What Makes A Good Water

[Goodtime Bert]

Hi All'

With all the variation of ingredients that I have read about, looked at in shops and beer recipes that have collected. I made some good beers, one or two great beers and a couple of shockers!.

I have been wondering about effect different water has in producing a good beer. Water from different regions, filtered water, distilled water, store bought or collected spring or spa water, hard or soft water, acid or alkaline water - the list is endless.

My question is: Is there an ultimate water that will make all beers taste better? Are there different waters that will make different beers taste their best. Is acid or alkaline water better and does the PH of water effect the fermentation process or the flavor of a brew.

I am beginning to realize that there is more to this water caper that just turning on a tap

Cheers

Bert

 

[matti]

English beer using generally hard water which accentuates bitterness.
The use of less bittering hops is normal and the Balance is on the maltier side.

If you have soft water you can add some gypsum to harden it a bit.

There is no real effective way to soften the water if you have hard water.
You can filter it and you can acidify the water with slaked lime, citric acid etc, etc, to achieve the correct pH.

Soft water like Sydney water once filtered and acidified suit most beers.
It is not ultra soft, but soft enough to brew descent pilsner and ales with.

water is the most difficult part of brewing IMHO.
I have tried to unlock the mysteries of it for 3 years and I have only scratched the surface,
I did read 4 units chemistry at high school but that was 21 years ago....
Bloody molarity and molecular weights is nonsense to most of us best of times
so I wish you good luck....

 

[crozdog]

Bert,

welcome to AHB & congratulations on questioning your ingredients - process will be next

As water is 1 of the basic ingredients it has a huge impact on the finished product. Why does Dublin produce good stout; Burton great bitters & Pilsen outstanding pilsner? Answer - the water. Each cities water has different characteristics which greatly influence the signature beer styles of those cities.

There is a lot of info around re this - checkout howtobrew.com; do a search for BJCP education & you will find a lot. (I'll see if I can dig out some links when I have some more time)

Sorry but there is no 1 magic water profile that will suit all styles - each style has it's own characteristics which are impacted/influenced by the water profile.

 

[tim_mortensen]

Bert,

Here is a link to a good program on water treatment for brewing. It is for Melbourne water specifically (which is very soft), but is simply adapted to the water in your region.

Key Concepts in Water Treatment

It describes the effect of different salts on mash pH and hop bitterness, plus what and how much to add for different beer types. So if you want to make, say, an English IPA, and you want to "Burtonise" your water by adding gypsum (calcium sulphate) to about 800ppm (the actual value escapes me now), it tells you how many grams you need to add. I use it as my standard guide for water treatment now.

As a general rule, calcium chloride is the safest addition to add to your mash, as too much of cacium sulphate or calcium carbonate in the wrong beers can add a harsh bitterness to the hops. Calcium chloride will add a softness to the hop bitternes. Melbourne water is calcium deficient, so an addition of calcium chloride will provide the minimum calcium required for mash pH.

However, addition of salts for pH adjustment is really only relevent if you are doing AG brewing. If you are doing kits or extracts then you probably don't need to worry too much. Just filter your water to remove chloride / chloramides. You can still add salts to modify the flavour profile of the hops if you wish. Eg: high sulphate levels for an English IPA
moderate sulphate levels for a German Pilsener
moderate carbonate levels for a stout

Just experiment and be conservative in your salt additions until you understand the affect of them on different beers.

Cheers,
Tim