As it makes up most of the final product, water quality plays a crucial role in the brewing and distilling industries. Different styles of alcohol require different mineral balances to craft their unique taste; all benefit from starting with a base of pure commercial reverse osmosis water. Our Brewery Skid is designed to give brewers full, fine-tuning control over their production process.
Some spirits’ taste the way they do because of the unique source water chemistry used in its creation. Local landscapes influence water profiles used as a base for many famous products. The well water in Plzen, Czech Republic, was known to be very soft from local sandstone and served as an ideal match for their new beer. The Pilsner is now considered to be one of the most popular and reproduced beers in the world. Similarly, Kentucky’s Limestone water supply played an iconic role in crafting their famous Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. If the minerals present in the feed water are too high or out of balance, it can distort the taste and ultimately be problematic. Filtration is required to lower, balance, or control the levels of minerals used in brewing water.
Improving Brewing Water Profiles for Customized Product Water Chemistry
Our Brewery Skid includes a blending valve which mixes carbon treated water with reverse osmosis product water by bypassing the softener and RO to retain some of the original mineral content of the source water. This allows the brewer to control the total dissolved solids (TDS) of the final product water. HyperLogic can also include remineralization injectors with TDS monitors after each injection point to monitor individual mineral levels like calcium or magnesium. These two features allow for total control of the brewer’s mineral content to achieve complete taste customization. Craft beer brewers want to control every input if they are looking to stand out in a growing industry, and water chemistry control is vital in that process.
For brewers that do not need to lower the TDS through reverse osmosis, using the City Pure is a good way to polish the water for the brewing process. Chloramines, which are present in many city water systems and imparts a medicinal taste to the finished product, are completely removed by our dual carbon backwashing filters. Finally, a UV sterilizer ensures that the brewing water will remain free of bacteria without having to use chemicals.
For more information about the Brewing Skid, read our Case Study on how we integrated the Brewing Skid into Dovetail Brewery, one of the top breweries in Chicago.