Which Water Profile

[flexbrew]

I have seen the tables that show famous brewing citires water profiles. I dont think I am interested in that.

What I think I want is a table that shows really good water profiles to use for certain styles such as IPA, stout, american pale ale, etc. I realize the list may match the famous cities for the most part but I am more into getting a tasty beer rather than to match it to style, if that makes sense? For example, a traditional pizza magherrita has no pepper, I put cracked black pepper and I like it that way, is there a place where people have done similar with water profiles and documented it?

 

[nefarious_1_]

Are you AG brewing?

 

[flexbrew]

Yes

 

[ajdelange]

Certainly matching to city profiles is an excellent example of "overengineering" in home brewing - at least at the beginning level. Nonetheless you must adhere to some general water treatment principles that are style based. You can't brew and IPA with water that suits a Pils nor conversely.

To get you started there are some guidelines in the Primer here.

 

[samc]

Some of the programs discussed in the brew science threads have profiles. Bru'n Water is one, an old program called BreWater 3.0 has several.

AJ's primer as he mentioned has those easy things to do that get you up and running.

 

[mabrungard]

Be careful with historic brewing city water profiles. Just because the water from those cities was used to create particular beers, it doesn't mean that the profile will produce better beer. In many cases, lower ionic content than found in those historic profiles will produce better beer. Bru'n Water contains the most comprehensive selection of verified historic water profiles, but also contains a selection of beer color and bitterness perception water profiles that could be better alternatives.