Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers (Brewing Elements) Paperback – Illustrated, October 7, 2013

A much awaited book on water chemistry and treatment for brewers is finally here. Was it worth the wait?First of all a criticism - the authors, reviewers and forward note editor imply that there has never been a (single) book of its kind covering the vast topic of water chemistry for brewers - at least not in recent times, in English or with the requisite technical depth for professional brewers. Well they all missed a big fish here (I add the same levity they do in using water terms in a humorous way to open up their topics). I refer to the title: Water in Brewing in the European Brewery Convention Manual of Good Practice Series. 2001 Fachverlag Hans Carl ISBN 3-418-00778-3. With no mention of this book in Palmer and Kaminski's work it's a huge oversight on their part. (Furthermore there are other treatises on brewing water treatment as published conference proceedings out there also not referenced by Palmer and Kaminski. So they missed a lot of crucial literature along the way). That being said and, while there is a lot of overlap in coverage of topics in the two volumes discussed here, the new work has brought together a stellar amount of material and reduced it to a level that will - after some effort (it ain't that easy folks to understand this topic - muddy waters always for all of us here) be amenable to novice chemists and will help more brewers understand the calculations that may help them make better beer.The book covers the usual waves of information - how to read a water report and the importance of the presence or absence of each mineral ion and many organic components (the latter well covered in the EBC manual also). Alkalinity calculations (the hardest shell to crack here for most non water chemists and mired in pre-calculator history and semantics) are detailed and related in-depth to mash chemistry. The topic was likely based on the stellar (and scattered) works of A.J. deLange who clearly assisted the authors in their own understanding here; numerous graphs and tables abound - though readers will still need to pour over them if they truly want to be able to get a grip on the topic and put the material to good use.Up front the team tell us it is not just about emulating world class brewing style waters which is a bit odd as they then spend a good deal of the book illustrating water chemistry concepts by doing just that. Though again they do provide worked examples (that were seen in the odd journal or magazine article or brewing course here and there and in German treatises) that will be a boon to the reader. And a great basic math and chemistry refresher course for all of us. Towards the end brewery water utilities and processing along with the topic of wastewater are covered (as they are in the EBC Manual!) using some illustrations and examples from current craft breweries which is quite nice.The book comes then with a wealth of information in one concise volume. (I still need to review and check through the calculations - water chemistry being is as difficult for me to comprehend and retain as working knowledge as for any other reader of this new volume.) Moreover, it comes at a price well less than the EBC Manuals of good practice, though I recommend anyone really serious about wading through the waters in the Palmer and Kaminski and deLange book to have the EBC Manual also on hand to add the final chapter in understanding the four key ingredients in making good beer. We should welcome the addition of this new book and thank the authors for getting to grips with a very complex subject in an admirable way. Set aside a good few hours to really digest this book's content. Be patient or it too will sit unused on many shelves as most of the other books on brewing water over the course of history tend to do (even the German language treatises). As mentioned in the header this book will be useful to all beverage manufacturers - soft drinks and alcoholic types - beer, wine and distilled spirits as already noted by one distiller in the review section here at Amazon.

This book is very technical and includes many long and drawn out math formulas that take a page or more to process. The author does an excellent job of covering water chemistry at an exhaustive level. The author takes the time to give a math formula for each water chemistry ingredient of importance and then works through that formula with a popular beer brand as an example. This book brings up more questions as it gives answers but it also provides the tools to get the job done. The author does an excellent job of providing trouble shooting guides for how to balance water chemistry adjustments. He explains at length how one adjustment may affect another adjustment and ultimately change the beers flavor for better or for worse.The basic instruction outline is as follows:1. Get a water analysis report for your brewing water source.2. Pick a popular style or brand of beer which you want to target for flavor profile and look at that cities water analysis report.3. Adjust your water PH/Chemistry to match the water PH/Chemistry of that city.4. Make the first test batch of beer, to determine the initial flavor outcome.5. Make additional batches of beer and use the math formulas to tweak chemical additions until the beer tastes perfect.The authors advice is to start with water that has been treated through reverse osmosis since it is a “blank slate” to work with. If reverse osmosis purified water is not available, then distilled water is the next best option. If you start with a blank slate water source, then it is fairly easy to add chemicals until the water resembles the chemistry of the famous brewing cities where your desired style or brand of beer is made. Once your water chemistry matches the chemistry of your favorite brewery city, then you can keep working the math formulas and experimenting with the chemical additions amounts until you are satisfied with the beers final flavor. If you start with a non "blank slate" (like your local tap water) source then you are much more limited in the amount of chemical adjustments that you can make to the water before you reach maximum amounts.This book can only guide you in the right direction for altering your water chemistry. It doesn't give any specific instructions about how to adjust water chemistry to suite a specific beer type. It can't tell you how to perfectly match a beer or beer style since each brewery may change their water chemistry before brewing. They may start with tap water from the city water source but they may adjust the water chemistry in the brew house before brewing. There is no way to know for sure which chemicals they change. The good news is that starting with matching the city water analysis report will get you close enough to begin and then you can use the many many formulas to tweak your water chemistry until you’re happy with the final beer taste.