This week we take a look at the best hop techniques for homebrew beer - our hop technique roundup.  A good understanding of various hop techniques is critical for successful brewing.  Yet the wide array of hopping techniques with terms such as mash hopping, first wort hops, dry hops, boil hops, and late hop additions can be confusing to first time and experienced brewers alike.

Beginners and intermediate brewers alike often apply the wrong technique to a given beer style.  Knowing which technique to use for a particular style or desired flavor profile is part art form, but it all starts with a firm understanding of the techniques themselves.

We’ll present the most common hop methods in something of a chronological order, starting with the mash and ending with finished beer:

Mash Hopping

Mash hopping is simply the addition of hops directly to the mash tun itself.  The hops is often placed on top of the grain bed and left to sit as the mash is sparged.  Mash hopping is reported to provide a better overall balance and character to the beer, though it adds almost no bitterness.

Mash hopping is seldom used today because it requires a fairly large amount of hops and adds very little in direct flavor.  Since the hops are never boiled, no bitterness is released and most of the flavorful oils from the hop flower are lost in the boil that follows.

Brewers today theorize that most of the reported benefits from mash hopping are a byproduct of lower pH from mash hopping and not the hops itself.  Given the high cost of hops, as well as many cheaper methods exist for controlling the pH of your wort, I’m not sure why a homebrewer would choose to mash hop.

First Wort Hops

First wort hops are hops added to the boil pot at the very start of the lautering process.  Unlike mash hops, first wort hops remain in the boiler during the boil and therefore do contribute bitterness to the wort.  I covered this method in detail in an earlier article on First Wort Hopping.

First wort hopping is an old German method that has enjoyed a home brewing resurgence.  In blind taste tests, beers brewed with this method are perceived as smoother, better blended and have less of a bitter edge and aftertaste.   I have personally used this method with great success on a variety of beers where a smooth well balanced bitterness is desirable.  I’ve even used it on lightly hopped styles as it helps to reduce the perceived bitterness without upsetting the malt-bitterness balance of the beer.

Bittering Hops

Bittering hops or boil hops are just that - hops added for the bulk of the boil to add bitterness to the beer.  Boiling hops releases the alpha acids that provide bitterness in your beer.  The longer you boil your hops, the more bitterness you will add.

Beer software, such as BeerSmith can help you estimate the bitterness for a given hop additions.  In general, your bittering additions should be boiled for full length of your boil (typically 60-90 minutes) to extract as much bitterness per ounce of hops as possible.  I will usually add my bittering hop addition at the beginning of the boil.

Late Hop Additions

Hops added in the last 5-15 minutes of the boil are called late hop additions.  These hops are usually not added for bittering, though they do contribute a small amount of bitterness to the beer.  The main purpose for late hop additions is to add aroma and aromatic hop oils to your beer.

In addition to bittering compounds, hop cones from “aromatic” hop varieties contain volatile hop oils that provide the strong flowery aromatic flavor and scent desirable in many hoppy beer styles.  Unfortunately most of these compounds boil off within 10-20 minutes of adding the hops.

Late hop additions should always use “aromatic” hop varieties, and should be done within the last 10 minutes of the boil to preserve as many aromatic oils as possible.  In addition, late hop additions are most appropriate for beer styles where a hoppy flavor and aroma is needed.  You would not add late hop additions to a malty or low hop beer style.

Dry Hopping

Dry hopping is the addition of hops after the beer has fermented.  Hops are typically added in the secondary fermenter or keg and left for a period of several days to several weeks.  Dry hopping is used to add a hoppy aroma to the beer, as no bitterness is added with this method.  Dry hopping is also used in many commercial beers for a hoppy burst of aroma.

I’ve covered this method extensively in a previous article on dry hopping, but the basic method is to add a few ounces of hops to the secondary before bottling.  If kegging, use about half as much hops.  Again you should use only aromatic hop varieties, and you should only use this method with hoppy beer styles where a strong hop aroma is desired.

Combining Hop Methods

Advanced brewers often use a combination of hop additions to achieve a burst of hop aroma and flavor, particularly for hoppy styles like India Pale Ale.  In fact, many true hopheads will add substantial first wort and boil hops, followed by multiple late hop additions and a final dose of dry hops.

Personally, I try to keep things simple, so I will typically add a single boil or first wort addition for bitterness, followed by a single late hop addition in the last 5-10 minutes of the boil to preserve aromatics and dry hopping if appropriate.  In these hop starved times, I’ll also try to use higher alpha bittering hops for the main boil hops and save my precious aromatics for the late addition and for dry hopping.

On non-hoppy styles, I’ll often choose to add a single bittering addition, often as first wort hops since I like the smooth blending perception this method produces.

I hope you enjoyed today’s hop technique roundup.  Please subscribe for more great articles, and continue to join us on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog for your weekly dose of brewing advice.

• The First Wort Hop: Beer Brewing Techniques
• Dry Hopping: Enhanced Hops Aroma
• Brewing Hops: 10 Tips for Surviving the Hops Shortage
• Better Beer with Late Malt Extract Additions
• Calculating Hop Bitterness: How much Hops to Use?

Belgian Wit is a wonderful light, refreshing beer that narrowly avoided extinction to become a popular hit here in the United States.  This week we’ll take a look at the history, brewing and recipes for Belgian Wit and White Beer.

History

Belgian Wit goes by many names, all variations of the term “White Beer”.  In French it is called “Biere Blance”, while the Flemish name is Wit or Witbier which is pronounced “Wit” or “Wet) [Ref: BT]  While the style was likely derived from the Belgian Monastary tradition, it reached widespread popularity in the 18th and 19th century in the towns east of Brussels.  The two beers “Biere Blanche de Louvain” and “Blanche de Hougerde” were brewed in Louvain and Hoegaarden respectively.  The Louvain version was more popular.

After the lager revolution in the 1800’s and into the 1900’s, Wit gradually declined in popularity and in fact disappeared when the last Belgian brewery went out of business in 1957.  Nearly 10 years later Pierre Celis raised money from family members to open a brewery called De Kluis and began brewing a traditional Wit called appropriately “Hoegaarden”.

In 1985, the De Klius brewery burned to the ground, again threatening Witbier with extinction.  Pierre Celis was able to raise money from commercial sources to rebuild the brewery, but by 1987 these larger brewers essentially took control from Pierre Celis and altered the recipe to appeal to a broader audience.  Pierre Celis, disappointed, moved to Austin Texas where he opened a new brewery making “Celis White” based on the original Hoegaarden recipe.

Brewing The Wit Beer Style

Belgian Wit is a light, wheat based beer with light to medium body, slight sweetness and a zesty orange-fruity finish.  It has a clean crisp profile, low hop bitterness and high carbonation with a large white head.  Traditional Wit is slightly cloudy due to the use of unmalted wheat, and pale to light gold in color.

