Hefeweizen Profile

What is a Hefeweizen?

A Hefeweizen is a traditional Bavarian style of wheat beer. It directly translates to “yeast wheat beer” which are two of the most distinguishable features of this style of beer.

While the beer industry seems to be more hops focused currently (maybe our team just has an IPA bias), a Hefeweizen gets its prominent flavors from its yeast and the malt. Being fruit forward in taste with minimal bitterness.

It’s known as a hazy but highly drinkable style of beer that is loved by beer enthusiast and casual beer drinkers. Because of the lower bitterness, it’s a great introductory beer once someone is ready to move beyond the mass-produced options you’ll see at the gas station.

What does a Hefeweizen taste like?

One of the defining traits of a Hefeweizen is the taste of bananas. This is because the Bavarian yeast that is used in fermentation produces an ester that is what gives bananas their distinctive flavor.

The wheat and yeast profiles in the Hefeweizen makes the style fruit and spice forward. Besides banana, you can expect clove and some even say “bubblegum” flavor in the beer.

The Hefeweizen will be low bitterness, with more of a focus on the malty, fruit notes of the beer. This makes it a highly enjoyable beer for those who don’t want a bitter style.

How is it brewed?

Hefeweizen is technically a wheat beer, so it must be at least 50% wheat, but typically is made at 60 to 70 percent wheat. The rest will typically be a malted barley.

Picking the right yeast is important to get the traditional Hefeweizen flavor. You’ll want to find something that is defined as a Weizen Ale Yeast. The yeast creates esters that are the same as what are found in bananas. That signature taste will only appear with the right yeast strain.

Hefeweizen will also be an unfiltered brew, meaning that some haze will remain at the end of your fermentation.

Hop varietal should be mild. Hefeweizen are focused on the yeast and wheat so the hops shouldn’t be the primary focus, meaning high bitter hops should be avoided. Traditionally most brewers will use one of the noble hops.

Water Profile for Hefeweizen

Here is an example of a general Hefeweizen water profile. Brewers will adjust based on recipe, style, and personal preference.

One of the main considerations with a Hefeweizen will be low Sulfate levels to not highlight the bitterness of the beer.

Use this as a starting point:

Calcium: 20 ppm

Magnesium: 5 ppm

Iron: 0 ppm

Sulfate: 20 ppm

Bicarbonate: 80 ppm

Total Alkalinity: 70 ppm

Ph: 7

Total Chlorine: 0 ppm

Total Hardness: 70 ppm

Chloride: 40 ppm

Sodium: 20 ppm

Zinc: 0.1 ppm

Potassium: 0.5 ppm

Copper: 0.1 ppm

Sulfate to Chloride Ratio: 0.5

Residual Alkalinity: 50

Stout Water Profile

What is a Stout?

A stout is a dark, roasted style of beer that originated in the United Kingdom. In the UK, there was a profession known as a porter who would consume dark, strong brown beers that commonly became known as porters.

The highest alcohol porters eventually became known as stouts, due to their “stout” or strong flavor and ABV. As the Stout became a more popular style of beer the meaning changed from only meaning high alcohol content to having intense flavors and a darker color.

Stouts are a class of porter. Meaning all stouts are porters but not all porters are stouts.

Over the years there have been several variations of stouts such as imperial, oatmeal, and milk stouts. Many modern stouts have additional flavoring such as coffee, chocolate, or peanut butter. Since Craft Pro Test Kits is based in southern Indiana on the Kentucky boarder, it’s common to see stouts aged in bourbon barrels in this region.

What Makes it a Stout?

One of the defining traits of a stout is using roasted barley. These grains give stouts their signature dark color, coffee-like bitterness, and rich, toasty complexity.

Hops do affect stout flavor profile but they are just a supporting role in the style. Typically adding some slight earthy notes to the beer.

Typically, ale yeast is used for stouts. If you are brewing a high alcohol stout it’s important to pick a yeast that has higher alcohol content.

Traditional stout-brewing cities (like Dublin) have hard water, which help balance the acidity of roasted grains.

Key elements that make a beer a stout:

Use of roasted malts or unmalted roasted barley
Ale fermentation at warmer temperatures
Higher water alkalinity to buffer acidic grains
A fuller, rounder mouthfeel than pale ales or lagers

What Does a Stout Taste Like?

Stouts are bold, dark, and malty. The flavor can vary by subtype, but most stouts feature:

Roasted coffee and chocolate notes
Dark caramel and toasted grain flavors
A subtle sweetness depending on the specific style
Low hop bitterness and more malt forward.

