Comparison of Burton London and Edinburgh brewing waters (ppm)

You can't imagine how much time I dedicated to finding an analysis of Edinburgh brewing water. Without success. And know I've just tripped over the information. When I wasn't looking for it.

Meaning that I can now compare the waters of the big three UK brewing centres: Burton, London and Edinburgh.

Edinburgh water is hard. Harder than London water, but not as hard as Burton water. Then again, what is? Burton water is ridiculously stuffed with minerals.

Though not as high as in Burton, the calcium sulphate (gypsum) content of Edinburgh number 1 water is pretty high. Though, interestingly, much lower in sample 2. Was sample 1 the water usually used for brewing? The high gypsum would surely have helped in the brewing of Pale Ales before water treatment became the norm.

Quite a lot of magnesium sulphate in the Edinburgh number 1 leaves the totally sulphur content of Edinburgh water quite high. Though still well short of Burton water. Would this have been enough to give Edinburgh Pale Ales the Burton snatch?

The chalk (calcium carbonate) and common salt (sodium chloride) content of the Edinburgh waters was notably higher than either in Burton or London. What effect would that have had on brewing? If only I understood all this shit. 

Comparison of Burton London and Edinburgh brewing waters (ppm)
	Burton		London		Edinburgh
	highest	lowest	Old London well water	London Metropolitan Water Board supply.	Number 1	Number 2
Calcium carbonate	290.4	290.4	160.2	253.4	349.7	497.4
Calcium sulphate .	1742.4	721.6	—	33.4	205.7	171.8
Magnesium chloride	37.0	12.3	—	—	—	37.5
Magnesium sulphate	457.6	369.6	—	22.9	191.8	27.5
Magnesium carbonate	—	—	82.7	—	—	—
Sodium chloride .	93.3	58.1	121.4	35.2	206.1	136.9
Sodium nitrate	73.9	51.0	—	5.3	—	—
Sodium carbonate	—	—	65.1	—	—	—
Sodium sulphate .	—	—	140.8	44.0	78.5	—
Chloride of potassium	—	—	—	—	50.3	9.9
Phosphates	—	—	—	—	—	5.5
Oxide of iron	—	—	—	—	—	4.6
Silica	—	—	—	—	12.0	5.6
Total solids (dried)	2816.0	1513.6	570.2	394.2	1094.0	993.0
Sources:
Brewing Theory and Practice by E.J. Jeffery, 1956, page 101.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, February 15th 1902, page 101.

Water 1850 - 1880

The best water, according to Loftus, was hard spring water from chalky soils, such as that at Burton. He did warn that hard water worts required a higher pitching temperature than worts brewed with soft water. (Source: "The Brewer" by William Loftus, 1856, page 33.)

Faulkner said that there were basically two types of water: hard and soft. Hard water had quantities of calcic sulphate and sodic chloride dissolved in it. Soft water, on the other hand, only contained sodic carbonate. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 4.) Hard water, especially that of Burton which contained very large quantities of calcic sulphate produced beer that would keep well without low attenuation and which would clear easily. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, pages 4-5.)

In earlier times brewers had preferred one type of water, either hard or soft, for brewing any beer. It was now realised that the best water de[pended on the type of beer being brewed. "Such a water [Burton water] is admirably suited adapted for pale ale brewing; but it is not naturally fitted for obtaining the full round flavour we desire to find in stouts; and thus London porters have long been noted, not on account of any superior skill in arrangement of grist proportions, or conduct of the brewing operations, but because London waters (taken in connection with the fact that sodic carbonate is present in them) tend to dissolve much more malt than a hard water is capable of doing, of the different matters that, while mitigating against long keeping qualities, constitute the fulness or roundness on palate so necessary for certain beers; and so we begin to see, I trust, wht London is a great brewing centre for porters, and Burton for pale ales; for it is almost needless to point out why pale beers are so rare in London, when you consider the extractive properties of sodic carbonate existing in a watery solution." (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 5.)