Original gravity is in the 1.044-1.052 range, bitterness in the 10-20 IBU range and color in the 2-5 SRM range. Carbonation is high.

Belgian Wit is made from a base of around 50% pale malt, and 50% unmalted wheat.  Often 5-10% rolled or flaked oats are added to enhance body and flavor.

Unmalted wheat presents some challenges for the single infusion homebrewer.  Pure unmalted wheat will not convert well with a single infusion mash.  This can be rectified by using a multi-step infusion or multi-step decoction mash, but simpler solutions exist.  If you substitute flaked or terrified malt, you can perform a single infusion mash easily, while still preserving the distinctive flavor of unmalted wheat.

If you are brewing from extract, wheat extract might be an acceptable option, but all grain brewers should avoid using malted wheat as it will not result in the authentic wit flavor.  Rolled oats are best if you are brewing all-grain as these two will work well in a single infusion mash.  Where possible, high diastic pale colored malt should be used as the pale base.

Hops are typically chosen to minimize the hop profile.  Low alpha hops such as BC Goldings, Hallertauer, Fuggles or Saaz with just enough hops to balance the sweetness of the malt.  Late hop additions are inappropriate, as hop aroma is not a feature of the style.  I personally prefer about 1 oz of BC Goldings boiled for 60 minutes in a 5 gallon batch.  Dry hopping and large late hop additions are not really appropriate for this style.

Spices play an important role in Wit.  Traditionally, Coriander and Bitter (Curaco) orange peel are used in small amounts at the end of the boil to add a bit of spice.  In some cases, small amounts of sweet (traditional) orange peel are also added, though sweet orange peel should not be a dominant flavor.

The coriander should be cracked, but not crushed, whole seeds.  I run my coriander seeds through the grain mill to crack them in half.  Bitter Curaco orange peel is not the type you find in the supermarket, but is available from most major brewing supply shops. I recommend about 3/4 ounce of bitter orange peel and 3/4 ounce of coriander for a 5 gallon batch added 5 minutes before the end of the boil.

Belgian Wit Recipes

Here is a collection of Wit and White beer recipes from our recipe site:

• White Orca Ale Clone
• Wit Men Can’t Jump
• Wit by Gregar

And here is a link to my personal Wit Recipe:

• Brad’s Belgian Wit

We also have more BeerSmith recipes on our recipe page.  I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on Belgian Wit.  It is one of my personal favorites, and it appeals to the guest as well.  Thanks again for supporting the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog.  Keep your comments and BrewPoll votes coming.

• Wheat Beer Recipes: Weizen and Weisse Styles
• Brewing an Irish Stout Beer Recipe
• Brewing a Kolsch Beer Recipe: Beer Styles
• Making Full Bodied Beer at Home
• Brown Ale Recipes: Brewing Styles

Brewhouse efficiency is a term that causes some confusion for first time all grain brewers. I previously covered how to improve your brewhouse efficiency, but we frequently see questions on our discusssion forum from brewers who don’t understand what brewhouse efficiency is or how it is used in recipe design.

Brewhouse efficiency is defined as the percent of potential grain sugars that are converted into sugar in the wort.  Typically this includes losses for a given brewing setup, and these losses are taken in aggregate rather than accumulated individually.  It is therefore a measure of the overall efficiency of your brewing system.

Brewhouse efficiency is a key input when designing all grain recipes, as it determines your estimated original gravity.  If you don’t have an accurate brewhouse efficiency number for your particular equipment, your original gravity estimates will be way off and you will miss your target gravity.

Every grain in an all grain recipe has a potential yield, listed as the dry grain fine yield on the malt sheet.  The dry grain yield is determined in laboratory conditions, by powdering the grain and extracting as much as possible and then extracting maximum potential from the sample.  Yields vary from 50%-87% depending on the type of grain used.  You can also express yield as a potential such as 1.038.

The actual brewhouse efficiency is measured for an entire system.  Unlike the dry grain yield or potential measured in a lab, real brewers achieve only a percentage of the ideal number due to real considerations such as efficiency of the mashing process, and losses due to boiling, deadspace or trub.  This percentage of the potential, as measured across the whole system into the fermenter, is the brewhouse efficiency.

A related term is mash efficiency.  Unlike brewhouse efficiency, mash efficiency measures only the efficiency of the mash and sparging steps.  Mash efficiency can be through of as the percent of potential fermentables extracted during the mashing process that actually make it into the boiler.

Calculating Efficiencies

Programs such as BeerSmith will calculate the brewhouse efficiency from a given recipe, volume and original gravity.  However it is important to understand what’s going on under the hood.  Lets look first at how to calculate the total potential of the grain for a batch of beer:

(potential_pts) = (grain_pts) * (weight lbs) / volume_gals

Each grain has a dry grain potential, which you can find from our grain listing or from the malter’s web site.  The grain_pts is calculated from the grain potential by subtracting 1.000 and multiplying by 1000.  For example, a grain with a potential of 1.035 becomes simply 35 points.  5 pounds of this grain in a 5 gallon batch would add 35*5/5 = 35 potential points to the beer.  If we sum all of the potential points from the various grain additions we can get the overall potential.  If we had no losses in the system, the 35 points above would give an ideal starting gravity for our beer of 1.035.

I mentioned that the potential points represents the gravity under ideal conditions.  In practice one gets much less than this, usually around 70-80% for brewhouse efficiency overall.  Therefore the actual original gravity is determined by the potential points times the gravity:

(batch_pts) = (potential_pts) * (brewhouse efficiency)

So if we consider a recipe with 40 potential points, and a 75% brewhouse efficiency we get 30 batch points or an original gravity of 1.030.  This is how original gravity is estimated.

Reversing the calculation we can calculate the efficiency from an ideal recipe potential estimate (potential_pts) and actual measurement (measured_pts).

(efficiency) = (measured_pts) / (potential_pts)

So for example if we had a recipe with potential_pts of 80 and measured the wort into the fermenter 1.050 we get an efficiency of 50/80 = 62.5%.  Note that this assumes we hit our target volume.  If we don’t, we need to consider the target and actual volume as follows:

(efficiency) = (measured_pts * target_vol) / (potential_pts * actual_vol)

The formulas above give us the overall brewhouse efficiency, but can also be used to calculate the mash efficiency into the boiler.  For efficiency into the boiler we simply use the boiler volume and measured boil specific gravity into the boiler as opposed to the fermenter.  In BeerSmith you can click on the “brewhouse efficiency” button in any open recipe to perform more detailed mash or overall efficiency calculations.

