Brewing with London water

[wburgess]

I've just come back from a holiday in Cornwall in which I payed a visit to the Sharps brewery in Rock.

Talking to one of the brewers, they said they use the local tap water to produce their fine beers and that my efforts are futile when it comes to brewing a good pale ale/bitter with London tap water.

Now my questions are the following!

- Is the above true, surely you can chemically change the water to match whatever source you want?
- Sharps must do some treatment to their water?
- What about Fullers, they seem to do ok?

[HighHops]

Some brewers are lucky and don't have to do anything to their water. I have got hard water so I have to reduce alkalinity to brew pale ales, but not for darker ales, stouts or porter. I don't know how hard your water is but London is famous for Porter, which suggests it might be hard and not so well suited for pale ales.

You need to check out the 'brewing liquor' section. You can change your water to suit whatever type of beer you want to make.

[wburgess]

Thanks for the replies.

Meantimes london pale ale is a great beer, and all the proof I need! How far do these breweries go to improve their water (or edit it for the certain style)? Is it just alkalinity or other mineral additions etc?

I've been using CRS for the last to brews, I have noticed a marked improvement. I need to start using campden though, I noticed a strong chlorine taste coming back from Cornwall.

[raiderman]

Most brewers use tap water, which they treat according to what they are brewing, wells under the brewery are a thing of the past because of industrial contamination. The problem with tap water is what the buggers do to it before they give it to you. I've always been lucky, but my old man who gets his fron=m severn trent, who he tells me take supplies out of the River Trent dose it with so much chlorine he has to boil it to drive it off, then treat it.
Its quite simple to carry out a basic analysis of your supply, your water company website will have data too, at which point you can start making adjustments as necessary.

[raiderman]

Most brewers use tap water, which they treat according to what they are brewing, wells under the brewery are a thing of the past because of industrial contamination. The problem with tap water is what the buggers do to it before they give it to you. I've always been lucky, but my old man who gets his fron=m severn trent, who he tells me take supplies out of the River Trent dose it with so much chlorine he has to boil it to drive it off, then treat it.
Its quite simple to carry out a basic analysis of your supply, your water company website will have data too, at which point you can start making adjustments as necessary.

[raiderman]

that wasn't so good it was worth saying twice. technology overload strikes again!

[coatesg]

Boiling to get rid of chlorine is fine, but doesn't work for chloramines (which are sometimes used). Adding a campden tablet to all the wort does for both types though, and is probably cheaper than boiling. My tap water stinks of chlorine sometimes (cold mornings usually) - the campden tablet works fine for me.