Faulkner didn't hold with artificial hardening or softening water. He argued that by adapting mashing and fermentation regimes brewers could compensate for any deficiences in their brewing water. (Source: "The Art of Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1876, page 6.)
 

London brewing water

Someone mentioned that it would be useful to know the starting point of the water for which I gave the various treatments. So here you go.

I don't have the details for Wiveiscombe, but I do for London.

Both Fullers and Barclay Perkins had their own wells which they used as the source of their brewing water. Such waters were relatively low in sulphate but with reasonable levels of carbonate. The standard water supply, to which brewers would switch in the 20th century when their wells became contaminated, contained significantly fewer minerals.

Burton waters, on the other hand, often contained insane levels of sulphate. Though the exact makeup varied considerably, depending on the well’s depth.
 

British brewing waters mg/l
	Deep Well Waters
	Burton
	highest	lowest	Old London well water	London Metropolitan Water Board supply.
Total solids (dried)	2280.6	1225.8	461.8	319.3
Sodium—Na	51.3	29.9	98.4	24.2
Calcium—Ca	513.1	270.8	49.9	89.8
Magnesium—Mg	81.2	61.3	18.5	4.3
Nitrate—NO3	42.8	31.4	—	2.9
Chloride—Cl	67.0	35.6	59.9	18.5
Sulphate—S04	1297.1	655.7	77.0	58.4
Carbonate—CO3	1396.9	139.7	155.4	122.6
Suitable for	Pale Ales.		Sweet, full stout not much used now).	Mild ales and stouts; with added gypsum for pale ales.
Source:
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E.J. Jeffery, 1956, page 101.

 

London water treatment 1880 - 1914

In London, similar treatments were taking place. The date is a little later, but much the same elements are being employed.

Gypsum appears as an addition in everything, save for Porter and Stout. While kainit is only missing from Fullers Brown Beers, which were brewed from untreated London well water. That London brewers weren’t treating their water much makes sense, as the local water was supposed to be suitable for those types of beers.

Barclay Perkins often included plain old salt. In reality, more than appears in the table. Which shows what was added before the mash. Another ounce per barrel was added in the copper.

I’m not totally sure what function calcium bisulphite served. Its common use was as a preservative. Given it was added prior to the mash, I can’t see that it was its purpose here.

I’ve no idea what SSCC was. Only a tiny amount was used in Fullers beers, whatever it was.

Barclay Perkins water treatment in 1910 (per barrel)
beer	style	gypsum	kainit	calcium bisulfite	sodium chloride
X	Mild Ale	0.25 oz	2.00 oz	0.125 pint
XLK	Pale Ale	3.00 oz	1.00 oz
KK	Stock Ale	1.00 oz	3.00 oz	0.125 pint	1.00 oz
KKK	Stock Ale	1.00 oz	3.00 oz	0.125 pint	1.00 oz
BS	Brown Stout		3.00 oz		3.00 oz
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers ACC/2305/1/601 and ACC/2305/1/602.

Fullers water treatment in 1902 (per barrel)
beer	style	gypsum	kainit	SSCC
X	Mild Ale	2.00 oz	1.50 oz
AK	Pale Ale	4.00 oz	3.00 oz	1.00 fl oz
BO	Stock Ale	4.00 oz	1.00 oz	1.00 fl oz
Porter	Porter
BS	Stout
SS	Stout
India Pale Ale	IPA	4.00 oz	3.00 oz	1.00 fl oz
XK	Pale Ale	4.00 oz	3.00 oz	1.00 fl oz
Source:
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery

Hancock water treatment

The importance of water chemistry had been highlighted by the experiences of brewing Pale Ales in Burton.  At first brewers simply set up shop there or somewhere else with similar water. But as the chemistry became better understood, brewers realised that they could treat their water to resemble that of Burton. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Which is what brewers started to do. Not only did they Burton up their brewing water with gypsum for Pale Ales, but they used different treatments for other styles. It all ended up being quite complicated.