Now you know how to calculate the two key all grain efficiencies: brewhouse and mash efficiency.  For additional reading, consider our article on improving all grain efficiency.

Thanks for joining us again this week on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Don’t hesitate to subscribe for weekly delivery, leave a comment, or drop a vote for any of our articles on BrewPoll.com if you enjoyed today’s article.

• 5 Ways to Improve your All Grain Beer Efficiency
• How to Batch Sparge: A Guide for Batch Sparging and No Sparge
• Beer Color: Understanding SRM, Lovibond and EBC
• Calculating Hop Bitterness: How much Hops to Use?
• Converting All Grain Recipes to Malt Extract

This week we are happy to have an interview with John Palmer, the author of a How to Brew as well as Brewing Classic Styles. John first published his ebook on the web as a home project, and only later found a publisher. You can find the full text of his popular book online at Howtobrew.com

How did you get started brewing?

I enjoyed the dark beers of Michigan during college, like Stroh Dark and Michelob Dark, and when I moved to Southern California twenty years ago, everything was Corona and limes. So, I went to the library and found some old books on home brewing, and then found a local homebrew shop in the yellow pages.

What made you decide to write a book?

My first batch was cidery swamp water, and as an engineer, I was determined to find out why. My second batch was quite good (Cincinnati Pale Ale), and so I sat down and wrote out a electronic document that was posted to the Gopher and FTP sites called, “How To Brew Your First Beer”. That was in 1992 or 93. The internet was in its toddler years then. I got encouragement from other brewers to write a book that split the middle between Miller and Papazian, and I wrote the first draft in 1995. It was going to be published by Brewing Techniques. It took five years to get it edited, and rewritten, and edited, and rewritten before I published it to the web at Howtobrew.com.

How did you later go about finding a publisher?

After the ebook had been out for a few months, my wife encouraged me to publish a hard copy, so I learned the ins and outs of self-publishing. Self-publishing is merely a matter of raising money (home equity loan), finding a book printer, and finding buyers. Initially, getting the big beer distributers interest was hard. They all felt that there was not room in the market for another brewing book. Fortunately homebrewing is a focused community, and it was relatively easy to contact homebrew shops via email or phone and send them sample copies to review. Out of hundreds of shops, only a couple didn’t want to carry the book. Once I had a year of sales under my belt, and had ordered a second printing, the distributers were happy to carry it. After a couple years of storing books in my garage and making daily trips to the Fed Ex dropoff, I decided to get out of the distribution business. Ray Daniels had mentioned to me that Brewers Publications would be interested in picking up my next book, and I proposed revising How To Brew. This has proved to be a very good idea; it doubled my sales the first year.

How do you feel about the reaction to your first book?

As I mentioned above, the market was not very encouraging in 2000 and 2001, but the shops and the online homebrewing community were very supportive and helped me be successful. It is difficult to run a small business though, advertising is expensive, and most years I just broke even with it. On the other hand, the books popular success has enabled me to do all the beer brewing activities I could hope for! (family permitting…) I really enjoy going to the National Homebrewers Conference every year and the GABF, and several clup sponsered competitions and such. The success of the book is the perfect rationale to go to these things!

You have co-authored several other books - has it been any different than your first?

Well, I have only done Brewing Classic Styles so far with Jamil. It was a lot easier than How To Brew because most of the content came from Jamil. We hammered out the direction and organiztion together, and I did quite a bit of work on hops and small scale mashing for the book, but really it was easy. Ray Daniels said it was the best, most-ready-to-go manuscript he had ever received.
I started to work with Chris White on his Yeast book, but as they say, “creative differences”. It’s Chris’s work and I have no problem with that. It’s one reason I self-published How to Brew initially, because I didn’t want anyone to tell me how to do it differently.

What are you working on now?

Mostly home improvement projects, honestly. I have been converting a carport into a new brewery over the last couple years and building a RIMS. I had hoped to have it done a year ago. Bookwise, I am working on a complete Water book for home and professional brewers, and I need to knuckle down and get busy on that. But I am headed to Melbourne Australia in a couple weeks for their first National Home Brewers Conference and preparing for that is taking up my time now. That and our Brew Strong podcast on the Brewing Network that Jamil and I do. And the column that I write for Brew Your Own.

How has “home brewing fame” changed your life?

Frankly it is very cool to be recognized for an achievement for something that you are passionate about. I am extremely gratified by the emails I get thanking me for writing the book, and to be able to answer their questions. Like I said above, it has enabled me to attend conferences and events that I would not have been able to otherwise. The extra income has allowed me to keep my home computer up to date. (3Ghz iMac). Finally, and the enormity of this is hard to adequately describe, Fame in brewing means that I have one aspect of my life in which my wife will never completely win an argument. I wish all men could be so fortunate, but I like winning arguments with my wife, so there you are.

What do you enjoy most about home brewing?

Geeking out with friends. And building things. And sharing great beer. One thing I have learned in my quest for brewing knowledge is that brewers around the world are very giving people. I can’t think of another subject where people so readily share information for the common good.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I am not the best brewer in the world, nor the best beer judge. I am a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, whom has had the will and perseverance to write one of the better books on the subject, but I fully expect to be eclipsed one of these days. Meanwhile, I will continue my pursuit of understanding of brewing science and sharing it to the best of my ability.

I would like to thank John Palmer for taking the time to do this interview.  I encourage you to take a look at his web site and books - they are both outstanding resources for the homebrewer.  Thanks again for visiting the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog.  Don’t hesitate to subscribe for more great weekly brewing articles.

• An Interview with Dan Listermann (of Phil’s fame)
• “Designing Great Beers” by Ray Daniels - A Book Review
• Homebrew Crisis: Where Have All The Brewing Hops Gone?
• Ten Top Tips for Home Brewing Beer
• Brewing to Lose: 10 Tips for Making Bad Beer

For many years I never worried about balancing pH or even what my water profile was when brewing.  After all, the beer was fine and most of the time I was brewing with extract, so pH did not matter much.

However once I started all grain brewing, the water I brewed with suddenly started to matter.  It also helped that I moved to an area with extremely hard water, which forced me to use bottled water to produce anything reasonably resembling beer.  It turns out that the pH of your mash has a huge impact on the mashing process as well as taste of your finished all-grain beer.

Understanding pH: Alkalinity and Acidity

Pure water has a pH of 7.0, which means that it is neither acidic nor alkaline.  If you are into chemistry, this means that the free H+ (hydronium) ions are balanced with the OH- (hydroxide) ions giving equal concentrations capable of forming H2O.  If water has an excess of H+ ions, we call it acidic (lower pH), while an excess of OH- ions gives us alkaline (higher pH) water.

