Extract Brewing and Water Chemistry

[backyard brewer]

The John Palmer lecture on water chemistry presented by Addison's Homebrew Provisions was really informative. It dealt almost entirely with all-grain brewing since water chemistry mostly affects the mash. Someone had a good question at the end of the whole thing which was, "how does water chemistry affect extract brewers?" I thought the answer was a little surprising but made perfect sense.

John advocates using distilled or RO water for extract brewing. The reason being that the extract manufacturer has already taken minerals into account when conducting the original mash and that those compounds are not evaporated off when the wort is dehydrated, but they are concentrated in the extract: "The minerals you want are already in the extract." Therefore, any additional minerals in the water you use could result in a "double dose" of some of them and affect the pH of your final beer; which has a dramatic influence on the flavor perception.

[oc eric]

That was the big take away for me too. That and just because the math says it shold be right doesn't mean it will be. You have to use your head and your knowledge of ingredients to get the flavor you want.

Bad news - it was so dark the video did not come out.

When John makes the presentation available to me I will make it available to everyone.

[Haemon]

He totally blew me away with the RO/Distilled water for extract brewing thing. I would've actually thought that the makers of LME/DME wouldn't give that much thought to it, and would be using RO/Dis water for their product just to leave the real chemistry options to the homebrewers.

[StarRaptor]

I'm in the same boat when it came to using distilled water.
I gave it a try on my next batch so I'll have to see if there is a noticeable difference.