Brewing Water
(book excerpts)High consumption of good-quality water is characteristic of beer brewing. More than 90% of beer is water and an efficient brewery will typically use between 4 and 6 liters of water to produce one liter of beer. Some breweries use much more water, especially small breweries. In addition to water used for beer production-mashing, boiling, sparging, filtration, and packaging-breweries also use water for heating and cooling as well as cleaning and sanitation of equipment and process areas. Each uses requires a somewhat different water quality too.
Click on the following topics for more information on brewing water.
Topics Within This Chapter:
- Evaluation of Brewing Water
- pH, Alkalinity and Water Hardness in Brewing Beer
- pH
- Alkalinity
- Residual Alkalinity
- Water Hardness
- Temporary Hardness
- Permanent Hardness
- Minerals in Brewing Beer
- Principal Ions
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Sodium
- Potassium
- Sulfate
- Phosphate
- Chloride
- Carbontates
- Nitrates
- Minor Ions
- Iron
- Copper
- Zinc
- Manganese
- Water Treatments Used in Brewing Beer
- Removal of Particulate Matter
- Reduction in Alkalinity
- Boiling
- Calcium Hydroxide
- Food Grade Acids
- Carbon Dioxide
- Mineral Salt Adjustment
- Calcium Sulphate
- Magnesium Sulphate
- Sodium and Calcium Chlorides
- Dechlorination
- Heating the Water
- Carbon Filtration
- Potassium Metabisulfite
- Microbiological Control
- Physical Treatment
- Chemical Treatment
- References
