Getting my head around water parameters….

[Blazar]

[SIZE=medium]G’day,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]At the risk of biting off far more than I can chew, can anyone suggest a good resource for the preferred water parameters for different beer styles? I have downloaded the water analysis from Sydney Water for my area (I hope it’s correct) and would like to see what styles are best suited to what comes out of my tap, as opposed to trying to tweak everything for a particular style (an approach I have used with good success in keeping tropical fish, which can be picky with water quality).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]If it helps, I am located in the Picton/Wilton area of Sydney.[/SIZE]

 

[Crusty]

[SIZE=medium]G’day,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]At the risk of biting off far more than I can chew, can anyone suggest a good resource for the preferred water parameters for different beer styles? I have downloaded the water analysis from Sydney Water for my area (I hope it’s correct) and would like to see what styles are best suited to what comes out of my tap, as opposed to trying to tweak everything for a particular style (an approach I have used with good success in keeping tropical fish, which can be picky with water quality).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]If it helps, I am located in the Picton/Wilton area of Sydney.[/SIZE]

You weren't keeping Discus were you.
I bred them for quite a while.
There are several charts available on the net but you probably need to make your own assumptions of how correct they are. Take it with a grain of salt, so to speak.



If you download Ez Water Calc ( metric version ) & punch in your water values & your recipe, you will get an idea of what your expected mash pH is.
You can then play around with your brewing salt additions to get you @the correct mash pH & you can fiddle around with your additions to balance your beer, aim for a malt forward beer or a hop driven beer.
I've been using it for only a short amount of time & I am very happy with the improvements made to my beers now that I am controlling the mash pH. I think trying to make beers suited to your particular water supply will be far harder than working with what you have & going from there. I think you'll find you will be able to make any beer style you want with a few salt additions.

 

[mabrungard]

Be very cautious regarding any water profiles reported for historic brewing cities. They are often incorrect and almost always don't reflect what those local brewers has to do to those waters to make them more suitable for brewing. For instance, you would not find any beers brewed with the water profiles above acceptable due to the high bicarbonate content in those profiles.

You can read more about this subject on the Water Knowledge page of the Bru'n Water website. In addition, Bru'n Water software has substantial guidance on water profiles that won't screw up your beer.

 

[Tex083]

Keeping it simple is the key. Trying to match a style or a geographical location is hard.
I have gone down a different road and have targeted calcium only getting it to 50ppm for a few brews and see how it goes. Turns out my mash ph @ room temp is 5.4 using a pale malt base (APA and Belgian tripple)
Next time I brew I will add more calcium to bring pH down a few points. Not hitting the pH won't ruin your beer a lot of brewers don't add salts or check pH when you start you will notice a cleaner beer.
Removing chlorine is also a big part of making beer taste good.

 

[OzPaleAle]

I haven't read this one yet myself but the Yeast and Hops ones were a good read.

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Comprehensive-Brewers-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381993