WATER :
The Spirit OF BEER
BY CHRIS KELLER
A fact I share often with people at the pub , particularly when someone asks for a water , is that it takes five pints of water to make one pint of beer . “ So there ’ s actually more water in beer than there is in water !” It never fails to elicit some good chuckles and further jokes of beer ’ s hydrating qualities . Water is often referred to as “ liquor ” in brewing , and , banter aside , it does take a lot of water to make beer . Lots of hot water for brewing , lots of cold water for cooling , lots of water for blending the necessary chemicals used for cleaning and sanitizing all pipes , hoses , tanks , and packaging . There are large tanks all throughout the building to hold all the different kinds of water for all the different kinds of jobs , and lots of pumps and pipes to move it . Water hoses are placed all over the brewhouse , fermenter cellar , kegging , and packaging lines . Brewers , cellar hands , and packaging workers are all expected to hose down any mess . Brewing is a messy job and breweries must be kept clean to make good beer !
90 % of beer is water and that water contains a variety of minerals and salts which influence its flavor , aroma , and appearance . Much of what makes any beer style a style is the water used to brew it . All historical beer styles are what they are because of the water available in their regions . Famous brewing waters include Pilsen , Czech Republic which has a very low mineral content . This helps to give the Pilsner its clean profile . Burton upon Trent in England is known for water with a high sulfate content which accentuates the hop bitterness of their pale ales . Dortmund , Germany is known for high calcium and sulfate promoting clarity and hop bitterness . Dublin , Ireland has a high alkalinity great for stout beer . Edinburgh , Scotland ’ s higher carbonate profile promotes malty sweetness which is perfect for their dark , malty brews . The hard waters of London , England and Munich , Germany are well suited to dark beers like porter and German dark lagers . For their lighter lagers , Munich brewers would add slaked lime , calcium chloride , and gypsum .
Modern brewers no longer rely on the mineral makeup of their regional water supply . Industrial water filtration systems and the availability of minerals and salts give more freedom to
brewers to create different styles . At Saint Arnold we took water very seriously . We had a large reverse osmosis filtration system which was used to strip the Houston city water down to its basics . Each batch we would check the mineral content and the pH . The first ingredients on the recipe sheet were the mineral and salt additions . We would build the water for each batch . Designing a beer recipe involved designing the mineral content of the water that would properly influence the flavors of the beer we wanted to make . These minerals can also be very necessary for a healthy fermentation . Calcium , magnesium , and potassium for example , are very important for yeast growth and metabolism .
Water pH is very important as well . The pH scale measures acidity or alkalinity ranging from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral . A pH under 7 is acidic and over 7 is alkaline . Maintaining a proper pH is crucial throughout the brewing process . Improper pH can affect the enzymatic activity of the mash , which is what converts the starches to sugars , hop extraction during the boil , and yeast efficiency during fermentation . Much of the brewing process is in the acidic range with mashing at a pH of 5.2 to 5.6 and fermentation at a range of 4.5 to 5.0 . Minerals help with maintaining pH as do other methods like using phosphoric or lactic acids . Adjusting the grain recipe can change the pH as well .
While 90 % of beer is water , only 20 % of the water used to make beer winds up in the beer . The vast majority of water used to make beer is in the process and a major part of that process is cleaning . The majority of a brewers job is cleaning and a lot of that cleaning is in closed environments where there is no oxygen to breathe . Brewers get around this by using a combination of mechanical and chemical energy . Highly alkaline salts like sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide , otherwise known as caustic soda , are dissolved in water and blasted at high heat and pressure through the whole system . Caustic soda is very good at dissolving organic materials , you might have used it before , it ’ s the active ingredient in drain cleaner ! It
30 WINTER EDITION 2024