Intro to water chemistry in homebrewing

Why? Water makes up 90-95% of finished beer With minimal money and effort, tweaking water chemistry can help transform an okay beer into a great beer! “If it tastes good, brew with it” is not necessarily true. Good tasting water can make bad beer. More consistency in your process = more easily repeatable brews

What’s in my water? 1.Tap water Contact your water supplier to obtain a copy of their most recent water quality report, which will give you a ballpark estimate OR, send a sample of your water to a testing company, such as through Ward Labs. Their test kits start at $42, and will give you precise measurements of exactly what is coming out of your tap 2.Reverse Osmosis or distilled water RO water is available at most grocery stores in Bulk for around $0.30 per gallon. That’s only $2-$3 for a typical 5 gallon batch For brewing purposes, RO water can be considered free of minerals. Recommended for extract brewers, as the malt extract will contain mineral content of source water. Using tap water with malt extract could possibly result in an overabundance of certain ions

Chlorine/Chloramine Most tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramine. If yeast consume these, they produce chlorophenols, which result in a medicinal or plastic- like off flavor in the beer Methods of removal: 1.Activated charcoal filtration 2.Campden tablets ($3.69 for 100 at Operation Homebrew) 3.Boiling or leaving water to sit overnight (only works for chlorine) RO or distilled water is free of chlorine/chloramine and requires no treatment

What do you need? Digital 0.1 gram scale ($11 on Amazon) Gypsum ($2.29 for 2 oz. at Operation Homebrew) Calcium chloride ($1.49 for 2 oz. at Operation Homebrew) Lactic acid 88% solution ($3.99 for 5 fl oz. at Operation Homebrew) Non-iodized canning/kosher salt (around $2 for 4lbs) Epsom salt (around $2 for 1 lb) Baking soda (around $2 for 4 lbs) Total cost of start up supplies: less than $25

Tools & Process and-brewing-water-calculator/ and-brewing-water-calculator/ Calculate proper mash pH and make additions to strike water 2.Calculate desired ion content and make any final additions in the brew kettle

Mash pH Ideal range: Typically, the more dark malt in the grain bill, the lower the mash pH. Calcium and magnesium also lower the pH, while Bicarbonate raises the pH For very light grain bills, such as 100% pilsner malt, an addition of lactic acid solution is the simplest way to achieve proper pH For very dark grain bills, bicarbonate may need to be added to achieve proper pH

Relevant ions Calcium (Ca+) – Affects mash pH and promotes enzyme activity, yeast health, beer clarity, flavor, and stability – Desired range: ppm Magnesium (Mg+) – Also affects mash pH and acts as a yeast nutrient in small amounts – Desired range: ppm Bicarbonate (HCO3-) – Raises pH and neutralizes dark malt acidity – Desired range: from 0 ppm for very pale beers, to 250ppm for very dark beers Sulfate* (SO4-) – Accentuates bitter/hoppy flavors – Desired range: ppm for normal beers, ppm for very hoppy/bitter beers. Above 400 ppm can cause harsh, astringent bitterness Chloride* (Cl-) – Accentuates malty flavors – Desired range: ppm, above 300 ppm can cause off flavors Sodium (Na+) – In small amounts, can create rounder flavor and accentuate malt sweetness – Desired range: ppm. Above 200 ppm will contribute a salty flavor *The ratio of sulfate to chloride also impacts the perceived bitter or malty flavors e.g. a 1:1 ratio would be fairly balanced, 1:2 would be very malty, while a 3:1 ratio or higher would be very bitter In general, the darker and more robust a beer, the higher the desired mineral content

Example mash (using Brewer’s Friend) 8 lbs 2-row (1.8 L) 1 lb crystal 60 (60L) 8 oz Victory (28L) For this 5.5 gallon example, let’s aim for a balanced mineral profile of around 80 ppm for Calcium, Chloride, and Sulfate, and a small amount of magnesium. We will be using RO water and a standard 1.25 qt/lb mash thickness, which will require 3 gallons strike water and 5 gallons sparge water. Untreated, the mash will have a pH of 5.6, which is too high. Adding 4g gypsum, 2g epsom salt, and 5.5g calcium chloride to the strike water ONLY will drop the pH down to 5.33, which is in the ideal range, and this also gives us the approximate concentrations of the desired ions. Note: yeast nutrient is often recommended in the boil when using RO water, as it adds back some beneficial trace elements such as copper and zinc, which are stripped away in the RO process

What about extract? Malt extracts already contain mineral content from the water used by the maltster. For this reason, RO or distilled water is best for extract batches Experimentation is the best way to tweak water chemistry with extract batches e.g. adding gypsum to accentuate hops in IPAs, using baking soda to smooth out excess acidity in stouts and porters, etc.

Next steps Read: there is an abundance of in depth information available on the web (Homebrew Talk forums, /r/homebrewing, etc), as well as books like John Palmer’s Water Experiment: make small changes between batches, and only change one or two variables at a time Take detailed notes, both on the process and on the final product Remember that homebrewing should be fun, not stressful! Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a homebrew!