That is a good illustration as to why I removed the area water profiles from the later version of the water treatment calculator. The brewers could not have brewed with many of the water profiles that are given in the tables published in both commercial and home brewing references. In lots of cases it would have been impossible to brew a clear beer using some of these published water compositions directly. However, it was standard practice for old-time brewers to boil their water prior to using it and this would have reduced the carbonate. The compositions I gave for these areas in the calculator was the composition after this boil had taken place - the water they actually brewed with. This caused a number of people to question why my figures did not match other people's figures.RabMaxwell wrote:I have done a similar one as you give for Edinburgh water & wasn't keen on it that's a lot of sodium & i would never add that much carbonate to any brew .Cheers
Some profiles throw up anomalies too when you look into them. Edinburgh is a good example of that. The Edinburgh brewers would not have been able to brew anything decent with that much carbonate in it, but after a boil there will be next to no calcium left, which again does not make for a clear pale ale with benefit of modern wisdom.
This leads me to conclude that either these figures are in error (they mostly stem from Victorian measurements); or the brewers used some other source of water (spring or river); or Edinburgh beer (among others) was nowhere near as good as it was cracked up to be.
Anyway, I removed the area profiles because they are too misleading.