Burton water (part three)

It was water what made Burton great. So excuse me if I explore it a little further.

The great strychnine scare of the 1850's wasn't all bad. Bass and Allsopp were so put out by the allegations that they threw their breweries and beer stores open to scientists. To prove that they'd been up to no dodgy practices. Doubtless their findings helped preserve the reputation of those two renowned Pale Ale brewers. It also means that there are numbers galore for the digitally-obsessed beer historian.

The learned men poked into every corner of the Burton enterprises. And analysed anything they could get their hands on. Their proof that no Bass or Allsopp Pale Ale contained strychnine doesn't interest me so much. I'd have been gobsmacked if they had found any. It was obviously untrue. Had their been any shred of truth in the allegations, there'd have been corpses piled up outside every pub.

It's the analyses of Pale Ale and Burton brewing water that interest me. We're going to kick off with the latter because . . . . that's the order I've started doing it in. You'll have to wait a few days for the beer analyses.

"Composition And Peculiarities Of The Burton Water.

Burton brewers have long been celebrated for the quality of their beer, and many conjectures have been made, to account for the excellence and superiority of the article brewed in that locality.

It is the general opinion, in which, we believe, the brewers themselves concur, that their success depends to a great extent upon the quality of the well-water used.

This water, repeated analyses have shown, contains a very large quantity of sulphate of lime, a good deal of the sulphates of potash and magnesia, and a considerable amount of carbonate of lime; the lime and magnesia, in the state of carbonate, being held in solution by carbonic acid, the excess of which is so great as to redden blue litmus paper.

The Burton well-water, therefore, is evidently a very hard water, remarkable for the quantity of earthy sulphates and carbonates contained in it, and, a priori, it would be considered from its chemical constitution but ill adapted for the purpose of brewing. That it is not so, however, has been shown by long experience. A rational and scientific explanation of the cause of the superiority of the Burton well-water can now be afforded.

In the course of boiling, the excess of carbonic acid in the water, by which the carbonates of lime and magnesia are dissolved, is expelled, and these salts are precipitated: again, the alkaline phosphates present in malt have the power of decomposing and precipitating sulphate of lime, phosphate of lime, and a soluble alkaline sulphate being formed, the greater part of the phosphate of lime so formed is re-dissolved in the acid generated during fermentation. The water from being at first hard thus becomes comparatively soft, and in this state is well suited for the extraction of the active properties of the malt and hops used in the manufacture of bitter beer.

The correctness of this explanation is clearly shown in the following analyses:—

Analysis of the Water used in the Brewery of Messrs. Allsopp and Sons, by Dr Henry Bottinger.

(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	Grs.
Chloride of sodium	10.12
Sulphate of potash	7.65
Sulphate of lime	18.96
Sulphate of magnesia	9.95
Carbonate of lime	15.51
Carbonate of magnesia	1.7
Carbonate of iron protoxide	0.6
Silica	0.79
Total solid contents	65.28

Besides, a varying quantity of carbonic acid, free, keeping the carbonates in solution.

The water is remarkable for its complete freedom from organic matter.


Analysis of the Water used in the Brewery of Messrs. Bass and Co., by Mr. Cooper
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

Uncombined carbonic acid, cubic inches	7.5
	grains
Carbonate of lime	9.93
Sulphate of lime	54.4
Muriate of lime	13.28
Sulphate of magnesia	0.83
Total solid contents	78.44

Analysis, showing the Saline and Mineral Ingredients contained in samples of beer brewed by Messrs. Allsopp and Sons. Taken from the stores at Blackwall.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	grains
Alkaline sulphates, chiefly potash	78
Alkaline chlorides	28
Alkaline carbonates and phosphates	14
Phosphate of lime and magnesia, very fusible before the blowpipe	102
Total saline and mineral ingredients	222

Analysis, showing the Saline and Mineral Ingredients contained in samples of beer brewed by Messrs. Bass and Co. Taken from the stores at Blackwall.
(Contents of Imperial Gallon.)

	grains
Alkaline sulphates, chiefly potash	62
Alkaline chlorides	25
Alkaline carbonates and phosphates	19
Phosphate of lime and magnesia, very fusible before the blowpipe	91
Total saline and mineral ingredients	197

The two last analyses include, of course, not merely the saline constituents of the water used in making the beers, but also those of the malt and hops employed, consisting principally of phosphates.

It will be observed that the earthy salts, the carbonates and sulphates of lime and magnesia, which impart the quality of hardness to water, have disappeared, and that the Burton water, though hard at first, really becomes a soft -water, as contained in the beer.

But the chemical constitution of the Burton water explains also another circumstance connected with Burton ales. It is known that these ales speedily become bright and clear, that they never require "finings" to be employed, and are fit for use almost as soon as brewed.

Now the depurating power of lime is well known, insomuch so, that it has long been employed in the clarification of cane and other vegetable juices, and it is no doubt to the presence and precipitation of this substance that the action of the Burton water in rendering the beer transparent and bright is attributable."
"The Lancet 1852, vol.1", 1852, pages 473 - 479.

Sulphate of lime, of gypsum, was the most important constituent of Burton water. That this was chiefly responsible for the excellent brewing properties of the water was already known by the 1850's. Quite a while before anyone thought to put this to practical use by adding gypsum to recreate Burton water.

I'm not quite sure I understand how this really hard water magically turns soft during the brewing process. How I wish now that I'd done A-level chemistry. It would come in dead handy.

The ease with which Burton Pale Ales became bright was one of the reasons for their renown. Interesting that Burton brewers didn't use finings. In the 1970's I was surprised to learn from a landlord that Scottish & Newcastle didn't fine their Edinburgh-brewed cask beers. Doesn't Edinburgh have similar water to Burton? That could explain why they didn't need to use finings.