Water, Hops, Yeast, and Barley (Part II): Water

Why is water important?  Water is the main ingredient in beer–up to 97% of the product.  There are certain ions in water that can dramatically change the way your beer will taste, and these ions appear in varying amounts depending on which region of the world you live.  I’ve heard numerous brewers talk about how they increased sales of their beer based solely on adjusting the water profile.  By understanding the chemical make-up of your water, you will be able to determine how efficient your extract efficiency will be, how the water will change your hop utilization, and how water will effect the overall flavor of your beer.

You can find out what your local water profile is by contacting your water supplier or public works department, or if you have a well, you will have to hire some one to run the analysis.  I found my water profile here.

There are six water ions to look for when referencing your water profile sheet:

• Carbonate
• Sodium
• Chloride
• Sulfate
• Calcium
• Magnesium

My particular sheet is for a large region and gives ranges for each ion with an average.  You’ll notice that these are my stats:

So what do we do with this information?  First, it is helpful to understand how each ion will play with your end result.  Here is a brief low-down:

Carbonate: This is the ion that determines the acidity of the mash and is considered the most influential ion in your water profile.  When people refer to water as being hard or soft they are referring to how much carbonate (or alkalinity) is in their water.  Soft water (or low in pH) will cause your mash to bee too acidic (changing the flavor of the beer), and Hard water (high in pH) will lower your extract efficiency due to high tannin extraction.  BeerSmith recommends levels of 25-50 mg/l (ppm) for pale beers and 100-300 mg/l (ppm) for darker beers.

Sodium: The ion responsible for how the mouthfeel of the beer will be.  If there is too much sodium in your water, the beer will be too salty and taste like sea water.  BeerSmith recommends sodium levels in the 10-70 mg/l range, and levels of up to 150 mg/l to enhance malty body and fullness, but levels above 200 mg/l are undesirable.

Chloride: Also used to change the mouthfeel and body of the beer.  Public works departments add chlorine to water to sanitize it, and chloride is the result of chlorine being filtered out of the water in the end.  Chloride works hand in hand with Sodium to give a sweetness to the beer as well.  BeerSmith states normal brewing levels should be below 150 mg/l and never exceed 200 mg/l.  It is also said that if you have high levels of sulfate you’ll want to lower your level of Sodium/Chloride, because the combination of sulfate and sodium chloride will cause your beer to be harsh.

Sulfate: The sulfate ion has a dramatic effect on hop utilization and the overall bitterness of your beer.  If your sulfate levels are right, you will end up with a nice balanced dry and bitter beer, but if they are too high, the end result will be harsh and salty.  BeerSmith states normal levels are 10-50 mg/l for pilsners and light beers and 30-70mg for most ales.  Levels from 100-130 mg/l are used in Vienna and Dortmunder styles to enhance bitterness, and Burton on Trent pale ales use concentrations as high as 500 mg/l.

Calcium: This ion can raise or lower the pH as well.  Calcium reacts with phosphates, forming precipitates that involve the release of hydrogen ions and in turn lowering the pH of the mash. This lowering of the pH is critical in that it provides a suitable environment for the starch conversion enzymes — Alpha and Beta Amylase.  BeerSmith states calcium levels in the 100 mg/l range are highly desirable, and additives should be considered if your water profile has calcium levels below 50 mg/l.  The range 50mg/l to 150 mg/l is preferred for brewing.

Magnesium: The magnesium ion plays a role in the hardness of the water, and contains useful nutrients for the yeast.  BeerSmith recommends levels in the 10-30 mg/l range, primarily to aid yeast.  Levels above 30 mg/l will give a dry, astringent or sour bitter taste to the beer.

Now that we have a better understanding of our water, we can decide whether or not we want to get adventurous and start using additives to change our profile to reach a state that will match the taste we are ultimately looking for.  Common additives are calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate.

It is also important to consider your water make-up, when attempting to clone a particular style of beer.  You can try all year to match a style, but if your water is too soft or too hard, it will never taste the same as your target.  Of course, there are several charts and tables showing different water profiles of different popular brewery locales, but you can never really now what their water profile is, because they could be using additives as well.  Here is an example of such a table:

As with all things brewing, there really is no end to this rabbit hole of information, and in the end you can either take it or leave it.  Here are some other useful links and references:

BeerSmith: http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/08/24/brewing-water-hard-or-soft/

Brew-Monkey: http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/waterarticle.php

Suite101: http://beer-brewing.suite101.com/article.cfm/brewing_water_for_advanced_homebrewing

WETNEWF: http://ajdel.wetnewf.org:81/

Brewersfriend: http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

So Yeah Dood: http://www.soyeahdood.com/modifying-water-profiles/690/