subject: Beer Making-Know What's In Your Water [print this page] Beer Making-Know What's In Your Water Beer Making-Know What's In Your Water
In the process of home beer making about 95% of all the ingredients you mix together will be water. So it only stands to reason that the better the water, the better your beer will be in the end. In fact the salts and minerals present in the water you use for brewing can either help increase the flavor of your brew, or they can cause great harm. So much so that it is important that you are familiar with the chemistry of the water you use.
While its perfectly understandable why many home brewers don't want to take the time and effort to become an expert in water chemistry, having a basic understanding of the water you use will help you to brew better beer. How important this is runs from "not really important" when you are first starting out to "very important" as you move on to more advanced brewing recipes and techniques. Of course this assumes that the household water you now use is drinkable.
Regardless of your brewing skill level you want to keep in mind that the source of your water will have a lot to do with the chemicals in it. For example, if your water comes from a private well chances are that it is going to be high in iron and other minerals that can affect the results of your brew. Or, if your water comes from a local utility company it may very well contain elevated levels of chlorine. And, softened water will probably have high levels of sodium.
To find out just what your water contains, just ask the utility. They constantly analyze the water and the information is, generally, available for free. But if you have a private well it may be necessary to hire an outside firm to perform a through analysis. In either case, having the results let you compare your water chemistry to that of famous brewing cities around the globe.
The moral about water and brewing beer at home is that even if your water is crystal clear it may still contain chemicals that even beginning home brewers should be aware of.
