Burton water (part four)

Considerate type that I am, I though I'd pull together all the analyses of Burton water I have knocking around. Rather then leaving them spread all over the place. Lots of nice juicy tables, dripping with digits.

First the well waters from the most famous Burton brewers:

Various Burton waters
	Worthington deep	Worthington shallow	Allsopp	Bass
	Grains per gallon.	Grains per gallon.	Grains per gallon.	Grains per gallon.
Sulphate of Lime	70.994	25.48	18.96	54.4
Carbonate of Lime	9.046	18.06	15.51	9.93
Carbonate of Magnesia	5.88	9.10	1.7
Sulphate of Magnesia	12.60		9.95	0.83
Sulphate of Soda	13.30	7.63
Sulphate of Potassium			7.65
Chloride of Sodium	9.170	10.01	10.12
Chloride of Potassium	0.966	2.275
Chloride of Lime				13.28
Carbonate of Iron	1.218	0.90	0.6
Silica	1.12	0.84	0.79
Total solid residue	124.294	74.293	65.28	78.44
Sources: "The Lancet 1852, vol.1", 1852, page 474 "Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1" by Alfred Barnard, 1889 page 417

What struck me when I lined these up together was the big variation in the amount of sulphate of lime (or gypsum). Especially between Bass and Allsopp. It looks as if they were using different depth wells for their brewing water. Bass's water resembles that of the deep Worthington well and Allsopp's the shallow well.

To allow you to compare and contrast, in the comfort of your own home, the waters of other brewing centres, here's another table:

Brewing water (grains per gallon)
	Burton above marl	Burton below marl	Dublin Grand Canal	chalk water (South of England)	New River (London)	Thames Valley deep well (London)	brewing well Lea Valley
Carbonates of lime and magnesia precipitated on boiling	11.4	15.4	11	14.2	11.2	4.9	12.2
Lime not precipitated on boiling	17.7	25.5	0.9	1.1	1.1		0.7
Magnesia not precipitated on boiling	4.3	10.2	0.9	0.1	0.2		1.7
Carbonates of the alkalies						13
Sulphuric acid	33.9	56.8	0.5	0.6	0.9	8.4	2.4
Chlorine	3	2.5	1.2	0.9	1.4	8	1.6
Nitric acid				0.2	0.4
or combined
Carbonates of lime and magnesia	11.4	15.4		14.2	11.2	4.9	12.2
Carbonates of the alkalies						13
Sulphates of the alkalies						14.4
Carbonates of lime and magnesia precipitated on boiling			11			12.2
Sulphate of lime	43	61.9	0.8	1	1.5		1.7
Sulphate of magnesia	12.9	30.6					2.1
Alkaline chlorides	5	4.2				13.9
Chloride of calcium			1.1	1.4	1.4
Chloride of magnesium			0.7				2.2
Carbonate of magnesia not precipitated on boiling			1.2
Nitrate of magnesia				0.3	0.8
Chloride of sodium					0.8
Source: "A Systematic Handbook of Practical Brewing", by E.R. Southby, 1885, pages 161 -165

The New River and Thames Valley deep well waters were those usually used by London brewers. You'll note the much smaller quantity of gypsum they contain. I've been meaning to combine these details with Barclay Perkins water treatment. Then I'll have the exact profile of the water they used to brew different types of beer. Maybe I'll get around to it soon.