EZ Water v. Bru'n Water

[Ridire]

If you have used both, which do you prefer and why? I get drastically different calculations using these two spreadsheets, as well as drastically different ranges of where I should be.

Based on the actual pH I measured on my last brew, I'm inclined to say EZ Water is more accurate...certainly in terms of pH.

 

[Ridire]

If anyone cares, EZ Water was dead nuts on for pH again. Bru'n Water was way off. There is the possibility that I'm using BW wrong but all the numbers other than pH match between the two.

 

[kiblerjd]

I have used them both and actually ended up using brewers friend because i found it the most user friendly. Since using the software i have never used a pH meter to see how accurate it was but my beer tastes good now so i'm happy. If you are bored you should plug the numbers into brewers friend for that batch and see if it gives you good numbers.

 

[Ridire]

I have used them both and actually ended up using brewers friend because i found it the most user friendly. Since using the software i have never used a pH meter to see how accurate it was but my beer tastes good now so i'm happy. If you are bored you should plug the numbers into brewers friend for that batch and see if it gives you good numbers.

I will. I actually use Brewers Friend for other things, so why not?

 

[zwiller]

I had the opposite experience. EZ water was off and bru'n water (BNW) was on. BUT, EZ water was still close. That was 2.0 though. Haven't used it in a while or tried 3.0 but I also recall EZ water did not have sparge acidification which I need. BNW is a laid out a bit weird to me but that probably has to do with the functions of the spread sheet. I a long overdue to get with my uncle who is very fluent in excel and offer Martin some suggestions to improve it further.

In any event, we are truly blessed to have these tools. I brewed 15 years without them and had to learn water and pH the hard way, trial and error. I consistently make pro quality beers using promash and BNW.

 

[Ridire]

I'm going to keep using multiple spreadsheets and check them against one another. Until proven otherwise, though, I'm going to assume EZ hits the mash pH.

 

[kiblerjd]

There is a link for the "advanced calculator" when you are in the recipe mode.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Yooper]

If anyone cares, EZ Water was dead nuts on for pH again. Bru'n Water was way off. There is the possibility that I'm using BW wrong but all the numbers other than pH match between the two.

I'm going to keep using multiple spreadsheets and check them against one another. Until proven otherwise, though, I'm going to assume EZ hits the mash pH.

I had the opposite experience. Both Brewer's Friend and Bru'nwater were almost dead on, while EZ water was always a bit high.

I assume you're using a pH meter, and not pH strips but if you are using pH strips, they are off by about .3.

 

[Ridire]

I had the opposite experience. Both Brewer's Friend and Bru'nwater were almost dead on, while EZ water was always a bit high.

I assume you're using a pH meter, and not pH strips but if you are using pH strips, they are off by about .3.

Meter, calibrated while heating the strike.

 

[Yooper]

Meter, calibrated while heating the strike.

Yes, that is what I thought.

I find that Brewer's Friend and Bru'nwater always "match" but the EZ water just doesn't even come close for me. Weird that we are having totally opposite experiences, but I guess that is good to know!

 

[Ridire]

Yes, that is what I thought.

I find that Brewer's Friend and Bru'nwater always "match" but the EZ water just doesn't even come close for me. Weird that we are having totally opposite experiences, but I guess that is good to know!

I am now leaning towards thinking I'm doing something wrong with Bru'n Water.

 

[Yooper]

I am now leaning towards thinking I'm doing something wrong with Bru'n Water.

There is a learning curve with it, that's for sure, but the spreadsheet entry itself is fairly straightforward so probably not.

See where Brewer's Friend comes in, using the same information. That would be interesting!

 

[Ridire]

There is a learning curve with it, that's for sure, but the spreadsheet entry itself is fairly straightforward so probably not.



See where Brewer's Friend comes in, using the same information. That would be interesting!

I know. And I am very Excel savvy, so can at least see where the info is coming from to arrive at the outputs.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Either can work well -- it mainly depends on how close your particular malts (esp. the base malt) resembles the malt they used to calibrate the equations. There is no "correct" pH for a malt, so they had to assume some baseline values. Problem is that can vary.

Best thing you can do is run your own test with distilled water and your favorite malts. For example, I like to use Weyermann floor-malted pilsner which Weyermann says has a pH of 5.9, although I've measured more like 5.8. But either software assumes something like 5.7 so both are significantly wrong for that malt. So you can enter your own data to improve them.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I've been happy with BNW. It definitely had a learning curve but not too steep. I use a pH meter and calibrate it before every batch. My mash has never deviated from the BNW prediction by more than 0.1. In fact, my measured pH is consistently 0.05 - 0.1 higher than BNW predicts. This may be as much an indication that my water chemistry may have changed since it was last tested. Either way, it's consistent so I just take it into account when I design a recipe.

 

[Tutsbrew]

Brewers Friend has become my tinkering place for recipes, water additions and pH, etc. I've learned quite a bit from messing around there and reading the tutorials.

As a fellow noob, it's always good to find a place loaded with info that's easy to use... Just my .02.

 

[Homercidal]

I started with EZ water, but switched to BNW a few years ago. The science behind it just made more sense to me at the time. I haven't revisited EZ since then, so I have no idea how it compares now.

That said, Bru'nwater does have a small learning curve, but you should be able to get the hang of it with a few hours of play time.