So this may seem like a silly question to some of you but I am asking it anyway. If you had to say hard or soft for the belgian style of beers what would it be. I know nothing about water, how to change it, when to change, and I have only brewed a couple of belgian’s. I am about to brew the Patersbier AG kit, my rendition anyway, and then a Golden Strong. My water is middle of the road as far as hardness. Sometimes I leave it as is to brew, other times I will cut it with bottled water to soften it up and reduce the mineral content. How goes a Belgian? or is it just not that simple?
What did you end up doing, Jon?
I’m going to brew the Patersbier tomorrow and am also interested to know.
So I ended up just brewing with my tap water. Of course I live in a part of California that has pretty darn good tap water. How would i go about describing it though…I have no idea. I don’t know much about water and have never gotten a water report, it’s the one part of all grain brewing that I have yet to fully educate myself on. I am very happy with the way it turned out though. The patersbier kit is a very solid recipe though, I brewed it a couple years ago and 50 some odd batches later, its still one of the better beers that I have made. I would still like someone to weigh in on my original inquiry. Maybe it never got answered cuz it’s a stupid question, like the equivalent of asking what the american water profile is?
I’d go with moderate hardness (but make sure Ca >30 ppm) and an RA around 0. Probably more chloride than sulfate. I did a Belgian Blonde recently:
65 ppm Ca
10 ppm Mg
0 ppm Na
40 ppm SO4
55 ppm Cl
50 ppm HCO3
