water profile by style

I've been working on my water chemistry understanding. I've purchased acids and salts, had my tap water tested, and learned how to use the ez water profile spreadsheet. Unfortunately, I've had a hard time finding suggested profile targets for different styles. Beersmith includes profiles for different cities, but it's not always clear what beer style is suited, or whether the breweries in those areas adjust their water individually.i apologize if this is covered elsewhere but i searched and kept finding profiles by city

So, I'm wondering whether any of you would like to share your favorite water profiles for different beer styles. I'm not talking salt/mineral additions, but rather the final water profile ppm's.

Also helpful would be some suggestions for resources that list this type of info.

heres a few i found

Burton Pale Ale -- A toned-down, "idealized" profile. Enough sulphate to bring out the hops without overdoing it. Low alkalinity helps ensure proper mash pH. Model: Moshers 'Ideal Pale Ale". Ca=111, SO4=337, Mg=18, Na=35, Cl=32, CO3=38, Hardness=352, Alkalinity=31.

English Ale -- More or less a London water profile. Model: A. J. deLange's "Ale" from HBD1965. Ca=52, SO4=65, Mg=10, Na=6.2, Cl=9.6, CO3=63, Hardness=173, Alkalinity=106.

Light Lager -- Very small amounts of ions; just enough to acidify the mash. Model: Mosher's "Ideal Pale Lager". Ca=21, SO4=21, Mg=5.2, Na=18, Cl=16, CO3=51, Hardness=74, Alkalinity=69.

Medium Lager -- Malty, amber lagers like Oktoberfest. Loosely based on Papazian's Munich. Ca=74, SO4=21, Mg=5.2, Na=10, Cl=16, CO3=111, Hardness=207, Alkalinity=185.

Dark Lagers -- Bocks, for example. Model: Mosher's "Ideal Mild Ale / Dark Lager". Ca=73, SO4=125, Mg=13, Na=52, Cl=80, CO3=63, Hardness=236, Alkalinity=106.

cheers
martin

no replies yet?
i really thought there would be a bit of interest in this, i found several threads asking the same question but no real answers, most of the answers pointed to links that were by city and one or 2 dead links.

There was talk of doing something like this. Listing additions by style you need to make to RO water.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/using-r-o-water-brewing-155149/index5.html#post1799380

The profiles are right in the EZ spreadsheet. There are also a ton of them in brewater3.0

I think they assume you know where the styles come from. Burton on Trent = english pale ale. Pilsen = Pilsner. Munich = bock etc.

I remember them talking about this in the Water episodes of Brew Strong. I kind of agree, and do the same now. I rarely try to target an exact city profile. Rather, I get the same chloride/sulfate ratio and target close to the same RA. If everything else doesn't fall in perfectly, I don't sweat it.

Bobby_M said:

The profiles are right in the EZ spreadsheet. There are also a ton of them in brewater3.0

Click to expand...

unless i have an older version of the ez spreadsheet then theres only a half dozen or so and they're all cities.

i'm on a mac so i haven't yet tried brewater

Edcculus said:

I think they assume you know where the styles come from. Burton on Trent = english pale ale. Pilsen = Pilsner. Munich = bock etc.

I remember them talking about this in the Water episodes of Brew Strong. I kind of agree, and do the same now. I rarely try to target an exact city profile. Rather, I get the same chloride/sulfate ratio and target close to the same RA. If everything else doesn't fall in perfectly, I don't sweat it.

Click to expand...

some styles are fairly obvious as to which city you should use and i suppose the older styles were made in that city because the style was/is good because of the profile but a lot of styles are less obvious(to me at least).
i was just thinking that a list of idealized profiles by style might be more useful than a cities profile.

martinworswick said:

i was just thinking that a list of idealized profiles by style might be more useful than a cities profile.

Click to expand...

A list of profiles by style would be far more useful than a cities profile.


I endeavored to undertake the task of beginning a list but I'm not so confident with my ability to do the job much justice. Looks like mww gave us a good start.


After reading a bit on the subject I'm curious if all that is needed is to:
- use a mash pH stabilizer
- tweak the chloride to sulfate ratio to match the SRM

Could it be that simple?

This thread is especially interesting to me. I do almost exclusively "West Coast" style IPAs. (Think hop bursting flavor)

I don't buy the "Burton" water for these IPAs; the Calcium, Sulfate, and Magnesium are through the roof, and I don't think I need to dump that much stuff in to get a good IPA. So I'm looking at the "Mosher" profile, as it seems more reasonable. My water is extremely good tasting as is, so making subtle adjustments to get there seems better than making the water as hard as a rock.

Anybody got a different profile they like to use for a non-British style IPA?

Rich

i've got a list of all the bjcp beer categories and i'm trying to match as many as i can with a water profile, i'll post it when i've filled in as much as i can-it's taking a bit longer than i thought due to house renovations. hopefully others will be willing to add there knowledge to the list or correct my xxxx-ups,


cheers
martin

any news on the mapping process?

Any suggestions on a water profile for an American Amber.

arturo7 said:

After reading a bit on the subject I'm curious if all that is needed is to:
- use a mash pH stabilizer
- tweak the chloride to sulfate ratio to match the SRM

Could it be that simple?

Click to expand...

I'm just learning about this stuff arturo, but from my research, mash pH stabilizers don't work like their supposed to. It's a bit more advanced and I'm still not sure if I'm going to mess with it, but see this thread I started and ended up getting an ear full:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/v...-additions-interplay-h2o-chemistry-qs-161383/

As to your "could it be this simple" I'm thinking in many ways it can be. See here my rants about how confused I am/was:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/o...alc-some-questions-help-me-understand-163970/

But I've been learning. Regarding your chloride:sulfate ratio to SRM thing.

The chloride:sulfate ratio isn't for the SRM of the beer, but instead for the flavor you're going for. i.e. you want to brew a DARK yet more BITTER beer you'd have a higher sulfate:chloride ratio (i.e. 2:1) whereas if you wanted to brew a DARK yet more MALTY beer you'd want to have a lower sulfate:chloride ratio (i.e. 1:2). Your SRM wouldn't change, the your sulfate:chloride ratio would.

SRM is about the COLOR of the beer more than it is about the FLAVOR of the beer. Sulfate:Chloride ratio is not about the COLOR of the beer but more about the FLAVOR of the beer.

Keep in mind I'm just learning this. So correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the impression I'm getting. Like I said, I'm new to this.

martinworswick said:

i've got a list of all the bjcp beer categories and i'm trying to match as many as i can with a water profile, i'll post it when i've filled in as much as i can-it's taking a bit longer than i thought due to house renovations. hopefully others will be willing to add there knowledge to the list or correct my xxxx-ups,


cheers
martin

Click to expand...

I like this idea. It would help very much.