I brewed a beer intending on hitting the northern england brown ale style (11C from 2008 BJCP).
The beer tasted great, but i was curious if i had started with a water that was even close to correct for the style. I am going to brew it again, but i wanted to know if i should adjust the water this time.
I looked at the Burton On Trent water profile that Beersmith has posted and tried to compare that to the water report from the city i live in. Of course not all the parameters brewers are interested in are shown on the report, but i was wondering if those values could be extracted from the hardness/alkalinity values.
For example, the water we are using was last tested by the city to have:
sodium level: 33 ppm
Sulfate level: 50 ppm
Alkalinity: 20.6 ppm
Hardness: 22.0 ppm
ph: 8.44
The Burton On Trent water profile shows this:
Calcium
295.0 ppm
Magnesium
45.0 ppm
Sodium
55.0 ppm
Sulfate
725.0 ppm
Chloride
25.0 ppm
Bicarbonate
300.0 ppm
Im thinking i need to drop the ph in the mash next time for sure at minimum, but im thinking i may also need to make the water much harder to be true to style.
What adjustments should i make to get close to the English water? Better to just start from distilled water and add compounds to it?
The beer tasted great, but i was curious if i had started with a water that was even close to correct for the style. I am going to brew it again, but i wanted to know if i should adjust the water this time.
I looked at the Burton On Trent water profile that Beersmith has posted and tried to compare that to the water report from the city i live in. Of course not all the parameters brewers are interested in are shown on the report, but i was wondering if those values could be extracted from the hardness/alkalinity values.
For example, the water we are using was last tested by the city to have:
sodium level: 33 ppm
Sulfate level: 50 ppm
Alkalinity: 20.6 ppm
Hardness: 22.0 ppm
ph: 8.44
The Burton On Trent water profile shows this:
Calcium
295.0 ppm
Magnesium
45.0 ppm
Sodium
55.0 ppm
Sulfate
725.0 ppm
Chloride
25.0 ppm
Bicarbonate
300.0 ppm
Im thinking i need to drop the ph in the mash next time for sure at minimum, but im thinking i may also need to make the water much harder to be true to style.
What adjustments should i make to get close to the English water? Better to just start from distilled water and add compounds to it?