Water Profile for Stouts

Here is an example of a general stout water profile. Brewers will adjust based on recipe, style (dry, sweet, oatmeal, imperial), and personal preference. Use this as a starting point:

Calcium: 120 ppm

Magnesium: 5 ppm

Iron: 0 ppm

Sulfate: 60 ppm

Bicarbonate: 300 ppm

Alkalinity: 250 ppm

pH: 7

Chlorine: 0 ppm

Hardness: 315 ppm

Chloride: 20 ppm

Sodium: 10 ppm

Zinc: 0.1 ppm

Potassium: 0.5 ppm

Copper: 0.1 ppm

Sulfate-to-Chloride Ratio: 3.2

Residual Alkalinity: 155

Sodium and your brewing water

Many brewers worry that using softened water might ruin their beer. But how exactly does sodium interact with your brew—and what levels are considered appropriate?

How does Sodium affect your beer?

Unlike many other water parameters, sodium doesn’t typically impact the fermentation process directly. However, when used in the right proportions, sodium can enhance the flavor, fullness, and mouthfeel of your beer—much like salt in food.

That said, too much sodium can lead to a salty or even harsh, bitter flavor that’s off-putting.

Sodium Amounts in Brewing Water

Brewers typically target 0 to 150 ppm of sodium in their brewing water, but it’s important to consider how sodium interacts with other minerals—particularly sulfate. When both sodium and sulfate levels are high, the perceived bitterness can intensify to unpleasant levels.

Due to this complexity, many brewers cap sodium at 100 ppm to avoid any unwanted harshness or saltiness.

Most commercial beers include some sodium—usually around 50 ppm—to subtly enhance flavor.

Even in beers designed with elevated sodium in mind, brewers rarely exceed 250 ppm, especially when sulfate levels are low. This is generally considered the upper limit for sodium in brewing water.

What about salty styles of beer?

Some beer styles intentionally aim for a touch of saltiness. In these cases, brewers may use 50–150 ppm of sodium in their brewing water, then add additional sodium after fermentation to fine-tune the final taste. This post-fermentation addition allows for precise control without impacting the mash or fermentation process.

Testing your water’s sodium levels

To determine the sodium concentration in your water, you should use the CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit.

The CraftPro In-Lab test kit will let you send in a sample to our laboratory to have it tested for sodium and 14 other parameters that are critical to brewing such as magnesium, chloride, and sulfate. As well as two brewing specific calculations that affect your water profile.

The CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit makes it easy to get your results. After you order your test kit you’ll get everything you need to collect a sample and send it to our lab. Once we analyze your sample, we’ll send you an easy-to-read, electronic report with exact concentrations and calculations done for your sample.

Is softened water suitable for brewing beer?

Many brewers avoid using softened water when brewing because of the low calcium and magnesium levels and the high concentration of sodium. But this isn’t always the case.

Water Softeners will remove different levels of minerals based on several factors, so some will be more aggressive than others. Water softeners also add sodium based on the starting hardness of the water, if the starting water is already soft then it may not be too high in sodium after softening.

Testing your water is the only way to know exactly what is being removed and added by a softener to ensure it’s suitable to brew with. But a good initial test for homebrewers is if the water has any saltiness to it after softening, it won’t be able to be brewed with at the current setting.

How to remove sodium from brewing water

Reverse Osmosis Filtration has become extremely popular in the brewing community. This is because it will take your water profile to a blank slate. This is an effective way to remove everything you do not want in your water, but it will also remove everything else.

If you are using a reverse osmosis filtration system, you will need to build your own water profile by adding the minerals back in. If you do not know where to start, you can look at our brewing profiles page to see what many popular brewing cities have as their default water.

Buying Distilled Water

If you do not want to install a filter or have access to one, but your sodium levels are too high to brew with, you can always buy RO or distilled water instead of filtering it yourself. This will be the same process as building back your own water profile with an RO system.

How to add sodium to your brewing water

To add sodium to your brewing water profile, standard table salt can be used. It is important to use non-iodized salt because iodine can harm your fermentation.

A rough rule to use is that 1 gram per gallon will increase the sodium concentration by approximately 100 ppm.

Conclusion:

Sodium levels in your brewing water profile can help highlight the flavor and mouthfeel of your beer. But in high concentrations it can become overly bitter and harsh, especially when paired with higher concentrations of sulfate.

