| What Works For Me |
| Revision 5, 3 Oct 21 |
| Who's right? No one. Water Chemistry is a guide to great beer. There are no rules. Your palate will be your best guide. The theory is you should be able to taste each ingredient that went into your recipe. Use the chemistry that you reckon works best for you. It's early days for me on this journey. I'm only a few brews in and would like more data. So far I have a small increase in mash efficiency, the wort is clearer through all the brewing stages and the flavour of the beer is improving. I have decided to use Martin Brungard's spreadsheet (see DOWNLOADS or below for a copy), Bru'n Water, as my primary tool and John Palmer's spreadsheet as a background reference. |
Bru'n Water reckons it's important that brewers forget about targeting Residual Alkalinity and focus on the pH. Watts River Brewery follows this philosophy.
Just target Calcium, Sulphate, Chloride, ratio of sulphate to chloride, and most importantly mash pH.
Palmer likes to consider RA.
|
CaSO4 |
Calcium sulphate (gypsum) |
|
CaCl2 |
Calcium chloride |
|
MgSO4 |
Magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) |
|
NaHCO3 |
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) |
|
NaCl |
Sodium chloride (non-iodise table salt) |
|
Ca(OH)2 |
Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) |
This ratio defines how "crisp, dry, hoppy" (sulphate) or "full bodied, rounded, sweet" (chloride) your beer is.
I tend to lean towards Palmer. Refer to his Excel spreadsheet (see DOWNLOADS or below for a copy). The drop down box at the top provides a guide for each style (BJCP 2008).
|
Bru'n Water |
Palmer |
|
Very Dry > 2.0 |
Up to 5:1, even 9:1 for IPAs |
|
Dry 2.0 |
Pale Ales 2:1 to 4:1 |
|
Balanced 1.3 |
English Bitter 1:1 |
|
Full 0.75 |
German Lager (Rockstar) 0.8:1 |
|
Very Full 0.5 |
Phosphoric acid is preferred over lactic as its taste threshold is higher. Err on the side of caution as more acid can always be added for the final adjustment. Start with 75% of the amount Bru'n Water calculates.
Add all the salts to the strike water as per Bru'n Water. No acid.
At the 10min mark take a sample, cool it to about 20 - 25oC and measure the pH. You should only have to adjust the pH down. Add acid for this. Make the adjustment as quick as possible. It's pointless chasing the pH throughout the mash process.
Adjust mash pH to between 5.2 and 5.6 depending on colour.
Lower pH, higher fermentable, less body.
Higher pH, lower fermentable, more body.
|
Palmer |
My Colour Range Estimate |
Palmer |
|
|
SRM |
EBC |
||
|
Pale |
0 - 6 |
0 - 12 |
5.2 to 5.4pH |
|
Amber |
7 - 20 |
13 - 40 |
5.3 to 5.5pH |
|
Dark |
Over 30 |
Over 41 |
5.4 to 5.6pH |
Add salts to sparge water as per Bru'n Water. No baking soda or lime. No acid to sparge water. Hold this back for the wort adjustment. Palmer's spreadsheet does not include the sparge salts. I have modified it so it does.
Adjust boiling wort at 50mins to 4.9 to 5.0pH (Rockstar Brewery). According to Rockstar a higher pH during the boil will reduce DMS.
Watts River Brewery does this preboil, i.e. 0mins. So do I. It's so much easier.
This adjustment can be dependent on target beer pH.
Palmer:
During the mash pH drops about 0.2pH
During the boil pH drops about 0.3pH
During fermentation pH drops about 0.5pH
During carbonation pH drops up to 0.1pH
Watts River & Rockstar:
Fermentation usually reduces pH by about 0.8 - 1.0pH.
|
Watts River |
All beers |
Less than 4.3pH |
|
Palmer's numbers (Rockstar roughly agrees. Calls this the "flavour number") |
Pale |
4.0 to 4.3pH (4.1 to 4.2) Shows the single malt character |
|
Amber |
4.2 to 4.4pH (est.) (4.3 to 4.4) |
|
|
Dark |
4.3 to 4.6pH (4.5 to 4.6) Shows all the malts rather than one dominating |
If the beer is a little dull or flabby dose it with acid. Conduct a taste test in a pint of the beer to find a dose that pleases. Use a pipette for accuracy. Stir and taste. If it's ok scale it up and add to keg.
Dark and roasty beer that has an overly sharp or harsh bite may be fixed by raising the pH with baking soda. Try 0.1 gram in a pint of beer, stir and taste. If the taste improves, try similar doses to see if it further improves the beer. Scale it up and dose the keg.
Measure the beer pH before and after adjustment.
Note: After several brews I find with 85% acid I get an average reduction of 1.0pH per 1ml. Err on the side of caution.
I use 85% acid but Bru'n Water gives me a more accurate measurement if I enter it into the spreadsheet as 65%. Go figure that.
Experimenting with Bru'n Water I got these results:
|
SO4 |
Crispness, dry, hop character |
Cl |
Full body, rounded, sweet |
|
Ca |
Promotes clarity (Proper calcium levels in beer can lower pH, preserve mash enzymes, increase extract yield, improve yeast growth and flocculation, accelerate oxalate removal, and reduce colour) |
Mg |
Yeast nutrient, said to enhance flavours of stouts and porters in the 20-40ppm range |
|
Na |
Rounds out flavours, too much it tastes minerally |
|
Lowers pH |
CaSO4, CaCl2, MgSO4 (slightly) |
|
Raises pH |
NaHCO3, NaCl, Ca(OH)2 |
This malt has gone though a lactic acid fermentation after kilning. Consider using a small amount of acidulated malt ilo some base malt. It would reduce the amount acid of acid needed, if at all. (The Reinheitsgebot).
I have a Milwaukee MW102 PRO+ pH meter with ATC.
Calibrate the meter. This may have to be redone occasionally.
Do not put the pH probe into hot wort. It will shorten its life span.
Take a sample and cool it to about 20-25oC. I use a small stainless steel tumbler and put it into ice water. It only takes a couple of minutes. Put both probes into the wort a take your reading. Rinse the pH probe and hold in storage solution.
|
Ca |
Mg |
SO4 |
Na |
Cl |
CaCO3 |
pH |
RA |
|
4.0 |
1.25 |
1 |
4.15 |
6.9 |
9.3 |
7.3 |
5.7 |
What Do I Do?:
This will be a work in progress. What works for me.
Spreadsheets
Palmer:
Spreadsheet with my modification
Bru'n Water (I'm using the PAID version of this):
Useful spreadsheet when using Bru'n Water here.
Videos
Rockstar using Bru'n Water:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dNszuyjShQ&t=2565s
AHA on Water Chemistry:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/seminar/putting-brewing-water-in-perspective/ (Palmer)
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/seminar/water-made-easy/ (Roy Roberts)
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/seminar/water-chemistry-and-beer-ph/ (Palmer)