Stone adds gypsum, a brewing salt, to their stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA to mimic the famous Burton-On-Trent water character and enhance the bitterness.
Stone adds gypsum, a brewing salt, to their stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA to mimic the famous Burton-On-Trent water character and enhance the bitterness.
TODAY WE HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF BREWING CHEMISTRY TO ALLOW ANY BREWER TO TWEAK HIS LIQUOR (THE BREWING TERM FOR WATER) TO MIMIC THE PROFILES OF FAMOUS BREWING CITIES. HOWEVER, THE REASON CITIES DEVELOPED TRADEMARK STYLES, SUCH AS THE PILSEN PILSNER, IRISH STOUT IN DUBLIN, OR HOPPY ALES FROM BURTON, ENGLAND, IS BECAUSE BEFORE BREWING HAD ADVANCED TO THE POINT OF RADICAL WATER ADJUSTMENT, BEERS WERE BREWED AROUND THE AVAILABLE WATER SOURCES.
Of the four basic parts of beer, water is the most easily forgotten. It’s understandable. Despite water being the greatest ingredient in good beer, good beer can be produced without much thought to the water. Details like this make the difference between good and great brewers.
INTRODUCTION TO BREWING WATER
Many new homebrewers will forget to think about their brewing water, but as it constitutes roughly 95 percent of a beer, you should never overlook it. Ideal brewing water has small amounts of minerals and minimal chlorine. Basic filtered water, though not mineral-free distilled water, will work. But closer attention to your water chemistry can optimize your brewing process and significantly affect flavor and bitterness.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about:
Hard water
Water reports
Brewing salts
How much water to use
WHAT IS HARD WATER?
Hardness is a measure of the calcium and magnesium content in your water. If you’re familiar with water softener salt from your house, this is the same characteristic we’re talking about. For homebrewing, moderately hard water accentuates hop character, making for a rich and bitter taste. Conversely, soft water encourages a subtle and less biting hop flavor associated with many lager styles.
UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER REPORT
All cities make their water reports available to the public and most can be found on municipal government websites. Look for a water resources or management section; there will usually be a yearly water quality report for download. Home test kits are inexpensive, but also imprecise. If a report is not readily available online, call and request a water quality report from your municipal source.
Water reports aren’t often easy to decipher. For brewing, the key is to look for the levels of permanent hardness. Again, this is the measure of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg).
The report will also tell temporary hardness, represented by alkalinity, which is calcium carbonate (CaCO4). Temporary hardness is less important as the CaCO4 will drop out of solution when boiled. In large concentrations, without Ca or Mg to balance it out, CaCO4 raises your pH. Regions known for their dark beers, such as Dublin, often had high temporary hardness levels. Roasted grains are more acidic and lowered the mash pH. When brewers with these conditions tried to brew pale lagers or ales, they would be met with a too-high, inefficient mash pH that extracted unpleasant tannins and phenols.
In addition to hardness and pH, the report will also likely show the sulfates and sodium.
WATER PH
Tap water from your faucet will typically have a pH around 7.5. A good mash needs to be at a pH of 5.3, but just adding your grains will automatically lower the acidity near the range of 5.0 to 5.5.
Aside from stocking brewing salts, homebrew shops will often carry lactic acid. Or for a classic approach, use acidulated malt. This extra-low pH malt was developed by Reinheitsgebot-bound German brewers looking to lower mash pH.
FILTERING WATER
If you do nothing else to your water, filter it before brewing. A basic carbon filter in the form of a pitcher, faucet attachment, or countertop filter will remove unpleasant flavors and chlorine. Some volatiles, such as chlorine, can also be driven off by boiling your strike water and then letting it cool down to mash in.
After filtering their water, some brewers will use reverse-osmosis filters for a portion of their brewing water. This distills a portion of the liquor, making it devoid of minerals, so it can lower the overall hardness of the water. Even without a reverse-osmosis filter, you can get the same effect from blending distilled water purchased at a grocery store. Keep in mind that distilled water contains none of the nutrients (zinc, copper, iron, etc.) that yeast requires for healthy growth and fermentation.
