A few words of warning regarding the use of Ca(OH)2 (Calcium Hydroxide) in mash water or in the mash

[Silver_Is_Money]

1) Calcium Hydroxide should only be used to both add Ca++ calcium ions and raise water pH if you are using DI, RO, or Distilled water as your source. If your source water contains Bicarbonate ions (HCO3-) the bicarbonate ions will bind to the Ca++ ions and remove them as a highly insoluble precipitate of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) which mostly drops out. Until most of your bicarbonate is removed via precipitation as CaCO3 you will not accomplish the adding of Ca++ ions to your water.

Ca(OH)2 + HCO3- → CaCO3↓ + H2O + OH-

2) If you are thinking about adding both Baking Soda (NaHCO3) and Calcium Hydroxide whereby to both add calcium and sodium, and also raise your waters pH, the very same issue will hinder and bite you, so never mix these two minerals as part of your mineralization routine, even if you are starting with DI, RO, or Distilled water as your source.

Ca(OH)2 + NaHCO3 → CaCO3↓ + H2O + NaOH

3) Any dissolved CO2 within your water, even if it is sourced from DI, RO, or Distilled, will combine with the calcium in Ca(OH)2 to form CaCO3 and drop out the calcium until nearly all CO2 is removed.

Ca(OH)2 + CO2→ CaCO3↓ + H2O

All of the above has me questioning the overall viability of using Ca(OH)2 whereby to add Ca++ calcium ions to your brewing water or to raise its pH. It does not appear to me (subject to correction) that any current mash pH assistant software is factoring in any of the above reactions. It's probably best to simply avoid using Ca(OH)2. Certainly don't use it if your water source is not DI, RO, or Distilled. It is not easily or readily predictable as to the actual outcome of its use.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I spend a lot of time reading peer reviewed brewing literature of a technical nature, and I can't recall seeing much (if any) advice recommending the use of Ca(OH)2 in the mash. There is however a load of advice in peer reviewed literature for it in regard to "Lime Softening".

 

[couchsending]

Personally I prefer the taste and texture of dark beers brewed with RO and Calcium Hydroxide additions (plus other Ca salts) to those brewed with baking soda. IMHO it’s the best way to add alkalinity if you need to.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Personally I prefer the taste and texture of dark beers brewed with RO and Calcium Hydroxide additions (plus other Ca salts) to those brewed with baking soda. IMHO it’s the best way to add alkalinity if you need to.

I agree that CaCO3 is fine for use as long as your waters bicarbonate mg/l is close to zero, as would be the case for decent quality RO water. However, some of us often prefer the presence of a moderate amount of sodium ions, albeit that these can also come from adding NaCl (such as for non iodized table salt).

But to claim it's the "best way" should (in my opinion) be prefaced with a warning that covers points 1 and 2 in this threads first post. Warning 3 being minimal in impact...

 

[CascadesBrewer]

However, some of us often prefer the presence of a moderate amount of sodium ions

Do people have a general sodium range they prefer? I have been meaning to play around with sodium levels, but have not done so. My water report lists 49 ppm, but based on county data and other people's reports, I suspect it varies from 20 to 35 most of the time. I don't add Sodium. In the rare instance that I need to raise the pH, I have used Baking Soda. I am not sure if pushing my Sodium up to 60 to 70 ppm is anything to worry about. My beers taste fine, but it is hard for me to pick out the impact of some Sodium in a big roasty stout.

I have thought about getting some Pickling Lime (Calcium Hydroxide) because I like the idea of separating pH adjustments and Sodium adjustments...though based on this thread that sounds like a bad idea with my tap water.

I am also curious of the shelf life of Pickling Lime. I use maybe 10 grams of Baking Soda a year in brewing, but I use it in the kitchen as well. A 1 lb bag of Pickling Lime would last me several lifetimes.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Do people have a general sodium range they prefer? I have been meaning to play around with sodium levels, but have not done so. My water report lists 49 ppm, but based on county data and other people's reports, I suspect it varies from 20 to 35 most of the time.

