When it comes to brewing beer, your water can make or break a good brew. And if you are homebrewing your beer you may be relying on city tap water or private well water. So, is your home water suitable to brew beer with? And how do you test your water to know that it will make good beer?
Taste Test your Water
There are many parameters of your water quality that affect how your beer will taste. And we will go into each of those factors further in the article.
But there is one easy way to know if your water isn’t suitable for brewing without any testing, and that is to simply taste your brewing water before you start.
If your drinking water has any off coloration or flavor, that means that there is a parameter that will be unsuitable to brew beer with. Even if it didn’t interfere with the fermentation process in any way, the off taste will come through in the final product.
For example, if your water is overly soft and has a salty taste, you will likely end up with a salty beer.
As a general rule, if your water isn’t pleasant to drink, don’t brew with it.
Most Important Parameters in your Brewing Water
There are hundreds of potential parameters to discuss with brewing water, but here will discuss the most important ones that may be common problems with your brewing water.
These parameters are:
Calcium
Magnesium
Iron
Sulfate
Bicarbonate
Total Alkalinity
pH
Total Chlorine
Total Hardness
Calcium
Calcium is one of the most important parameters for controlling the finish of a beer. Lower Calcium concentrations will give you a softer finish while high concentrations will give you a firmer finish.
Calcium is also important for supporting the fermentation process, allowing you to brew higher gravity beers. Due to this you’ll often see higher calcium levels in high gravity IPAs.
Some brewers use Calcium to help control the clarity of their beer. Higher levels of Calcium can help to reduce haze. While fining agents will have a larger effect, calcium is still a factor.
Calcium Concentration for Brewing Water:
Calcium can have a wide range of concentrations based on what style of beer you are brewing.
For paler beers (like Pilsners) 50ppm or lower is the target. Paler beers typically aim for a softer finish and lower gravity that lower calcium can provide.
50ppm to100 ppm is the most common range for brewing water profiles. This will provide the pH control and clarity that Calcium can provide. But can also support slightly higher gravity beers.
100ppm to 150ppm is used for darker beers and higher gravity IPAs. These beers need calcium for the fermentation process.
Above 150ppm can be used but rarely. This concentration can negatively affect the fermentation process by interfering with Magnesium and causing unwanted haze.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential nutrient for yeast growth and the fermentation process. Without it your yeast won’t ferment. But if Magnesium is too high then it can develop an overly bitter flavor in your beer.
Magnesium Concentrations for Brewing Water:
Even though Magnesium is critical for yeast growth, most of it will not come from your water but from your grain. Because magnesium can create a bitter flavor if the concentration is too high, many brewers suggest never adding it to your brewing water and trying to minimize it, but this isn’t always the best approach.
Many commercial beers have between 60ppm to 150ppm of Magnesium in the finish beer. From the grain itself you can expect to get between 50-90ppm from the extraction. This means that if you are wanting a higher magnesium concentration in your final product, then you will need some magnesium in your water profile.
Because of the uncertainty of magnesium from your grain, the best way to approach magnesium is to make a test batch of beer, measuring the magnesium before and after fermentation to see how much was added from that particular grain in your process. Then work backwards to figure out how much magnesium will be needed to hit your target levels.
But for a starting point here are some recommendations:
If you want to replicate a water profile with lower magnesium, then you will want to make sure that the concentration is between 0-20ppm of magnesium.
If you want something with more bitterness like an IPA, then 30-40ppm of magnesium is recommended.
Iron
Iron is important for yeast fermentation, but in even low levels it can negatively impact your beer. Causing off flavors as well as coloration.
The most important negative form high iron levels are the off flavors it can cause. Most people will describe the beer as metallic or even bloodlike. If you are brewing paler beers this is even more noticeable.
Another problem with high iron in your brewing water is that it can cause unwanted coloration. This can cause colors such as red, orange, and brown colors in your beer that are unintended for the type of beer you are brewing.
