1st timer advise

[mbrew]

Hi all,

First post on this great forum so please be gentle with me

Just about to embark on my first all grain brew so plenty to learn along the way, reading this forum it seems the water has quite an important role in the quality of the finished beer.
As this subject seems to be quite complex my thinking is to not try and run before I can walk and match the beer to the water rather than try and mess with the chemistry of the water.
I would appreciate any advise on what style of beer would best suit my water as it comes out of the tap or with minimal adjustments if it really would benefit the quality of the beer.I fully understand the water report from my supplier is not what's really needed & will be getting a proper one done in the future but hoping it can help in my choice for a first brew.

Link to the AW report, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1E0Vr ... sp=sharing

Thanks

[Rubbery]

Your link is not working, so I can't see your water report. Are you brewing All Grain or Kit?

[Clibit]

My advice would be to use the water without adjustment first time. Focus on process - temperatures and sanitation - and get the fermentation right, pitch plenty of healthy yeast and manage the fermentation temperature as well as possible. Get a good recipe and ingredients, use a good yeast. You will produce a good beer and you will have a base point to compare other brews against, to decide whether you want more sulphates to accentuate hops or chloride to accentuate malt. Make a beer that has a good balancve between hops and malt and see how the water affects the outcome.

Just my tuppence.

[Sadfield]

Sorry, the link doesn't work.

Even without knowing your water, i'd advise, with the exception of possibly using a campden tablet to neutralise any chlorine, not to worry about the water, just enjoy your first AG brew day. You'll learn loads about the process and your kit, and have a many more questions to answer after it. I'd say water treatment helps make great beer instead of good beer, and would be a distraction at this point. Others may have more of an opinion on its importance.

Brew whatever beer you want to drink and are familiar with. Although, personally, I started with a pale ale using one type of malt and one variety of hop. This was then my reference point for experimentation.

Good luck.

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[mbrew]

Sorry, the page on the AW website timed out, I have changed it to a PDF file now.

[mbrew]

My thoughts exactly, as I said I'm not looking to make any adjustments unless there's something that could really would benefit from doing so, I will have enough on my plate the first few times as it is & plenty to learn, water adjustments are for the future to refine the process.

My question is what beer style would best suit my water, I like pretty much everything except stout so it seems like a good idea to start with something that should work well with what I have.

[Aleman]

My question is what beer style would best suit my water, I like pretty much everything except stout so it seems like a good idea to start with something that should work well with what I have.

Guess you would be disappointed if I was to tell you that your water is perfect for the darker beers like Stouts and Porters then. Sorry but it is true.

Extracted the following from the water report

Calcium 91
Magnesium 8
sodium 40

Sulphate 77
Chloride 80

The Critical factor of Alkalinity is missing, but you can test this yourself with a Salifert Total Alkalinity test kit, but from my knowledge of the Suffolk/Norfolk and Essex waters I'd be betting you would be around 120-150mg/l which is right up there in dark beer territory.

For simple water treatment for your first brew of say a bitter I'd mix your mashing water 50 / 50 with Tesco Ashbeck or Asda Eden Falls, and add a tsp of calcium sulphate to the mash liquor. For a pale beer then I would go with 30 / 70 Yours / Ashbeck, and possibly 1.5-2 tsp calcium sulphate.

For the sparging or top up liquor I would use Ashbeck or Eden falls as it is untreated.

Once you have a handle on the brewing process, and are producing good beer you can look at other methods of correcting your alkalinity other than dilution . . .Acid Treatments and Slaked lime , but for your fist go, Keep it simple.

Actually a stout is a great beer for an introduction to all grain, as it has so much flavour it hides a multitude of sins

[mbrew]

Thanks for that Aleman.

I had kind of assumed it would be a dark beer just from the fact we have hard water here.
Is the Alkalinity as Calcium carbonate @ 136 not relevant?

One of my favourite beers is Hobgoblin so one of the clone recipes might be a good place to start.

[BenB]

It's very relevant. And easily missed on the report

I'd also suggest not worrying too much about water for the first brew. I ended up with rank cats piss for my first AG brew. Sparged with too hot water and ended up with beer that tasted like chewing on a oak log due to all the tannins.