As mentioned above, I review a lot of older peer reviewed documents on brewing, and I can say that opinions on sodium have changed from the 1920's-30's to today, with its addition being progressively lowered over time. I'm not of the opinion that this lowering has been done to improve flavor. Rather I believe it to have more likely been done in regard to concerns for the health aspects of sodium. Most older documents tend to tout its beneficial flavor aspects.

One 1963 journal stated that up to 500 ppm NaCl (which would mean 196.7 ppm Na+ and 303.3 ppm Cl-) was beneficial in ales, with 250 ppm (as NaCl, and not as broken down into constituent ions) being for mild lagers "acceptable", and with (again I presume for mild lagers) 75-150 ppm (again as NaCl) being "ideal". See page 328 in the upper right hand column of the attached document.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1963.tb01933.x

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

In the above post, the Na+ considered "ideal" for mild ales would equate to ~30 to ~60 ppm. I presume the noticeably higher levels specified as [upper level] "beneficial" were more intended for darker ales. I also presume that up at least 1963 the concern for sodium levels as regard to health were not much of a factor, and taste was the main factor.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

According to this 'Scientific American' article the war on salt began in circa 1977. And it (the article, not me, as my disclaimer*) argues that there is no basis for it.

*Don't shoot the messenger....

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

 

[CascadesBrewer]

ne 1963 journal stated that up to 500 ppm NaCl (which would mean 196.7 ppm Na+ and 303.3 ppm Cl-) was beneficial, with 250 ppm (as NaCl, and not as broken down into constituent ions) being for mild ales "acceptable", and with (again I presume for mild ales) 75-150 ppm (again as NaCl) being "ideal". See page 328 in the upper right hand column of the attached document.

Interesting. I assume that "in the copper" means in the boil kettle. It makes sense as to not lose some of the additions to the grain. I have been trying to focus my learning/understanding on Sulfate, Chloride and pH, but I keep feeling I should pay more attention to Sodium levels. It should be fairly easy to dose some beers to play around with different levels.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

New problem for Ca(OH)2 in the mash.

Now that the concept of RA is teetering on the brink of destruction, if it fails to be a constant, and becomes instead a variable, there will be no means by which to project the downward shift impact of the Ca++ ion portion of Ca(/OH)2 from one grist to the next.

In order to know how much Ca(OH)2 to add whereby to move a grist to a desired mash pH both the degree of upward pH movement of the two OH- ions and the downward pH movement of the Ca++ must be known and fixed. For the OH- this is pretty much a slam dunk, but for the Ca++ this relationship must remain true:

mEq's_RA = mEq's_Total_Alkalinity - [(mEq's_Ca++/3.5) + (mEq's_Mg++/7)]

If the 3.5 is not constant, but rather varies with the components of the grist, then the above equation loses its validity and meaning, and research chemists Barth and Zaman have already detonated this equation. They ran repeated test batches where the 3.5 denominator ranged in actuality from 7.2 to 14.8 depending upon which base malts were being tested, and never got close to 3.5. Therefore the impact of Ca++ upon pH shift is not predictable, and therefore the impact of Ca(OH)2 as a whole upon mash pH shift gets dragged into unpredictability right along with it.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

It turns out to be that if you add Ca(OH)2 under the presumption that Kolbach is always 100% correct as applied to the mash, then you must add calcium hydroxide at a ratio of 0.617 grams Ca(OH)2 to 1 gram of Baking Soda, whereby to allow for more OH- in order to counter the Ca++. And if you think oppositely that calcium has zero impact upon mash pH, then you must add Ca(OH)2 at a ratio of 0.441 grams of Ca(OH)2 to 1 gram of Baking Soda, since there is no need to fight OH- against Ca++ (or more properly against H+ liberated by Ca++). And if we really don't likely know the impact for Kolbach within the mash (as we have learned from Barth and Zaman), we can never know where between these two extremes of ratio that our grist resides whereby to determine in advance how much Ca(OH)2 to add.

 

[tracer bullet]

Bump of a little bit old thread here.

A while back I made this thread: Ca(OH)2 Slaked Lime Calcium Hydroxide - Awful Flavor?