Now it we take our pure water in the form of rain and run it down through the atmosphere and soil it picks up CO2 and Calcium from the soil, these elements will bind with the H+ ions leaving a bunch of free OH- (hydroxide)  ions making our water more alkaline.  This increases the pH of the water.  Most tap water is slightly alkaline for this reason.  Really hard water can be highly alkaline.

Interestingly all malts (and dark malts in particular) have phosphates in them that react with the calcium and magnesium ions in alkaline water freeing up H+ ions that make the mixture acidic.  Adding malt, especially dark malt, lowers the pH of the malt water mixture in the mash.

The Importance of Mash pH

The pH of the mash is very important for proper conversion of sugars during the mash and also due to its effect on finished beer.  Mashing should always take place at a pH between 5.1 and 5.3.  However, its important to note that we are talking about the pH of the mixed mash, which as I point out above depends on the color and quantity of malts added to the beer.  In most cases the mixed mash will be slightly alkaline (pH above 5.3) and require an acidic addition or buffer to bring it down to 5.2.

Though some commercial brewers can accurately predict the pH of their mash in advance, few homebrewers have the detailed knowledge and data available to do this.  The problem is that the color, quantity and even type and supplier of the malt can change the pH.  In addition, your starting water and its interactions with the malts may vary with each recipe.  Remember that commercial brewers brew the same recipe every time using the same ingredients, while homebrewers do this only rarely.

That’s why homebrewers are reduced to measuring the pH of each mash right after it is mixed and then adjusting our pH as early as possible in the mashing process.

Measuring pH can be done in several ways including pH (litmus) strips, precison pH strips and even using an electronic pH meter.   Of the three methods, precision pH strips are usually most cost effective and practical.  Standard pH strips lack the precision needed to measure down to a tenth of a point pH, and electronic meters are expensive and require frequent replacement of the electrodes to maintain accuracy.

Another practical consideration is that the mash is usually hot, so you need to adjust the pH reading for temperature.  Hot wort will almost always provide a higher pH reading than the actual wort.  You can compensate for this either by rapidly cooling the sample to room temperature before measuring or applying a correction factor after taking the reading.  Check the documentation with your pH strips to determine the appropriate correction.

Methods for Adjusting Mash pH

There are several methods available to the homebrewer  for adjusting the pH of your wort.  As noted earlier, in most cases you will need to lower your pH to reach the 5.2 target level.

• Calcium and Magnesium Salts: Three salt: Gypsum (CaSO4), Epsom Salt (MgSO4) and Calcium Chloride (CaCl) can be added to lower your pH. The calcium and magnesium ions in these additions reduce the alkalinity of the water. Note, however, that the sulfate and chloride ions react with the phosphates from the mash, which can lead to undesirable flavors. As a result you need to limit the amount added. You can calculate appropriate amounts using a water tool such as the one in BeerSmith. Suggested limits are 50-150 ppm for calcium, 50-150 ppm for sulfide, 0-150 ppm for chloride and 10-30 ppm for magnesium. See our article on water profiles for more information.
• Food Grade Acids - Acid additions counter the H+ ion and directly lower the alkalinity of the mash. Popular additions include phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid and lactic acid. All of these contribute other flavors and ions to the beer as well, which can again cause problems if used in excessive amounts. Phosphoric acid is used to make soda, and will contribute phosphates to the mash. Lactic acid will add lactates, and is used in many Belgian styles to sour the beer. Sulfuric acid will contribute sulfates. In general you should add the minimum needed to achieve your target pH. The amount will vary depending on the concentration of your acid and wort volume.
• Acid Malt - Because of German purity laws (the Reinheitsgebot) that prevent additives to German beer, sour malt (called acid malt) is used to aid in the brewing of light beers to lower mash pH. Acid malt is made by souring malt with lactic bacteria for a short period which effectively creates lactic acid. Adding acid malt is effectively equivalent to adding lactic acid to the mash. Adding one percent of acid malt effectively lowers the pH of the malt by approximately 0.1 pH.
• Sour Mash - Another technique developed by the Germans is to create a sour mash which again contains lactic acid produced by lactic bacteria. The technique is to mash a quantity of grain, cools it to about 80F and then adds some fresh malt (which contains lots of lactic bacteria naturally) and lets the mixture sit overnight. The bacteria will quickly sour the mash and start fermenting it, again creating lactic acid. The next day this sour mash can be mixed with a regular mash to lower its pH. The challenge with sour mashing is that it can be somewhat inconsistent in pH and also labor intensive.
• Acid Rest - Though seldom used today thanks to modern highly modified malts, an acid rest in the 95F (35C) range can break down phytins in the malt into phytic acid that will lower the mash pH. This was traditionally done in German triple decoction mashes, and is most effective when used with undermodified malts.
• 5.2 Stabilizer - A number of brew stores now carry an additive called 5.2 stabilizer. This is a powder you can add to the beer to lower the mash pH to 5.2. It consists of buffers that reduce the alkalinity of the mash to reach a 5.2 level. As long as your starting water is not completely out of kilter, this is a good simple solution for many homebrewers.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on mash pH.  Please join us next week on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog for another great article or subscribe for regular delivery.

• Brewing Water - Hard or Soft?
• Wheat Beer Recipes: Weizen and Weisse Styles
• Troubleshooting Homebrewed Beer
• Decoction Mashing for Beer Recipes
• All Grain Beer Brewing With An Infusion Mash Setup

This week we examine the topic of troubleshooting homebrewed beer.  Despite the best laid plans of mice and men, not every beer you brew is going to be a homerun.  Homebrewing beer is a combination of both art and science, and sometimes the art or science goes wrong.

Fortunately all is not lost, for each bad batch is an opportunity to learn how to diagnose and improve your next batch.  Assuming you’ve already taken the time to carefully design your beer and match the target style, the next thing to examine is the taste of your beer.  Beer troubles each have their own unique signature which you can evaluate using the guide below.

Bitterness

Excess bitterness in your beer is usually perceived on the back of the tongue, and often manifests itself as a bitter aftertaste.  If bitterness is too low the beer often will have a very malty, sweet or grainy profile.  Some beers such as IPAs require high bitterness, while others such as Scotch and many German ales require a malty profile.

Excess bitterness is created by overuse of boiling/bitterness hops, long boil times, the use of black or roasted malts, and the use of alkaline water or water with excess sulfates.  Conversely low bitterness can result from a low bitterness to gravity ratio, too little hops, malty grains such as Vienna and Munich malts, short boil time or high fermentation temperatures.  Filtration can also reduce the bitterness of your beer in many cases.

Body

Body is often referred to as mouth-feel or the thickness of the beer.  Full bodied beers have a well rounded thick feel to them while light bodied beers have a thin profile.

