[quattlebaum]

Thinking of a Vienna today and was pondering a water profile. I was surprised to see in bru n water that the vienna (boiled) was so high in sulfate. Whats your preference on water profile for a vienna and why? 

[beersk]

I use pretty soft water to really let the Vienna malt character shine. I go between 50 and 80ppm chloride with calcium chloride and that's it. It makes the calcium around 40-50ppm and I don't worry about sulfate. This is with RO water to start. The amber color of the grist should put your pH in the perfect range with that profile.

[mabrungard]

60 ppm sulfate is not high. All its providing is an assistance with drying the finish.

Remember, bitterness comes from bittering, not the water. That 60 ppm sulfate will help dry the finish and let the malt through. There is upwards of 30 ppm sulfate in some parts of Bavaria and Vienna is downstream of Bavaria on the Danube. Most of Vienna's water comes out of wells along the river.

[quattlebaum]

Profiles (ppm)Finished   
Ca       56
Mg      12
Na      17
SO4      46
Cl      23
HCO3   39   NA
SO4/Cl Ratio   1.9
 Thanks fellas this is what i ended up with. I was thinking that uping the sulfate a bit would help dry it out a bit with all the munich and cara malt
it was the devils backbone clone. 38% pils, 38% vienna, 12% Munich 15L and 12% caraamber.  1.050 OG 20ibus.