Hancock, a medium-sized brewery in the Southwest of England, had multiple different water treatments.

The only constant was gypsum, which was used in varying amounts for every beer. Unsurprisingly, rather more in Pale Ales than Mild Ales. Other than the two strongest Milds, XXX and XXXX, which received the most of all.

Next most popular was kainit, which was hydrated potassium and magnesium sulfate-chloride, KMgSO4Cl·3H2O. That was applied to all but the three strongest beers. Instead, those three beers were given a small quantity of calcium chloride.

Sulphate of magnesia – or magnesium sulphate – pops up only in the two strong Mild.

Only one beer was brewed from untreated water: Stout. 

Hancock water treatment in 1897 (per barrel)
beer	style	gypsum	kainit	calcium chloride	sulphate magnesia
Ale	Mild Ale	0.63 oz	0.63 oz
X	Mild Ale	0.64 oz	0.64 oz
XX	Mild Ale	1.20 oz	0.45 oz
XXX	Mild Ale	3.79 oz		0.69 oz	0.73 oz
XXXX	Mild Ale	3.79 oz		0.70 oz	0.73 oz
XXB	Pale Ale	2.53 oz	0.95 oz
B Ale	Pale Ale	2.85 oz	1.07 oz
SBA	Pale Ale	3.92 oz		0.71 oz
Stout	Stout
Source:
Hancock brewing record held at South West Heritage Trust Somerset Archive, document number DD/HCK/5/2/3.

Water in WW II

One ingredient of which there was an abundant local supply was water. Just as well, as importing would have been enormously impractical.

Lloyd Hind classified six types of brewing waters, five hard and one soft:

Types of brewing water
	Saline composition	Special use	Typical locality
(1) Hard Waters
(A)	Very hard gypseous waters. High proportion of Ca and S04, moderate quantity of Mg, comparatively small proportion of Na and C03.	Pale ale.	Burton-on-Trent.
(B)	Gypseous waters. Generally not so hard as (A) with greater proportion of C03 and Cl usually higher.	Pale lager and ales.	Dortmund.
(C)	Sulphate waters. With still greater proportions of CO 3 and increasing quantities of Na and Cl. Frequently characterised by the presence of sodium and magnesium sulphates in place of calcium sulphate.	Full-flavoured pale ales.	Edinburgh.
(D)	Carbonate waters. Many city supplies fall in this group, Ca and C03 predominant, with lower proportion of S04, moderate Na and Cl. Require treatment for pale ales after removal of carbonates.	Mild ales and stouts.	London (Metropolitan Water Board).
(E)	Carbonate ;waters. Very small quantities of ions other than Ca, Mg and C03. Treatment for pale ales as (D).	Dark lager, stouts, mild ales.	Munich, Dublin.
(2) Soft Waters
(F)	Containing up to about 10 parts per 100,000 of total solids, with the individual ions in varying proportions corresponding with those found in hard waters. Very readily treated for ales.	Pale lager.	Pilsen.
Source:
Brewing: Science and Practice 1: by Herbert Lloyd Hind, Chapman & Hall, London, 1940, page 437.

Different water profiles suited different types of beers Something brewers learned through experience. Though, initially, they weren’t fully aware of which specific minerals were important.

Once the importance of water chemistry had been twigged in the middle of the 19th century, brewers stated to fiddle with their water if it didn’t fit the profile for the type of beer they wanted to brew.

Initially, treatment was all about mimicking Burton water. There was huge incentive to recreate Burton water. The alternative being to build, or buy, a brewery where that water profile was naturally available.

With the essential elements of what made Burton water so suited for Pale Ales identified, brewers began to “Burtonise”. Which, essentially, entailed dumping a load of gypsum into it.

