Water testing

[Squid2015]

Hello:

I am new to brewing beer. How important is water quality? Should the water Ph and other mineral levels be within a certain range for different types of beers?

 

[DocScott]

Very important. Yes, mineral levels vary for different types of beer. There are a lot of calculators and books on achieving the correct water profiles for brewing.

With that said, you can brew a good or even great beer without focusing too much on your water. That's what I did for many years. Over the past year or two, I've started working on my water treatments and my beers have gotten markedly better.

Remember, water is the biggest ingredient in your beer. There is even a brewing book available called "water". It's important!

 

[PJM]

It is probably less important if you are an extract brewer as the extract has an unknown quantity of minerals in it already. For this reason, some extract brewers us RO water.