Although the influence of water with respect to the characteristics of the finished product may appear to be of little importance to an inexperienced consumer, from a production point of view, the choice and treatment of water are elements of primary importance in defining the organoleptic characteristics.
In fact, the chemical composition of the water not only directly affects the taste of the drink, but also acts significantly on the series of biochemical reactions that take place during the manufacturing process, involving all the other ingredients used.
Conventional methods of analyses on water parameters
Conventionally analyses on water parameters have to be managed by specialized technicians, responsible of using, calibrating and maintaining on a series of instrumentation and tools dedicated to them.
If quite only big establishments can have internal labs, the most of the breweries rely on external labs, that is easier for what the internal organization is concerned, but usually analysis cost is expensive and mostly, results are forcedly delayed, when brewer should has immediate answers in order to take the best decision during a specific step of the production.
The total alkalinity of water is conventionally determined by potentiometric titration. This method needs to be carried out by specialized personnel, with the employment of lab tools as glassware, weight scales and personal protective equipment.
In case of metallic ions their detection is usually performed by using complex techniques as AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy), ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Mass Spectroscopy) or IPC-OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy) and the only option for brewery is to refer to a specialized laboratory.
Briefly, AAS is cheaper and more accurate in comparison with ICP techniques that are less accurate, more expensive but faster and able to detect more parameters at the same time, anyway both methods remain very time consuming, need specialized personnel for being carried out and their application real time during the different phases of beer production is quite impossible.
CDR BeerLab® Method to Test Parameters of Brewing Water
Thanks to optimized methods, dedicated pre-vialed reagents developed by CDR Chemical Lab, and state-of-the-art photometric technology with CDR BeerLab® you can get reliable results of water tests quick and easily.
By comparing the detection of the same parameters with CDR BeerLab®, it is evidently easier and faster, although guarantying the same accuracy because perfectly correlated to respective reference methods.
In case of alkalinity of water, the detection on CDR BeerLab® is based on the alkaline components of water that react with a specific reagent, leading to the formation of an adduct which absorbs at a particular wavelength. So its reading is realized using photometric technology of CDR BeerLab® in just 10 minutes.
The wide panel of analyses on water of CDR BeerLab® foresees the other overviewed parameters, but also in case of metallic ions, their detection does not require any additional instrumentation or tool and takes just few minutes in all the cases.
CDR BeerLab® Analysis on Water
With CDR BeerLab® you can determine on water:
Furthermore, CDR BeerLab® enables you to determine a wide panel of parameters on beer and wort in every stage of the brewing process, even if you don’t have chemical laboratory or fume hood. You don’t need laboratory background to use it. So, with CDR BeerLab®, you can perform a complete in-house quality control of your brewing process getting results in real time.
Even though an inexperienced consumer may underestimate the importance of water, from a production standpoint, the choice and treatment of water are crucial for the quality of the final product.
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