Does anyone know if there is a resource that would be so easy as to describe what to add to your water (distilled) for common styles? I’m going to start messing with water after I taste the next two batches…sticking with 3 gallon BIAB batches for awhile. So far it appears that IPA’s and PA’s are ok with my tap water…but belgians and some other dark beers are not…
There are a number of ways to approach this. Depending on your background and brewing experience some might be more useful than others…
If you are going to use all distilled just input zeroes across the board when it asks for source water and then indicate which type of beer you are wanting to brew. Then add the requested amounts of the 4 or 5 brewing salts that will comprise The vast majority of what you will need. This approach is shared more or less by all 3 of the brewing water programs I am familiar with.
I read john Palmers book on brewing water (or at least most of it ) :mrgreen: and it is very good but not an easy resource to start with.
I started burtonizing by watching a you tube video in which a middling brewer was applying EZ Water to brew a pale ale and this was a great way to get started.
Water chemistry is pretty straight forward with distiller water. As Vodoo said, zero your starting water. Pick your profile. Add salts to reach desired profile. Word of caution… Stay away from the infamous “city” profiles. You think that you are going straight because that beer is made in that city but you don’t know what that brewery is doing to the water. I’ve had much better success by choosing a profile based on SRM.
I’ll second what the other guys said. With BrunWater just stick with the pale ale, yellow balanced, yellow malty, etc profiles and don’t worry about historical profiles. Also, you don’t need to make it more difficult than you want. Just use a couple different salts to get close, and you’ll be good to go. Or you could go all in and try to nail them perfectly.
I like to take a middle-of-the-road approach. I pick my profile, use 2 or 3 salts to get in the ballpark, and go from there. I pretty much only use gypsum, calcium chloride, table salt, and Epsom salt. And adjust pH with lactic acid. Seems daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it it isn’t that bad.
I’m assuming you mean kosher salt? Table salt contains iodine which prevents fermentation.
Right, my bad. My “table salt” is sea salt, which isn’t pure but is certainly not iodized salt.
Good catch!
While you should avoid iodized salt, at the typical dosing of salt that we might use in brewing water, its unlikely that you would create a toxic condition for yeast. So, not a big worry.
Thanks for the info guys! I’m going to dig into palmers section on water in a few minutes.
I’m on my 3rd time thro the book… Keep reading… Sneezles61
With distilled water calcium chloride for malty styles, gysum for hoppy styles…the most important thing is mash ph which is the precursor for the beer ph which impacts the flavor a great deal…if the mash ph is too high the flavors will not pop…use bru’n water and punch your numbers in and it will give you a good estimation of salts needed for the style you are brewing but mash ph is very important and for grain bills with low lovibond malts an acid addition to the mash may be required.
You make good points, but one that should be added, is that those salts aren’t exclusive to those styles. Sure, you should use more calcium chloride in malty styles and more gypsum in hoppier styles, but you shouldn’t being using only one or the other. Think of this salt usage as a continuum. More of one and less of the other, not all one and none of the other.
You make good points, but one that should be added, is that those salts aren’t exclusive to those styles. Sure, you should use more calcium chloride in malty styles and more gypsum in hoppier styles, but you shouldn’t being using only one or the other. Think of this salt usage as a continuum. More of one and less of the other, not all one and none of the other.[/quote]
Yes thank you Martin for the clarity
That only matters if you brew the same beer AJ does…pretty much nothing but light Euro lagers. His advice isn’t all that great for other styles.
[quoteThat only matters if you brew the same beer AJ does…pretty much nothing but light Euro lagers. His advice isn’t all that great for other styles.[/quote]
craziest shit i’ve heard in while.
craziest #### i’ve heard in while.[/quote]
Actually Denny’s right (and AJ is THE reason I joined that forum)
A true KISS water treatment “programme” has been around a lot longer that many realize.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Brewing-Dave-Line/dp/1854862359
What everyone seems to miss is that #1 reason for water treatment is to get pH into proper range. After that, it’s basically “seasoning to taste”.
craziest #### i’ve heard in while.[/quote]
Explain?
craziest #### i’ve heard in while.[/quote]
Actually Denny’s right (and AJ is THE reason I joined that forum)
A true KISS water treatment “programme” has been around a lot longer that many realize.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Brewing-Dave-Line/dp/1854862359
What everyone seems to miss is that #1 reason for water treatment is to get pH into proper range. After that, it’s basically “seasoning to taste”.[/quote]
Dave Line? I wrote that guy off long ago after he said not to brew if you had a cold and to get rid of your pets in order to not make infected beer.
There simply is NO single water treatment for every beer.
[quote=“Denny”]
There simply is NO single water treatment for every beer.[/quote]
As mentioned, there can’t be a single water recipe that suits all beer. The acidity and alkalinity requirements differ too much for the various styles to enable one water to suit all. However, it is possible that you could resolve water treatment into broad ranges that suit specific ranges of beer. It would be better than not doing anything, but if you are already delving that much, its only a teeny step to tailoring water to specific beers.
Sure the book is old (classic) and based in UK, but still chock full of good stuff you can learn from. The attached is from the book. Pretty advanced for 1974. Yes, there is a chart which lists water treatment for beer types too. IIRC there were 4 different types. Dark, amber, pale and lagers. Might work for someone who doesn’t know spreadsheets and better than nothin’.