SOFT WATER
Most beer styles are brewed using moderately hard water (calcium levels from 100 to 120 ppm), but for subtler beer styles such as the Czech pilsner, brewing with soft water is a must. The town of Pilsen’s incredibly soft water is what defined the style as a smooth, but full-flavored pilsner.
The filtering methods mentioned, such as distilling water, can help create a malty beer with a mild, clean bitterness, though a shortcut would be to obtain spring water, which is usually fairly soft but rich enough in mineral nutrients. A bonus of using soft water is that because of the low temporary hardness level, there’s little trouble hitting a desired pH with pale base malt.
When you have an idea of your ideal water, look at your water report for what chemicals are too low. If any are already too high, either use filtered water or cut your liquor with distilled water. When dosing brewing salts, ppm is the equivalent of 1 milligram per 1 liter. If you want to adjust the mash pH, add the salt along with the grains; otherwise, the salts can be added to the boil.
Brewing salts, such as calcium chloride, can be, but don’t necessarily need to be, dissolved before adding them to your kettle.
| BREWING SALTS | ||
Calcium Carbonate |
One gram of CaCO4 adds 107 ppm of calcium and 159 ppm of carbonate. |
Also referred to as temporary hardness, this typically undesirable chemical raises pH but can balance out the acidity of dark grains. |
Calcium Chloride |
One gram per gallon of CaCl adds 96 ppm of calcium and 168 ppm of chloride. |
Unlike when it’s paired with carbonate, calcium increases hardness, lowers pH, and enhances enzymatic mash activity. Chloride enhances mouthfeel in concentrations under 300 ppm; greater amounts can create unpleasant tasting chlorophenols (think plastic bandages). |
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) |
One gram per gallon of CaSO4 adds 62 ppm of calcium and 147 ppm of sulfate. |
Calcium increases hardness, lowers pH, and enhances enzymatic mash activity. Sulfate also increases hardness and aids mash conversion while enhancing bitterness. This will amplify bitterness more than calcium chloride or magnesium sulfate. |
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) |
One gram per gallon of MgSO4 adds 37 ppm of magnesium and 145 ppm of sulfate. |
Magnesium works like calcium but is essentially only half as effective, while also contributing astringent flavors in high concentrations. Sulfate also increases hardness and aids mash conversion while enhancing bitterness. |
Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) |
One gram per gallon of NaCl adds 104 ppm of sodium and 160 ppm of chloride. |
Sodium enhances mouthfeel when limited to 75 to 150 ppm. Beyond that, it will make beer salty and sour. Chloride also enhances mouthfeel in concentrations under 300 ppm without side effects; greater amounts can create unpleasant-tasting chlorophenols (think plastic bandages). |
Water chemistry aside, your brew day won’t go far if you don’t know how much water to use in your mash.
STEP 1
To calculate how much water you need, use a water-to-grain ratio between a 1 quart (0.9 L) per pound of grain to 2 quarts (1.9 L) per pound of grain.
A thicker mash will result in higher-gravity wort, and is useful for big beers that reach the limits of your mash capacity.
A thinner mash has a less-efficient conversion but can pull more sugar from the grains.
STEP 2
Once you calculated your mash’s strike water, you will need to work backward from your intended final volume of brew to determine how much to add back in. Add:
The evaporation loss (5 to 10 percent per hour) for your system
The water lost to grain absorption (0.21 gallons per pound [1.8 liters per kg])
Any other losses from your system and the kettle trub (hop matter and other precipitates)
STEP 3
Subtract your strike water from that total, and use the rest as sparge water.
One warning: Measure the gravity of your wort as it drains from the grains. Once it measures only 3 degrees Plato, stop and add any remaining water to the kettle. As the wort becomes especially diluted, it can extract tannins and other undesirable flavors from grain.