It didn’t stop there. The more sophisticated breweries began treating the water for all their beers, leaving some with no beer brewed from liquor which hadn’t been tweaked.

A good example is Barclay Perkins. Who treated the brewing water for all of their beers, whatever, the style, except for Lager.

Barclay Perkins water treatment in 1941
Mild Ale	Company's liquor, treated cold. 2/3 oz. salt and 7/12 oz gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Heated to 170º F, allow to drop to mashing heat. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel bi-sulphate of lime. Salt in copper: 3 ozs per barrel.
Burton Ales	Company's liquor, treated cold. 3 ozs. salt and 3 ozs. gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Boil overnight. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel bi-sulphate of lime. Salt in copper: 1 oz per barrel.
Bitters and DB	Company's liquor, treated cold. 1.5 oz3. salt and 4 ozs gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Heated to 170º F, allow to drop to mashing heat. Salt in copper: 2 ozs per barrel. DB nil
Porter and Stout	Company's liquor boiled for 30 minutes, allow to drop to mashing heat. 2 ozs. Salt and 1 oz gypsum per barrel of liquor used over the goods added to grist. Salt in copper: 3 ozs per barrel.
PA Ex	Company's liquor, treated cold. Boiled 5 minutes, allow to drop to mashing heat. 5 ozs CaS04 and 1 oz MgS04 per barrel in liquor backs.
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/624.

You’ll note that each class of beer had its own, distinctive, treatment. Not all breweries were quite as pernickety, but pretty well everyone, outside Burton, treated the water for their Pale Ales.

Water in WW II

Rousing my naturally extremely lazy arse, I've been getting stuck into the sections of my next book I've been avoiding working on. For, oh, just about a year or so.

I'm clearing out the marker source material and replacing it with something resembling coherent text. Something I should really have hot on with  a very long time ago. And now I've started, It's much less daunting than idle me feared.

The section on ingredients is coming along nicely. And includes this little section on water which I've just written.

One ingredient of which there was an abundant local supply was water. Just as well, as importing would have been enormously impractical.

Once the importance of water chemistry had been twigged in the middle of the 19th century, brewers stated to fiddle with their water if it didn’t fit the profile for the type of beer they wanted to brew.

Initially, treatment was all about mimicking Burton water. There was huge incentive to recreate Burton water. The alternative being to build, or buy, a brewery where that water profile was naturally available.

With the essential elements of what made Burton water so suited for Pale Ales identified, brewers began to “Burtonise”. Which, essentially, entailed dumping a load of gypsum into it.

It didn’t stop there. The more sophisticated breweries began treating the water for all their beers, leaving some with no beer brewed from liquor which hadn’t been tweaked.

A good example is Barclay Perkins. Who treated the brewing water for all of their beers, whatever, the style, except for Lager.

You’ll note that each class of beer had its own, distinctive, treatment. Not all breweries were quite as pernickety, but pretty well everyone, outside Burton, treated the water for their Pale Ales.

Barclay Perkins water treatment in 1941
Mild Ale	Company's liquor, treated cold. 2/3 oz. salt and 7/12 oz gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Heated to 170º F, allow to drop to mashing heat. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel bi-sulphate of lime. Salt in copper: 3 ozs per barrel.
Burton Ales	Company's liquor, treated cold. 3 ozs. salt and 3 ozs. gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Boil overnight. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel bi-sulphate of lime. Salt in copper: 1 oz per barrel.
Bitters and DB	Company's liquor, treated cold. 1.5 oz3. salt and 4 ozs gypsum per barrel in hot liquor back. Heated to 170º F, allow to drop to mashing heat. Salt in copper: 2 ozs per barrel. DB nil
Porter and Stout	Company's liquor boiled for 30 minutes, allow to drop to mashing heat. 2 ozs. Salt and 1 oz gypsum per barrel of liquor used over the goods added to grist. Salt in copper: 3 ozs per barrel.
PA Ex	Company's liquor, treated cold. Boiled 5 minutes, allow to drop to mashing heat. 5 ozs CaS04 and 1 oz MgS04 per barrel in liquor backs.
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/624.

