Ward Labs Mineral Analyses of Suarez Palatine Pils and Qualify Pils

As a sequel to the Ward Labs Mineral Analysis of Tree House Julius, I recently had Suarez Family Brewery Palatine Pils and Qualify Pils analyzed by Ward Labs!

As a sequel to the Ward Labs Mineral Analysis of Tree House Julius, I recently had Suarez Family Brewery Palatine Pils and Qualify Pils analyzed by Ward Labs!

After spending much of 2019 researching New England IPA, I shifted my focus to Pilsner for 2020. Despite never brewing a Pilsner and only brewing one Lager (way back in 2012), these days I find myself craving more and more Pilsner for its nuance, subtly and drinkability.

On my latest trip back east, I celebrated my birthday visiting several Hudson Valley breweries, including Suarez. After drinking Palatine Pils, Qualify Pils, State Pils, Hecto, Ms. Frank, Look No Further and Backroads on draft, I snagged cans of Palatine and Qualify to go. Currently, Palatine is ranked #2 and Qualify is ranked #4 on Beer Advocate’s German Pilsner list.

At the time of tasting the Suarez beers, I already had a working recipe of Mountain Pilsner in mind. At this point, I am adding the finishing touches to the recipe and like most recipes, I often end my quest with water chemistry. Traditional Pilsner brewing water is notoriously soft (fewer than 20 ppm of each mineral) and there is no shortage of recommend water profiles:

Sample Pilsner Brewing Water Profiles

MineralVery Soft¹Pilsner¹Pilsen²PseudoBohPils²Yellow Dry²American Lager²
Calcium (Ca), ppm22597205013
Magnesium (Mg), ppm8820106
Sodium (Na), ppm002858
Sulfate (SO4), ppm318981510537
Chloride (Cl), ppm39636354513
Bicarbonate (HCO3), ppm00160020
Alkalinity (CaCO3), ppm00130017
Residual Alkalinity (CaCO3), ppm-20-477-14-424

¹ Braukaiser
² Bru’n Water

After tasting the incredibly soft mouthfeel of Palatine and Qualify, I thought Dan Suarez may be doing something out-of-the-ordinary with his brewing water. Eager to investigate, I shipped one can of each to Ward Labs for water/beer mineral analyses. The results can be found below:

Ward Labs W-501 Brewer’s Test for Suarez Palatine Pils and Qualify Pils

Palatine Pils canned on 12/11/2019 and Qualify Pils canned on 11/12/2019. Purchased on 1/11/2020. Shipped to Ward Labs on 1/15/2020. Analyzed by Ward Labs on 1/17/2020.

MineralPalatine PilsQualify Pils
pH4.54.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm15111607
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm2.522.68
Cations / Anions, me/L34.2 / 11.439.5 / 13.0
Sodium (Na), ppm2726
Potassium (K), ppm767929
Calcium (Ca), ppm80.586.1
Magnesium (Mg), ppm112123
Total Hardness (CaCO3), ppm669728
Nitrate (NO3-N), ppm4.010.4
*Sulfate (SO4), ppm7269
Chloride (Cl), ppm307318
Carbonate (CO3), ppm< 1.0 < 1.0
Bicarbonate (HCO3), ppm51106
Total Alkalinity (CaCO3), ppm4287
Total Phosphorus (P), ppm299.50302.00
Total Iron (Fe), ppm0.02< 0.01

*Converted Ward Labs measured SO4-S to SO4 by multiplying by 3

Since the Ward Lab W-501 Brewer’s Test analyzes a lot of things, I trimmed the results down to the most pertinent brewing information and included the Tree House Julius results from 2019 as a reference.

Various Beers Analyzed By Ward Lab

MineralPalatine PilsQualify PilsJulius
Calcium (Ca), ppm80.586.164
Magnesium (Mg), ppm112123185
Sodium (Na), ppm272632
Sulfate (SO4), ppm7269474
Chloride (Cl), ppm307318299
Bicarbonate (HCO3), ppm51106172
Total Hardness (CaCO3), ppm669728931
Total Alkalinity (CaCO3), ppm4287141

Ignoring Julius for the moment, I was not too surprised to see the Palatine and Qualify results nearly identical. In fact, bicarbonate and total alkalinity were the only results with > 10% difference between the two beers. Bicarbonate is the main source of alkalinity in beer (total alkalinity is a calculation based on measured test results) and together they help raise the pH of the mash/beer. So why the large difference in bicarbonate/alkalinity between the Suarez beers? It may be due to a difference in grain bills (i.e wheat malt is less acidic than barley malt and therefore may require less sodium bicarbonate or calcium carbonate to target the appropriate mash pH.