In it I described using slaked lime and having it taste terrible. I figured it was because of the stupid high levels as a ratio to the water I'd mixed it in, and when added to the rest of the water it'd be fine. I went on my merry way and brewed a fairly decent beer. Tonight I'm prepping water for brew day tomorrow, and once again got interested in my mash water. It was cloudy, and tasted terrible. I just couldn't go onwards with it, and started digging in again. And of course I found my old thread, and this one as well.

I added 1.5 grams of slaked lime to 3.5 gallons of water to prep for an almost-Imperial stout (3 gallon batch). Also added a little baking soda as well, 1.0 grams, not minding a bit of Na. This is to my local filtered water, which is generally rain runoff and on the soft side (I've done a couple Ward's analysis on it). All my addition #'s seemed OK, target pH seemed OK, the different calculators gave different results but no flags, looked good.

Seeing the 1st post above, which I missed back when it was made, explains a lot. I had my tap water (~ 45 ppm HCO3 bicarbonate), and a little slaked lime, and a little baking soda. None of those seemed like much, fit within normal uses, but what an awful combination. The water was cloudy, and tasted terrible. So, yeah, do not use slaked lime in tap water with typical HCO3 levels for brewing, nor mix the lime with baking soda!

Larry, thank you for sharing your knowledge, even if it takes a while to sink in or be useful to someone. Now that I've put it all together, I'll be heading back to the basement to dump tomorrow's mash water and start that part of my prep over.

 

[sarandos25]

@Silver_Is_Money

I have been trying to use Calcium Hydroxide to fix my low pH issues during mash and continue to fail. Chemistry is not my strong suit, and I am clearly missing something. I will provide as much information as I have to see if you can maybe point me in the right direction:

Source Water: Tap, pH 6.9-7.1 on average

Water Test Results from Brewlab kit
Ca <5 ppm
Mg 2.4 ppm
Na 40 ppm
Cl 30 ppm
SO 25 ppm
Alkalinity CaCO3 20 ppm
Alkalinity HCO3 24 ppm

Independent Professional Lab Test
Total Alkalinity CaCO3 8 ppm
Alkalinity Carbonate (CaCo3) 0 ppm
Alkalinity Bicarbonate (aCaCo3) 8 ppm
Total Hardness (CaCo3) 0 ppm
Calcium Hardness (CaCo3) 0 ppm


Already there I understand that something is off between the brewlab results and the sophisticated lab test.

My grain bill is very light for my IPAs and Wheat IPAs. Using my last brew as an example:

Mash Water 8 gallons
Weyermann Pale Ale 15.4 lb
Flaked Oats 4.4 lb
Weyermann Wheat 1.3 lb
Weyermann CaraRed 0.6 lb

Salt additions to the mash water: 5.1 grs of slaked lime; 5.8 grs of Calcium Chloride, 2.6 gr of Magnesium Chloride; 1.7 gr gypsum, and 0.9 gr of epsom - These are informed by Bru'n Water to achieve my target water profile and raise the pH 0.4 points (I put a plug -an acid addition in the adjustment tab to bring the pH down to what I actually observe)

pH readings through the mash were between 4.6 and 4.8!! I had hoped the slaked lime addition would help me but it isn't doing much; I even threw in another 4 grs of slaked lime during the mash to see if anything would happen and no real change.

I found this braukiser article and method to do the slaked lime overnight, it may be my next test but I am not sure it addresses what I need.

Thank you in advance for any guidance!! Please let me know if any other data point is needed.

FYI - This is in Colombia, access to RO water is not really an option at my scale.

 

[AdjunctBrewer]

Try posting screenshots of the tabs in your Bru N Water spreadsheet. There may be an error somewhere.

You might also try Larry's spreadsheet, Mash Made Easy. It might give different results based on his points of view expressed above.

 

[DuncB]

Have you looked after your pH meter with the bulb kept in the correct medium, then recalibrated the pH meter with the correct media?

Did you let the sample cool to around 20C before measuring, also when in the mash did you take your sample?

You seem to have mixed units in your brew plan , pounds of grain and grams of salt additions. No error with units anywhere in your plan?