I recently wrote a complete article on how to enhance the body of your beer. Some techniques include adding caramel, crystal or carafoam malts, lactose, malto-dextrin, adding more malt overall, adding wheat, increasing the mash temperature of your beer and fermenting at a lower temperature.   Conversely thin beers can be created by reducing additives, adding rice or sugar, decreasing mash temperature and fermenting at higher temperatures.

Diaceytl Flavors

Diaceytl  flavor comes through as a buttery or butterscotch flavor.  It is most often caused by incomplete fermentation.  Potential causes include an old or undersized yeast starter, lack of oxygen in the wort before fermentation, lack of yeast nutrients, bacterial contamination or use of excessive adjuncts such as corn or rice that lack proper nutrients.  Finally, if you prematurely halt fermentation by suddenly raising or lowering temperature, adding finings too soon or choosing a yeast with very high flocculation you can get a distinct butterscotch flavor in your beer.

You can counteract diceytl by starting with an appropriately sized yeast starter, making sure your wort is properly oxygenated before fermentation, avoiding contamination and making sure a majority of your grain bill contains fresh barley malt.  Barley malt naturally has the nutrients needed for proper yeast growth.

Alcoholic Profile

The alcoholic profile of a beer is most often perceived as a warm sensation in the mouth and throat.  Different styles obviously require different alcohol profiles as indicated by the starting and ending gravities in the BJCP Style Guide. Ideally a beer should have a balanced profile that compliments the overall flavor.

Fusel alcohols leave a solvent like flavor in the beer and are most often produced by fermentation at excessively high temperatures.  Fermenting in the recommended range for your yeast can mitigate any solvent-like fusel flavors.

Overall alcohol balance can be controlled by adjusting your original gravity to match the style of beer as well as taking proper care in fermentation to make sure the wort is properly aerated, pitched and kept within the recommended temperature range during fermentation.  If there is a significant mismatch between the alcohol content and body of the beer, you can also look at adjusting the body of the beer (described above) to better balance your recipe.

Astringency

An astringent flavor comes across as grainy or a raw husky flavor.  In some cases it may be dry or similar to the flavor of grape skins.

Astringency is most often caused by oversparging your grains or boiling your grains.  It can also be caused by sparging with excessively hot water (over 175F), excess trub in the wort, and overmilling of your grains.  You can minimize astringency by proper milling, sparging and a good rolling boil when brewing your beer.

Phenolic Flavors

Phenolic flavors are perceived as a medicinal or band-aid like flavor that can be quite harsh.  It also sometimes is perceived as plastic, smokey or clovelike.  Strong phenolic flavors can make the beer harsh or even undrinkable in some cases.

Phenolic flavors, like astringency, can be caused by oversparging or boiling your grains.  In addition the use of chlorinated tap water or presence of bacterial contamination can also cause phenolic flavors.  Excessive use of wheat malts or roasted barley malts can also lead to clovelike flavors.  Check your equipment and bottle caps for leaks and potential contamination, carefully control your sparging process and use an alternate water source if needed to mitigate phenolics.

Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS)

DMS flavors and aromas come across as cabbage, rotten eggs or a sweet cornlike aroma.  Excess DMS can spoil your beer.

DMS has many potential causes.  These include high moisture malt (especially 6 row), bacterial contamination, oversparging at low temperature (below 160F), and underpitching your yeast.  Covering your pot during the boil can also create DMS.  Storing malt in a cool dry place, care when sparging and boiling, and a proper yeast starter can help to mitigate the ill effects of DMS.

Sour/Acidic Flavors

Sour and acidic flavors may be perceived as a bitter, cider-like, lemon-juice or sour candy flavors usually at the side of the tongue.

One primary cause of sourness is contamination due to inattention to proper sanitation.  The use of excessive sugar, particularly refined sugars used by many beginners can also introduce a sour cider-like flavor.  Other causes include the addition of excessive ascorbic acid, introduction of bacteria or contamination, excessively high fermentation temperatures and storage of the beer at very warm temperatures.

I hope this week’s beer troubleshooting guide will help you diagnose common brewing problems and their causes.  Portions of this article were derived from the troubleshooting page on BrewWiki.  Thanks again for visiting the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog.  Please consider subscribing for weekly delivery and keep your comments and emails coming.

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Anyone who has visited the trophy wing of Chateau Smith inevitably asks the tour guide the same questions.  How can someone who has been brewing beer for almost a quarter of a century have so few wins?  Where do you keep the big trophies?  How does one consistently place last in a category with only 4 entries?  Tell us the truth - how does he always manage to lose?

For a long time I merely dismissed such talk as idle chatter.  Recently, however, I’ve come to realize that the stream of Chateau visitors were sincere - they do actually want to know how to lose.  While I previously wrote about making better beer, losing is a topic that little has been written about.  Yet losing is something that every brewer needs to know.

Losing is a secret desire we all aspire to.  The truth is that no one likes a winner.  Winners are smug, brash, and unpopular.  Winners are often the target of sabotage and assassination attempts.  People talk about them behind their backs.

Winners are hated, but everyone loves a loser.  Losers are popular, friendly and beloved.  They blend into the crowd.  No one ever feels intimidated or threatened by a loser.  We love to hang out with losers - after all they make us feel good about ourselves.

The good news is that every human being has within himself the innate ability to lose.  Sure, any moron can produce bad beer occasionally, but I’m talking about losing on a consistent basis - year after year.  That kind of losing takes dedication and effort.  It requires expertise and forethought.

What you need is advice from an expert in losing.  I can show you how.

Sure we all remember our early brewing days when it was easy to make bad beer.  Pitch the yeast into boiling hot wort to kill it off, throw in a few pounds of cane sugar, toss it all into our unsanitized open bucket, bottle a day or two later and voila - bad (and sometimes explosive) beer.   How easy it all was back in the good old days.  Losing required no effort at all.

However, over the years many of us forgot our old habits, allowed experience to creep in and lost the magic recipe for really bad beer.  At first the beer became passable, then drinkable and perhaps even good.  We gradually slipped from the bottom of the pack to the middle and perhaps even into the dreaded top 10%.

Fear not - for old bad habits can be relearned. With practice you can slip back out of the winner’s circle into the realm of mediocrity.  Without further ado, I present 10 expert tips for making award losing beer - the kind that will make your brewing friends grimace and reach for the malt liquor.  In fact, many losers have achieved consistently poor results using as few as three of these ten tips.

1. Never Sanitize or Sterilize your Equipment - Bad beer requires bacteria, wild yeasts and other beasties to produce sour off flavors.  The Belgians have known this for hundreds of years, and relied on wild yeast and bacteria in many of their greatest brews.  Go Belgian on your next brew - stop all of that unnecessary washing and sanitizing and let your equipment go native.  You will save money and precious time.  No one likes to clean their equipment - so just reuse the rotting gunk from your last batch to spoil your next one.

