Can you modify water after it has been brewed and fermented?

[kiwipen]

My knowledge about water chemistry is very low. Can you modify the water chemistry after brewing and fermenting? When you are drinking glass of it?

 

[RPh_Guy]

You can add ions but not remove them.

 

[Smellyglove]

For fun and interest. Pour two pints, add a quart of a teaspoon of cacl to one and caso4 to the other, stir to dissolve and taste two different beers.

 

[ncbrewer]

For fun and interest. Pour two pints, add a quart of a teaspoon of cacl to one and caso4 to the other, stir to dissolve and taste two different beers.

If you like the adjusted beer better, you can scale up and treat the water during the brew next time you brew this style. (Better to try a few different addition levels to fine tune it.)

 

[balrog]

<avowedsmarta$$comment> technically no. Because you're altering beer then, not water

 

[RM-MN]

Typically one would adjust the ion content of the water before mashing an all grain batch. The enzymes need this to work properly and it also can affect the taste of the finished beer. The only real reason I think of to adjust later is to add gypsum to accentuate the hops in an IPA.

 

[Smellyglove]

Or you can add ions at start of boil, end of boil etc. Gypsum imo has nothing to do with hops, this is most likely a remnant from west coast-ipa-days where caso4 accentuated the dryness and thus somewhat bitterness in a style which was supposed to be that way.

 

[mabrungard]

While its better to adjust before brewing, there are things that can be adjusted in beer. You can’t take out ionic content, but you can add sodium, chloride, or sulfate to change beer flavor. You can also adjust pH up or down to improve perceptions.

Do be careful in dosing a glass of beer when exploring what adjustments work. A teaspoon of ANYTHING in a glass of beer is massively too much. Amounts should be more like a pinch.

 

[ncbrewer]

Do be careful in dosing a glass of beer when exploring what adjustments work. A teaspoon of ANYTHING in a glass of beer is massively too much. Amounts should be more like a pinch.

I've done this by adding 1/4 tsp to 7 oz of water, then adding 1/4 tsp increments of the treated water to 12 oz of beer. It worked pretty well. I hope the small amount of water being added didn't make any noticeable change. I used tap water - whenever I do it again I plan to use distilled water.

 

[eric19312]

I did a fun experiment a few years ago where I brewed a batch and then dosed it with 5 different levels of gypsum and calcium chloride at bottling. I did this by mixing the salts with priming sugar solutions, racking 1 gallon at a time from my fermentor into bottling bucket with the right priming solution, bottling that, rinsing and then doing the next gallon. Beers were substantially different. Not everybody who tasted could put them in exactly correct order but most got in the ballpark. S04 to Cl2 ratio went from 1:1 to 5:1 with total of the ions held at about at about 160 ppm.

 

[kiwipen]

I've tried to add CaCL2 and CaSO4 to finished beer. Can't say I liked it much.

I brewed a pilsner and added CaCL2 and CaSO4 to the mash and sparge. Now after one week in the keg while carbonating and lagering it has a distinct taste like what I got when adding the chemicals to finished beer.

Is that taste something I can expect to be less distinct after some time, or am I stuck with it?