Section 1 – Brewing with Malt Extract
Chapter 4 - Water for Extract Brewing
The Taste of Water
Water is very important to beer. After all, beer is mostly water. Some waters are famous for brewing: the soft water of Pilsen, the hard water of Burton, Midlands, and pure Rocky Mtn. spring water. Each of these waters contributed to the production of a unique tasting beer. But what about your water? Can it make a good beer? When using malt extract, the answer is almost always “Yes”. If you are brewing with grain, the answer can vary from “Sometimes” to “Absolutely”. The reason for this difference between the brewing methods is that the minerals in the water can affect the starch conversion of the mash, but once the sugars have been produced, the affect of water chemistry on the flavor of the beer is greatly reduced. When brewing with malt extract, if the water tastes good to begin with, the beer should taste good. Generally, the malt extract already contains all of the mineral (salts) necessary for good beer flavor support, so adding more salts is generally unnecessary and could result in the beer tasting overly minerally or salty.
There are three main aspects of water for extract brewing to be considered: pre-treatment for off-odors and flavors, mineral additions to enhance the flavor of the beer, and necessary mineral levels for good fermentation.
Home Water Treatment
If your water tastes good, your extract-brewed beer should taste good. If your water does not taste good, then you probably need to pre-treat it before brewing. There are a couple methods that can be used to improve the quality of your tap water for brewing.
Boiling
If the water smells like a swimming pool, some odors (like chlorine) can be removed by boiling. Other odors like chloramine, cannot.
Campden Tablets
Chloramine is used instead of chlorine by many (most?) city water supplies to kill bacteria because it is more stable than chlorine. The trouble is, “more stable” means that it is harder to get rid of than chlorine. Chloramine cannot be easily removed by boiling and will give a medicinal taste to beer. However, chloramine can be effectively removed by adding 1 campden tablet (sodium or potassium metabisulfite). Campden tablets are used in winemaking and should be available at your brew shop. One tablet will treat 20 gallons, although using one tablet for only 5 gallons won’t hurt anything. Crush it up and stir to help it dissolve. Both chlorine and chloramine are reduced to insignificant levels of sulfate and chloride ions (<10 ppm), within a couple minutes at room temperature.
Ascorbic Acid
Another very effective way to clear the chlorine and chloramine from the water is to add a vitamin C tablet. Crush it up and stir to help it dissolve. Do not use a multivitamin tablet – you don’t necessarily want the other vitamins and minerals in your beer. It only takes 1 gram of ascorbic acid to remove the chlorine in 100 liters of water. If you are only treating a few gallons of water, the extra vitamin C is not a problem.
Activated Charcoal Filtration
Charcoal filters are a good way to remove most odors and bad tastes due to dissolved gases and organic substances like nitrates. These filters are relatively inexpensive and can be attached inline to the faucet or spigot. Charcoal filtration alone will not affect dissolved minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, copper, or bicarbonate, but some filters (e.g. Brita ™) contain ion exchange resins that will remove most of these ions. Pouring all of your brewing water thru a Brita pitcher could be a bit tedious though. Check the manufacturer’s website for complete information on what a particular product will or won’t filter. Carbon filtration should remove 80-90% of chlorine and chloramine, but a single campden tablet added to the water before the boil is much more effective.
Water Softeners
Water softening systems can also be used to remove bad-tasting minerals like iron, copper, and manganese as well as the scale-causing minerals, calcium and magnesium. Salt-based water softeners use ion exchange to replace these heavier metals with sodium. Softened water works fine for extract brewing but should not be used for all-grain brewing. The mashing process requires minimum levels of minerals like calcium and magnesium in the water that the softening process will remove.
Other Water
Bottled drinking water is available from most grocery stores and supermarkets and typically has low levels of alkalinity and other minerals. Bottled water works very well for extract brewing. Reverse osmosis and distilled water can be added to your tap water to reduce the mineral levels as necessary. Generally, adding RO or distilled water will reduce the minerals at the same ratio as the dilution. You can also use distilled water alone when you are brewing with malt extract because the extract will provide all the necessary minerals for yeast health.
Water Chemistry Adjustment for Extract Brewing
Burtonizing
A lot of people try to use brewing salts in the brewpot to imitate the water of a famous brewing region, like the Burton region of Britain. While some salts can be added to extract-based brews to improve the flavor profile, salts are more properly used to adjust the pH of the mash for all-grain brewing. Most tap water supplies are fine for brewing with extract and don’t need adjustment. So, if you are brewing from an extract recipe that calls for the addition of gypsum or Burton salts, do not add it. The proper amount of a salt to add to your water depends on the mineral amounts already present and the brewer who published the recipe probably had entirely different water than you do. You may end up ruining the taste of the beer by adding too much. Just leave it out; you probably won’t miss it.
Decarbonation
Several areas of the US are cursed with high alkalinity water. Normally this would only be a concern for all-grain brewers because alkalinity greatly affects the mash chemistry and beer flavor, but it can also affect the flavor of extract beers. If your water is high in alkalinity i.e., bicarbonate ion concentrate >150 ppm or Total Alkalinity as CaCO3 >100 ppm, pale highly hopped beers may have a harsh astringent bitterness due to extraction of hop polyphenols from the cones.To remove alkalinity from the water, you can neutralize it by adding lactic or phosphoric acid. There are several brewing water adjustment apps (like Beersmith) and websites (like Brewers Friend) on the internet that can calculate how much to add. For a more complete discussion and other methods to reduce alkalinity, please read Chapter 15.
Summary
Here are the main points to remember about water for extract brewing:• You can’t make good beer with bad-tasting water.• Bad-tasting water can generally be treated by carbon filtration.• Do not add brewing salts to your recipe until you know how much you have to start with from your water report.• Neutralizing the alkalinity of your water for brewing pale, highly hopped beers may be necessary. Brewing software can help you calculate these adjustments.Water chemistry is even more important for all-grain brewing. The mineral profile of the water has a large affect on the performance of the mash. Water reports, brewing salts and their affects are discussed more fully in Chapter 15. I suggest you read that chapter if you want to get serious with your brewing water.
Figure 31 - Example of organic surface water.
The Important Minerals in Water
Your local municipal water report provides the information you need as a brewer to take your beer to the next level. Water reports are mainly concerned with levels of chemical contaminants, but the Secondary or Aesthetic Standards will contain the mineral information that you need. There are 6 primary ions that can affect your fermentation and flavor. Water reports, minerals and adjustments are explained more fully in Chapter 15.