Water Construction - by Jack Wolf

Source document for this paper is: “Designing Great Beers” by Ray Daniels

Below is a table of the minerals that effect beer quality the most. There are others, but for the home brewer, these are the only ones you need to worry about.

The formulas given in the table do not include the hydride part of the molecule for simplicity.  That is why the percentages on the left don’t add up to 100%.  What we will use from the table is the percentage factors of the major water quality components shown on the left side.

When you want to use a water profile for a particular beer style, get a table of mineral content in parts per million (PPM).  This makes it easy, because PPM is directly equal to milligrams per liter (mg/l).  This is a relation that we can work with.  You will need a scale the can read grams to measure out the amounts of the various mineral, after the calculations are done.  The conversion from gallons to liters is 3.785 times gallons to get liters (5 gallons is 18.9 or 19 liters).

Here is what you do.  Lets say you want to construct 6 gallons of a Burton water profile for a 5 gallon batch of  beer.  The Burton profile is:

Calcium (Ca)                294 PPM = 294 mg/l

Magnesium (Mg)            24 PPM   = 24 mg/l

Sodium (Na)                  24 PPM   = 24 mg/l

Sulfate (SO₄)                801 PPM = 801 mg/l

Chloride (Cl)                  36 PPM   = 36 mg/l

Bicarbonate (CO₃)           0 PPM     = 0

Since we need a lot of sulfate and calcium, we should use gypsum in the water.  Starting with 6 gallons of distilled water we do the following calculations to determine the number of grams of each mineral to add to this water:

6 gals = 6 x 3.785 = 22.7 liters

(22.7 liters x 294 mg/liter)/ 0.23  = 29016.5 mg  or 29 grams of CaSO₄ to get 294 PPM of Ca.   (We divide the 29016.5 mg by 1000 to get grams.)  Notice when we divided by the % factor for Ca from the table above for CaSO₄ it gives us the total Gypsum amount.  Twenty-three percent of the 29 grams is Ca, which in this case, is 294 PPM of the total amount of water.  The rest is SO₄ plus a little left for the hydrides which we are ignoring.  We have to now reverse the calculation to find the amount of SO₄ in this 29 grams.

This is how we do that:

(29016.5 mg / 22.7 liters) x 0.56 = 715.85 mg/l or PPM of SO₄.  Notice here we took the 29 grams of CaSO₄ and divided by 22.7 liters and then applied the % factor for SO₄ from the table to find the PPM contribution of the SO₄ part of the 29 grams of CaSO₄.  This is a reverse calculation from the one above.

Now we have the Ca amount right and 716 PPM of the 801 PPM of SO₄ required by the profile.  So we need to get 801 - 716 = 85 PPM of SO₄ from something else, which will be the MgSO₄ coming up next.

(22.7 x 24)/ 0.10 = 5448 mg of MgSO₄ to get 24 PPM of Mg.  Notice this time we used the % factor for

Mg from the table as part of the MgSO₄ line.  This amounts to 5.448 or 5.5 grams.  So how much SO₄ did this get us?

(5448 / 22.7) x 0.39 = 93.6 or 94 mg/l or PPM of SO₄.  Notice we used the % factor for SO₄ from the MgSO₄ line in the table and it is different from the SO₄ in the CaSO₄ line.  Now we have a little more SO₄ than the original profile, but it is as close as we can get it.

Ca        294 PPM

Mg       24 PPM

SO₄      810 PPM

Now we work up the 24 PPM of Na by adding NaCl.  Here’s the numbers:

(22.7 x 24)/ 0.40 = 1362 mg which is 1.362 grams or 1.5 grams of salt.  Now lets is how much Cl this gives us.

(1362 / 22.7) x 0.60 = 36 mg/l or PPM of Cl contribution.  That worked out on the nose.  We don’t need to worry about the Bicarbonate.  We are done.

                               Original Profile              Calculated Profile

Calcium (Ca)                294 PPM                   294 PPM                    

Magnesium (Mg)            24 PPM                     24 PPM

Sodium (Na)                  24 PPM                     24 PPM

Sulfate (SO₄)                801 PPM                  810 PPM (Slightly over)

Chloride (Cl)                  36 PPM                    36 PPM

Bicarbonate (CO₃)           0 PPM                      0 PPM

And you did this by adding:

29 grams of  gypsum, 5.5 grams of Epsom salts, and 1.5 grams of Table salt (non-iodized by the way) to 6 gallons of water.