THE WATER IN MAJOR BREWING CITIES (IN PPM)
To more accurately recreate or mimic classic beer styles, always consider the chemistry of the original water supply. That said, the iconic cities listed in the table below all brewed a variety of styles of beer that benefited from their water’s unique chemical profile, so don’t limit yourself to the single style listed.
Classic Beer Style: Belgian Page Ale
Calcium: 6
Magnesium: 11
Sodium: 37
Sulfate: 84
Bicarbonate: 76
Chloride: 57
Burton
Classic Beer Style: English Pale Ale
Calcium: 275
Magnesium: 40
Sodium: 25
Sulfate: 450
Bicarbonate: 260
Chloride: 35
Dortmund
Classic Beer Style: Export Lager
Calcium: 225
Magnesium: 40
Sodium: 60
Sulfate: 120
Bicarbonate: 180
Chloride: 60
Dublin
Classic Beer Style: Irish Dry Stout
Calcium: 120
Magnesium: 5
Sodium: 12
Sulfate: 55
Bicarbonate: 125
Chloride: 20
Edinburgh
Classic Beer Style: Scottish Ale
Calcium: 120
Magnesium: 25
Sodium: 55
Sulfate: 140
Bicarbonate: 225
Chloride: 65
London
Classic Beer Style: English Porter
Calcium: 90
Magnesium: 5
Sodium: 15
Sulfate: 40
Bicarbonate: 125
Chloride: 20
Milwaukee
Classic Beer Style: Adjunct Lager
Calcium: 96
Magnesium: 47
Sodium: 7
Sulfate: 26
Bicarbonate: 107
Chloride: 16
Munich
Classic Beer Style: Helles Lager
Calcium: 75
Magnesium: 18
Sodium: 2
Sulfate: 10
Bicarbonate: 150
Chloride: 2
Pilzen
Classic Beer Style: Czech Pilsner
Calcium: 7
Magnesium: 2
Sodium: 2
Sulfate: 5
Bicarbonate: 15
Chloride: 5
Vienna
Classic Beer Style: Vienna Lager
Calcium: 200
Magnesium: 60
Sodium: 8
Sulfate: 125
Bicarbonate: 120
Chloride: 12
Coors now controls the old Bass Brewery at Burton-on-Trent, which dates back to 1777.
BURTON-ON-TRENT, UK
Few beer lovers would have trouble pointing out the world’s famous brewing cities on a globe. That is, until you ask them where Burton is (about thirty miles north of Birmingham, England). While the brewing world is usually run by giants, this relatively small town redefined the pale ale. The many brewers of London, for instance, simply couldn’t match the rich, yet drinkable hop profile created and honed by the brewers far outside the city.
Despite the last century’s trend of consolidation, Burton still has four craft breweries. With the exception of Burton’s largest brewery, Coors Brewers, the UK branch of the U.S.’s Molson Coors, which produces Bass and Carling, the remaining brewers take full advantage of their town water to turn out phenomenal ales as rich as the brewers before them.
INTERVIEW WITH:
MITCH STEELE: HEAD BREWER, STONE BREWING CO., ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.
Before finding his true home at Stone Brewing, Mitch spent time working at a small brewpub, a large international brewery, and a large winery.
THE MAN ENTRUSTED IN BREWING SUCH CRAFT BEER—WORLD STAPLES AS ARROGANT BASTARD ALE AND STONE RUINATION IPA—KNOWS THERE’S MORE TO GREAT BEER THAN HOPS AND BARLEY. EVERY BATCH STARTS NOT IN THE MASH TUN OR KETTLE, BUT IN THE WATER PIPES RUNNING INTO THE BREWERY.
WHAT IS THE WATER SOURCE AT STONE BREWING?
The municipal water. It is moderately hard at 300 ppm hardness and it is loaded with chlorine to knock out microbiological activity. We run all the water through a carbon filter and that strips it of any flavors and chlorine, so it tastes neutral.
