simmyb wrote:Thanks for all your replies!
Eric, I quite agree that we are brewers not chemists and when it comes down to it, it's all about brewing the beer you like rather than what someone says is 'correct'. However, as Martin says, it would take many years of varying batches of a similar style to try and nail down what works for me. So I am just trying to get a bit of a shortcut by getting advice from various sources, but it's a bit tricky when that advice varies so much! Maybe there is no substitute for experience...
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending upon how you view it, beer is very forgiving and can be made in many ways, part of its charm and challenge I suppose. It is this that leads to so much variation in approach and as they can nearly all "work" it's no surprise that there are fierce defences of the "only way". In the end there is no substitute for experience as it is this that feeds back to
you. You have a fondness for Kernel beers so you now have to find out what they do and see if you can get close, someone somewhere will tell you it's not quite right, just smile and carry on brewing it your way.
Whether or not you agree with the set profiles in Bru'n water, it really does seem like a very powerful tool (nice one Martin!) to help you achieve the beer you prefer, but you need to know what water profile that requires in order to get there! Orlando, what do you base your chosen water profiles on? Advice from elsewhere or more on personal experience?
It's a combination of both. What beers do I enjoy, what advice is given to achieve that, what happens when I do? Like you I have water that is close to the London profile, consequently I can make dark beers that I'm really proud of, love to drink and would put in front of anyone. Pales are more of a challenge and I would say I'm still experimenting, but getting close and that's all about experience, experience is the fine tuner.
It would be interesting to know what water treatments various breweries use especially London breweries like Fullers who have similar water to me and make beers I enjoy. I have recently been drinking a lot of beers from The Kernel brewery in east London and while I like some beers more than others, I am always bowled over by the clarity and layers of flavour they have. Maybe its more about their other processes but it would be interesting to see what they do.
I guess the only way to progress for sure is brew more and drink more and that is no bad thing! Cheers!
Meet other brewers, drink their beer and ask them how they did it, no substitute for that if you want a faster inside track. Join the CBA, create your own or join an existing brew club, read everything, trawl the web. There are a lot of paths but brewing beer regularly is ultimately the key; as you say no bad thing
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