antisoshal
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Disclaimer: I've done very little water chemistry myself as our municipal water is pretty good and is used out of the tap by dozens of breweries already. That said, Im opening a small "boutique" brewery where a reasonably well known historic brewery operated in the the late 1800's. They bragged about using mineral water from local springs and had national distribution for some of their beer, but have disappeared entirely since prohibition. The springs have long since stopped flowing, but I have the mineral analysis from the 8 local springs operating back around 1865-1885. Because there were operated as "health springs" with hotels and amenities, the analysis is in depth, more so than basic hardness and ion count that brewers focus on now. The water is significantly alkali and I believe the flavor of the water itself was as much a component of the beer as it was to the health of the yeast, so Id like to try and mimic that to the best degree possible. All of the 8 springs vary significantly in some salts but have a few common trends, the biggest being a large bicarbonate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia count.
Anyone feel up to helping figure out what witches brew of salts I will need to approximate this? We know he bought water from several springs based on availability and price, so rather than emulate one, I'm going to try and work up a profile that would approximate what you'd get if you mixed them, as he likely did. I also suspect he diluted it with well water because it all looks pretty hard and alkali to be used as it came out of the ground. I'm at work right now but I can post some the exact numbers tonight if someone wants to help me down this rabbit hole. Theres a lot of them.
Anyone feel up to helping figure out what witches brew of salts I will need to approximate this? We know he bought water from several springs based on availability and price, so rather than emulate one, I'm going to try and work up a profile that would approximate what you'd get if you mixed them, as he likely did. I also suspect he diluted it with well water because it all looks pretty hard and alkali to be used as it came out of the ground. I'm at work right now but I can post some the exact numbers tonight if someone wants to help me down this rabbit hole. Theres a lot of them.
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