Potassium and your brewing water

Potassium— found naturally in malt—is a key ion in wort and has subtle effects on both enzyme activity and flavor perception. While it’s present in nearly all brewing malts, understanding its thresholds and interactions helps you manage mash performance and final beer character.

How does Potassium affect your beer?

Potassium is required for yeast growth and supports fermentation. It is largely going to be found in the malt and has minimal impact on the flavor of beer.

At higher levels, it may add a saltiness to the beer. It is commonly used in winemaking because of how it interacts with compounds in wine, but in beer brewing these compounds are not present so there is no need to add extra potassium.

Potassium amount in brewing water

Potassium typically does not need to be added to brewing water because it comes from the malt. In most tap water it will be found in very low concentrations, typically around 2 ppm.

Potassium in water above 10 ppm can harm your fermentation.

Malt will typically add 300 to 500 ppm to the wort. This range is almost common for potassium concentrations in beer.

Testing your Water’s Potassium Levels

To determine the potassium concentration in your water, you should use the CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit.

The CraftPro In-Lab test kit will let you send in a sample to our laboratory to have it tested for potassium and 14 other parameters that are critical to brewing such as magnesium, chloride, and sulfate. As well as two brewing specific calculations that affect your water profile.

The CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit makes it easy to get your results. After you order your test kit you’ll get everything you need to collect a sample and send it to our lab. Once we analyze your sample, we’ll send you an easy-to-read, electronic report with exact concentrations and calculations done for your sample.

How to reduce potassium concentrations in brewing water

Reverse Osmosis Filtration has become extremely popular in the brewing community. This is because it will take your water profile to a blank slate. This is an effective way to remove everything you do not want in your water, but it will also remove everything beneficial.

If you are using a reverse osmosis filtration system, you will need to build your own water profile by adding the minerals back in. If you do not know where to start, you can look at our brewing profiles page to see what many popular brewing cities have as their default water.

When to add potassium to brewing water

Many brewers will use potassium metabisulfite to cancel out disinfectant in their water. While sodium metabisulfite does the same task. Potassium has less flavor impact that sodium does.

Potassium is often combined with other compounds to add to brewing water because it has minimal impact on flavor and fermentation and low concentrations.

Copper and your brewing water

Copper is a common metal used in brewing equipment, but does it leech into your brewing water and what effect does it have on your beer?

How does Copper affect your beer?

Copper can be a beneficial chelating agent in your brewing water. Meaning that it will bind to other particles and prevent haze. But this only happens in very low concentrations, at higher concentrations it can create a metallic flavor and can be harmful to yeast. It can also cause oxidation which can lower the shelf life of the beer.

Does Copper Equipment affect Copper concentrations?

There’s ongoing debate about whether copper leaches from brewing equipment into water or wort during the brewing process. Most brewers agree that if your water doesn’t already contain high levels of copper, any copper introduced from brewing equipment is likely at a low enough concentration that it won’t cause negative effects.

In fact, some brewers intentionally expose their wort to a small amount of copper—such as copper tubing—to achieve a trace level of copper that can be beneficial to yeast health. Copper kettles and tubing have been used in brewing for centuries and, when used properly, shouldn’t negatively impact your brew.

However, if you’re concerned about copper contamination from your equipment, the only way to be certain is to have your water and wort tested at different stages of the brewing process through laboratory analysis.

Copper Amounts in Brewing Water

Copper can become detrimental to your beer at low concentrations. To avoid these negative effects, it needs to be kept at below 1 ppm.

To receive the beneficial effects of copper it needs to be at approximately 0.1 ppm.

Testing your water’s Copper levels

To determine the Copper concentration in your water, you should use the CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit.

The Craft Pro In-Lab test kit will let you send in a sample to our laboratory to have it tested for copper and 14 other parameters that are critical to brewing such as magnesium, chloride, and sulfate. As well as two brewing specific calculations that affect your water profile.

The CraftPro Master Brewer’s Test Kit makes it easy to get your results. After you order your test kit you’ll get everything you need to collect a sample and send it to our lab. Once we analyze your sample, we’ll send you an easy-to-read, electronic report with exact concentrations and calculations done for your sample.

How to remove Copper from brewing water

If your water is near the limit for copper, then using stainless steel equipment instead of copper is a way to minimize any additional copper from being introduced during the brewing process.

If you are already using Copper equipment, switching to stainless steel is likely too expensive of a change and filtration can be used instead.