Iron has several other negatives. One of these is that it can harm fermentation at high levels. While some is needed for fermentation, too much of it can interfere with the process.
The other negative is that it can lower the shelf life of your beer. This is because the iron can oxidize and ruin the beer after it’s brewed.
Iron Concentrations for Brewing Water:
To avoid these negative effects of Iron in your water profile, Iron concentrations should be kept below 0.3 ppm, with some brewers aiming for 0.1 ppm or less. If you are using the CraftPro Test Strips, you’ll want it to appear as a 0 ppm of Iron. If it is 1 ppm or higher, your water is not suitable to brew with.
There are also signs that your water has high iron concentrations without testing. If your shower, sink, or toilet have an orange or red residue, often it will show as an orange ring. This is likely a sign of high iron, at these concentrations your water will not be suitable to brew with.
Another sign that your water has too high of an iron concentration is that your plumbing or fixtures have rust colored deposits or spots on it.
Sulfate
Sulfate can bring out the natural bitterness out of hops and help elevate high hopped beer. But in too high concentrations can produce harsh flavors and even produce a Sulfur taste.
The main effect Sulfate has in beer it that it adds dryness. This dryness will highlight the hops and natural bitterness they provide.
Sulfate can also affect the finish of a beer, creating a crisper finish when present and a fuller finish when in low levels.
Sulfate Concentrations for Brewing Water:
Sulfate concentrations should be adjusted based on the style of beer you are wanting to brew.
A range of anywhere from 0 to 400 ppm is common in brewing, even though most public drinking water in the US will be below 250 ppm.
Some brewers will completely remove Sulfate from their brewing water. But many recommend doing 40-50ppm minimum for darker beers like Porters and Stouts. Because at 40-50ppm you won’t notice any increase in bitterness but can still aid in the fermentation.
If you want to brew with a moderate level of bitterness, a range of 100ppm to 150ppm is common and is a safe range for many ales.
For bitter beers, use a range from 250ppm to 400ppm. Some brewers recommend stopping at 300ppm as a top range. But this can be affected by other factors such as your Chloride concentration. If you aren’t sure, using 250ppm to 300ppm is a safe range to use for bitter beers.
Bicarbonate
Bicarbonate impacts the brewing process by influencing the water’s alkalinity and mash pH. Alkalinity is water’s ability to resist or neutralize changes in acidity. Bicarbonate will increase the pH of your mash, meaning it’s less acidic. In many styles of beer, you will want lower pH, and Bicarbonates can interfere with this.
Bicarbonate Concentrations for Brewing Water:
Bicarbonate concentrations depend on what style of beer you are wanting to brew. If you are brewing a paler beer, you will need 50 ppm or less or bicarbonate. With some brewers aiming for levels closer to 30 ppm.
For dark beers, bicarbonate levels of 100 ppm can be used since dark beers may require an increase in alkalinity.
Bicarbonate concentrations above 125 ppm aren’t suitable for brewing.
Total Alkalinity
Alkalinity refers to water’s ability to resist pH changes, which influences nearly every aspect of beer and is essential for a successful brew. It affects not only the mash but also the pH of the beer itself.
Your water profile won’t be the only factor in this pH though, your grain will also have a major effect. Because the grain won’t be the exact same every time you brew, even if you purchase it from the same source, it will have a different impact on mash pH.
Totally Alkalinity and Brewing Water:
The target Mash pH is always 5.2–5.4.
It might seem confusing to aim for the same Mash pH while adjusting your starting water’s Alkalinity and pH based on beer style. This is because the grains used in lighter and darker beers affect pH differently.