My figures without knowing your exact start water using brewfather get a pH of of 5.6 with no CaOH and with the CaOH is 5.82.

I assumed 30 litres of water and no sparge water.

What profile are you targetting?

 

[marc1]

@Silver_Is_Money

I have been trying to use Calcium Hydroxide to fix my low pH issues during mash and continue to fail. Chemistry is not my strong suit, and I am clearly missing something. I will provide as much information as I have to see if you can maybe point me in the right direction:

Source Water: Tap, pH 6.9-7.1 on average

Water Test Results from Brewlab kit
Ca <5 ppm
Mg 2.4 ppm
Na 40 ppm
Cl 30 ppm
SO 25 ppm
Alkalinity CaCO3 20 ppm
Alkalinity HCO3 24 ppm

Independent Professional Lab Test
Total Alkalinity CaCO3 8 ppm
Alkalinity Carbonate (CaCo3) 0 ppm
Alkalinity Bicarbonate (aCaCo3) 8 ppm
Total Hardness (CaCo3) 0 ppm
Calcium Hardness (CaCo3) 0 ppm


Already there I understand that something is off between the brewlab results and the sophisticated lab test.

My grain bill is very light for my IPAs and Wheat IPAs. Using my last brew as an example:

Mash Water 8 gallons
Weyermann Pale Ale 15.4 lb
Flaked Oats 4.4 lb
Weyermann Wheat 1.3 lb
Weyermann CaraRed 0.6 lb

Salt additions to the mash water: 5.1 grs of slaked lime; 5.8 grs of Calcium Chloride, 2.6 gr of Magnesium Chloride; 1.7 gr gypsum, and 0.9 gr of epsom - These are informed by Bru'n Water to achieve my target water profile and raise the pH 0.4 points (I put a plug -an acid addition in the adjustment tab to bring the pH down to what I actually observe)

pH readings through the mash were between 4.6 and 4.8!! I had hoped the slaked lime addition would help me but it isn't doing much; I even threw in another 4 grs of slaked lime during the mash to see if anything would happen and no real change.

I found this braukiser article and method to do the slaked lime overnight, it may be my next test but I am not sure it addresses what I need.

Thank you in advance for any guidance!! Please let me know if any other data point is needed.

FYI - This is in Colombia, access to RO water is not really an option at my scale.

I don't think you need RO water - your source looks neutral enough to work with easily.

Something doesn't seem right here... I wouldn't think that your water plus the mineral additions (without the slaked lime) would need the pH raised.

A pH in the mash in the 4s with that grain bill and slaked lime already added is not likely. Is your mash converting?

Please walk us through your pH measuring process in detail so we can troubleshoot, that seems to be a good candidate for the error source.

Also,confirming all the chemicals used in the water additions might be helpful. We had an issue a while ago where one of the acids provided by the supplier was much stronger than labeled, and caused problems.

 

[DuncB]

@marc1
I think I remember that thread where the acid was much stronger than the indicated or planned strength, there was terrible efficiency.

My calculation with a fairly bland water profile down here would indicate that I need to add acid rather than alkali for that grain bill.

If @sarandos25 could Test a solution of some of the Calcium Hydroxide to prove that it is very basic would be useful.

Tasting the grain to check that there hadn't been a substitution error of sourmalt or acid malt at the supplier is also a good idea.

A final post ferment pH of 4.4 wouldn't be unreasonable with certain ferment styles.

 

[sarandos25]

I'll try to address all the comments made.

I treat the mash water and sparge water separately given the system I have. It is a 3 vessel system with capacity for about 38 liters. For the mash we use a 3L/Kg ratio, for the IPA we had 9.8Kg of grist, and added 30Ltr of tap water. The water is heated to 81 C, and sent to the mashing vessel, there I add the salts:

Salt additions to the mash water: 5.1 grs of slaked lime; 5.8 grs of Calcium Chloride, 2.6 gr of Magnesium Chloride; 1.7 gr gypsum, and 0.9 gr of epsom - These are informed by Bru'n Water to achieve my target water profile and raise the pH 0.4 points (I put a plug -an acid addition in the adjustment tab to bring the pH down to what I actually observe). Target mash pH is 5.2.

