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Author Topic: Water Profile Importance  (Read 3951 times)

Offline IMperry9

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Water Profile Importance
« on: July 27, 2015, 09:43:30 pm »
Hey guys it's been awhile since I have brewed or been on here but I always have time to research and learn. Lately I have been looking into the importance of water profile of my brew water. When I first started brewing I didn't really even think about the effect it played in my brew. A book I bought said use water that you would drink and it will be fine. however as I look more into it I feel like I am missing an opportunity to make my beer even better. So basically what I am asking is if anyone could tell me some basic information or point me in the right direction. Any help is good help, cheers!

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Offline JT

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2015, 04:57:08 am »
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
It is a complex topic, but not impossible to learn.  It takes some time reviewing and learning new terminology, then some hands on practice... kinda like brewing!
I highly recommend exploring the link above. 

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Derek

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2015, 05:47:17 am »
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/
It is a complex topic, but not impossible to learn.  It takes some time reviewing and learning new terminology, then some hands on practice... kinda like brewing!
I highly recommend exploring the link above. 

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+1. Fumbling around with and eventually learning how to use Brun Water is the reason I have the understanding I do of brewing water adjustments. An invaluable tool.

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2015, 05:52:22 am »
New brewers should concentrate on cleaning and sanitation, mastering yeast management, fermentation control on the way to make good beer. Water chemistry adjustments then can be applied to make excellent beer.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2015, 06:01:13 am »
Great advice from Jeff.


EDIT - Having said that, when you're ready, Brunwater is invaluable for helping you dial in the right water for a given beer.
Jon H.

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2015, 06:14:59 am »
Brunwater is what I use, and really helps dial the water chemistry in. Before Brunwater I did a lot of reading, and had to remember/relearn some Chemistry I had when Nixon was President. Often the quality of my beers went backwards as I was adding too much in the way of flavor ions or alkalinity. It turns out that less is more when dealing with brewing salt additions.

Jeff Rankert
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Offline mabrungard

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2015, 07:12:16 am »
With respect to mineral content, I feel that water profile is one of those final touches that a brewer might consider. As long as the mineral content is fairly low, it should end up being unobtrusive. Having just the right amount of this or that isn't really that important.

However, the thing that is critical and can really screw up your beer is mash and wort pH. That is what you want to be in that narrow range of around 5.3 to 5.5 for most brewing. Outside that range, the beer quality can easily be negatively affected.

pH = very important.
Mineral content = lower importance, but worth your attention for some styles.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2015, 01:16:13 pm »
To the OP - these guys nailed it and for clarity, if you don't have a pH meter - not a big problem.  Martin's spreadsheet is highly accurate in predicting it and you can buy pH strips for the applicable range for pretty cheap.

Cheers!
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Offline jmitchell3

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2015, 05:01:54 pm »
Interestingly if you all have checked out brulosophy.com, the one experiment hes done that has yielded a significant variation in result (blind triangle tests, etc) was brew water chemistry.  Mind.  Blown. 


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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2015, 10:09:24 pm »
For stouts?  That is not terribly significant to me.  There are huge differences with other styles.
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2015, 05:38:09 am »
The key here is "know your water", if your water is high in mineral content you will have difficulty nailing many styles. If it is medium to low in mineral content then building water from scratch will be a nice final touch to the tweaking process. As Martin and the other's have said - pH is really the more critical factor.

Offline johnnyb

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2015, 06:23:23 am »
It depends how detailed you want to get, but I think new brewers can also get into water treatments right from the get go, especially with the information available now.

I went to all grain with my second batch and used EZ Water right from the start. (Since switched to Bru'n water.) Had plenty of questions but the fine folks at the Northern Brewer forums (many of you I see here now) were always willing to help solve any questions.

Sanitation and yeast and fermentation temps are all important, but it's not that hard to bring water into the equation early on in the learning process.


Derek

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2015, 06:32:40 pm »
I know for me it was pretty interesting to tool around with Brun Water and see how everything correlates.

It made me realize that even though I was a novice, it didn't take much more than Distilled dilution of my tap water, some gypsum, some acid malt and calcium chloride to get everything pretty good.


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Offline Steve L

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2015, 07:39:02 pm »
For me, adjusting water was like grilling a steak. If you grill it right, it will be good. If you season it, it will be that much better (provided you season it properly). If you don't grill it properly, no amount of seasoning will make it great. Process first, adjusting water last. Having said all that, bru'nwater helped me tremendously.
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Offline Hooper

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Re: Water Profile Importance
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2015, 08:59:52 pm »
If you are on city water...you are getting chlorine or more likely chloramine and you need to boil with campden tablets at the very least prior to mash out...I boil with campden and dilute with distilled and add gypsum...but that's my water...
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