 

The Salts of Brewing Waters (part three)

It's the final part of this series of posts on brewing water.

This time were looking at what to do if your water contains minerals detrimental to brewing. I'm tempted to say: get different water, bit obviously that isn't always practical.

"It may happen, however, that a brewer is not blessed either with a perfect water or with one which simply requires bringing up to Burton standard by increasing its salts, but has to produce good beers with a water containing salts altogether undesirable or even injurious to beer.production.

Sodium carbonate, if present to any great extent, would prove fatal to the brewing of anything but black beers, and sodium sulphate, though by no means as harmful, is nevertheless an undesirable constituent of brewing-waters.

For the decomposition of sodium carbonate the employment of free acid would be, to say the least, dangerous. One method used is to gypsum the water, but this causes the formation of sodium sulphate, which when present in any amount is most undesirable, although not so productive of harm as the car bonate. The sodium sulphate is therefore then decomposed by the addition of calcium chloride, yielding salt and calcium sulphate. By far the best method is the direct employment of calcium chloride solution, which at one operation decomposes both these sodium salts, calcium carbonate being precipitated and the much-desired calcium sulphate obtained in solution. The solution of calcium chloride must be pure and of a known strength, and the volume added to a water to be treated should contain an amount of the salt equivalent or rather more than equivalent to the sodium sulphate and carbonate. The methods employed in making an analysis of the solid matter dissolved in water are so well known that they require but little comment from me. There are, however, just a few points to which I should like to direct your attention.

Firstly, temperature at which the total solids should be dried. I believe the most usual temperature is 110° to 120°C., and when such is the case an allowance should be made in stating the salts present for the water of crystallisation of certain of them.

The following are given by a recognised authority on water analysis, for this temperature, although he admits that anomalous cases have occurred in which the salts appeared to have become anhydrous:

CaSO + 1/2 Aq. or {CASO4} + 1 Aq
                               {CASO4}
MgSO4 + 1 Aq
Mg(NO2)2 + 2 Aq.
Ca(N03)2 + I Aq.

The method of estimating the soda and potash is, as you know, to evaporate firstly with barium hydrate to remove the sulphuric and carbonate acids, and then to treat with ammonium carbonate, to remove lime and magnesia. The filtrate obtained is evaporated to dryness with ammonium chloride, and the ammonium salts decomposed by gentle ignition. The sodium and potassium are then dissolved out with water. It is the method of ignition which should be noted, as it is of great importance. At first the heat must be gentle, and gradually increased until, when ammonium fumes ceased to be evolved, dull redness should be reached. If the heat be too rapidly raised, the alkaline chlorides melt, and appear to enclose some of the ammonium salts which are not completely removed, and the results are too high. Should the residue not be sufficiently heated, all the ammonium salts are not removed, and then too high a result is obtained. If heated to too high a temperature the alkaline chloride will partially volatilise and give t00 low a result. With practice very accurate results can be obtained. The potassium should always be estimated. It is not sufficient to estimate the alkalis as chloride and call the result sodium chloride, for in some waters an appreciable quantity of potassium is present. This can of course be estimated in the alkaline chlorides. The only other point to be noticed is the determination of nitrates and nitrites. Nitrites are not often present, but a careful determination of the nitrates should be made. The method is to evaporate the water under examination with potash, to get rid of ammonium salts, and then to reduce the nitrates by means of zinc-copper couple, ammonia being distilled off, after further addition of potash, and estimated by Nessler's reagent in the ordinary way. Now, the potash employed should be carefully looked into, for when ordinary potash is used the results obtained are generally too high, this being doubtless due to nitrates contained in the potash. It is a good plan to use potash precipitated by alcohol, but even then I have found a correction necessary. Wanklyn advises that the potash should be made by dissolving metallic potassium in water, but whether this is done or not a blank determination with the materials should certainly be made.

