Taste Beer

I have always brewed beer with malt extracts and a small amount of crushed grain. At some point I would like to use 100% grain, which means a lot more water is used at critical times that affect chemical processes well before any fermentation occurs. That is why the local water profile is critical in all-grain brewing.When you use extracts, the extract producer’s water was used to extract the malt sugars, and your own water is less important — except I’ve read that really hard water can affect the taste, mainly in lighter beers, and it may not be an agreeable result. The limescale can also gunk up your equipment.

I’ve also read that water softened with sodium can slow down enzyme action during fermentation and make beer taste salty, so once again there’s another good reason to use potassium, unless that too affects flavor in a bad way. I think we’ll have to try unsoftened, softened, and softened, filtered water in a three batch taste test. My guess is that the filtered water will work best for extract brewing.