The Taboo topic..... WATER, and fucking with it!

[Speyedr]

So I'm starting to fuck around with my water. I got an analysis from Ward Labs (Thanks LUFAH!, I think) and my water is fairly soft. It's not Pilsen, but it's soft.

I've canibalized my RO/DI filter from my Reef Keeping days and now I am carbon filtering. If I ever need to dilute or start from scratch I can make RO/DI water, but that is just a pain in the ass. I've also started adding things like Gypsum and CaCl. I bought a pH meter but it was busted. New one is coming today (Thanks B3!)

BeerSmith and Promash both have good utilities for modifying water and approximating the water from famous areas around the globe....BUT, on the last Water Show Doc and Dr. Evil both stated that the major breweries aren't using tap water. Guiness is not made from Dublin Tap. The water in Antwerp is NOT what is in that Dubbel or that Wit (especially now, thanks Inbev ) yuo love so much.

I've read Plamer and Miller, Daniels and Mosher, and of course Papazian, but there is nothing really of substance on water. Palmer tells you what does what and how much Sulfate will give you the shits. He even has a Nomograph (some chart thingy) that you can print out and connect the dots to see what to add based on the amount of dark malts in your beer. It's like Magic, but I don't get it.

I want to know what to add and how much to make a better Wit or a Pils or a Dunkel. It's nice to knwo I can emulate the crap coming out of the tap in Boznia, but they're not brewing with it.

Any thoughts, pointers, books I should read??

ahhhh... that's better

[dannypo]

I just got New Brewing Lager Beer by Greg Noonan and although I haven't read it yet there is a very extensive chapter on water.

And even though most breweries aren't using tap water anymore they used to and that is what helped to create thier signature flavors. So I would bet they do modify thier water now to get the qualities they liked in thier old water (ie. high Ca in Buton pale ales) while losing some of what the didn't want.

[Speyedr]

I have the Noonan book too, forgot to list it. Hard to read that one without going crosseyed, but I'll give it another shot.

I think what I really want here is Water Show Part III, where Dr.s Scott and Evil actually explain what's good and bad in water, how much, etc. I know that may be a dry show, but I doubt it.

ALso, the profiles of "Burton Water", and others, how old are they? "cause they may have used their water from 19 ought 4 to brew, but the profiles we have now are probably a bit more recent, and hece not what they are using.

I just want to make better beer...

[bperetto]

I have mostly soft well water, but I do fuck with my water. I mostly do it for fun, but I believe it makes a marked improvement in certain styles of beer (mostly IPA and Stouts).

There's something about sitting there measuring out grams of white powder that gets me (and the local fuzz) excited.

[dannypo]

ALso, the profiles of "Burton Water", and others, how old are they? "cause they may have used their water from 19 ought 4 to brew, but the profiles we have now are probably a bit more recent, and hece not what they are using.

Good point. I totally didn't think of that.

And I agree about the Noonan book. It looks to be full of good info, but I feel like I need a degree in organic chemistry to understand some of it.

[Danno]

I have rea books, don't recall which, where some of the English breweries would pull up stakes when the water got really bad. They would move to a different area on a ifferent aquifer.

As for playing with your water, it's hard to say without seeing your water profile. I have very soft water and a bit of calcium is always appropriate (0.5 g CaCl2/gallon). Keep in mind that places like Burton on Trent, Ireland and parts of Germany have extreme water profiles and thus the style they brew works with that. You DON"T need to push your water to their extremes. Just add about half of the salts that get you to their profile and you will get the flavor you are looking for in a nice moderate amount.

[Bugeater]

In general I am of the opinion that you shouldn't fuck with the water unless you have verified that there is a real problem. That said, I do mess with mine because my tap water is crap. It's so hard you practically have to brush your teeth with Lime-A-Way. I always cut mine with RO water.

A lot of sites and even the Promash program give you a chart of the analysis of water from famous brewing areas. What I would find a lot more helpful would be the same type of chart showing what the ideal water chemistry would be for various styles of beer. I don't have enough knowlege of the beers supposedly brewed in those famous cities to know which one I should try to emulate for a particular brew. I imagine a lot of folks are in the same position. Here in Nebraska we don't get a lot of brews from many of those areas (or don't readily know which area a beer is from) to know the taste. On top of that, many of the breweries in those places also mess with their water chemistry. So who knows what the actual water is that they are using.

If anyone could come up with such a chart, I am certain that they would be promoted to sainthood to a rank just below Jamil.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company