Influence of water treatment on beer brewing

The water used in beer production is called "beer blood". With the right water, beer brewing is half the battle. Therefore, the brewing water needs to be combined according to the specific conditions of the water quality and what type of beer is brewed! If the water quality does not meet the relevant requirements, corresponding treatment (such as water softening or purification treatment, etc.) must be carried out; the water quality and brewing water in the softening process must be tested for water quality. One is to check the working status of the softening water equipment. The second is to control the stable state of brewing water quality.

What problems should we pay attention to when using water in breweries?

For brewery water, it is necessary to control the quality of raw water and soft water. It is difficult for lime water de-hardening equipment to adapt to the change of water hardness; for ion exchange equipment, CO2 degassing tower has the function of balancing water quality. When the brewing water is changed from hard water to soft water (for example, the original residual alkalinity of 1.783mmol/L hard water is changed to soft water with residual alkalinity of 0.1783~0.3566mmol/L), due to the change of water quality, the internal quality of beer will change. conditions will be perceived by sensitive consumers.

How can we alleviate the problem of water quality changes?

Beer brewed with softer water that has been hardened by certain means has a lighter color and a softer taste, but sometimes lacks mellowness and so on. Due to the low pH value of the wort, the solubility of a-acid is low, and the result is that the bitterness of hops is relatively weak. The value is very close to the value of the original product, and then the amount of hops added in production is determined; in most cases, it is necessary to increase the amount of hops appropriately, such as the above example, it needs to increase the amount of hops by about 10%. If soft water is used to brew light-colored aged beer or malt-flavored export beer, it is advisable to use malt with prominent malt flavor and slightly higher chroma, such as 3.5-4.0EBC malt instead of 3.0EBC malt, and satisfactory results can be obtained. If the brewing water treatment is ideal, the protein resting effect is better, the wort filtration speed is fast, the saccharification yield is high, the wort has an ideal pH value, the protein is fully aggregated during boiling, and the final fermentation degree of the beer is also high. , the color of the wort is lower and so on.

However, when the residual alkalinity of brewing water decreased from 1.7832mmol/L to 0~0.3566mmol/L, the pH value of the finished beer did not change as much as that of the wort and mash.

This is due to the action of phosphatase and the reduction of phosphate precipitation, which increases the buffering capacity of the wort, which limits the large drop in pH during fermentation. This buffering capacity can be achieved by adding gypsum or calcium chloride.

Precious water

Brewing water has an important influence on the overall brewing process, especially on the flavor of beer. In addition to brewing, water has other uses, such as wheat soaking water, yeast washing water, container equipment cleaning water, boiler feed water, cooling water, refrigeration water, etc., so the water problem in breweries is more serious than that in other factories. In order to be meticulous, classification is particularly prominent, and has become one of the important cost factors, so brewery water is an extremely valuable brewing raw material and resource, so it must be used as carefully and rationally as other brewing raw materials.

Water treatment equipment for brewing beer