When it comes to Alkalinity levels, lower is better. This doesn’t mean that you want zero Alkalinity, just low levels. The minimum that is recommended is typically 30 – 40 ppm. The upper level of Alkalinity is typically 120-125 ppm with many trying to stay between 50 ppm and 100 ppm.
pH
pH is a measure of how acidic or basic water is. pH plays a critical role in fermentation and influences fermentability, color, clarity, and the taste of the wort and beer. The pH of your brewing water itself only plays a minor role in the final beer. But knowing how it interacts with bicarbonates, alkalinity, and calcium can affect how your mash pH will affect your beer.
pH levels that are suitable for brewing:
For brewing water, the ideal pH range is typically between 6.5 and 8.5, assuming alkalinity and other minerals are within their target ranges. Alkalinity should generally fall between 30 and 120 ppm, depending on the style of beer you’re brewing. Alkalinity measures water’s ability to resist pH changes, so if it’s too high, your grains won’t be able to effectively lower the pH.
Tap water will be between a pH of 6.5 and 8.5, while a lot of filtered or bottled water will be closer to 7, which is neutral water meaning it’s not acidic or basic. When testing your brewing water’s pH, the important thing is that it’s not overly acidic or basic from whatever source you are using.
You can also measure your water’s pH during the mash which will have a larger impact on the final beer. When it comes to Mash pH, the target will always be 5.2-5.4. This is regardless of what style of beer you are brewing.
Always targeting the same pH may sound backwards if you’ve read some of our other resources. Because Alkalinity, Bicarbonate, and Calcium all affect pH, and we are adjusting those based on the style of beer. But not the pH itself.
The reason is that different styles of beer will use different grain composition and affect the pH in different ways. So, we must adjust these other factors to end up at the same mash pH.
Total Chlorine:
Chlorine plays an essential role in municipal water systems, ensuring our water is safe by killing bacteria and harmful organisms. It’s a key reason why safe water is widely accessible—but it’s detrimental for brewing.
Although chlorine is effective in eliminating harmful microbes, it can produce an unwanted side effect in brewing: chlorophenols. When chlorine interacts with wort, it creates chlorophenols, which add a medicinal, ‘band-aid’ flavor to beer that is noticeable to some at even tiny concentrations, as low as 10 parts per billion.
Total Chlorine Concentrations for Brewing Water:
When brewing beer, your water profile should have zero chlorine. This is because off flavors can be created from only having 10 ppb of chlorine in your water.
Luckily your water is likely suitable for brewing even if it does have chlorine. This is because Metabisulfite can be used to remove chlorine from your water. Most brewers use either Campden tablets or powder to ensure that the chlorine doesn’t harm their brew.
Total Hardness
Water Hardness is the amount of dissolved Calcium and Magnesium in your water. The most important aspect of Total Hardness will be its effect on reducing your Mash pH. When looking at Residual Alkalinity (A brewing specific term), you can reduce it by either reducing Alkalinity or increasing Water Hardness.
Total Hardness Levels Suitable for Brewing Water:
For Total Hardness, the minimum recommended levels are around 150 ppm. While this level isn’t necessarily crucial on its own, it helps balance alkalinity, which in turn reduces mash pH and ensures enough calcium is available for brewing.
While water above 150 ppm is suitable for brewing, it may be hard on your equipment. Overly hard water can cause scale and buildup that not only causes visual discoloration. But can make your equipment less effective and have a shorter lifespan.
For softened water, you will want to ensure that your water does not taste “softened”, because that taste can appear in the beer itself after brewing. While this may not harm fermentation, it can lead to an odd tasting beer.
How to test your brewing water
There are two ways to test any brewing liquid, the Craft Pro Test Strips and the Craft Pro In-Lab Test Kit.
DIY Test Strips
The Craft Pro DIY Test Strips will give you an easy, affordable way to measure 9 essential parameters with each batch.
The test strips will give you results in a range, for example you may know if your parameter is 0-10 ppm, 10-20 ppm etc.
Craft Pro In-Lab
The In-Lab Craft Pro Test Kit will allow you to send a water sample to our EPA-Certified lab and get exact concentrations for your brewing water or any brewing liquid.
You will know exactly what your exact concentrations for other parameters and several brewing specific calculations such as Residual Alkalinity and Sulfate/Chloride Ratio.
