Ingredients: Water

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
 
- from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

While many people successfully use the syllabus supplied by the Cicerone Certification Program to prepare for the certification exam, I feel that the official syllabus is not organized in a way that helps one learn the material.

I've reorganized the elements of professional beer knowledge into a cohesive sequence which tells the story of beer from grain to glass to gullet. I think that this sequence better lends itself to self study and staff training.
 
Instead of beginning with the keeping and serving of beer, I will begin at the beginning... 

Beer Ingredients: Water
 
Without water, there would be no beer. 

Beer is over 90% water, and in the brewery it takes four to six pints of water to produce a single pint of beer.

When rain falls and soaks into the ground, it flows over geologic formations on its way to underground aquifers. The water dissolves some of these mineral deposits, and the minerals end up in the aquifer as well.

One of the characteristics of water quality is called hardness. This is not intrinsically good or bad, it is just a measure of dissolved substances. Hardness refers to the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Soft water is low in dissolved minerals. 

Minerals dissolved in water provide micronutrients for yeast, effect the extraction of sugar from malted grain, and react with other chemical components of beer brewing to influence flavor.

Some minerals which influence brewing

Carbonate and Bicarbonate are alkaline, which serves to balance the acidity of the grain during the mashing, which is one of the first steps toward making beer (more on mashing later). Proper mash acidity is important for brewing efficiency.

Sulfate brings out a dry, sharp hop bitterness.

Sodium, in moderate concentrations, gives beer a fuller, rounder, sweeter taste.

Calcium is a yeast nutrient that also helps enzymes during mashing.

Magnesium, Potassium, and Zinc are yeast nutrients.

Iron can give beer a undesirable metallic or blood-like flavor.

Water profiles of classic brewing cities  

Early commercial brewers had to make use of the local water supply. The particular balance of minerals in each local water supply lead to the development of local beer styles.

For example:

Munich has water that is high in carbonates and low in sulfate. This water suits dark lagers such as Dunkels, Bocks, and Oktoberfest because dark malts, which have higher acidity than pale malts, balance the water's alkaline carbonates. The low sulfates lead to a low hop bitterness that allows the malt flavors to stand out.

Pilsen has very soft water which, along with the introduction of pale malt, lead to the development of pilsner. The water's lack of sulfate leads to a low hop bitterness that complements pilsner's light malt flavors.

Burton-on-Trent has water with high amounts of sulfate and low amounts of sodium. This water produces an assertive hop bitterness.

Here are the water profiles of other classic brewing cities.

Contemporary brewers can adjust the chemistry of their local water supply in order to optimize it for the style of beer they will be brewing. 

Modern public water systems have been treated with chlorine to inhibit bacteria growth. Chlorine's presence in brewing water can lead to the formation of compounds know as chlorophenols, which taste medicinal. Chlorine may be removed from water by carbon filtering, boiling, or campden tablets. 

For additional research, watch this 16 minute video of John Palmer discussing water chemistry for homebrewers.

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