Brewing water

Correct water treatment ensures the taste of the beer

Together with malt, water is the most important ingredient of beer. The raw water used for brewing can come from sources such as lakes, rivers and groundwater. This requires a combination of water treatment units to control the quality of the water and give your beer a unique taste.

Hardness

Water hardness is determined by the concentration of calcium and magnesium in the water. Good brewing water requires a certain level of total hardness to control the mash pH. Softening by ion exchange is a chemical-free solution to remove hardness from water.

Alkalinity

Alkaline water has a high concentration of carbonate and bicarbonate. Alkalinity in water raises the pH and a high pH affects the flavor of the beer. Bicarbonate can be reduced through dealkalization.

Chlorine

Basic brewing water must be odourless. Water chlorination is used by some water utilities to eliminate algae and waterborn diseases. Free chlorine can be removed with activated carbon filtration.

Dechlorinating brewing water

Chlorine is common in the tap water in some countries where municipal water supply use it to disinfect the drinking water. Brewing water should be free of chlorine since it hampers yeast growth and cause off-flavors. Activated carbon filter are excellent at removing chlorine and related poor taste and odor.

If softening by ion exchange is used to adjust the hardness, chlorine must be removed from the water prior to the softening treatment, because it can cause severe damage to exchange resins.

Remove iron to maintain product quality

Many breweries face problems caused by iron precipitations in pipes, tanks, boilers and other equipment. Usually it happens when water source is groundwater and the iron is not removed. Iron can also affect the quality of the final product. Thus, filtration is the optimum solution.

Reference

Danish brewery reduces water consumption

Instead of just a replacement of the existing water treatment plant, the Danish brewery Harboe upgraded to the RO-PLUS units with water recovery of up to 90 %.

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