Importance of water?

[Oleson M.D.]

Soft water: As is true with many of the world’s best beers, the water used in Pilsner Urquell is distinctive. In this case, it is very soft, containing only about 50 ppm of total dissolved solids; Burton water, by contrast, contains about 1,200 ppm. The water also contains only about 10 ppm calcium, meaning that the brewers must adjust the pH during the mash.

Read more here: The History and Brewing Methods of Pilsner Urquell | MoreBeer

 

[doug293cz]

Here is the response, directly from the Hofbrau Brewery, in Munich:

The well water runs through the so-called double-deck filter , means it runs through gravel + active carbon filters, ion exchangers (strongly acidic) and remove Na +, Ca2 + and Mg +.

The degree of hardness is further adjusted with lime saturators, (softening the water).

Then an activated carbon filter is used again for the perfect brewing water.

Now you know.

This seems to be about as far away from "not worrying about the water" as you can get. Using ion exchangers is pretty aggressive water adjustment - on par with RO water treatment.

Brew on

 

[doug293cz]

...

BTW, ion exchangers do not only remove ions. They replace them with other ions. i.e. they add stuff to the water.

...

If you use the correct resins, the added ions are H+ or OH-. By using a combination of anionic and cationic resins you can create deionized water, which is even lower in TDS than RO water.

Brew on

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Don't overlook the mash process (read more here: The History and Brewing Methods of Pilsner Urquell | MoreBeer)

Triple-decoction mashing: ...

 

[Oleson M.D.]

This seems to be about as far away from "not worrying about the water" as you can get. Using ion exchangers is pretty aggressive water adjustment - on par with RO water treatment.

Brew on

We do not personally worry about the water. Some breweries do. Many brewers do not.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Relax, don't worry (about water - make a plan), have a home brew.

 

[cire]

I don't worry about water at all, just treat it after it comes out of the tap and brew. I live in Britain where water for brewing has been treated without restraint since 1880 and the so called Mash Tun Act. Before then, water treatment was thought a way to evade tax on malt with higher extraction. From 1880 brewers learned how their well waters should be treated and 40 years later, chemist who took electronic pH meter readings, became aware that brewers knew how to treat water and make good beer. It's a shame many think it didn't happen and are busy trying to persuade others to think the same.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

Yes, a pity, for sure!

 

[Oleson M.D.]

Here is some good info on brewing water and beer styles. Our city tap water fits nicely in the middle of these specs. We don't worry about water, we brew with it!

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Various_water_recipes

 

[Taket_al_Tauro]

For any new all grain brewers (and less so for extract brewers) that have no clue what their water is like, there is an equal chance of their water being acceptable or completely unacceptable. When it falls into such a medium ground like yours does, of course the common advice will be "don't worry about it". When it is on the extreme ends of the spectrum, that brewer will either figure out their water sucks or just quit brewing before that happens.

In my case, I moved from an area with tap water like yours and brewed great light copper to brown beers to a private well that was so hard that it was impossible to brew a drinkable beer with regardless of the style. It kind of thrust me into "worrying" about water as a matter of hobby survival. If on the other hand, I was a full noob in the hobby and made 3 batches of undrinkable extract beer with this water, I would have bailed.

Perspective is everything.

+1
I started homebrewing when I was living near Munich, and I had to learn very quickly to worry about water...
The tap water there is namely very, very hard. My first batch, a Hefeweizen, turned out too bitter and astringent and anything but a Hefeweizen. For the second batch I learned to add a bit of lactic acid to both my mash and sparge water, and it was soo much better. I still wasn't able to nail the correct amounts back then, but what a difference a tiny bit of lactic acid did already make...

I once read somewhere in an article that Munich brewers became such masters in their craft because they had to deal with their awful brewing water.
I believe there is quite some truth in this statement. Of course it isn't the only reason for them becoming great brewers, but as @cire said of British brewers, I'm sure that Munich brewers too had to learn how to manipulate their water a long time ago, before the advent of "modern science".

I personally would put water chemistry up there with yeast and fermentation management. I actually believe that for me it made an even bigger difference.
I'm still living in a place with hard water (although not nearly as hard as Munich's), so I am really glad that I was forced to worry about water from the start.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Here is some good info on brewing water and beer styles. Our city tap water fits nicely in the middle of these specs. We don't worry about water, we brew with it!

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Various_water_recipes

With water like that from your region, simply brewing with it is generally fine, but just in case any others are potentially being misled by this, not all source waters can be assumed to likewise make great beer without modification.

For but a couple examples (of nigh on a potential infinity of them), anyone with source water that has greater than 50 ppm Alkalinity (as CaCO3), or greater than ~15 ppm Mg++ may have a serious need to consider altering their water.

 

[crazyjake19]

I use distilled water and build my water profile from there. I thought about getting a water test done, but our municipal water is drawn from 3 different sources throughout the year, and they were less than helpful in delivering any further information on that. I have an RO setup that I purchased a few months ago but haven't had the chance to get it hooked up. When I do, I'll be using that instead of buying and recycling jugs of distilled water.

Is water chemistry 100% necessary if you have decent water? No. Does it help you make better beer? Absolutely. I can cook a steak and some mashed potatoes with no salt, pepper, or butter, and it would taste good. But adding those things in the right amounts accentuates and balances the flavors, making the meal even more enjoyable. Water chemistry is "seasoning" for your beers.

 

[TimLa]

FWIW, my well water is 4150 PPM TDS. Gypsum.
As a result, we installed a whole house RO system - current tap water is at 90 PPM.
Brewing a dry irish stout Saturday, I'll let you all know how it comes out.

 

[brewbama]

There are a lot of viewpoints on water. Many recommend not to concern yourself with water until you learn other skills treating it as some sort of advanced topic. I respectfully disagree. Being one of only four necessary ingredients, I believe water is a significant contributor to the final product.