2. Never Use Brewing Software, Keep Notes or Record Recipes -  Everyone knows that brewing good beer is a matter of pure luck and not repeatable.  Who needs a bunch of notes cluttering up the place?  If you don’t measure anything, never keep any notes and never write down your recipe, then you will never miss your target gravity or volume.

Don’t use brewing software - that might help you match a particular style or know your color or bitterness in advance.  It’s much better to find out the sex of the baby after its born.  You can always enter it in whatever style category you feel like the day of the competition.  Plus, if you do accidentally make a good batch of beer there is no need to panic.  Without a recipe or consistent technique your next batch is certain to be completely different.

3. Store your Ingredients in a Warm, Moist, Sunny place - Bad beer requires some forethought and planning - you can’t just expect to throw something stinky together on the spur of the moment.  Prepare first by storing your ingredients in the hot sun, or at least a nice moist corner of the cellar.  As I mentioned in my article on hops storage, hops degrade quickly under heat and sunlight leaving a warm skunky smell and flavor in your beer.  Malts can’t be ignored either - crush your grains weeks ahead of time so they will oxidize and keep them wet and warm to make sure they spoil before brewing.  If you’re lucky some mold or weevils will gain a foothold for additional character.

4. Don’t Boil - Just Mix and Ferment - The best brewers boil their entire wort for at least 90 minutes to improve clarity, flavor and beer stability.  But stability and clarity are mortal enemies of bad beer - so I think its best to just dump the ingredients in and mix them for a minute or two.  Plus if you don’t boil you will save precious time and money (no need for a pot!)- just toss the yeast in with some water, malt and sugar and call it a day.  Be sure to leave the fermenter open for a while so the wild yeast and bacteria can start souring it.  No need to leave anything to chance.

5. Add Low Quality Yeast, or None at All - Bad beer starts with bad ingredients.  Don’t stop with just stale malt and hops - add some old dry packet bread yeast.  You’ll save big dollars over the “winners” who probably purchased high quality liquid yeast packages.  Also - never create a yeast starter.  Yeast starters give your yeast an unfair head start in the wort, and don’t allow for bacteria and wild yeasts to take hold.  If you are still producing good beer with low quality yeast, consider using no yeast at all!  There are plenty of wild yeasts floating around in the air that are free and guaranteed to make bad beer.  As I mentioned earlier, the Belgians have been doing this for years.

6.  Ferment in a Hot Place - Yeast prefers cooler  fermentation temperatures - usually under 70 degrees F for ales and down in the 50+F range for lagers.  If you ferment at higher temperatures you can create undesirable flavors of all kinds. Lagers in particular will suffer from fermenting at excessively high temperatures, so turn up the heat and enjoy!

7. Add Sugar and Lots of It - Many of us carry fond memories of our first homebrewing kit that came with 3.3 lbs of malt and instructions to add 3-4 pounds of nice white cane sugar.  The net result was a beer that tasted like a cross between malt liquor and sour cider.  You can get that old cidery flavor once again, and save money on malt by adding delicious table sugar to your  next brew.

8. Bottle and Age Improperly - Bottle your beer by dropping a bit of sugar in each bottle.  This gives you random carbonation.  Alternately you can mix a random volume of sugar, though this sometimes results in bottle bombs that can make a mess of your kitchen.  Be sure you never measure the sugar by weight or mix the sugar in a separate tank before bottling, as this could give you a consistent carbonation level.  Once your beer is bottled, store it in a warm sunny place, ideally in clear bottles as the sunlight and heat will rapidly add off flavors and break down its stability.

9. Compete with Style - When you compete, the proper attitude is critical to losing.  You need to have a losing attitude going into the competition.  Remember that the word “contest” is derived from the word “con”.  Everyone involved is there to cheat you - why else would they volunteer to work on the contest for free?  Prepare and present your beer to minimize its appeal.  Grouse about everyone and everything you possibly can - complain about the venue, the setup, other competitors, the categories and the rules.

It helps if you review the rules and make a list of complaints in advance.  Complain about the judges whenever they are around as this will really impress them.  A consistent negative attitude will endear you to your fellow competitors, who will no longer be threatened by you.  It will also clearly mark you as one of the losers.

10.  Never Take Advice - Brewing advice is worth just what you paid for it - nothing.  In the case of books, its worth even less than what you paid for it.  Do you really believe that brewing experts give away their trade secrets for free?  Do you think someone who really knows how to brew would put it in a book for just anyone to pick up and read?  No - the secrets of the trade are just that - secrets!

Anything you read in a book, on a discussion forum or especially in an online blog is obviously part of a large right wing (or left wing depending on your political leanings) conspiracy to make you brew bad beer so the “cons” can win the “contests”.  As an old famous guy once said, “a little education is a dangerous thing”.  Better to hole up in your fallout shelter and develop your own secret recipes until the Ruskies drop the big one.

And whatever you do - don’t ever listen to anything you read on my homebrewing blog - especially anything written in this article.  The worst thing you could do is subscribe to learn more, or drop a vote on BrewPoll or Stumbleupon.

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Scotch Ale brings forth visions of fog filled bogs, dimly lit pubs and a hearty pint of ale.  Scotland has always had its own distinct brewing style with an array of unique beers from the 60/- shilling light Scottish ale to the “wee heavy” strong ales.  This week we examine the history of scotch ales as well as some Scottish ale beer recipes.

Scotch ale can be divided into roughly four categories.  The standard ale is available in three strengths: light, heavy and export.  A fourth category is often broken out for strong Scottish ales or “wee heavy” ales.  These ales are also often named by their 19^th century per-barrel price in schillings (now obsolete) as 60/-, 70/- and 80/- for the light, heavy and export and higher numbers of 100/- to 160/- for strong and “wee heavy” styles.

The History of Scottish Ales

Scotland has traditionally produced a wide array of beer styles including many that are either English or Irish in character.  During the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland was a major exporter of all kinds of beer to both England and also its colonies, and Scotland was first in the British isles to begin producing lager in large quantities.

Despite the influence of neighbors, Scotland’s unique geography and political situation combined to produce a uniquely Scottish style of beer that we now know as scotch ale.  According to Daniels, two of the major factors were the availability of malt and hops.  Barley has always been grown in Scotland, with a large portion dedicated to the production of whiskey.  However, in Southern Scotland significant portions of the yearly crop were dedicated to beer production.

Hops, however, has never thrived in Scotland.   The soil and conditions are poor for hop production, so hops had to be imported often from England at high expense.  As a result a variety of hop alternatives were traditionally used including spices, herbs and quassia.  Later when hops were used, they were added only sparingly resulting in a distinctly malty character.  In contrast to the South in England malt was heavily taxed and hops plentiful resulting in more highly hopped styles such as IPA.