The OG achieved was 1.065, my implied efficiency based on brewersfriends is about 70% - I am not sure if I am achieving all the conversion I should because of the low pH. I used LalBrew New England, and the beer is down to 1.013-1.014 after 7 days fermenting. I have done this beer now about 5 times, every time with similar results.

Since I have been trying to fix the pH, I measure it multiple times. Yes, the pH meter is calibrated, tap water reads normal at about 7 pH which is what the city water report also indicates. I take the samples and cool them down to somewhere below 25 C and take the reading. The readings for this batch are were:

pH	20' Mash	4.67
pH	30' Mash	4.77
pH	45' Mash	4.64
pH	60' Mash	4.92

@DuncB How can I test the effectiveness of the Calcium Hydroxide? If I have say 2 liters of tap water, 1) how many grams should I add and what should be the expected magnitud change in pH? Based on the method I found in braukiser (this), they recommend adding salts and avoiding atmospheric carbon dioxide intake, 2) should I follow that guidance?, 3) whatever pH change I should expect, is that instantaneous or do I need to give it time for it to take place?

Thank you!!

WATER USED
Mash: 30 Ltrs
Sparge: 36 are treated; of which ~19 are used for the sparge
Pre-Boil Volume: 37.5 Ltrs
Post-Boil Volume: 34.5 ltrs

GRAIN BILL
Weyermann Pale Ale 7Kg
Flaked Oats 2kg
Weyermann Wheat 0.6Kg
Weyermann CaraRed 0.25 Kg

 

[marc1]

I'll try to address all the comments made.

I treat the mash water and sparge water separately given the system I have. It is a 3 vessel system with capacity for about 38 liters. For the mash we use a 3L/Kg ratio, for the IPA we had 9.8Kg of grist, and added 30Ltr of tap water. The water is heated to 81 C, and sent to the mashing vessel, there I add the salts:

Salt additions to the mash water: 5.1 grs of slaked lime; 5.8 grs of Calcium Chloride, 2.6 gr of Magnesium Chloride; 1.7 gr gypsum, and 0.9 gr of epsom - These are informed by Bru'n Water to achieve my target water profile and raise the pH 0.4 points (I put a plug -an acid addition in the adjustment tab to bring the pH down to what I actually observe). Target mash pH is 5.2.

The OG achieved was 1.065, my implied efficiency based on brewersfriends is about 70% - I am not sure if I am achieving all the conversion I should because of the low pH. I used LalBrew New England, and the beer is down to 1.013-1.014 after 7 days fermenting. I have done this beer now about 5 times, every time with similar results.

Since I have been trying to fix the pH, I measure it multiple times. Yes, the pH meter is calibrated, tap water reads normal at about 7 pH which is what the city water report also indicates. I take the samples and cool them down to somewhere below 25 C and take the reading. The readings for this batch are were:

pH	20' Mash	4.67
pH	30' Mash	4.77
pH	45' Mash	4.64
pH	60' Mash	4.92

@DuncB How can I test the effectiveness of the Calcium Hydroxide? If I have say 2 liters of tap water, 1) how many grams should I add and what should be the expected magnitud change in pH? Based on the method I found in braukiser (this), they recommend adding salts and avoiding atmospheric carbon dioxide intake, 2) should I follow that guidance?, 3) whatever pH change I should expect, is that instantaneous or do I need to give it time for it to take place?

Thank you!!

WATER USED
Mash: 30 Ltrs
Sparge: 36 are treated; of which ~19 are used for the sparge
Pre-Boil Volume: 37.5 Ltrs
Post-Boil Volume: 34.5 ltrs

GRAIN BILL
Weyermann Pale Ale 7Kg
Flaked Oats 2kg
Weyermann Wheat 0.6Kg
Weyermann CaraRed 0.25 Kg

The pH of your tap water is not a good measurement to check your pH meter. Your water has little buffering capacity and can change pH fairly easily. How does measuring your calibration solutions work? Do the 4 and 7 solutions measure out as expected? What pH meter do you use?

