1 Water Chemistry and Brewing

2 Outline Water and brewing What’s in water? Effect on taste Effect on mashing (pH) Reading a water report Problem solving Adjusting water to style

3 Water and brewing Water is the most misunderstood component in brewing –Water is a universal solvent: metals, minerals, organics, cations, anions –Water is a carrier: pollution, dust, dirt, salts, organic material Did you ever see a recipe in BYO or Zymurgy that included the mineral profile for the brewing water?

4 Water and brewing – Water itself is just the solvent – Trace chemicals are everything Off-flavors Flavor effects of minerals Effects on mash pH

5 What’s in “water”? – H 2 O (duh…) – Natural minerals and salts These dissociate into ions when dissolved in water – Man-made additives Chlorine Chloramine – Pollutants Nitrates, solvents, THMs, etc.

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8 The important ions – Calcium – Ca +2 – Magnesium – Mg +2 – Sodium – Na +1 – Chloride – Cl -1 – Bicarbonate – HCO3 -1 – Sulfate – SO4 -2

9 Effect on Taste Off-flavors - Purifiers – Chlorine-chloramine React with phenols to give “medicinal” or other off-flavors Can be removed by carbon or Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration Can be removed by adding metabisulfite (Camden tablet) Chlorine can be removed by boiling Chloramine cannot be removed by boiling

10 Effect on Taste Off-flavors - Minerals/salts Iron – Bloodlike, metallic flavor Copper - Metallic flavor Sodium – Salty flavor over 250 ppm Chloride – Medicinal flavors over 300 ppm Sulfate – Astringent over 400 ppm Magnesium – sour/bitter over 50 ppm

11 Extract Brewing – If your water tastes good to drink, it’s okay to brew with it. – One exception - high bicarbonate water may give harsh tasting bitterness – Off-flavors from purifiers – treat to remove – High bicarbonate water may also raise wort pH too high for light colored beers. – Don’t add brewing salts until you understand your own water profile

12 What water should I use for this style of beer? – fill in the blank – Light beers – Pilsners, light colored ales: Soft low bicarbonate water – Copper-colored ales: higher sulfate, more bicarbonate, higher residual hardness – Dark beers- Porters and Stouts: High bicarbonate water, hard water but not high sulfate

13 What’s in my water? – reading your water report Mineral Concentration (ppm) Calcium 80 Magnesium 30 Alkalinity 250 (bicarbonate as CaCO3) Permanent hardness 315 (as CaCO3) Bicarbonate 310 (calculated) Sulfate ? Chloride 20 Sodium 6 Total dissolved solids 400 Local well water analytical report

14 What’s in my water? – what’s okay? Mineral Brewing Concentration Range (ppm) Molecular weight/ Equivalent weight Calcium 50 – – 20 Magnesium 10 – 3024 – 12 Bicarbonate 61 – 61 Pale beers Amber beers 50 – 150 Dark beers 150 – 250 Sulfate: 96 – 96 Normal bitter beers 50 – 150 Very bitter beers Chloride – 35 Sodium

15 Effect on Mash pH All Grain brewing – Main issue is mash pH Ideal mash pH is in the range of 5.1 to 5.5 at mash temperature (5.4 to 5.8 at room temp) – Bicarbonate raises pH Ideal mash pH depends on the beer style – Calcium lowers mash pH – Acids lower mash pH – Sulfate accentuates hop bitterness but doesn’t affect mash pH – Water pH is unimportant

16 Ideal Mash pH Range

17 Concept is based on effect of pale/pilsner malt on the pH of the mash. – Pale malt mashed in distilled water will give a mash pH of 5.8 at mash temperature Roasted malts add acidity that neutralizes bicarbonate in the mash, so you don’t need to adjust pH Three ways to adjust mash pH –Add acid (lactic, phosphoric for example) –Add calcium salts Calcium sulfate or calcium chloride to lower pH –Use 5.2 phosphate buffer from 5 Star Residual alkalinity

18 Effect on Mash pH Residual alkalinity – Calcium lowers mash pH by reacting with phytin and releasing H + (acid) that neutralizes bicarbonate – Magnesium does the same, but is less effective than Calcium – Combination of Calcium and Magnesium is called Residual Alkalinity

19 Palmer R.A. Nomograph Local well water residual alkalinity and beer color/style

20 Palmer R.A. Nomograph Local surface water residual alkalinity and beer color/style

21 Calcium Sulfate additions –1 gram per gallon of brewing water adds: 62 ppm Calcium and 147 ppm Sulfate –1 teaspoon = 4 grams Calcium Chloride additions –1 gram per gallon of brewing water adds: 72 ppm Calcium and 127 ppm Chloride –1 teaspoon = 3.4 grams Residual alkalinity

22 Palmer R.A. Nomograph Calcium addition for pale ale/amber colored beer: 270 ppm Ca, or 4.5 grams/gallon, but also get 660 ppm sulfate or 575 ppm chloride

23 Palmer R.A. Nomograph Calcium addition to 50/50 RO water and local well water: add 1 gram/gallon to get 60 ppm Ca and 150 ppm sulfate or 127 ppm chloride.

24 How do I fix my water to make – fill in the blank? – Light beers – Pilsners, light colored ales: Soft low bicarbonate water – dilute with RO water – Copper-colored ales: Higher sulfate, more bicarbonate, higher residual hardness – dilute with RO water, add calcium sulfate or calcium chloride – Dark beers- Porters and Stouts: High bicarbonate waters, hard waters but not high sulfate – don’t do anything

25 Problem solving local well water 1. Understand the mineral profile 2. Then eliminate off-flavor components (chlorine- chloramine) 3. Then correct bicarbonate levels if too high (boil, cool and rack off precipitate or dilute with RO water) 4. Then add Calcium to adjust mash pH 5. Then add other minerals to adjust profile to style Softened water still contains bicarbonate, only the Ca and the Mg have been removed

26 References How to Brew by John Palmer, in print or at Water calculator:

27 Thank You for your attention

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29 Carbonate-bicarbonate-carbonic acid balance vs pH