A water primer

[Beer-lord]

Saw this being passed around and thought it was worth sharing.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... 73a04f_0_0

[BlackDuck]

Good information...thanks for posting it!

[berryman]

Good post. TY

[mashani]

It is good as a general rule of thumb, but don't take it overly literally without knowing "all the things". IE there are some styles of Pale Beers that do very well with hard water, and in fact require hard water to turn out right. IE contrary to popular opinion, Kolsch (Cologne) or Dortmund water is not what I would describer as "soft", they are NOTHING AT ALL like Pils water... Same for some Belgian pale water, some British pale water, etc. And there are some styles of dark beers that do very well with soft water vs. hard water.

[berryman]

I am sure I need to go deeper into the water. My well water always has tasted good but hard, I correct the PH with lactic or acidulated malt. Think why I can always brew a better dark beer. Stouts and porters but have more problems on a light lager. I have a good whole house system, but this is what the filter housing can look like if I don’t keep up in replacing it.



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[berryman]

And BTW, not what comes out of my facets, but is in there if I forget to change often enough,

[mashani]

I am sure I need to go deeper into the water. My well water always has tasted good but hard, I correct the PH with lactic or acidulated malt. Think why I can always brew a better dark beer. Stouts and porters but have more problems on a light lager.

Honestly simply adding some table salt might solve that for you. When I say I wouldn't call "Kolsch" or "Dortmund" or even "Antwerp" water soft by the standards of the water you would use in a Bohemian Pilsner or such - as in they are both quite heavy in minerals found in hard water profiles like calcium or bicarbonate (IE things you really don't want in a Bohemian Pilsner)... but what makes them "work" well for pale beers is the fact that they are also higher in sodium and chloride then a profile that has those things but is truly "hard".

Without going into full blown water building from scratch, that would probably be the easiest adjustment you could make, to turn your hard water into something more similarish to them. You can do that without any sort of analysis - just start with a small adjustment (just throw in say 1/4 tsp), see how that goes, and work up from there. Just make sure it's non-iodized salt.

I add about that much salt to many pale Lager/Belgian beers as part of my adjustments to my Eerie Lake water, possibly along with a little bit of baking soda and calcium chloride depending on which of the profiles I mentioned I'm trying to match. But just adding the salt will give good results for me regardless.

It's cool to build up water from RO, but honestly simple adjustments like that can really make great beer anyways. The only thing I really will start from RO for personally is a Bohemian Pilsner, otherwise not worth the bother (for me).

[Beer-lord]

I don't use it too often but there are a number of my beers where I use salt (non iodine of course). I have read a number of times thru the years that all some people needed to get their beers from so-so to medal winning was a touch of salt. That's a broad statement but like many chefs, using it in the right beer can make subtle differences.
But there is no doubt to me that switching to RO years ago and playing with adding minerals has made the biggest difference in my beer since getting a fermenter keezer to regulate temps.

[MadBrewer]

Nice little article to cover the basics. I no longer chase a certain water profile. I have really nice middle of the road brewing water, the same natural source for many great breweries in my area. I do believe small adjustments have and will help you to make better beer. Understanding what you are working with is key, the benefits of just a little tweak, especially for mash ph if it was to otherwise be a problem or out of wack would probably surprise most people. From there, everything is trickle down, domino effect for the better. These days I focus on 3 main things, one getting a decent level of Calcium in my water, adjusting mash ph with acid or baking soda and "seasoning" with Gypsum for crisper, drier or more hoppy beers and raising ph and adding Calcium Chloride for dark beers which helps to round them out. But for the most part I target 5.3 mash ph give or take, at least 50 ppm calcium and a pinch of gypsum or calcium chloride depending on the beer. I have pre-boiled strike water for very light beers which does some things that I have found made those styles of beers much better for me than only adjusting mash ph or adding any additions. Adding any sodium doesn't come in to play very often, if it does it's from the baking soda used to raise ph. Carbon filtering your tap water is probably one of the best things to do, and easiest. Also, a campden tablet can remove chloromines that regular carbon filtering can not.

[mashani]

It all depends on the water your working with. If his water is already high in calcium and/or bicarbonate (since he considers it to be hard I would have to guess it is), then plain table salt is potentially better then adding calcium chloride and/or baking soda to get that effect. I might use all 3 depending on what I am making if I'm being totally picky about style. But more often it's just a bit of salt since my water already is hard and has a good bit of calcium and bicarbonate (IE what your adding by using baking soda for the sodium) unless I'm actually trying to match a profile with more of those things. IE if I was trying specifically match a profile, I would add more things for a Dortmund water, but can use only salt and be very close to Cologne water. I tend to just use my simple salt addition Cologne like water for many German light lagers or ales and call it good enough. (but not bo-pils, they are special). A lot of these articles always reference Bo-Pils as if it's some sort of standard for what your "soft water" should be and it's *not*. BoPils is special. Plenty of other light lager / and pilsner styles from other areas use water that is nothing at all like it with good amounts of calcium and bicarbonate. (but they also are not loaded up with Saaz out the wazoo like BoPils).

I don't think he has chloramines to remove being that it is well water, but I do treat all my water with campden tablets here.

[MadBrewer]

I wasn't replying directly to anyone, but yeah we all have differences to work with.

I had my water tested years ago, I have been thinking of doing it again to see if it has changed any, especially being in a new house but I am still in the same city just the other end of town. I would imagine things aren't very different but might be worth keeping up on it.

[BlackDuck]

I had my water tested years ago, I have been thinking of doing it again to see if it has changed any, especially being in a new house but I am still in the same city just the other end of town. I would imagine things aren't very different but might be worth keeping up on it.

You might be surprised on how much different they might be. I had mine tested three years apart (from the same faucet) and was floored by the changes. All figures below are ppm.
Total dissolved solids went from 684 to 721
Sodium went from 185 to 233 (this is why I start from distilled water much of the time, that sodium level is just too high
Calcium went from 49 to 31
Total hardness went from 193 to 119

These are the major changes...other stuff changed too, but not by that much. The last time I had it tested was August of 2018. I'll probably do it again this summer.
And as an add on, I get it tested through Ward Labs.

[Beer-lord]

I wasn't replying directly to anyone, but yeah we all have differences to work with.

I had my water tested years ago, I have been thinking of doing it again to see if it has changed any, especially being in a new house but I am still in the same city just the other end of town. I would imagine things aren't very different but might be worth keeping up on it.

I had my water retested even though I no longer use it and it was about 4 1/2 years between testing and they were closer than I thought. But, they were done about the same time of the year. The time of year affects some more than others and for us, the mid to late summer is the worst time for our water.

[mashani]

I can tell you that my water PH goes up and down about +/- 0.2 or even 0.3 sometimes over the year.