Water is arguably the most critical and least understood of the foundation elements in brewing beer. Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers, third in Brewers Publications’ Brewing Elements series, takes the mystery out of water’s role in the brewing process. From an overview on sources, quality and geography, the book leads brewers through how to read water reports, understanding flavor contributions, and the treatment and chemistry of brewing water. A discussion of adjusting water to styles of beer, residual alkalinity, malt acidity, mash pH, brewery process water and wastewater treatment is included.

Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers

Acknowledgments

Foreword

A Whole Book on Brewing Water

Overview of Water as an Ingredient
Overview of Water and Mash Chemistry
Overview of Brewing Water Processing

Where Does Your Water Come From?

The Water Cycle
Water Sources and Mineralization
Precipitation
Surface Water
Groundwater
From Source to Faucet

How to Read A Water Report

Water Quality Report Parameters
Primary Standards
Secondary Standards
Unregulated/Aesthetic Standards
Water Hardness, Alkalinity, and Milliequivalents

Residual Alkalinity and the Mash

Water Alkalinity
Precipitation of Calcium Phosphates in the Mash
Residual Alkalinity
Refinement of RA

Residual Alkalinity, Malt Acidity, and Mash pH

Malts and Malt Color
Malt Acidity
A Discussion of Malt Acidity and Alkalinity
Determining the Alkalinity of Water in the Mash
Introducing Z Residual Alkalinity (Z RA)
The Hypothesis for Predicting Mash pH

Controlling Alkalinity

Reducing Alkalinity
Reducing Alkalinity with Acid
Acidification of Mashing and Sparge Water
Adding Alkalinity

Adjusting Water for Style

Historical Waters, Treatments, and Styles
Flavor Ion Effects
Sulfate-to-Chloride Ratio
Building Brewing Water from Scratch
Choosing a Water for the Style
Adjusting Water to Suit the Style
Brewing an American Pale Ale
Brewing a Pilsner Beer
Brewing a Foreign Extra Stout

Source Water Treatment Technologies for the Brewery

Removing Suspended Solids—Mechanical Filtration
Removing Dissolved Solids—Iron and Manganese
Removing Dissolved Solids—Ion Exchange
Removing Dissolved Solids—Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis
Removing Liquid and Gas Contaminants—Chlorine
Removing Organic Contaminants—Activated Carbon
Removing Dissolved Gases—Deaeration

Brewery Process Waters

Brewing Water
Cleaning and Rinsing Water
Chilled Liquor
Boiler and Boiler Feedwater
Packaging
Pushing Product
Dilution Water

Wastewater Treatment in the Brewery

What is Wastewater?
Why Do We Treat Wastewater?
How is Wastewater Treated?
Removal of Suspended Solids
pH Adjustment/Equalization Tank
Filtration of Fines
Digestion
Sludge Dewatering

Appendix A—Chemistry Glossary and Primer

Appendix B—Acidification of Sparging or Brewing Water

Appendix C—Ion, Salt and Acid Calculations

Appendix D—Water Charge Balance and Carbonate Species Distribution

Index

”If you don’t get the water right, neither will you succeed with the beer. Water is a precious commodity, from its availability, through its quality, right to its departure down the drain. It demands respect and that is precisely what it receives in this book, which is packed with valuable information, calculations and best practice guidelines for brewers large and small.”
—Charlie Bamforth, Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences, University of California

”In addition to extracting nuggets from the literature, the authors have drawn on the knowledge of experienced brewers...and those who have developed software for doing some of the complex calculations and experiments. With such a breadth of sources, this book will either answer your brewing water questions or have you well on the way to those answers.”
—A. J. deLangeA. J. deLange

”I have worked with water my entire engineering career and I know the intricacies of typical water treatment and utilization. However, brewing water needs are a unique aspect that have received little research or explanation in the past. This book assembles a wide variety of information focused on the specialized water needs in brewing and makes it accessible to all brewers. The treatment of brewing water can be as simple or complicated as a brewer wants to make it, but any brewer will find things in this book that can make their beer better.”
—Martin Brungard, Water Resource Engineer/Homebrewer

Publish Date: 2013
Format: 6" x 9" softcover
Pages: 296
Publication Weight: 2 lbs