Brewing waters

I'm working away furiously at my new Scottish book. And I rec ently noted a huge gap in my knowledge of Scottish beer: the makeup of brewing water.

I'm pretty sure that I have searched for analyses of Edinburgh water in the past, but without much luck. I vaguely thought that it was similar to Burton water, but wasn't sure, not having any real numbers. Ed Wray helped me out with a scan from Lloyd Hind. Which prompted me to look in my own copy of the book. Where I found the handy table below.

It sems my assumption was well far off the mark. Edinburgh water is quite different to Burton's. More sodium, but less magnesium, calcium and way less sulphates and carbonates. Though you'll note that there are far fewer minerals in the third Burton sample. As I delight in pointing out - probably to everyone else's great annoyance - there's no such thing as Burton water, as every well produces water with a different set of minerals.

That said, the sulphate content of Edinburgh water is high compared to most others, Burton excepted, of course. Was it enough to help Pale Ale brewing? I don't really know, to be honest. I'm not that up on water chemistry, if I'm honest If you are, feel free to share your expertise.

Classification of Hard Brewing Waters (parts per 100,000)
	Carbo- nate ratio	Total solids	Na	Mg	Ca	NO3	CI	S04	C03	Geological formation
GROUP A.
1, Burton-on-Trent	13	219.2	4.6	8.2	51.2	4.3	6.7	130.1	141	Keuper marl
2. Burton-on-Trent	25	122.6	3	6.2	26.8	3.1	3.6	65.8	141	Gravel beds
3. Burton-on-Trent	39	81.1	4.3	5.8	15.6	5	7.3	29.3	13.8	"        "
4. Bedfordshire	49	78.8	6	0.9	19	4.8	3.1	30	15	Lias
GROUP B.
5. Co. Durham	54	76.5	7.4	3.5	14.4	1.2	11.4	21.1	16.5	Magnesian Limestone
6. Dortmund	60	101.2	6.9	2.3	26	—	10.7	28.3	27
7. Gloucestershire	60	67.8	4.5	4	13.6	0.3	3.6	23.5	18.3	Magnesian Limestone
8. Bedfordshire	66	55.5	4.6	0.8	13.9	0.6	3	17.6	15	Oolites
GROUP C.
9. Lancashire	68	61.5	3.9	4.5	12.1	0.3	6.7	14	20	New Red Sandstone
10. Lincolnshire	69	45.8	3.4	0.4	12.2	4	3	9.6	12.2	Lower Oolite
11. Edinburgh	70	80	9.2	3.6	14	3.1	6	23.1	21	Old Red Sandstone
12. Yorkshire	77	41.2	2.3	1.7	10.5	1.8	3	6.6	15.3	New Red Sandstone
13. Lancashire	78	24.7	1.6	1.4	5.5	1.7	2.4	2.9	9.2	"              "
14. Berkshire	80	30.3	0.5	0.9	10	0.5	3.6	0.6	14.2	Chalk
GROUP D.
15. Gloucestershire	85	27.7	0.9	0.6	8.8	1	1.6	2.4	12.4	Lias
16. London M.W.B.	85	32	2.4	0.4	9	0.3	1.8	5.8	12.3
17. Nottinghamshire	85	24.6	1.2	3.2	3.6	0.2	1.6	3.4	11.4	New Red Sandstone
18. Surrey	86	29.7	1.6	0.2	9.3	2.6	2.3	1.4	12.3	Chalk
19. Hertfordshire	92	44.6	3.8	7	11.8	3.2	3.5	4.5	17.1	"
GROUP E.
20. Munich, Dublin	97	27.5	0.1	1.9	8.1	0.3	0.1	0.5	16.5
21. Lancashire	100	23.9	2.7	1.4	4.4	0.9	1.7	2.7	10.1	New Red Sandstone
22. Lancashire	100	38.4	1.9	3.4	8.4	-	1.7	1.8	21.2	"              "
Source:
Brewing: Science and Practice 1: by Herbert Lloyd Hind, 1940, page 458.