Brewing Water

DISCLAIMER: I am not a chemist, and most of what I have gathered may have been interpreted incorrectly.  So don't blame me if your beer tastes worse after using any info I provide in this post.

Generally, water can be ignored until you have somewhat mastered the other hot and especially the cold-side of brewing.  Adjusting your water can turn a good beer, into a great beer.  This is geared to All Grain brewing, generally extract brewers will not need to worry too much about water.

Water Source

The first thing a brewer needs to figure out is where their water is coming from.  Talk to the person who pays your water bill and navigate to that water companies website.  A lot of water treatment companies will post a water analysis which details the low, median, and high ranges of different minerals in the water.  I live in Montgomery County, MD and my water company Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) posts yearly tap water analysis.  If you get your water from a well, or your water company does not provide you with the details (if its not online try to call), you may need to send a sample away for testing with a company like Ward Labs (W5).

Additional note: If your water company treats your water with chlorine, I recommend using campden tables to treat your water at 1 tablet per 20 gallons of water.

(My water originates from the Potomac River, which looks like this as it gets close to D.C.)

What to Look for:

I recommend you read John Palmer's Chapter 15 from How To Brew on Water for more information.  Below are the minerals and my water sources average values which I use to plan my water adjustments.
Calcium (Ca) - 38ppm
Magnesium (Mg) - 9ppm
Sodium (Na) - 21ppm
Chloride (Cl) - 41ppm
Sulfate (SO₄) - 40ppm
Hardness/Alkalinity - Alkalinity (CaCO₃) 82ppm

Why Care About It?

Having the correct chemical makeup in your water will determine your mash pH.  Having an ideal mash pH will help insure full conversion in your mash.  Additionally, higher/lower levels of the different minerals will have an impact on the flavor of your beer, especially if you are trying to replicate a classic style.  I wouldn't be able to make a light lager, which needs to be low in minerals, with my water without the bitterness coming out to harsh.

How to Make Adjustments

Since, I don't have a firm chemical grasp on how all these minerals work with each other in the mash, I choose to use the EZ Brew Water Caclulator.  The Calculator takes my mineral concentrations above and allows me to input other salt additions to raise/lower my mash pH while also telling me my total mineral concentrations for my water.  To lower the mash pH you use Gypsum - CaSO₄, Calcium Chloride - CaCL₂, Epsom Salt - MgSO₄, or lactic acid in the form of acidulated malt, or liquid lactic acid.  To raise the mash pH you can use Slaked Lime - Ca(OH)₂, Baking Soda - NaHCO₃, or Chalk - CaCO₃ (note chalk will not dissolve in water and will need to be added to the mash)

Most of the time, with my water, I am trying to lower the pH to get it into the desired range based on the EZ Brew Water Calculator.  If I am brewing a pale ale or IPA I am going to use some gypsum to bring down the pH and accentuate the bitterness in the beers.  If I am brewing something lighter, like a blonde I may use some Calcuim Chloride.  If I think too much of a salt addition is necessary, I will then turn to acid malt to get me where I need to be.  I plan to brew a Czech Pilsner here soon, and I think I am going to need to cut my tap water with some RO water to get it soft enough.

So for any water guru's out there...let me know if I am doing something glaringly wrong with my water adjustments in my recipes!  I am currently just going by taste and taking good notes, and unfortunately I do not have any pH testing equipment, so I am really trusting that spreadhseet - for better or worse.

For More Understanding...

John Palmer's How to Brew - Chapter 15 - explains each mineral, their recommend ranges
AJ DeLange - Local (DC Area) brewing water legend has a ton of good info hosted here
Brewing Networks Brewstrong - Water Shows - about 5 hours of audio on the subject (may contain some language)
Water - New book by Brewer's Publications coming out soon
The Mad Fermentationist's Blog Post on Water - Does a good job regarding recommend ppm mineral values
Brukaiser - Especially some of his documents like pH Targets

Bad Bear - Northern English Style Brown Ale

The Bad Bear brown ale is a beer I brewed back in October, but just now am getting around to documenting the beer.  As you can see, I am enjoying creating these labels for the beers.  Hopefully, I don't offend anyone, but I figure if you are old enough to drink beer you are old enough to handle some humor in the labels.

Bad Bear - English Brown Ale

Brewed On: October 6, 2012
Kegged On: October 27, 2012
Style: 11C - Northern English Brown
Batch Size: 6 gallons
Efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.012
IBU: 27 calculated (Rager) 
ABV: 4.9%
Yeast: Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast (Re-hydrated) Fermented at 64°

Grist Mashed at 150.5 for an hour

80% - Maris Otter (Muntons) - 9 lb
4%  - Biscuit (Dingemans)- 8 oz
4%  - Special Roast (Briess) - 8 oz
4%  - Crystal 40L (Briess) - 8 oz
4%  - Victory (Briess) - 8 oz
2%  - Chocolate (Briess 350L) - 4 oz


Hop Additions 
1.35 oz - Willamette 4.8% AAU - 60 minutes - 25 IBUs
0.5 oz   - Willamette 4.8% AAU - 10 minutes - 2 IBUs

Water Adjustments
Montgomery County, MD Water - 1/2 Campden Tablet for all brewing water
4 grams gypsum to mash water
4 grams CaCl to mash water

(Bad Bear Brown Ale - in New Pint Glass from Xmas)

Tasting Notes: The beer pours an auburn red to brown color which is fairly clear, but not crystal.  The beer has a sweet and grainy malt aroma, but also has a dominate aroma of musty-fruity esters from the English yeast.  The beer is very balanced, but leans slightly more towards the malty side than bitter and the overall taste profile is somewhat muddled from the tangy/tart yeast character.  The beer has a creamy mouthfeel and finishes with just enough dryness to invite you back for another sip.

Overall, I will definitely be making some changes the next time I make this beer.  I have read in the online forums some dislike for the Safale S-04 dry yeast, and I unfortunately agree. This yeast was said to be very funky when fermented in the upper 60s and even result in a tangy very estery beer in the lower 60s.  I find this to be the case as the ester character really overshadows any of the discerning malt tastes I was hoping to achieve with this beer.  I fermented this beer at 63° and after initial fermentation (4 days) allowed it to creep up to 66° or so.  I have followed a similar fermentation regimen with WLP002 (English strain of liquid yeast) in my English Mild where I felt the malt character really shined.  After my own personal experience and of the online community, I think I will be leaving the S-04 dry yeast out of my yeast library in the future.  So next time - different yeast, same grain bill.