A Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine reader recently asked us the following question:
What is the best way to get my water tested for beer brewing?
Water, which makes up more than 90 percent of beer, is very important for beer brewing. It’s so important that many commercial brewers select brewery locations specifically for the water.
For brewing, you are primarily concerned about the “big six” water ions: calcium, magnesium, sulfate, sodium, chloride, and bicarbonates. In addition, a pH measurement is handy—though not required—and often you can estimate bicarbonates if you have the total alkalinity measurement. Once you have these numbers, you can put them into your brewing software or spreadsheet to aid in estimating mash pH and acid adjustments and to match other waters using salts.