Our tap water, regardless of location, comes loaded with both desirable and undesirable components. Many of the desirable components are in the wrong proportions and the undesirable components can turn an otherwise good beer into an OK beer or worse. Even though tap water is safe to drink, it is unlikely it is best to brew beer with. I believe it is important for beginners to make good beer from the beginning so they aren’t turned off by a inferior product.

That’s why I recommend new brewers buy distilled or RO (purified) water at first and add nothing to it especially if they are brewing with extracts. This eliminates the undesirable components. Admittedly, it doesn’t add desirable components but at least it won’t ruin the beer.

Then, after a few brews, if the new brewer likes the results and wants to continue in the hobby, further education can help with pH control, adding salts, deaeration, etc. to achieve certain results. …although IMO gram scales and spreadsheets are not required.

I recommend starting with 1 tsp calcium chloride to each 5 gallons of distilled or RO water treated. For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles) use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride. For hop fwd beers: Add gypsum as well as calcium chloride. For very minerally beers (Export, Burton ale): Double the calcium chloride and the gypsum. (Ref: AJ DeLange). These recommendations come with adding 2-3% acidulated malt for light colored beers. I prefer to handle acidifying the wort by using other acid additions but that approach certainly works.

Then as the brewer gains experience, fine tuning can take place to personalize their beer such as increasing gypsum from these recommendations to further enhance bitterness, or more calcium chloride to enhance malt expression, etc.

 

[VikeMan]

That’s why I recommend new brewers buy distilled or RO water at first and add nothing to it especially if they are brewing with extracts. This eliminates the undesirable components. Admittedly, it doesn’t add desirable components but at least it won’t ruin the beer.

Then, after a few brews, if the new brewer likes the results and wants to continue in the hobby, further education can help with pH control, adding salts, deaeration, etc. to achieve certain results. …although IMO gram scales and spreadsheets are not required.

Untreated Distilled/RO water is ok for extract brewing (because the water used to produce the extract was not distilled/RO). But for all grain brewing, I wouldn't recommend it. pH/flavor/mouthfeel issues aside, a complete lack of calcium isn't good for conversion in the mash (calcium is an amylase enzyme cofactor), and doesn't support yeast flocculation. Sure it'll make beer, but adding some salts to the water is dead easy, even for a new brewer, especially if using AJ's simple method.

Personally, I'd prefer brewing all grain with pretty much any safe tap water and a campden tablet over untreated distilled/RO.

 

[brewbama]

@VikeMan

Admittedly, it doesn’t add desirable components but at least it won’t ruin the beer.

 

[VikeMan]

Admittedly, it doesn’t add desirable components but at least it won’t ruin the beer.

At a cost of literally 15 seconds of work, I'd set the bar a little higher than "not ruined," even for beginners.

 

[Red over White]

MBAA podcast #66 has some interesting points about what minerals the malt adds through the whole process. Definitely something to consider when looking at water profiles.

 

[VikeMan]

MBAA podcast #66 has some interesting points about what minerals the malt adds through the whole process. Definitely something to consider when looking at water profiles.

How are these minerals being measured? If it's by sending a sample of beer off to Ward Labs, the results will be very misleading. The testing process uses a hot plasma to ionize elements in the sample that would normally be locked up in (malt/hop derived) compounds, i.e. they wouldn't (mostly) be free ions.

 

[Red over White]

How are these minerals being measured? If it's by sending a sample of beer off to Ward Labs, the results will be very misleading. The testing process uses a hot plasma to ionize elements in the sample that would normally be locked up in (malt/hop derived) compounds, i.e. they wouldn't (mostly) be free ions.

I do not think they discussed the method they used to arrive at the averages they stated. It is at least food for thought about what the malt may bring + the known water content and then to have an idea of what the final product numbers might be.

This gives us some ideas about water profiles we really like currently when the malt is added, but certainly not hard numbers. Some soft water starting points might end higher than we think in the glass.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

background: As I mentioned earlier (perhaps in a related topic), people are finding that RO/distilled water is becoming expensive (for them) - and are considering tap water as an alternative. I put this together for the 'future me' that may decide to try brewing with tap water.

The process isn't 'easy-peasy'; nor is it a 'rabbit hole'.

Brewing with adjusted tap water: a draft outline to guide the decision process

Why? Adjustments generally make better beer. See this presentation (link) starting at slide 24 (via the Wayback Machine).

Why not RO / distilled (it's a blank slate)? personal decision, cost, curiosity.

The draft outline
quality and consistency of tap water

• water from a single source or multiple sources? consistent or variable mineral content?​

- Local knowledge (other brewers, …)​

- Municipal water report / discussion​

• Primary mineral content (Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4)​

• Secondary mineral content (may not be as important)​

• Tap water pH isn't as important​

Measuring mineral content

• Local knowledge (other brewers, …)​

• Municipal water report / discussion​

• Lab tests and/or test kits​

Other sources of water

• In house RO filter​

• Bottled water (distilled, RO, spring)​

Tap water adjustments: what needs to be done

• to start with quality water?​

- Remove chlorine, …​

• for a quality mash?​

- Proper amount of Ca​

- Adjust alkalinity / pH levels​

• for flavor?​

- Adjust Cl, S04; and maybe Na, Mg​

- Add minerals or dilute with 'no mineral' water​

• for yeast health (especially if re-using yeast)?​

Related
[*] Beginners Guide to Water Treatment (plus ...)
[*] Brewing with unfiltered tap water advice
[*] Brewing Water
[*] Water Chemistry – How to Build Your Water – Bertus Brewery
[*] exBEERiment | Water Chemistry: Impact Different Mineral Profiles Have on Dry Irish Stout

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