hard water styles

[GA Russell]

First off, if this is in the wrong forum, I apologize, and the mods are welcome to move this thread to the appropriate one.

I have learned that different styles were developed because of the water hardness of each city. For example, Pilsen has very soft water. When other cities tried to duplicate Pilsner, they failed; and as a result created their own alternatives based upon their local conditions, such as water hardness, climate and local hop varieties.

I live in an area with very hard water. I realize that there are things I can do about that, but I wonder which styles were developed because of the community's hard water. Anybody know of an example?

[orlando]

Broadly, darker beers that use a lot of roasted malts. What they in effect do is acidify the liquour lowering the pH. It is the pH of the mash liquour & sparge liquour that is the key. There are a number of calculators for matching beer styles through water adjustment. GW's calculator on here is a good starting point but if you want something a little more sophisticated I would look at the Bru'n Water Calculator. What this calculator does is give you a list of various regions water analysis and a target profile for you to adjust your water to match. It takes into account your recipe and has options to use both acids and salt (inc CRS) to help you get close. It requires you to have an analysis of your own water, which you can obtain from your supplier or you can use a water analysis service such as Murphy' & Son.

[GA Russell]

Thanks orlando! That's great news for me because I prefer darker beers.

A good friend wants me to make a very pale ale for him, and I'll have to explain the situation to him.

[mabrungard]

Hardness is not typically an impediment to brewing. We like brewing water to be moderately hard to hard in many cases. Its alkalinity that is the bane to brewing. That is the one factor that a brewer must understand and control. If darker beers are a preference, then a little more alkalinity may be desirable in your mashing water. However, sparging water is best when it has fairly low alkalinity.

You can read more about issues like this on the Water Knowledge page of the Bru'n Water website.

Enjoy!

[GA Russell]

Thanks, Martin!