A look at traditional brewing of Scottish ales reveals that these ales were mashed with one or at most two steps, usually at high temperature (often above 160F!) and sparged slowly and often fermented at relatively cold temperatures.  The combination no doubt produced a beer full of body and resulted in very low attenuation of the yeast.  Bitterness was low, resulting in a malty full bodied beer.  The finished beer was aged only a few weeks and then shipped directly to pubs for consumption.  When aged, the beer was often kept cold which aided in enhancing clarity.

Brewing a Scottish Ale

As mentioned above Scottish ales have four major categories.  The three traditional scotch ales are distinguished primarily by strength and bitterness: original gravitie for 60/- light is in the range 1.030-1.035, for 70/- heavy it is 1.035-1.040 and 80/- export comes in at 1.040-1.054.  Strong scotch “wee heavy” ales have very high gravities in the 1.070-1.130 range.

Bitterness is low - with about 10-15 IBUs for light and ramping up to 15-30 IBUs for the export version.  Even the strong ales has a low bitterness in the 17-30 IBU range.  Malty and caramel flavors dominate the style with little to no hop aroma or flavor.

Scotch ales have an amber to light brown color.  All have a target color in the 9-17 SRM range, though the strong ale may be darker (up to 25 SRM) due to the large amount of malt added.

Formulations for scotch ales very, but they all start with a pale malt or pale extract base, generally making up about 70-80% of the grain bill.  Crystal malt is used in both commercial and homebrewed recipes making up from 5-10% of the grain bill.  Black or roast malt provide color and character in the 2% range, though most purists prefer roast malt over black malt.

Interestingly almost all commercial examples use either wheat malt or sugar in the 5-10% range, though sugar is rarely added to homebrewed versions.  Other commonly added homebrew grains in small amounts include chocolate malt, cara pils for body, munich and amber malts though these are not commonly added to commercial browns. [Ref: Daniels]

There is no specific hops tied to the scotch style, though low alpha traditional English or Continental hops are considered most appropriate.  Goldings, Williamette and Fuggles are often used commercially, though noble hops such as Hallertauer or Saaz can also be used.  Bitterness and hop flavor should be kept to a minimum, so use just enough hops to balance the malt.

The selection of scotch yeast is not as important as the fermentation method. Scotch ales are fermented at much lower temperatures (50-60F) than traditional ales, and the fermentation can take several weeks to complete as a result.  After fermentation the ale is cold aged to aid in clarity.  This produces a very malty but clean beer profile.  You also want to select a low attenuation yeast that can handle the lower temperatures.

Though Edinburgh is famous for its pale ales and hard water, high sulfate water is not a critical element in brewing scotch ale and in fact can be detrimental as it brings out the hop sharpness too much.  I personally recommend a moderate neutral water profile low in sulfates that will support the malty base and not enhance the hops excessively.

Scotch Ale Recipes:

• ProposAle - All Grain
  
• Smitty’s Scottish Ale - All Grain
• Steve’s Scottish - All Grain
• Lynch’s Kiltlifting - All Grain
• MacDuff’s Wee Heavy - Extract
• Single Malt Scotch Ale - All Grain
• Get More Recipes from our Recipe Site

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Decoction mashing is a great way to enhance the flavor and clarity of your all grain beer recipes, and requires only minimal additional equipment and time.  Few homebrewers use decoction mashing in their recipes, but it is a very powerful technique for enhancing many styles of beer.  This week we’re going to demystify decoction mashing so you can add it to your arsenal of homebrewing tools.

Decoction mashing involves nothing more than extracting a fraction of your mash mixture and bringing that portion to a boil in a separate vessel.  Then the boiling wort is added back to the original wort to raise the temperature of the entire mixture for the next mash step.  All that is required is a separate smaller pot and heat source.

History of Decoction Mashing

Decoction mashing predates common use of the thermometer.  In those early days, it was difficult to achieve accurate infusion temperatures for today’s infusion mash, and also malts were undermodified compared to the highly modified malt we have today.  Brewers instead discovered by trial and error that if they extracted a fixed fraction of the mash and boiled it they could achieve the accurate temperature steps needed to mash their malts.

Decoction was used extensitvely in continental European recipes, and is still heavily used in many German and Bohemian styles.  Many commercial brewers today use decoction mashing as well because it results in higher extraction rates and also maximum extraction of flavor from the malt.

Why use Decoction Mashing

The first thing most all grain brewers learn is that they should not overheat their mash or they will risk killing off the enzymes needed to convert sugars, effectively stopping conversion.   Yet in a strange paradox, decoction mashing actually results in higher conversion rates than infusion mashing.  In fact, decoction mashing has a number of benefits (Ref: FAQ):

• Boiling extracts maximal flavor from the malt, which can be a real advantage for many malty styles of beer including most German beer styles.
• Boiling the mash destroys the grain cell walls, releasing additional enzymes for conversion and resulting in a higher extract conversion rate than infusion mashing.
• Boiling wort will carmelize a portion of it, again enhancing the malty flavor of the beer.
• Proteins in the mash tend to coagulate during the boil and are filtered out during lauter resulting in better clarity.

At the same time, some care must be taken while using the decoction method.  Decoction does take longer than a single infusion mash.  When heating the decocted fraction, you need to monitor it to avoid scorching the mash.  Safety is a concern when handling large quantities of hot wort, and you must be careful not to splash the wort to avoid hot side aeration.

The Decoction Method

All decoction mashes start with a single infusion step where hot water is added to the mash to start the mashing process.  Typical temperatures for the first step vary.  Multiple step decoctions are often used.  Some examples of steps include:

• 95F (35C) - Acid and Glucanese rest - to break down gummy solids (glucose) and lower pH of the mash for undermodified malts
• 127F (52C) - Protein rest
• 145F-153F (63-67C) - Beta Amalyse Rest
• 158-167F (72-75C) - Alpha Amalyse Rest

Decoction mash profiles may have one, two or even three decoctions.  When selecting a decoction profile, keep in mind that many of the traditional multi-step decoction methods were designed for undermodified malts as opposed to modern modified malts.  However, multiple step decoction methods will add a unique character and flavor to your beer.

The amount of water used in a decoction can vary tremendously.  Traditional infusion mashes and many modern decoction methods use a relatively thick ratio of 1.25-1.5 quarts per pound of grain.  Older decoction mash profiles often used much higher water to grain ratios - as high as 2 or even 3 quarts per pound of grain.  Slightly higher conversion rates are possible at the lower ratios, but some purists still use the higher traditional ratios to reduce the chance of scorching.  You also need to consider what will fit in your mash tun and boil pot.