Compared to Julius, the Suarez beers had higher levels of calcium and chloride. Calcium promotes protein coagulation and yeast flocculation while chloride enhances maltiness and a fuller mouthfeel in beer. Mike Tonsmeire‘s 2017 Brew Your Own experiment verified calcium levels decrease (36%) during the brewing process. We can expect the Palatine/Qualify brewing water calcium levels to be between 80 and 160 ppm (Tonsmeire’s brewing water). Surprisingly, the Suarez Pilsners had calcium levels higher than Julius, a prominent New England IPA! It is no coincidence that Suarez takes after Shaun Hill and his soft, pillowy beers – he worked closely with Hill at Hill Farmstead Brewery until 2013.

I can say with certainty that the Palatine and Qualify brewing water is much higher in calcium and chloride than the previously mentioned sample brewing water profiles. Despite the difference of ingredients and process used among Tonsmeire’s Cryo Lupulin NEIPA and Suarez Palatine and Qualify Pils, I thought it would be interesting to scale the finished beer profiles using the percent change found in the Tonsmeire experiment. Below is a possible brewing water profile for a Suarez-like beer:

MineralPalatine Pils% ChangeWater
Calcium (Ca), ppm80.5+ 36126
Magnesium (Mg), ppm112– 30754
Sodium (Na), ppm27– 2218
Sulfate (SO4), ppm72– 25320
Chloride (Cl), ppm307– 71180

9 Responses

  1. It would be interesting to have similar analysis for American mixed-ferm saisons; Side Project, Hill Farmstead, Casey, De Garde or Sante Adairius comes to mind. The first two producers are tight-lipped on the subject, the next two profess to favor low mineral levels and the last one reputably brews with ridiculously mineralic water.

    My guess is that they’re likely using water profiles pretty similar to NEIPA profiles (favoring chloride, but not neglecting sulfate), if perhaps somewhat scaled back, or start off with water in that general range and leverage the “well water” story for marketing purposes.

    1. Eventually I am going to explore saison water chemistry with some of the commercial examples you mentioned.

      As for Dan Suarez, he worked with Shaun Hill for a number of years so my guess is their brewing water profiles are very very similar. And with the results of the water analysis, you might be right – it could be the same/similar profile used for their NEIPAs.

      1. At Sante Adairius they pre-boil, decant, and filter, but don’t otherwise treat their water. Looking at water reports from the area and how those levels would be affected by this treatment they should start out with a profile somewhere around Ca 20, Mg 50, Na 45, Cl 35, SO4 60. Maybe somewhat higher if their water is notably worse than average for Capitola. Aside from the high Magnesium that’s pretty normal, even restrained. Sodium around 40-50 ppm is not uncommon either I think; Afterthough Brewing does the same for their saisons but inverts the Cl:SO4 ratio.

        1. Many Belgian breweries reportedly use water softeners, which could similarly result in higher sodium levels.

  2. How are you using the info to create recipes? That much chloride and magnesium is considered harmful in most water calculators. Thanks

  3. I hope I’m not too late to comment on this. As a professional brewer, I believe that Chris is correct on the magnesium and chloride additions. I always start with RO water and build my water profiles to meet certain objectives for each brew. Based on similar recipes that I have done and when comparing with published water profiles, the magnesium and chloride concentrations presented in the Ward Labs report are on the order of 7X – 10X normal brewing water rates. I found the calcium, sodium, and sulfate values to be reasonable and in line with what might be typical. In fact, the sodium values are very near the actual sodium values as reported in the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for 2022, as published by the City of Hudson, NY, Department of Public Works. Honestly, it almost seems as if someone missed a decimal point in the measurements or calculations when looking at magnesium and chloride.

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