Sodium… It’s OK in Beer

A recent post by a brewer with somewhat elevated sodium content in his tap water pointed out a potential misconception that many brewers have about sodium. Many think that sodium is never desirable in beer, but it's OK to have a modest sodium content in beer. This is one of the many points that John Palmer and I tried to point out in the Water book. Great beer can be made with sodium in the brewing water.

One of the trials that John conducted while working on the book was to spike a few of his beers with various sodium salts to assess the effect on beer flavor. In every case, beer flavor improved with minor sodium content. Fifty to 100 ppm sodium is not a red flag for all brewing. In the case of darker styles, sodium is very often beneficial to beer flavor.

The illustrative finding from the brewer mentioned above with the elevated sodium content in his water, is that he has advanced multiple beers brewed with his tap water to the final round of the National Homebrew Championship and the MCAB. Having tasted at least one of his beers myself, I can attest that sodium in the 80 to 100 ppm range can taste great. By the way, sodium doesn't taste salty until its concentration is around 250 ppm. That is well above the desirable level in beer.

Don't be afraid of sodium in your brewing water. The only caution is that high sodium with high sulfate can be rough tasting. Otherwise, do consider boosting sodium in some of your beers.

Enjoy!