Mixing with some Ashbeck (near enough distilled) is a good way of reducing alkalinity if you're determined not to brew a dark beer.

[Aleman]

Is the Alkalinity as Calcium carbonate @ 136 not relevant?.

Do you know I am so used to it never being quoted that I didn't even look for it, although what use a single measurement for a 12 month period is is difficult to say . . at least it shows it was between 120 and 150 as I assumed

Hobgoblin as a clone would be good . . . it would have a good level of dark and crystal malts which would offset some of the alkalinity, so aiming for a level of 50 rather than lower for a paler beer, so a 2:1 Ashbeck to Tap would help a lot.

[Mr. Dripping]

I'm sorry to have to disagree here with the 'concentrate on process' comments.
Someone is about to invest 6-8 hours of their time brewing an AG batch and I think it is important that new brewers actually get something good to drink at the end of it.
It is very easy for any brewer, particularly those new to the hobby to become very frustrated very quickly and ultimately give up the hobby if they can't produce something decent at the end of it. I've been there.....wore that t-shirt for about 18 months until the penny dropped.
So, hats off to the OP for having an initial understanding that water is important and for asking advice on what to brew without having to faff around too much.....hope you have a great brew day

[Clibit]

I'm sorry to have to disagree here with the 'concentrate on process' comments.
Someone is about to invest 6-8 hours of their time brewing an AG batch and I think it is important that new brewers actually get something good to drink at the end of it.
It is very easy for any brewer, particularly those new to the hobby to become very frustrated very quickly and ultimately give up the hobby if they can't produce something decent at the end of it. I've been there.....wore that t-shirt for about 18 months until the penny dropped.
So, hats off to the OP for having an initial understanding that water is important and for asking advice on what to brew without having to faff around too much.....hope you have a great brew day

That's a perfectly valid point of view, I just think from my experience that you will get good beer if you focus on the processes of mashing and fermentation and sanitation, and have a starting to point to assess the effects of water treatment, for one style at least. Can't argue with Aleman's practical advice though. My water is very different - very soft. I still made a great stout with it despite zero water treatment, for my first AG.

[Mr. Dripping]

............. you will get good beer if you focus on the processes of mashing and fermentation and sanitation.......

Sometimes, yes.....but that is (IMO) very much dependant on being somewhat lucky with the grist you chose and the raw liquor you have.
Stouts are a bit of different a animal to bitters and pales.....I spent a long time trying to make pales with too much alkalinity in my liquor and that was very, very disheartening.

[Sadfield]

I'm sorry to have to disagree here with the 'concentrate on process' comments.
Someone is about to invest 6-8 hours of their time brewing an AG batch and I think it is important that new brewers actually get something good to drink at the end of it.
It is very easy for any brewer, particularly those new to the hobby to become very frustrated very quickly and ultimately give up the hobby if they can't produce something decent at the end of it. I've been there.....wore that t-shirt for about 18 months until the penny dropped.
So, hats off to the OP for having an initial understanding that water is important and for asking advice on what to brew without having to faff around too much.....hope you have a great brew day

Theoretically agree with this. However, with the practicality of getting everything in order on a first brew day, I still think it's an unnecessary distraction. Can't say I've had a beer, either my own or anyone else's, that has be rendered undrinkable by lack of water treatment.

Certainly an issue to address sooner rather than later.

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[Eric]

Middle line.

There is a lot to learn about the practical side of AG brewing, much can and likely will go wrong. Simple things you think you'll never do like leaving a tap open when it should be closed to realise only when the floor is a total mess and you've lost a lot of potential beer. Like riding a bike it's easy once you know how, but you go through pain to learn.

Water treatment is simple but hard to learn because identical terms are used to quantify different things and there is a lot conflicting information about.

99.5% of your water is fine, the other 0.5% is mostly good but unfortunately 0.1% of it works against making good beer. You could make a moderately good stout knowing it would be a lot better with water treatment and if you make a pale beer don't be put off if it isn't up to scratch as it can't be without suitable water treatment.