Tuesday, February 12, 2019
The Weight of Water - on Beer
Water is by far the largest ingredient in beer. But have you ever really thought about how it affects the taste of the beverage in front of you?
Nick Ison, barrel-aging program manager for Sierra Nevada Brewing, admitted that when it came to formulating recipes, malt, hops and yeast took up most of the space in his head. Then some friends in the brewing industry proposed a modest experiment: Make two of the same beers the same way, with just a variation in the way that the water is treated.
The results were enlightening. And they made for a fascinating, if wildly geeky, discussion at the opening seminar on Saturday morning this year at the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival.
You see, it's the seemingly little chemical reactions in water that can have a big effect on the taste of that base ingredient that defines how the more-studied ingredients will affect it. PH levels, total hardness and alkalinity of water impact the acidity, the saltiness, even the metallic scent of a beer. There's a reason some brewers condition their water to match the H2O found in Burton-on-Trent, and it's not for kitsch value.
Of all the properties of water, maybe none are essential to taste as sulfide and chloride. Chloride imbues a malty characteristic on a beer, while sulfide can add the presence of salt. Balancing them is key to creating a drinkable offering.
For his experiment, Ison made a Sierra Nevada Saison, one version with chloride added and another version without it. The difference was fascinatingly clear: The effort with more chloride was bigger-bodied, with a minimal spicy yeast profile. Without the addition, it was softer, with little aftertaste.
Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project made a similar comparison set - an NEIPA with a typical 1.5-to-1 chloride-to-sulfide ratio, and the same beer with the ratio reversed. The heavy sulfide edition was kickier, more bitter and frankly more adventurous. It was more aggressive, but there was a certain daring that you couldn't forget.
Matt Ruzsick, Sierra Nevada's North Carolina brewery manager, took the dare with a foreign export stout, adjusting only the chloride on one version and adjusting only the sulfide on the other. The taste differential was a little less obvious in these maltier beers, but the higher sulfide beer had some more carbonation, as well as an aftertaste that stuck around longer.
The only person who didn't make two discernibly different beers was Nile Zacherle (talking in the picture above), the founder of Napa's Mad Fritz Brewing who took the most daring route and made his Pale Lager with water sources that he, um, appropriated from two different springs in town. The malt overtook the effect of the water, he noted, surmising that the incoming water source is not as important as the treatment of the water once it all gets into the brewer's hands.
What does this mean? Largely, it means should give you pause to stop and think about what was done to the primary ingredient to the beer before any trendy hops, special yeast or perfectly roasted malt were added to it. These brewers do. And it just may make the difference between creating that beer you can't forget and the one you can't remember amidst all of your tasting.
Nick Ison, barrel-aging program manager for Sierra Nevada Brewing, admitted that when it came to formulating recipes, malt, hops and yeast took up most of the space in his head. Then some friends in the brewing industry proposed a modest experiment: Make two of the same beers the same way, with just a variation in the way that the water is treated.
The results were enlightening. And they made for a fascinating, if wildly geeky, discussion at the opening seminar on Saturday morning this year at the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival.
You see, it's the seemingly little chemical reactions in water that can have a big effect on the taste of that base ingredient that defines how the more-studied ingredients will affect it. PH levels, total hardness and alkalinity of water impact the acidity, the saltiness, even the metallic scent of a beer. There's a reason some brewers condition their water to match the H2O found in Burton-on-Trent, and it's not for kitsch value.
Of all the properties of water, maybe none are essential to taste as sulfide and chloride. Chloride imbues a malty characteristic on a beer, while sulfide can add the presence of salt. Balancing them is key to creating a drinkable offering.
For his experiment, Ison made a Sierra Nevada Saison, one version with chloride added and another version without it. The difference was fascinatingly clear: The effort with more chloride was bigger-bodied, with a minimal spicy yeast profile. Without the addition, it was softer, with little aftertaste.
Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project made a similar comparison set - an NEIPA with a typical 1.5-to-1 chloride-to-sulfide ratio, and the same beer with the ratio reversed. The heavy sulfide edition was kickier, more bitter and frankly more adventurous. It was more aggressive, but there was a certain daring that you couldn't forget.
The only person who didn't make two discernibly different beers was Nile Zacherle (talking in the picture above), the founder of Napa's Mad Fritz Brewing who took the most daring route and made his Pale Lager with water sources that he, um, appropriated from two different springs in town. The malt overtook the effect of the water, he noted, surmising that the incoming water source is not as important as the treatment of the water once it all gets into the brewer's hands.
What does this mean? Largely, it means should give you pause to stop and think about what was done to the primary ingredient to the beer before any trendy hops, special yeast or perfectly roasted malt were added to it. These brewers do. And it just may make the difference between creating that beer you can't forget and the one you can't remember amidst all of your tasting.
Labels: Big Beers, Crooked Stave, Mad Fritz Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, water
