It is defined as the negative logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration. Basically, pH is a measure of acidity or basicity of a solution. Most of the relevant chemistry involves the pH of the mash. However, the nature of your brewing water supply may limit the styles that you can brew successfully without water treatment. In many cases, starch conversion tends to take care of itself without any intervention. Students of the “relax, don’t worry” school of brewing may ask why they should be concerned about water chemistry when beer has been brewed for thousands of years and some homebrewers produce award-winning beers with hardly a thought about the brewing water. This is not particularly difficult, but it does require some attention, especially by those who avoided or slept through chemistry class. It’s impossible to discuss the role of water in mashing without dealing with the underlying chemistry. The contribution of the water in mashing (with certain exceptions that will be discussed) is not so much directly related to flavor as it is in determining the proper environment for the enzymes. It impacts the enzymes that convert the starches in the malt to sugars, and therefore is critical to mashing and producing fermentable wort. The character of the malt extract has already been determined by the water used in the manufacturing process and extensive water treatment is not needed if the water used to dilute the malt extract tastes good.įor the all-grain brewer, water chemistry is more important. Of course many breweries have stressed the quality of the water they use since water accounts for more than 90 percent of a beer by weight.įor extract brewers, water issues are largely limited to some beer flavor and water filtering concerns. “It’s the water,” they proclaimed, singing the virtues of an artesian spring located on the brewery grounds. Among the advertisements I recall from my misspent youth are those for Olympia beer.
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