Seeking a Crisp Finish

Ah, in search of that wonderful crisp finish. I too prefer beers that do not linger on the palate and have a certain zip to them, and I have spent a fair amount of time in pursuit of this quality. I will attempt to address this sequentially with the various things in the brewing process that affect crispness.

The first thing that comes to mind is malt selection. Very pale malts are a good start if you want a base that lacks the rich toastiness of darker selections, including ingredients like ale malt. Under modified malts are also something to consider since malt modification influences the Maillard reaction during malt kilning.

You may even want to play around with diluting the protein content of wort by using adjuncts like corn, rice, and cane or corn sugar. In my experience, any ingredient that reduces “maltiness” is likely to give the finished beer more zip. At Springfield Brewing Company we brew a very sessionable wheat beer and there is no doubt that the addition of wheat malt and raw wheat has a significant influence on this beer’s crisp finish.

“It’s the water,” declared Olympia Brewing Company. When looking at the most influential beer style of the modern history of brewing, Pilsner, water certainly was, and continues to be, key for this style. The water in Pilsen is very soft and, most importantly, very low in carbonate. Most ground water is not great for brewing this type of beer and this is why most of the world’s breweries have been treating water since the earliest understanding of water chemistry. In my opinion, the easiest method to use for treating brewing water, especially on a small scale, is reverse osmosis (RO) followed by the addition of whatever minerals are desired for the particular brew.

I like using a blend of calcium chloride and calcium sulfate with a calcium level between 50 and 100 mg/L for crisp ales and lagers. If a beer seems a little “flabby” one thing commonly done is to increase calcium sulfate additions and to decrease calcium chloride additions, while maintaining constant calcium levels. Conversely, beers that are a bit too snappy can be softened by increasing calcium chloride additions and tuning back on the calcium sulfate. These tweaks are easiest accomplished when brewing the same recipe over and over again. Reverse osmosis-treated water can inexpensively be purchased from
stores selling water by the gallon from self-serve dispensers.

There is no doubt that mashing temperature is a very useful tool when trying to manipulate wort fermentability and finished beer flavor. I assume from your question that you use the infusion mash method. Conducting your mash at 149 °F (65 °C) usually results in higher fermentability than an infusion mash at 158 °F (70 °C). We use step mashing at Springfield Brewing Company and in some of our beers we use a very long (up to two hours), low temperature rest at 144 °F (62 °C) and then we complete conversion at 154 °F (68 °C).

If you use reverse osmosis water with 50-100 mg/L calcium your mash pH will probably be right around 5.4-5.6 for most pale and amber colored worts. If the pH is higher than this you may want to consider adding some food-grade lactic acid to reduce the pH to 5.4. If this does not have the romance you prefer in your craft, you can use the Reinheitsgebot-approved method of biological acidification . . . basically a fancy way of describing the addition of a small portion of sour mash to the mash as a way of adjusting mash pH. You can also add a small portion of acidulated malt, also known as sour malt or sauermalz, to the mash.

The next topic to add to this discussion is bitterness level. Hop bitterness balances malt sweetness and a little tilt in the balance towards bitterness can add snap to many styles. To my palate, this is one important reason why Pilsner beers are crisp. And the story is far from over . . . yeast strain, yeast load in the finished beer, carbonation level and serving temperature also affect crispness. Some beer flavors, like diacetyl and dimethyl sulfide, can “round out the palate” and detract from crispness. And other aromas, most notably hydrogen sulfide, can enhance crispness when present in moderate levels.

I hope I have helped scratch the surface of this deep and interesting topic. If there is any “trick” to brewing better beer it is learning how to influence this thing we call “crispness.” Happy homebrewing, Jim!

Response by Ashton Lewis.