Brewing Techniques: Charlotte's Brewing Water
by Brian Smyth
CHARLOTTE,N.C. - The following table is a comparative look at Charlotte's water chemistry with some famous brewing waters of the world. I obtained this information from a Brewing Techniques' July-August 1998 article by Marc Sedam,and by calling the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Dept at 399-2426.. The water lab provided me with data on two water sources: Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake. The figures for both sources are very close. I've listed Mountain Island Lake's data because it supplies the entire Charlotte metro area (the Lake Norman plant supplies the Huntersville area).
Comparison of Brewing Waters
| Ion (ppm) |
Charlotte |
Plzen |
Dublin |
Munich |
Dortmund |
Burton-on-Trent |
| Calcium |
8 |
7 |
115 |
75 |
250 |
295 |
| Magnesium |
3 |
2 |
4 |
20 |
25 |
45 |
| Sodium |
7 |
2 |
4 |
10 |
70 |
55 |
| BiCarbonate |
13 |
15 |
200 |
200 |
550 |
300 |
| Sulfate |
9 |
5 |
55 |
10 |
280 |
725 |
| Chloride |
4 |
5 |
19 |
2 |
100 |
25 |
| Hardness (as CaCO3) |
19 |
30 |
300 |
250 |
750 |
850 |
| pH |
8.98 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Water Character |
Soft |
Soft |
Carbonate |
Carbonate |
Hard |
Sulfate |
Used by permission from Marc Sedam
As you can see, Charlotte's water is very soft. Our closest comparison is with Pilsen's water. Our water's pH is relatively basic, because even despite bicarbonate ion levels of only 14 ppm, they still make up the majority of ions in our water.
We are lucky to have such water with which to brew. It's much easier to add salts than to dilute them away. For instance, if we wanted to treat our water in order to brew a Munich-style lager (like the ones some of us enjoyed last November), we'd have to add some gypsum, in order to raise our calcium and sulfate levels. If we wanted to brew an English-style Pale Ale/Bitter, we'd have to add a lot ñ probably a combination of gypsum, calcium chloride and chalk. However, if we wanted to brew a Czech-style Pilsener, we'd only need a little lactic acid, in order to lower our pH.
The following table is also from Brewing Techniques (same article). It lists various salts that can be used to boost certain ion levels in your brewing water.
Salt Ion Contribution Scale
| Mineral Salt |
g/tsp |
Calcium |
Magnesium |
Sodium |
Choride |
Sulfate |
Carbonate |
| Calcium Chloride |
3 |
72 |
|
|
127 |
|
|
| Chalk |
2 |
106 |
|
|
|
|
159 |
| Gypsum |
4 |
61 |
|
|
|
147 |
|
| Table Salt |
7 |
|
|
104 |
160 |
|
|
| Epsom Salt |
5 |
|
37 |
|
|
145 |
|
| Baking Soda |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
95 |
| Hydrated Lime |
2 |
264 |
|
|
|
|
|
Used by permission from Marc Sedam
This lists the individual ions contributed by 1 gram of mineral salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water, measured in parts per million.
For more information on this subject, check out George Fix's Principles of Brewing Science, Ray Daniel's Designing Great Beers or Dave Miller's Complete Handbook of Home Brewing.
You can also visit http://www.quantum-net.com/edge-ale or http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/brewater.zip for tips on water treatment.
|
