Dog]

I use Sydney water filtered but otherwise generally unadjusted (or max 1 tsp of salts in 20L). Have brewed German hefes, American wheats, kolsch, pilsners and a heap of others with no worries. Mash ph is always spot on although I rarely bother testing anymore

 

[Weizguy]

In Warner's "Wheat Beer" book, he notes that no water adjustments are required for a German wheat beer.

FWIW, I have never adjusted my water for a hefeweizen that I have brewed, and most often get favourable reviews from beer judges and lay-people alike.

 

[mikk]

I've found 5ml lactic acid per 50L wort gets the pH to just under 5.6. Acidulated malt would be a better option.

A hefe with 50:50 pils/wheat with salt additions to get the minerals at optimum with Sydney water will result in mash pH being too high, or at least higher than optimum.

 

[kaiserben]

Found this topic when seeking answers to the same question as the OP.

I'm just preparing for my first hefeweizen.

EZ Water suggesting mash pH at room temp would be 5.87.

Subbing in 140g (2.9% of total wort) of acidulated malt brings that pH down to 5.60. (I plan on adding the acidulated malt separately, once the mash temp reaches 63C).

FWIW, I have never adjusted my water for a hefeweizen that I have brewed, and most often get favourable reviews from beer judges and lay-people alike.

Does that mean no acidulated malt either?

 

[Topher]

FWIW my last few hefes have been great. But the efficiency is always crap. Gonna have to try the acidilated next.

 

[Weizguy]

Found this topic when seeking answers to the same question as the OP.

I'm just preparing for my first hefeweizen.

EZ Water suggesting mash pH at room temp would be 5.87.
Subbing in 140g (2.9% of total wort) of acidulated malt brings that pH down to 5.60. (I plan on adding the acidulated malt separately, once the mash temp reaches 63C).


Does that mean no acidulated malt either?

I'll quote from Warner as soon as I can

 

[Weizguy]

Quoted from Warner (without permission):

"The brewing water used for German style wheat beers can be soft, hard, or anything in between. The variation is great among the wheat beer breweries in Germany - some use water with a hardness of almost 450 ppm CaCO3 while others use water as low as 50 ppm. The alkalinities of these waters are also quite diverse, but even a high carbonate hardness in water will have a less negative effect in a Weissbier than on a light lager. Top-fermenting yeasts are not as sensitive as are lager yeasts to wort pH, and the pH of a top-fermenting beer will plummet to 4.0 to 4.1 regardless of the pH of the cast-out wort."

That appears to be the sum total that I can find after scouring the book for about 45 minutes. I thought that the book mentioned that wherever Weissbier was brewed, the available water was used as is, but blowed if I can find it tonight.

Les