Hey guys it’s been awhile since I have brewed or been on here but I always have time to research and learn. Lately I have been looking into the importance of water profile of my brew water. When I first started brewing I didn’t really even think about the effect it played in my brew. A book I bought said use water that you would drink and it will be fine. however as I look more into it I feel like I am missing an opportunity to make my beer even better. So basically what I am asking is if anyone could tell me some basic information or point me in the right direction. Any help is good help, cheers!
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
It is a complex topic, but not impossible to learn. It takes some time reviewing and learning new terminology, then some hands on practice… kinda like brewing!
I highly recommend exploring the link above.
+1. Fumbling around with and eventually learning how to use Brun Water is the reason I have the understanding I do of brewing water adjustments. An invaluable tool.
New brewers should concentrate on cleaning and sanitation, mastering yeast management, fermentation control on the way to make good beer. Water chemistry adjustments then can be applied to make excellent beer.
Great advice from Jeff.
EDIT - Having said that, when you’re ready, Brunwater is invaluable for helping you dial in the right water for a given beer.
Brunwater is what I use, and really helps dial the water chemistry in. Before Brunwater I did a lot of reading, and had to remember/relearn some Chemistry I had when Nixon was President. Often the quality of my beers went backwards as I was adding too much in the way of flavor ions or alkalinity. It turns out that less is more when dealing with brewing salt additions.
With respect to mineral content, I feel that water profile is one of those final touches that a brewer might consider. As long as the mineral content is fairly low, it should end up being unobtrusive. Having just the right amount of this or that isn’t really that important.
However, the thing that is critical and can really screw up your beer is mash and wort pH. That is what you want to be in that narrow range of around 5.3 to 5.5 for most brewing. Outside that range, the beer quality can easily be negatively affected.
pH = very important.
Mineral content = lower importance, but worth your attention for some styles.
To the OP - these guys nailed it and for clarity, if you don’t have a pH meter - not a big problem. Martin’s spreadsheet is highly accurate in predicting it and you can buy pH strips for the applicable range for pretty cheap.
Cheers!
Interestingly if you all have checked out brulosophy.com, the one experiment hes done that has yielded a significant variation in result (blind triangle tests, etc) was brew water chemistry. Mind. Blown.
For stouts? That is not terribly significant to me. There are huge differences with other styles.
The key here is “know your water”, if your water is high in mineral content you will have difficulty nailing many styles. If it is medium to low in mineral content then building water from scratch will be a nice final touch to the tweaking process. As Martin and the other’s have said - pH is really the more critical factor.
It depends how detailed you want to get, but I think new brewers can also get into water treatments right from the get go, especially with the information available now.
I went to all grain with my second batch and used EZ Water right from the start. (Since switched to Bru’n water.) Had plenty of questions but the fine folks at the Northern Brewer forums (many of you I see here now) were always willing to help solve any questions.
Sanitation and yeast and fermentation temps are all important, but it’s not that hard to bring water into the equation early on in the learning process.
I know for me it was pretty interesting to tool around with Brun Water and see how everything correlates.
It made me realize that even though I was a novice, it didn’t take much more than Distilled dilution of my tap water, some gypsum, some acid malt and calcium chloride to get everything pretty good.
For me, adjusting water was like grilling a steak. If you grill it right, it will be good. If you season it, it will be that much better (provided you season it properly). If you don’t grill it properly, no amount of seasoning will make it great. Process first, adjusting water last. Having said all that, bru’nwater helped me tremendously.
If you are on city water…you are getting chlorine or more likely chloramine and you need to boil with campden tablets at the very least prior to mash out…I boil with campden and dilute with distilled and add gypsum…but that’s my water…
I have been adding Campden to my brew water in the HLT prior to transferring to the MLT to remove chloramine. No boiling. Have I been doing it wrong?
You don’t need to boil water with Campden tablets to remove chloramines. Just add it. It works very quick. Here is a link to a great source about it: https://byo.com/hops/item/472-clearing-chloramine--historical-hopping-mr-wizard
This is good advice, but it is not a mantra for all.
IMO; as a starting point, you have to have water that when mashed with the grist will give you an acceptable mash pH. The tinkering with the detail and fine tuning of mash pH comes a bit further down the line once more understanding is gained.
I am a lover of pale ales (both English and American)…when I started brewing all grain, for the first year or so I had to tip batch after batch and I could not understand why.
I used campden, used tried and tested recipes, my technique, yeast handling and sanitation were all sound…yet I could not produce beer that was acceptable. In truth, I almost gave up.
It took me a long time to understand that my favoured grists and an alkalinity of 120-130ppm just don’t work. Now, had I been brewing stouts my experience would have been a whole lot better.
What I’m saying is that there are certain combinations of water type and malt that will not turn out well. A new brewer should understand this and be aware that it might not be their technique or sanitation that is letting them down.
That is one of the important messages I make in my recent presentation at NHC and in my upcoming article in Zymurgy (Nov-Dec 2015 issue). The mantra that: water is the LAST thing ANY brewer should take on, is just not correct. There are brewers that have water that may be poorly suited for a beer style they really want to brew and it can ultimately end in frustration and failure…and this is with perfecting all those other important techniques.
We need to stop perpetuating the myths about brewing water such as ‘if the water tastes good, you can brew with it’ and ‘water is the last step to take in perfecting your brewing’. There are brewers that can’t wait to the last step. Their beers are so disappointing due to the damage their water inflicts and there are few process and technique improvements that they could take that can overcome that. These myths are probably cutting short the enjoyment of thousands of hobbyists who quit before they can produce good or great beer. For those of us that enjoy the occasional pint from a new brewery, only to find that their beer isn’t that great. I have to wonder how many are fighting water conditions with no knowledge and no tools…since water is the last thing they should worry about…or worse yet, they think we worry too much about water.
Understanding your brewing water and having the knowledge and capability to make it better for your brewing IS an important factor in brewing. Water is NOT the last step.
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