It’s still hard, but the filter’s activated carbon ions absorb chlorine ions and any pipe flavor you might get.
FOR HOMEBREWERS, WOULD NORMAL CARBON FILTRATION MIMIC THIS?
Yes. They can also boil their water for 15 minutes before their mash in and that’ll take chlorine out. You have to heat it anyway. Otherwise, chlorine will carry through the whole brewing process and you can taste it in a beer in high levels.
After the carbon filter, we run part of it through a reverse-osmosis filtration system, and that pulls out some mineral content. Only a portion goes through the osmosis filter. So the water comes in at 300 ppm hardness and is leaving at 100 to 120 ppm after it’s blended back together.
WITH THE CONTROL OVER FILTRATION, IS THERE ANY WEIGHT TO THE CLAIM THAT CERTAIN BREWERIES HAVE “THE BEST” WATER?
That kind of thinking would go back 150 years or so. Once the industrial revolution came about, chemists began to understand the process and what was happening with Burton water, for example. People started mimicking their brewing salt through additions in the mid-1800s.
LET’S GO BACK TO HARD AND SOFT WATER: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THESE TYPES OF WATER FOR BREWERS?
The best way to describe hard water is that it has a high mineral content and soft water does not. Minerals in water will affect the brewing process, such as yeast and enzyme performance in mash and yeast performance in fermentation. Hop character is radically different in hard water compared to soft.
FROM A SMALL HOMEBREWING SETUP, DO YOU NEED TO FOCUS MUCH ON WATER, OR JUST BOIL IT AND YOU’LL BE NINE-TENTHS OF THE WAY THERE?
If you have clean neutral-tasting water you’ll be fine, but there are things you can do to shape your beer. Boiling removes temporary hardness, which is a technical term for [minerals] that precipitate out. You can add salts to make water harder, or “Burtonize” it with calcium sulfate, gypsum, or calcium chloride. When I homebrewed, I at least threw a teaspoon of gypsum in.
GYPSUM, CALCIUM SULFATE: IT’S A KIND OF SALT?
Exactly, a brewing mineral salt. Most homebrew shops have gypsum, and it’s fairly common because most drinking water is soft.
WHY WOULD YOU ADD CALCIUM TO THE WATER?
From a chemistry standpoint, in the mash process, calcium will enhance enzymatic activity of malt enzymes breaking down starches. You get better efficiency and better conversion fairly easily with a little calcium. That turned out to be a big deal with IPAs, because the goal was to make them as dry as possible and not sweet.
The first IPAs were brewed in London, where the water was fairly soft (compared to Burton). But the IPAs out of Burton were clearer with more pronounced hop character. On the brewhouse side, having calcium in your wort is also going to give you slightly better hop utilization.
BURTON-ON-TRENT BECAME FAMOUS FOR ITS HOPPY BEERS, THANKS TO THE WATER. LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW HARD WATER INTERACTS WITH HOPS.
That’s the meat of the discussion. At Burton-on-Trent, the water is treated like any other ingredient. They have wells in different parts of the town with different water profiles, and then they mix the water to get the character they want. The brewers realized early on their water was doing something to the beer that made it travel better. It allowed the beer to settle out to a higher level of clarity in a [shorter] amount of time than beer [made] with soft water.
AND THE BITTERNESS OF BURTON’S ALES?
The other thing about pale ales in Burton is they realized they could really hop the beer up and get a really intense bitterness, but it wouldn’t be harsh or coarse. It gave [the ales] an enhanced hop flavor from mouthfeel of the water and interaction of calcium ions.
One of the things the brewers at Burton told me is that the water there is so old, and has gone through so many layers of rock, there is no microbiological activity. That’s why their beer never spoils. I’m not sure about that, but back in 1800, they mashed longer and could get souring, but that’s malt, not water. Boiling should take care of infection. But sometimes the brewers back then would top off their barrels with well water and rinse fermenters. That could lead to spoilage, but I’m still not sure I’m on board [with their theory].