In conclusion, I am afraid my remarks have been for the greater part but old news. Still, in spite of that, they serve as an illustration of the direct application of chemistry to the improvement of a manufactured article, and on this ground may not be entirely devoid of interest."
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, pages 109 - 110.

The answer is chemistry. I would ask Andrew to explain to to me, but he's had his brain plugged into his gaming computer all day. Removing unwanted stuff is clearly more complicated than adding useful stuff.

Any ideas why Sodium carbonate and sodium sulphate are so bad for brewing? My guess is that it's something to do with the sodium.

The Salts of Brewing Waters (part two)

We're back with late 19th-century brewing waters. This time with some practical advicew for brewers.

By the 1890's brewers had learnt a lot not just about the suitability of specific waters for different types of beers but also how to create them themselves.

"IT is, as you know, quite possible for a state of equilibrium to exist among different salts in solution, which is readily upset by heat concentration, or even by agitation; and, as all water used for actual brewing is either previously boiled, or heated, a rearrangement may take place among the bases and acids, and a new and more stable state of equilibrium be established. We may, for instance, mix together dilule solutions of sodium carbonate or bicarbonate and calcium sulphate, obtaining an immediate precipitate, but heating immediately throws calcium carbonate-out of solution. I think it advisable, therefore, when stating the salts of a water, to consider the changes likely to be brought about on boiling, and to consider any bodies thrown out of solution as representing those originally present. This precipitation occurs when bicarbonates of calcium and magnesium are present, since they are decomposed by heat, the carbon dioxide being expelled, and the carbonates deposited. In stating the calcium and magnesium sulphates and carbonates, the two chief methods prevailing are these :—

(a) To estimate the combined carbon-dioxide directly by titrating the water with standard acid. This is then combined with the lime, and expressed as calcium carbonate, any excess of carbon-dioxide being combined with magnesia, or any excess of lime is combined with the sulphuric acid to form calcium sulphate.

(b) To calculate the sulphuric acid first as calcium sulphate, any excess of S03 being combined with the magnesia, or any excess of lime calculated as carbonate. The result of this second plan is that magnesium carbonate and calcium sulphate are often given as existing together in the same water (see Example 2). Now this might be the case in the' cold, but on heating with a solution, carbonate will certainly be precipitated, either of calcium, magnesium, or of both, and sulphates of one or of both will remain in solution. . To decide this question I have recently done a number of experiments, the results of which may be thus briefly summarised :--(1) When calcium sulphate and magnesium carbonate (as bicarbonate) are present in solution in equivalent amounts, double decomposition occurs, according to the equation CaSO4 + MgCO3 = CaCOa X MgSO4. The decomposition is about four-fifths complete, the precipitate produced consisting almost entirely of calcium carbonate, whilst about four-fifths of the magnesia remains in solution as magnesium sulphate. A trace of calcium sulphate is carried down with the precipitate, whilst the undecomposed one-fifth of magnesium carbonate is partly precipitated, but the greater part remains in solution. (2) When we have either calcium sulphate or magnesium carbonate in large excess, complete, or almost complete, decomposition occurs. I have not determined the exact ratio requisite for complete decomposition, since this is a point of mainly theoretical interest."
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 109.

It was typical for brewers to boil their mashing water and the let it cool down to strike heat. I can't really comment on the rest of it, as the chemistry goes way over my head. Sorry about that.

"Evidently, then, in combining the lime, magnesia, carbonic and sulphuric acids, the order to be adopted is-

SO3 combined first with magnesia, and then lime.
CO2 combined first with lime and then magnesia.