The calculation are a bit tedious, but you only have to do them once for each water style and save the values for the next batch.  If the numbers don’t hit exactly, fudge a little.  The original numbers are averages that vary over time anyway.  This will get you a brewing water very close to what is used by the world famous makers of the style you are trying to emulate.  It should be worth 3 credits of Chemistry too.

Guide to Mineral Contribution of Brewing Water and Beer Flavor

Ca: Calcium.  Primary contributor to hardness of water.  It also plays a critical role in mashing and brewing chemistry.  For flavor purposes, acceptable levels are 5 to 200 PPM.

Mg: Magnesium.  The secondary mineral of hardness in water.  It is an enzyme cofactor and yeast nutrient.  Accentuates beer flavor at 10 to 30 PPM and contributes astringent bitterness, when present in excess.  If present in quantities of more that 125 PPM, it is a diuretic and cathartic.

Na: Sodium.  Contributes sour salty taste that can accentuate beer flavors at reasonable levels.  Poisonous to yeast and harsh-tasting, when in excess.  Usual levels are 2 to 100 PPM.

SO₄: Sulfate.  Produces a dry, fuller flavor, some sharpness.  It is strongly bitter above 500 PPM, but is characteristic of some British ales.

Cl: Chloride.  As part of table salt (NaCl), chloride enhances beer flavor and palate fullness.  It increases perception of sweetness, or mellowness.  Increases beer stability and improves clarity.  Usual levels are 1 to 100 PPM in light beers.  Can go up to 350 PPM in beers greater than 1.050 in gravity.

CO₃: Carbonate.  Usually expressed as alkalinity in water reports.  It is a strong alkaline buffer, which raises pH.  Contributes harsh, bitter flavor.

Fe: Iron:  Contributes metallic, bloodlike, or inky flavor.  Levels should be less than 0.3 PPM.

Chlorine:  The hydrated, or dissolved form (HOCl) is used to help sanitize public water supplies.  This stuff is bad news in beer.  It can impart a swimming-pool-like flavor or smell to a finished brew.  It can corrode stainless steel equipment, and can combine with organic substances to produce plastic-like or medicine-like chlorine-phenol complexes.

Burton on Trent (ESB)  

Ca        294 PPM

Mg       24 PPM

Na       24 PPM

SO₄       801 PPM

Cl         36 PPM

CO₃       0 PPM

Munich (Bocks)

Ca        75 PPM

Mg       18 PPM

Na       2 PPM

SO₄       120 PPM

Cl         60 PPM

CO₃       180 PPM

San Francisco (Steam Beer ®)

Ca        36 PPM

Mg       25 PPM

Na       17 PPM

SO₄       20 PPM

Cl         26 PPM

CO₃       80 PPM

London (Milds, Porters,  and Brown Beer)

Ca        50 PPM

Mg       20 PPM

Na       100 PPM

SO₄       80 PPM

Cl         60 PPM

CO₃       160 PPM

Dortmund (Dortmunder Beer)

Ca        225 PPM

Mg       40 PPM

Na       60 PPM

SO₄       120 PPM

Cl         60 PPM

CO₃       180 PPM

Pilsner

Ca        7 PPM

Mg       2 PPM

Na       2 PPM

SO₄       5 PPM

Cl         5 PPM

CO₃       15 PPM

Edinburgh (Scotch and Scottish Ales)

               Hind              Noonan            Papazian

Ca        70 PPM           80-120                120

Mg       36 PPM             10-25                  25

Na       92 PPM             10-30                  55

SO₄       231 PPM         70-140                140

Cl         60 PPM            30-60                  20

CO₃       210 PPM      120-200                225

London/Dublin (Stouts)

            London            Dublin

Ca        50 PPM           115

Mg       20 PPM               4

Na       100 PPM            12

SO₄       80 PPM              55

Cl         60 PPM             19

CO₃       160 PPM         200

Vienna (Märzen/Oktoberfest)

            Well                 Hard 1             Hard 2

Ca        48 PPM           225                  200

Mg       20 PPM             90                    60

Na       10 PPM             14                      8

SO₄       52 PPM           172                  125

Cl         13 PPM            34                    12

CO₃       76 PPM          270                  120

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