Intro
The water we use while preparing beer is one of the very important factors of beer production. As it can greatly affect the taste. Different styles of beer use different types of water. One of the main metrics for brewing are concentration of specific ions in the water.
Water is also important for bunch of processes in the brewery such as cleaning equipment, cooling and heating up. The usage of water depends on the eficiency of the brewery as well as its processes. In the fully automatic art of the state breweries the ratio of total water used to beer produced can be around 2.5:1 and for smaller breweries and micro breweries it can be as bad as 10:1.
The water source
The single most important metric when picking a water source is that the water used is fit for human consumption. Usually single water source is used for all the processes requiring water including the beer brewing, cooling and heating. The ions in the water can affect the taste, but often the place to set up a brewery is picked based on the water supply. If not, water can be modified to fit the needs. Any modifications add more expenses and lower the profit.
The hardness of water
The water hardness is a metric which tells us how much calcium and magnesium is present in the water. The hardness can be divided into one caused by CaHCO3 which is temporary, since it can be removed by boiling the water and permanent caused by other substances which resist to be changed by boiling. The CaHCO3 and CaCO3 affect the pH of the water as well (raise it), which can change the effectivity of fermentation and cause off flavours.
Ions in the water
| phosphates | PO4 3- | help lower the pH during brewing |
| carbonates | CO3 2- | make pH higher (negative for beer brewing/fermentation) |
| calcium | Ca 2+ | helps to lower pH (positive) but also causes sedimentation |
| magnesium | Mn 2+ | helps to lower pH and helps metabolism of yest |
| chlorides | Cl – | helps enzymes in brewing (amylases) and help to round flavour and make it full, but in high concentrations can cause corrosion and salty flavour. |
| sulfates | SO4 2- | antioxidants in higher concentrations make beer more bitter |
| iron | Fe 2+/3+ | bad for flavour stability and can create metalic taste |
| Manganese | Mn 2+ | similar to Fe ions |
| Copper | Cu 2+ | similar to Fe ions, also toxic to yeast. |
| Zinc | Zn 2+ | important for the yest metabolism but in high concentrations toxic to them. |