The importance of this is seen in the following examples, where the first column of each series gives the salts calculated on this basis and the second column on the old basis. Leaving out the soda salts we have—

	A				B		C
	1		2		1		2
	a	b	a	b	a	b	a	b
Magnesium sulphate	6.27	-	30.45	-	5.16	-	7.06	-
Magnesium carbonate	-	4.39	-	21.31	-	1.03	4.72	9.66
Calcium sulphate	26.66	33.76	43.35	77.87	2.89	8.74	-	8.02
Calcium carbonate	7.85	2.64	33.09	7.62	25.62	21.34	24.03	18.00

So important is the influence of the salts in brewing waters that we find many London firms carrying on their black beer production in London, whilst their bitter beers are brewed in Burton in breweries they have erected there for that purpose. But, now that the chemistry of these waters is better under stood, it is no uncommon thing to find London firms turning out good bitter beers, or Burton brewers brewing good stouts, and the part which chemistry plays is simply this—to so alter the composition of the dissolved salts that a water is made suitable for brewing the desired beer. Take, for example, a water like B.; with the exception of chalk, which will be lost on heating, there is not sufficient of any salt present to recommend the water for brewing purposes as it stands. If, therefore, desired for pale ale production, the calcium sulphate must be increased ten, fifteen, or twenty times its present amount, according to circumstances, whilst if required for mild ale production the sodium chloride is increased.

You will therefore see the importance of the method employed for combining the bases and acids as salts, for thereon depends the treatment considered necessary. If, in the first water in the Table above, it were necessary to increase the calcium sulphate up to forty grains per gallon, the calculation by the first method would require the addition of 13.4 grains, whilst the second requires only 6.2 grains. Again, in the second water the two methods of calculation represent a difference of no less than 34.5 grains of calcium sulphate.

It will be found that, as a rule, all the chlorine in a water exists as sodium chloride, with sometimes potassium chloride in addition. Some waters, especially those near the coast, contain more chlorine than the equivalent of the alkalis, and in these cases either calcium or magnesium chloride is present. Now, I have frequently seen cases in which calcium chloride and magnesium carbonate are given as existing in the same water, but just as the latter salt is decomposed on heating with calcium sulphate, so also does decomposition occur when magnesium carbonate is heated in the same solution with calcium chloride, the precipitate thrown out of solution consisting almost entirely of calcium carbonate. Consequently any excess of chlorine not expressed as sodium or potassium chloride should be combined with magnesium in preference to lime. I had fully intended bringing before you some experiments on this point, but unfortunately the time required to complete them has not been forthcoming."
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 109.

In the 1870's and 1880's, some London brewers did indeed set up breweries in Burton to specifically brew Pale Ale. Truman and Mann are two examples. But there were also breweries who always brewed their PAle Ales in London, Whitbread and Barclay Perkins, for example.

Barclay Perkins had quite complicated water treatments, different for each style. Mild, Bitter, Burton and Porter all had different treatments. As the y included the detaails in teh front of their brewing records, I've full details. Which I'll be posting presently.

The Salts of Brewing Waters

If you follow me on Twitter, you might find some of the following familiar. I posted an image of the table without explanation a few days ago.

I love analyses of brewing waters. Especially when I come across ones I've never seen analysed before. As is the case here with Leeds. Never seen anything about Leeds water before.

The article divides brewing waters into three classes:

A. Burton-like water full of gypsum
B. Chalk waters without gypsum.
C. London-like water with lots of carbonates and sulphates.

"THE SALTS OF BREWING WATERS.
BY T. A. GLENDINNING, A.I.C.
BREWING waters, which are chiefly derived from wells or borings, are on a somewhat different footing from potable waters, for, in the latter, purity is the desideratum, and if, in addition, poisonous metals are absent and the solid matter not excessive, the water may be considered as satisfactory. In the former, however, besides purity, a knowledge of the dissolved salts is almost, if not absolutely, essential. It is unnecessary for me to remind you of the great influence of geological construction upon the character of the beers brewed in any district, the gypsumous waters of Burton, long famous for pale ales, and the soft, stout-producing waters of Dublin and London, being typical examples. We shall find it simplify matters to divide waters roughly into three classes—(a) Gypseous waters (that is, rich in calcium sulphate), such as are found at Burton. (b) Waters containing little or no gypsum: to this class belong those derived from the chalk, and those poor in dissolved salts, like the Leeds town supply. (c) Waters containing no gypsum, but carbonates and sulphates of the alkalis. Such are derived from below the London clay, and are admirably adapted for producing black beers.

