Specialty craft beers have become all the rage, and now many people are trying their hand at brewing their own creations from home. If this is something you are thinking of trying or you’ve already been dabbling in, consider that the water you use in your home-brewing has a significant effect on the flavor of your finished creation. You can achieve much better flavor by changing the pH of your water, which is something you can easily accomplish from home with ionizing countertop or sink water filters.

How pH Affects Flavor

The pH of the water used in brewing has an effect on enzymes in the brewing process, including enzymes that help turn malt starch into sugar. The right pH also helps the yeast in beer ferment, discourages bacteria from forming, affects the rate of the hop extraction, and plays a part in other reactions responsible for the beer’s flavor. A pH for the mash, which consists of the grains and water, should fall in the range of 5.2 to 5.5 to create the best conditions for the correct activities to take place in the beer-making process.

Types of Beer

When you change the pH of your water for home-brewing, it’s important to consider the type of beer you are making because the specific ingredients can change the pH of the mash. In general, use more acidity for a pale beer and more alkalinity for a dark beer. For example, you would use acidic water for a pale pilsner or blonde ale, while using alkaline water for a stout or porter.

Change the pH of Your Home Water

It is convenient to create alkaline or acidic water from home with water ionizer machines. If you prefer making dark homemade beer that requires alkaline water, consider the ease of alkaline sink water filters, such as the AOK-T08B UF Alkaline Faucet Water Ionizer that goes right on your water faucet. Or if you like to make different kinds of beer, choose the water ionizer machines that go the full gamut from very alkaline to very acidic, so you can pick the specific pH for each batch of beer.

In addition to the pH, you also need to consider how hard or soft the water is (hard water contains a great deal of the minerals magnesium and calcium) and adapt it to the type of beer you are making. Now you know why the brewing process at your local microbrewery is such as art!

Sources:

http://brewbeeranddrinkit.com/best-water-for-beer/

https://byo.com/hops/item/1493-the-power-of-ph

http://beerandbrewing.com/VUKd4igAABcrKdWe/article/brewing-water

http://www.thebeerstore.ca/beer-101/beer-types