The initial strike water is calculated as if it was a normal infusion, and can be done using the BeerSmith strike temperature tool or an online calculator.  Typically the first infusion targets either 95F (an acid rest) or 127F (a protein rest).

After the infusion step, a fraction of the mash is decocted (drawn) and put in a separate pot to be slowly heated to a boil.  Some people argue whether the thin part of the mash or thick part should be drawn.  I generally try to get a representative sample of the mash, including both grains and wort.

Calculating the fraction of the mash to decoct can be easily done.  A program like BeerSmith has both a separate tool for calculating decoctions and an integrated mash profile system that lets you simply select a decoction mash profile and automatically calculates the fractions and provides step by step mashing instructions.

Alternately, a quick google search will provide you with online decoction calculators.  If you prefer doing it by hand, this article recommends the following fraction:

F = (TS - TI) / (TB - TI - X)

Where f is the fraction, TS is the target step temperature, TI is the initial (current) temperature, TB is the temperature of the boiling mash and X is an equipment dependent parameter (typically 18F or 10C).

Care must be taken when boiling the mash to avoid scorching.  Mix the mash continuously and heat it gently.  Once the decoction starts to boil you can add it back to the original mash and mix thoroughly to achieve the next step.  Hold each step for the recommended time, much as you would with any infusion mash and continue with additional decoctions or sparging.

Finally, if you are using a decoction to achieve mash out temperature (usually around 178F target temperature), you need to draw only the liquid portion of the mash as mashing out with a large portion of grains can result in undesirable flavors.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post.  Please don’t hesitate to subscribe to the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog for weekly articles on additional homebrewing topics.  Also votes on social sites and BrewPoll are always appreciated.

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Brewing water plays a very important role in the flavor of your homebrewed beer.   Knowing the character of your local water source as well as how to adjust it to improve your beer is a critical skill, particularly for more advanced brewers.

Water impacts beer in three ways.  Water ions are critical in the mashing process for all grain brewers, where the character of the water determines the efficiency and flavor of the extracted wort.  Water also affects the perceived bitterness and hop utilization of finished beer.   Finally, water adds flavor directly to the beer itself - as water is the largest single component in finished beer.

The effect of brewing water on beer can be characterized by six main water ions: Carbonate, Sodium, Chloride, Sulfate, Calcium and Magnesium.

You can get a water report from your local municipality that will contain the mineral content of your water supply.  On a water report you will often see these listed as parts per million (ppm) which is equivalent to one milligram per liter (mg/l).  Each of the critical ions is described below:

Carbonate and Bicarbonate (CO3 and HCO3)

Carbonate is considered the most important ion for all grain brewing.  Carbonate (or bicarbonate), expressed as “total alkalinity” on many water reports, is the ion that determines the acidity of the mash.  It also is the primary determinant in the level of “temporary hardness” of the water.  If carbonate levels are too low, the mash will be too acidic, especially when using darker malts (which have higher acidity).  If carbonate is too high, mash efficiency will suffer.  Recommended levels are 25-50 mg/l for pale beers and 100-300 mg/l for darker beers.    Note that bicarbonates and temporary hardness can be reduced by pre-boiling the water - the precipitate that falls out after boiling is primarily bicarbonate.

Sodium (Na)

Sodium contributes body and mouthfeel to the beer, but if used in excess will result in salty seawater flavors.  High sodium water often comes from household water softeners, which is why most brewers recommend against mashing with softened water.  Sodium levels in the 10-70 mg/l range are normal, and levels of up to 150 mg/l can enhance malty body and fullness, but levels above 200 mg/l are undesirable.

Chloride (Cl)

Chloride, like sodium, also enhances the mouthfeel and complexity of the beer in low concentrations.  Chlorine is often used in city water supplies to sanitize, and can also reach high concentrations from use of bleach as a brewing sanitizer.  Heavily chlorinated water will result in mediciny or chlorine-like flavors that are undesirable in finished beer.  Normal brewing levels should be below 150 mg/l and never exceed 200 mg/l.  If you have heavily chlorinated city water you can reduce it using a carbon filter or by pre-boiling the water for 20-30 minutes before use.

Sulfate (SO4)

Sulfate plays a major role in bringing out hop bitterness and adds a dry, sharp, hoppy profile to well hopped beers.  It also plays a secondary role to lowering Ph of the mash, but the effect is much less than with carbonates as sulfate is only weakly alkaline.  High levels of sulfate will create an astringent profile that is not desirable.  Normal levels are 10-50 mg/l for pilsners and light beers and 30-70mg for most ales.  Levels from 100-130 mg/l are used in Vienna and Dortmunder styles to enhance bitterness, and Burton on Trent pale ales use concentrations as high as 500 mg/l.

Calcium (Ca)

Calcium is the primary ion determining the “permanent hardness” of the water.  Calcium plays multiple roles in the brewing process including lowering the Ph during mashing, aiding in precipitation of proteins during the boil, enhancing beer stability and also acting as an important yeast nutrient.  Calcium levels in the 100 mg/l range are highly desirable, and additives should be considered if your water profile has calcium levels below 50 mg/l.  The range 50mg/l to 150 mg/l is preferred for brewing.

Magnesium (Mg)

Magnesium is a critical yeast nutrient if used in small amounts.  It also behaves as calcium in contributing to water hardness, but this is a secondary role.  Levels in the 10-30 mg/l range are desirable, primarily to aid yeast.  Levels above 30 mg/l will give a dry, astringent or sour bitter taste to the beer.

You can get a profile of your local water supply from your city or water company.  Also, often the local brewing club has already collected local water profiles for you to examine.  In the water report, look for the 6 critical items listed above.  Also, be aware that many local water suppliers will frequently flush their system periodically (often in the Spring) with highly chlorinated water, which can give you some very strange brewing results if you are unaware of their schedule.

Adjusting your Water

Different styles of beer require different water profiles.  Often a particular beer is associated with the water profile of the city in which the beer originated.  For a listing of water profiles for popular brewing cities of the world, you can visit our water profile listing.  If you have a target profile in mind, you can adjust your water to match that profile.

You can dilute your local tap water with distilled water if some ion counts are too high for your target water profile.  Similarly you can use additives to increase the level of key ions.  Popular additives include table salt (NaCl), Gypsum (CaSO4), Calcium Chloride (CaCl), Epsom Salts (MgSO4), Baking Soda (NaHCO3), and Chalk (CaCO3).

Unfortunately the additives do not add a straightforward amount of ions to the water profile, so its best to use some kind of water profile tool to adjust your local water supply to reach a target profile.  Usually only a few grams of additives is required to achieve your target profile.  BeerSmith has a water profile tool available to perform this very function.  Other water profile tools are also available online.

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