The accompanying tables give two typical examples of each class. The figures represent grains per gallon :—

(1) An artesian boring ; (2) Burton deep well; (3) Deep well in the chalk; (4) Leeds supply; (5) Very deep boring; (6) Also a boring.

We will assume that a water analysis has been made, and yielded a quantitative knowledge of the bases and acids present, which you will admit can be obtained with every pretension to accuracy. A list of these bodies doubtless appears very interesting, and, if imposingly drawn up, might possibly: inspire respect, but it has one fatal disadvantage, which is its  almost, if not complete, uselessness in the hands of the manufacturer. A chemist might form some idea as to the constitution of the salts present, but the information deduced would be limited if one had to criticise the water as to its value for brewing purposes. The reason is not far to seek, for though a glance tells us, for example, that the dissolved salts are rich in lime and sulphuric acid, it does not follow that all the lime or all the acid exists in solution as calcium sulphate, for there may be other salts of lime and also sulphates of other bases present. It has hence become necessary to have as accurate an idea as possible of the salts present, and since these cannot be directly estimated, the acid and basic bodies are combined in the most probable manner, and I may say that the data thus obtained are of great value. In setting about this combination, the following facts are taken advantage of :—(1) The affinity of potassium for chlorine is greater than sodium, hence chlorine is combined with potassium before sodium; (2) Calcium nitrate is decomposed by potassium carbonate, sulphate, and chloride, the sodium salts probably acting in the same way. The alkalis are therefore given the preference over lime for nitric acid; (3) Magnesium sulphate is decomposed by calcium chloride, and consequently it seems natural to unite sulphuric acid with lime rather than with magnesia.

	A		B		C
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Silica	0.24	0.49	1.1	0.07	0.28	0.7
Alumina	0.18	0.49	0.04	0.07	0.61	0.43
Lime	16.34	36.33	17.37	2.01	9.92	13.46
Magnesia	2.09	10.15	0.49	0.52	3.24	4.6
Soda	5.89	7.25	1.72	0.77	21.07	10.7
Potash	-	0.86	-	-	-	Trace
Chlorine	7.98	2.37	1.99	0.8	6.08	3.64
Sulphuric acid (SO3)	19.86	52.29	5.14	1.36	12.42	14.31
Nitric acid (N2O5)	-	1.25	3.51	0.13	0.16	0.16
Sodium chloride	11.13	3.9	3.28	1.32	10.02	5.99
Sodium nitrate	-	1.97	-	0.19	0.25	0.25
Sodium sulphate	-	10.21	-	-	22.04	17.01
Sodium carbonate	-	-	-	-	9.59	-
Calcium chloride	1.9	-	-	-	-	-
Calcium nitrate	-	-	5.33	-	-	-
Calcium sulphate	33.76	77.87	8.74	2.31	-	8.02
Calcium carbonate	2.64	7.62	21.34	1.69	17.54	18
Magnesium carbonate	4.39	21.31	1.03	1.09	6.8	9.66
Silica, iron, and alumina	0.41	0.98	1.14	0.14	0.89	1.13
	54.23	125.45	40.86	6.74	67.13	108.6

* A paper read before a meeting of the Yorkshire section of the Society of Chemical Industry."
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 94.

You can see that the Leeds water has an extremely low mineral content. I really wish I knew what Tetley's water treatment was. Undfortunately, it isn't mentioned in their brewing records.