Water hardness, protein cold shock

[Kai]

Two questions here... what is considered the optimum hardness/calcium content of water to be used for brewing? Also, if you add very cold water to the hot water and ingredients within the fermenter, will the abrupt change in temperature have any discernible effect on the proteins in the malt and other adjuncts?

[PB2]

Treatment of water is most important for the mashing process. Having said that, I have mash brewed in SA, VIC and TAS using untreated tap water and produced excellent results without exception!

 

 

 

When using Coopers Wort Concentrate there is no need to be overly concerned about water (if you can drink it, you can brew with it - rain water should be boiled first, cooled then agitated to reintroduce oxygen).

 

 

 

The wort produced in the brewhouse is made with water which has gone through a reverse osmosis process then the appropriate levels of salts are added to adjust the mineral content for the style of brew. Rather than fermenting the wort, it is gently evaporated to the density of around 80% solids then canned. So the trace elements are concentrated in the can.

 

 

 

Cold water added to hot, dissolved ingredients will not have any discernible effect on the proteins because the wort is diluted at the same time as being cooled. Not sure of the science of this but I know that if you want to achieve "cold break" you need to cool the wort quickly without diluting...this is only worth considering is you are full/partial mashing.

[Kai]

Thanks for the info. It didn't occur to me that the required concentrations would already be in the tin.

 

 

 

What is the composition of the salts you add to the water? If for some reason I do decide that I want to play around with these things, are calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate worth using, or will they raise the carbonate and sulfate levels of the water too high? I haven't gotten into mash brewing yet, but when I do I might want to take these things into account.

[PB2]

The quantities we add at the brewery is not all that relevant for homebrewers as RO water is fairly difficult for homebrewers to source.

 

 

 

The goal pH for conditioned homebrew is around 4.0 - 4.5. This can be achieved with tap water.

 

 

 

You may want to soften your water by boiling well aerated water for 15 mins then leave to cool.

[Kai]

Thanks for the patience, paul. I like to ask a lot of questions.

 

 

 

On the RO water - I'm fairly sure Bickford's water undergoes RO treatment, but you'd have to be a home brewer with more dollars then sense to buy the water for your beer, I'd reckon.