Need some help with Bru'n Water

Got my Ward labs water report today and went to plug the results in to the free version of Bru'n Water, and it says my water report is unbalanced.

I'm really hoping this is just user error on my part, and I'm hoping someone out there can help me out.

Here's what I've got. Am I doing this wrong, or should I scrap my water altogether and build from RO?

 

You are only 1/100 of a point away, and that's parts per million, I would think you are just fine but I'm not the one to ask.

 

So if I want to work with straight RO water, do I set the dilution to 100% like this?

 

Your water is crap for brewing. As is mine.
I use 100% RO water from the grocery store, and invested in a good TDS meter.
So far, they appear to service the machine regularly.

 

Sorry for the naivety, but TDS meter??

 

"Total Dissolved Solids". It's a measurement of how well the membrane is filtering.
My store RO is consistently 10-25 ppm.
My tap runs 400-500 ppm

 

Another naive question then - couldn't I just use distilled water and avoid the cost of the TDS meter?

 

Absolutely!
But over time, you might find the cost of distilled over bulk RO water will be more expensive than a meter.
My RO store water is 0.39 / gallon.
The TDS meter is a great tool, but not absolutely necessary. If you're confident of the RO source, you could just try a few brews with Bru'nwater adjustments to see how it goes.

 

Got that right! The Mg level is way too high for good brewing. Dilution is mandatory. Yes, you can set the dilution as shown in post #3.

Get the TDS meter, its cheap insurance against getting water from a failing machine.

 

Thank you, sir!

Quick question, though, since I'm still learning how to use your spreadsheet..

How do I use the results from the TDS meter with the Bru'n Water spreadsheet? That is, let's say I test my RO water and get a result of 150 ppm. Where do I plug that value in to the spreadsheet?

 

You don't. The TDS value is sort of a go/no-go assessment. If the TDS is much over 50 ppm, then its not really RO water and the machine is failing. Don't assume that the water is RO quality in that case.

 

Right on, thanks again!

Looking forward to my next brew and seeing how it compares to the last batch!

 

More questions...

Is mash acidification always necessary? I entered all my data for a recipe I'm working with and it calculated a mash pH of 5.6. For grins I added a little lactic acid to the mash water and it dropped the pH to 5.5.

Is that even worth it?

Also, when calculating the sparge acidification with RO water, what values do I use for the alkalinity and pH? Is sparge acidification always recommended?

I have a pH meter. I assume I just test the RO water, plug in that result, and then tell the spreadsheet what pH I want to get to. I guess the alkalinity is the main issue.

 

Great info here. I use RO water and I've been following the general guideline of 1 tsp of calcium chloride and 2% of grain bill being acid malt for my last few extracts and my first all grain which was a wheat . When plugging my all grain wheat beer values into this spreadsheet, I get aa good PH of 5.4.

I am brewing Raging Red Irish Red Ale this weekend so I plugged those variables into the spreadsheet. With acid malt included my PH is predicted to be low at 4.9. Removing acid malt brings me back to 5.2. I do not have a pH meter but plan to get strips to at least get a ballpark of where my RO is and where the mash is.

Does the 4.9 ph with 2% acid malt seem right? Everything I've read basically says I need acid malt for anything but a stout or unless using roasted malts. The grain bill and selected malt type additional details are below:

Batch Size: 5.5 gal

8.75 lb 2 - base malt
1.1 lb - crystal malt
0.55 lb Carafoam - crystal malt
0.5 lb Melanoidin - crystal malt
3.5 oz Acid Malt - acid malt

3.5 gallons RO treated with 3.5 g Calcium Chloride for the mash
4.9 gallons RO treated with 4.9 g Calcium Chloride for the batch sparge

Predicted ph using spreadsheet, selecting 100% dilution and is 4.9. I've input the sparge and mash water volumes, batch size, added grain bill, and calcium chloride.

 

Weird. I type your info into Bru'N'Water and I end up with a pH of 5.4 including your acid malt.

This is for a 3.5gal mash and a 5.0 gal finished batch size correct? Do you have your water volumes set to the correct amount? Are you sure you entered the acid malt as ounces rather than pounds?

 

It is a batch size of 5.5 gallons. I definitely typed it in as and checked mynwater volumes. Without the acid malt I get 5.2 which is still off from what you have. Hmmmm. I must have an error somewhere. Maybe I'll start with the blank template again. Thank you for plugging the info in as a sanity check.

 

You might have some malts marked as roast rather than base malts perhaps? I'm really not sure what else could have lowered your pH so much. Acid malt, liquid acid (on the water adjustment page) or roast malts (mash acidification page) will all lower your pH. Incorrect water volumes will also mess things up... One of those things must be incorrect somewhere.

 

No luck! I redownloaded the spreadsheet and started with the basic template. I added everything in and cannot get it to match what you got. I entered the numbers from yesterday with no luck. I then modified it based on a pH reading I took on my RO along with the total alkalinity (didn't really change anything) but it still comes out low. I've attached a link to my screenshots (sorry can't figure out how to embed from Google Drive). I must be missing something (probably something very obvious). :smack:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8Gl-JzWJygESXF4WXc3LUZrcEk&usp=sharing

 

I tried the EZ Water spreadsheet and I got a 5.3 ph which is about what you got in Bru'n Water and a whole 0.5 ph higher than I got in Bru'n Water. Really strange.

Time to start prepping for the brew day.