Reverse engineering water profile via Ward Labs

I figure this will be impossible. But if you're serious, good luck. If you're winding us up (in your very first forum post), you should have waited for April 1st.

 

Do you have information on the quantities of brewing ions that exist as salts in each grain/malt type? And how much of that content will be dissolved under the brewery's mash conditions? How about the qtys that don't exist as salts, but may (or may not) be broken down/recombined into a dissolvable compound in the mash, or in the boil, or during fermentation? Or the ions that will be used by and retained by the yeast?

But if you think you know how to do this, I'd suggest starting with a known water profile, brewing a beer with it, and using your logic to predict the final beer's ion content. Then have that beer analyzed to see how close it is to the prediction. My gut says this is much harder than you think.

 

I just gotta ask/comment: maybe if you contact the commercial brewery they would provide the water profile details?

It is worth asking. The worse that could happen is that they won't provide the requested information.

Cheers!

 

Yup, unfortunate is the 'word'.

I am going to go out on a limb here: is the brewery Hill Farmstead?

Cheers!

 

I take that as a yes!

I am the Amazing Karnak!!

Cheers!

 

Or Captain Obvious.

I'm pretty much convinced that the reason Shaun protects his source water profile has little to do with fear of cloning and everything to do with preserving the mystique of his brand. Great beer though. I'll give him that.

 

research the well data at Hill Farmstead. I can't say for sure if VT has this data posted but many states require a well log whenever a well is drilled. you want to know the depth of the screened section of the well or if it is open hole in rock.

then you contact your friendly state geologist and ask for some data about the area, specifically the aquifer data. then you find a similar well in the area that has been studied, USGS does this all over America, and there you have the water profile. the USGS analysis is public, and they can't tell you who specifically own the well, but they will give you analysis of area wells, and a map to go with it too if you are fortunate.

it will take some leg work. and you won't know if the brewery treats the water.

Cheers.

hell, just grab a sample from the bathroom sink. ask a brewer if they teat the water. they give tours right? look for any water treatment equipment. send it to ward. done.

 

Last time I was at HF, I saw a couple Unicorns peeing on the land above the well which contains the magic well water. This must be the secret ingredient!

 

You get a relatively high amount of some ions from the grist. There is a table in Water by Palmer.