Beer Forum

While awaiting the final installment of the Brewstrong "Watergasm", I've been working on my water chemistry understanding. I've made some of my beers taste significantly better (and some significantly worse - damn that harsh bitterness) with water adjustments. I've installed a RO filter, purchased acids and salts, had my tap water tested, and learned how to use the Beersmith water profile tool. Unfortunately, I've had a hard time finding suggested profile targets for different styles. Beersmith includes profiles for different cities, but it's not always clear what beer style is suited, or whether the breweries in those areas adjust their water individually.

So, I'm wondering whether any of you would like to share your favorite water profiles for different beer styles. I'm not talking salt/mineral additions, but rather the final water profile ppm's.

Also helpful would be some suggestions for resources that list this type of info.

I'll get things started myself. The following info is from the only good info I've found: Quickie Water Chemistry Primer by Ken Schwartz

Burton Pale Ale -- A toned-down, "idealized" profile. Enough sulphate to bring out the hops without overdoing it. Low alkalinity helps ensure proper mash pH. Model: Moshers 'Ideal Pale Ale". 1 gram baking soda, 1 gram canning salt, 3.5 grams Epsom salt, 9 grams gypsum. Ca=111, SO4=337, Mg=18, Na=35, Cl=32, CO3=38, Hardness=352, Alkalinity=31.

English Ale -- More or less a London water profile. Model: A. J. deLange's "Ale" from HBD1965. 2 grams Epsom salt, 2 grams chalk, 0.3 gram canning salt, 0.8 gram gypsum. Ca=52, SO4=65, Mg=10, Na=6.2, Cl=9.6, CO3=63, Hardness=173, Alkalinity=106.

Light Lager -- Very small amounts of ions; just enough to acidify the mash. Model: Mosher's "Ideal Pale Lager". 1 gram Epsom Salt, 0.5 grams baking soda, 1 gram chalk, 0.5 grams canning salt. Ca=21, SO4=21, Mg=5.2, Na=18, Cl=16, CO3=51, Hardness=74, Alkalinity=69.

Medium Lager -- Malty, amber lagers like Oktoberfest. Loosely based on Papazian's Munich. 1 gram Epsom salt, 3.5 grams chalk, 0.5 grams canning salt. Ca=74, SO4=21, Mg=5.2, Na=10, Cl=16, CO3=111, Hardness=207, Alkalinity=185.

Dark Lagers -- Bocks, for example. Model: Mosher's "Ideal Mild Ale / Dark Lager". 2.5 grams Epsom salt, 2 grams chalk, 2.5 grams canning salt, 2.5 grams gypsum. Ca=73, SO4=125, Mg=13, Na=52, Cl=80, CO3=63, Hardness=236, Alkalinity=106.

There was some discussion some time back on this. viewtopic.php?t=6753&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=water+chart+carbonate

I had posted a link to a chart from an old Zymurgy article with the type of information you are looking for. John Palmer looked it over and pretty much shot that down because it didn't take into account carbonates and residual alkalinity among other things. After that thread I stopped using that chart. However, you may be able to take parts of that chart into account when computing other parts of the water equation.

Thanks for what you have posted so far.

Wayne

I have a collection of 54 profiles and recipes (what salts to add to distilled water to create the profile) at www.wetnewf.org at "Water Recipes". These were done years ago based on profiles posted to HBD and collected from elswhere. Warning: many of these profiles, garnered from old magazine articles, textbooks and word of mouth, represent waters which are not physically realizeable and when that is the case it is impossible to get a good approximation.

With the greater power of computers today it is possible to define your own profiles which are realizeable and have, e.g. Burton like or Dusselforf like parameters. These can be approximated closely. The 54 are, thus, IMO, more valuable as sources for finding out what classical Burton water might have been like than for the recipes.

It's interesting to look at the profile attributed to me in the last post. If you put those quantities of salts into 5 gal of water (which is what I assume they are intended to represent) the chalk wouldn't dissolve. You'd have to sparge CO2 through the water to get it to and if you did that until it was all dissolved and the pH reached 8.3 the water would contain 52.3 mg/L calcium, 10.5 mg/L magnesium, 64.9 mg/L sulfate, 9.7 mg chloride and 6.3 mg/L sodium and have an alkalinity of 108.3 and total hardness of 173.5. There is no CO3-- and HCO3- is at 127 mg/L which is, I expect, what was meant by CO3. For HCO3- at 63 mg/L you would stop sparging CO2 at pH 10 (unreasonably high) and the alkalinity would change to 112.5. There would be 33.5 mg/K CO3-- which would have the solution well supersaturated with CaCO3.