Many homebrewers invest a lot of money in great brewing equipment: the finest malt, large quantities of fresh hops, and fresh yeast. But the largest component of beer is often overlooked in the whole process. That is water! Here you get a simple introduction to water adjustment.
Water is not just water
Water, however, is not just water. It contains both salts and minerals. This varies from brewery to brewery, and from country to country. Yes, your water can even be slightly different from what your neighbor has. Therefore, adjusting this can provide that final tweak that separates your beer from that of your aforementioned neighbor.
Some countries have water that is so impure or chlorine-treated that bottled water, or filtered (reverse osmosis) water, is often used for brewing. In Norway, we are fortunate that most places have naturally clean and relatively neutral water, which is not heavily chlorine-treated. This gives us a unique starting point for brewing, and not least the possibility to adjust it in any direction.
Why water adjustment when brewing beer?
Renowned brands around the world owe their expertise in their beers to the water profile of that specific location. In the Czech Republic, much of the water is "soft," and this is reflected in crisp, easy-drinking Czech pilsners. Similarly, the British perfect their stouts and bitters with a harder water profile. Different beer styles have different water profiles, and this is exactly what we can recreate with water adjustments.
The correct water profile can affect both taste and body, but also highlight specific parts of the beer. Adjusting the water profile can make the bitterness from the hops less harsh, or allow the malt base to truly shine. In addition, the water profile also influences the fermentation process, as yeast typically prefers 50mg (50ppm) of calcium per liter or more to thrive best.
What do I need to adjust water?
Primarily, we use six additives for water adjustment:
- Calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, and magnesium sulfate which lower the pH of your beer.
- Sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate which increase the pH.
- Additionally, Lactol (lactic acid) can be beneficial for direct pH adjustments.
It can also be wise to invest in a pH meter and a precise scale that can weigh small amounts. To make it easy, there are kits such as water adjustment starter kits that contain everything you need to get started with water adjustment.
pH value in mash
For best yield during mashing, the pH value is important. It affects how enzymes thrive and convert from starch to fermentable sugar. Ideally, this should be between 5.2 and 5.6. The water from your tap has a certain pH from the start. For each malt type you add, the pH value will decrease. Calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, and magnesium sulfate will further lower the pH value for you.
In the lightest beer types, you can use Lactol (lactic acid) to lower it even further, without adding more salts than necessary. Darker malts also lower the pH value. Therefore, it will be necessary to add sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate to adjust the pH value back up to the correct level for strong dark beers.
When should I add the salts?
For the salts to be optimally mixed, it is recommended to combine them with the malt. When the mash is stirred, they will dissolve. For sparge water, it is recommended to dissolve the salts separately in a little water before adding them. This is to avoid them settling as a clump at the bottom. Note that calcium carbonate requires an acidic environment to dissolve, so it has no place in sparge water.
Adjust flavor to your preference
Now we get into the really small adjustments you can make with salts, apart from the pH value. Here we are talking about the balance between chloride and sulfate. Sulfate enhances hop aroma, while chloride enhances sweetness. Although there is no definitive answer as to how much is right, there is still a range one can aim for. Otherwise, it is largely up to the brewer which path to take. Regardless of whether you choose chloride (calcium chloride) or sulfate (calcium sulfate), you will get calcium which the yeast will benefit from.
The addition is particularly important in heavy American beer styles, which in most cases will be heavily hopped. If we look at NEIPA as an example, one would like to emphasize both sweetness and hop aroma to give the beer that silky smooth mouthfeel, while the hops dominate the picture. Thus, a strong addition of both calcium chloride and calcium sulfate will be positive in such a beer.
How do I find my water profile?
In Norway, much of the water is similar. If you find the water profile of someone else in the area, you're within range. Feel free to contact your local waterworks, or perhaps there's a homebrewer or professional brewery nearby who can tell you what's in your water?
For those who really want to delve deep into water profiles, there are also various test kits on the market. This gives you the opportunity to check your water as often as you want. Some breweries go so thoroughly that they check the water for each brew: in case it has changed due to, for example, a lot or little rain, acid precipitation, seasons, snowmelt, or similar.
To give an example, this is a water profile from Trondheim. You can confidently use this as a good starting point for most places in Norway.
How much salt should I add?
As mentioned earlier, there is no definitive answer to this. However, you can look at the ranges others have settled on. To determine the amounts, it is recommended to use a calculator that calculates this for you. For those who want to do it manually, there is a popular spreadsheet Brunwater which is a good tool.
For those who want to make it even simpler, we recommend one of the most widely used tools for building recipes: Brewfather. After you have built a recipe in Brewfather, the software uses your malt base, water amounts, and of course the water profile you already have in your tap. It tells you exactly what and how much you need to add for the style you have chosen.
Water Adjustment in Brewfather
We won't go too deep into how this is done in Brewfather, but rather refer to the documentation from the software directly: water calculator.
- After creating your fantastic recipe, select "water" at the very bottom. This will take you to the water calculator.
- From here, select "source" which is your water profile, i.e., the water you have in your tap.
- "Target profile" allows you to select a specific water profile, if you want to experiment a bit yourself. There are already some general and popular profiles pre-loaded here which are safe choices.
- If you don't have any specific preferences, but rather want to see what is best for the chosen beer style you are brewing, you can instead look at the list under "style".
- Under "style", you'll find water profiles specifically aimed at individual beer styles. These will also be safe choices if you are unsure, or if you don't want to delve too deeply into water adjustments.
- Once the profile is selected, you can click "auto" below, and Brewfather will calculate exactly how much of each type you need to add.
If you need to adjust the pH value further down with lactic acid, there are also tools to help you with this. Under "Acid (mash)" you can enter milliliter by milliliter until you hit the pH value exactly as you want it. Today's software is very accurate on this, but to be completely correct, a pH meter can help you on brewing day.
For more detailed information, we recommend the book Water – A comprehensive guide for brewers.