Reverse Osmosis Filtration has become extremely popular in the brewing community. This is because it will take your water profile to a blank slate. This is an effective way to remove everything you do not want in your water, but it will also remove everything else.

If you are using a reverse osmosis filtration system, you will need to build your own water profile by adding the minerals back in.

How to Increase Copper Concentrations.

If you want to increase copper concentrations, simply adding a few inches of copper tubing into the wort can give you a beneficial level of copper. This copper tubing can be repeatedly used between brews.

Pilsner profile

A Pilsner is a style of beer developed in the town of Plzen (Pilsen) in the Czech Republic in the 1800’s. Also called pilsener or pils. It’s known for its golden color and has become of the most popular styles of beer in the world. The refreshing taste and low bitterness make it a great choice to introduce people into the world of beer.

What makes it a Pilsner?

Pilsners are a type of lager, meaning that they are brewed by lagering. The lagering process means that the beer is fermented for longer at a colder temperature than what is typically used. This typically takes several weeks at near freezing temperatures. The lagering process results in the crisp, refreshing taste that makes lagers so appealing.
Pilsners will be brewed with pilsner malt and lager yeast. Typically, they will use a slightly “spicy” hop. The choice of malt and hops is what makes a pilsner different than other lagers. To brew a Pilsner also requires very soft water, with almost 0 total hardness.

What does a Pilsner Taste Like?

Pilsners are light, refreshing beers. Many people who are only casual beer drinkers describe them as easy to drink, being the choice of many first-time beer drinkers. The hops are commonly floral with a moderate level of bitterness. Enough to taste some bitterness but not overbearing. (25-40 IBU) Pilsners may have a slight spiciness due to the hops selection as well.
Another notable feature of Pilsners is head retention. Pilsners are known to have foam that is a half inch to an inch deep. Creating that typical, beautiful head of foam overtop of the clear, pale beer.

Water Profile for the town of Pilsen

Pilsen has very soft water, which likely lent itself to the creation of the pilsner beer. The Calcium and Magnesium are naturally low, leading to a hardness measurement around 25 ppm.

Water Profile for Pilsners

This is an example of a water profile for a Pilsner, different brewers will use different water profiles based on personal preferences and local water sources. This should be used as a starting point when planning your water chemistry for a Pilsner.
It’s a combination of common recommendations for Pilsners and what the water profile is like for the town of Pilsen.

Calcium: 50 ppm
Magnesium: 0 ppm
Iron: 0 ppm
Sulfate: 0 ppm
Bicarbonate: 0 ppm
Alkalinity: 0 ppm
pH: 7
Chlorine: 0 ppm
Hardness: 0 ppm

Hazy IPA profile

What is a Hazy IPA?

A Hazy IPA, also known as a NEIPA (New England Indian Pale Ale), is a style of IPA that uses fruit forward hops and is unfiltered and cloudy in appearance.
The style became popular because the fruit forward hops were used to counteract the bitterness of a traditional IPA. Making it popular for anyone who enjoys the taste of an IPA but wanted more of a fruit forward hops profile and a full body. They are often referred to as “juicy.”

What makes a Hazy IPA cloudy?

There are several factors that will contribute to the “hazy” look of a Hazy IPA.

Late Fermentation Hopping: Many brewers will add additional hops late in the fermentation to not only enhance the hops flavor, but also to create that cloudy effect.
Unfiltered: Hazy IPAs are also unfiltered. Typically, brewers will use a filtering process that will remove the particles that cause cloudiness in a beer. Before Hazy IPAs became popular, haze in a beer showed that it had either gone bad, or that it was of low quality. Meaning it was standard practice in commercial beers to filter these out. It did not only affect the visuals but also made the beer have a lighter mouthfeel. But Hazy IPAs intentionally avoid this process or using finings to clarify the beer.
Yeast: When brewing beer, yeast will cause solids to remain in the wort and beer. These solids will cause visual cloudiness and haze which can be seen in a Hazy IPA.

Water Profile for a Hazy IPA

This is an example of a water profile for a Hazy IPA. Different brewers will use different water profiles, and all end up with unique, delicious beers. This should be used as a starting point when planning your water chemistry for a Hazy IPA.

Calcium: 100 ppm
Magnesium: 20 ppm
Iron: 0 ppm
Sulfate: 120 ppm
Bicarbonate: 50 ppm
Alkalinity: 50-100
pH: 6.5 – 8
Total Chlorine: 0 ppm
Hardness: 120