You may have heard some brewing geek talk about their chloride to sulphate ratio. These are the two most important minerals in your water profile. The enzymes that are responsible for converting the starches to sugars in your mash work best in an environment where the pH is between 5.2 and 5.6. If you didn't know this already, pH is very important during the mash on your brew day. Something with a pH of 7 is completely neutral, anything below that is considered acidic, and anything above 7 is considered alkaline. PH is a measurement of acidity and alkalinity and is measured on a scale of 1-14. When looking at water reports, you should be focused on these main points: This is by far the cheapest option for some of the best quality brewing water. RO water is easily accessible in bulk at most local grocery stores. These types of water have no measurable minerals, and most of the time, have a neutral PH (we’ll get to PH later) so you can build it to an exact profile. Using distilled or RO water is your best bet for mastering water profiles. If you're not sure, you can have your water sent out to be tested, or buy a water testing kit and do it yourself. But, if your water is too hard, you are better off using a different source. These water reports are usually updated every 1 or 2 years.Īssuming your water tastes fine, you may be able to build water profiles off of it. When looking at the minerals in city water, you can look online and your local water report will tell you everything you need to know. This strips all the chlorine out of the water and is still quite affordable. This can be hooked up directly to your hose, faucet or where ever you are getting your water. The most effective choice for getting rid of chlorine in water is to use a carbon filter. Boiling your water before brewing can also reduce chlorine levels, but could still leave some residual chlorine. You will have to contact the water manufacturer and ask them what the total dissolved minerals are in it.Ĭity water is often chlorinated, but potassium metabisulphite (better known as Campden) can take care of this and works for chlorine and chloramine. Are you going to build off your well water? Are you going to use bottled spring water? Or will you start with a clean sheet of paper by using distilled or RO (reverse osmosis) water? The very first thing to think about when building a water profile is what your starting minerals will be, and where your water is coming from.
#NO SPARGE BEERSMITH HOW TO#
After reading this article, you will have a basic understanding of how to go about adjusting your brewing water. But don't worry! You don't need a masters degree in microbiology to understand what you’re doing with your brewing water.
So if you want to brew the best beer you can possibly brew, you aren’t going to want your dirty ol’ well water or overly chlorinated city water to make up 90% of it.
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