Why "If the water tastes good, you can brew with it" won't get you great beer.
Water would have to be very mineralized for it NOT to be usable for making beer. The brewing process is quite tolerant of poor conditions and fermentation will probably occur and beer will probably be produced. However, making great beer does require that the brewing process and ingredients are ideal. Good tasting water is NO guarantee that the beer will be good or great. Good tasting water can still make bad beer.
If we look at this truism: If the water tastes bad, it will make bad beer, we can understand that its difficult to take poor ingredients and create a great product. Especially if that poor ingredient makes up over 90 percent of the product. However, good-tasting water can still have characteristics that can keep a beer from being great. Good tasting water can still make bad beer.
Successful brewers of great beer have learned the tricks, treatments, or limitations of their water source. They don't necessarily stop and do nothing with their good tasting water. They use techniques like pre-boiling their water, acid rests, acid malt or acid additions, and brewing with dark grains as components of their brewing skill and knowledge in brewing great beer. Budding brewers are wise to recognize that water treatment might be a stepping stone to their producing great beer. Good tasting water can still make bad beer!
Why do you need to adjust your brewing water?
Water varies from place to place. Along with hardness, important variation in alkalinity and mineral content affects how a brewer in one location can brew a particular beer style successfully, while a brewer in another location may not. There is no water that is ideal for brewing all beer styles. To brew a wide variety of styles, a brewer has to learn to adjust their water or their brewing practices to create great beer. Understanding these factors is an important step in producing great beer. The old advice of "add a teaspoon of gypsum to your brewing water" is not always good advice. Understanding why that may be poor advice and how to do it right is the goal of Bru'n Water.
Brewers should know hardness and alkalinity are not necessarily bad for brewing. Understanding how they interact to create the conditions needed for good mashing performance is an aspect of brewing water knowledge that Bru'n Water helps present and explain.
How do you learn about Brewing Water Chemistry?
To help develop the understanding and appreciation of brewing water chemistry, a comprehensive introduction to brewing water chemistry is presented on the Water Knowledge page. Enjoy the knowledge!