Stone Brewing president and Brewmaster Steve Wagner (left), CEO (and co-author of this mighty tome) Greg Koch (center), and Head Brewer Mitch Steele (right).
The best way to get a water analysis is to call your water supplier and ask for one, or visit their website. Specifically ask for hardness, calcium, and pH. No water company is shy about sharing.
AT STONE BREWING, DO YOU ADD ANY SALTS?
Not regularly. We can filter the water to where we want it as far as hardness. We’ve done two beers where we’ve added gypsum, the Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA, and then the [collaboration beer called the Ballast Point/McNair/Stone/Kelsey] San Diego County Session Ale.
It’s something I want to explore further, particularly with Stone IPA. The mash pH is a little higher than where I’d like it to be, and if I added a little calcium to bring it down, we’d get a higher efficiency and maybe increase hop utilization. I’m not looking to change the flavor at all, just increase performance a bit.
WHEN WOULD YOU ADD BREWING SALTS?
If you are brewing a hop-forward pale ale and you have soft water, brewing salts will help.
HOW WOULD YOU DO A WATER ANALYSIS?
The best way to do it is to call your water supplier and ask for an analysis, or visit their website. Specifically ask for hardness, calcium, and pH. No water company is shy about sharing. In a standard beer, you want 70 to 100 ppm calcium. For something that is Burton-on-Trent-ish, 300.
SO WHAT’S IN THAT INTERIM RANGE?
Dortmund, Dublin, and London water. In general, most brewing water has a hardness around 100, and that gives you a good range to do lager and ale brewing. You’re in the middle of the road. Strict Burton-type water gets that real chalky texture. Burton hardness is around 900, London is around 200. [Stone’s water is] on the low end, but I’d argue we make good IPAs.
WHAT’S TOO SOFT FOR BREWING WATER?
In the low 30s ppm for hardness you can risk some hop flavor and have clarifying issues.
COMPARE MUNICH PILSNERS BREWED WITH HARDER WATER AND CZECH PILSNERS WITH SOFT WATER. HOW DOES THE DIFFERENCE IN WATER SHOW UP?
With the Czech pils, the water is so soft they can go to a real high bitterness level without a harsh, bitter feel. A Czech pils is over 40 IBU but doesn’t drink like it.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU BREWED A CZECH PILS WITH BURTONIZED WATER?
For a pilsner brewed Burton style, there’s 40 IBUs with low-acid hops. And because you’d use boatloads of hops to reach 40, the bitterness would come across as coarse.
HOW DO YOU FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH WATER YOU NEED WHEN BREWING?
You typically use a 3:1 ratio of water to grain (or 1.4 to 1.5 quarts of water per pound [2.9 to 3.1 liters per kg] of grain). That’s a starting point.
MOST OF THE WATER USED TO BREW GOES TO WASTE. CAN YOU EXPLAIN OUR WASTEWATER TREATMENT?
Most water used in a brewery is for cleaning. You look at water ratios, and the goal is 4 gallons (15 L) of water per 1 gallon (3.8 L) of beer—and that’s on the low side of the industry standard.
A large body of water from our process goes down the drain full of sugar from the mash, yeast, hop particles, and cleaners. We take this brown murky water from the brewing process—it doesn’t mix with food or toilets. We take it all down to our wastewaster treatment, run it into a tank, and allow bacteria to consume all the sugar and proteins. Then we separate the water from solids, run it through a reverse-osmosis filter so it comes out clean, clear, and neutral in flavor. It’s wonderful water, and we’re bringing it into the brewery for cleaning.
BREWING TERM: HOP UTILIZATION
The percentage of bitter alpha acids in hops that are isomerized and absorbed into a beer is the utilization rate. The rate is dependent on the brewing water in addition to boil length and wort density.