Maybe something is off with your calibration solutions? Are they expired?

 

[DuncB]

Thanks for the further info,
30 litres water used in the mash and treated with quantities of salts as described above.
Then 19 litres of sparge water and treated with what salts?
I'm a little unclear re this
"Sparge: 36 are treated; of which ~19 are used for the sparge"

Once I've got the values clear I'll put it in brew father and see what it says.
I still think I'd be adding acid rather than loads alkali to get the pH to 5.2

 

[AdjunctBrewer]

Post screenshots of your Bru N Water tabs.

The slaked lime addition in Bru N Water isn't necessary.

5.2 pH is on the lower end for an IPA.

The calculated mash acid addition doesn't even seem necessary as the pH comes out to 5.4-5.5 with the addition of the other salts.

Using the figures you've give in your posts, to reach your target pH of 5.2 in the mash, you would need an acid addition of 37.2 ml of 10% phosphoric or 3.6 ml of 88% lactic in the mash.

 

[marc1]

Is it possible that one of your grains is misidentified?
Could one of them be acidulated and mislabeled?

 

[DuncB]

@AdjunctBrewer
your new calculations corroborate my initial guesstimate.
I can't see any need to use any calcium hydroxide and agree a pH drop is more in need.
@marc1 I didn't get any response to the question in #17 about malt substitution.

@sarandos25 It would be good to see the Bru n water calculations as a screenshot.
This may well solve the mystery. Neither @AdjunctBrewer or myself can get our calculations to promote a CaOH addition.

 

[mabrungard]

Be aware that slaked lime (pickling lime) will readily degrade if any moisture and CO2 in the air contacts that solid. That's a reason that I prefer to use sodium bicarbonate to add alkalinity to my mashing water. Sodium bicarbonate is more stable.

Don't worry about adding too much sodium to the beer since you're only adding sodium bicarbonate to the mashing water and the sodium increase is more likely to be about half the computed mash sodium content due to dilution from the sparging water. The other consideration regarding sodium content in brewing water is that it's not really a problem and is typically beneficial to flavor in styles like porter and stout. I wouldn't worry about having an overall sodium content in brewing water in the 50 to 100 ppm range for these styles.

 

[sarandos25]

@AdjunctBrewer
your new calculations corroborate my initial guesstimate.
I can't see any need to use any calcium hydroxide and agree a pH drop is more in need.
@marc1 I didn't get any response to the question in #17 about malt substitution.

@sarandos25 It would be good to see the Bru n water calculations as a screenshot.
This may well solve the mystery. Neither @AdjunctBrewer or myself can get our calculations to promote a CaOH addition.

@marc1 @DuncB no chance of using a mislabeled malt. I have made multiple batches through multiple malt orders.

I agree with @AdjunctBrewer screen shot. That's what I get, which is why I added a "plug" in the adjustment tab (with an acidic addition). Right now I have a relatively cheap pH meter, but when I have calibrated it with the 4 and 7 solutions it still gave me this type of result. I will invest in the Milwaukee 102, but it will take me a few weeks to get it here.

Above has the plug to align the expected mash pH to what I have observed, the one below I removed the slaked lime addition so you see the 4.8 estimation, if on top of that I remove the "plug" my expected pH at mash would be 5.45, but I have never observed that.

If all of you that understand water chemistry could humor me for a bit, let's assume the pH meter is not the issue. Is there a water composition that could lead to such low pH in the mash, ie. could my brewlab test be inaccurate? E.g. if I were to change the Alkalinity figure, then can I get the calculator to predict the pH I have observed multiple times of around 4.8 with this exact grain bill?

 

[sarandos25]

@mabrungard - I was not aware of the CO2 exposure having such an issue on slaked lime.

1. Could you please let me know if there is a way to test the slaked lime potency to determine if it has degraded?
2. If I try to achieve the same change in pH via Baking Soda, here is the resulting mash water profile, knowing that this water profile is for a NEIPA, would you be concerned by the high Sodium ppm presence?

​

 

[AdjunctBrewer]

@sarandos25 - The "User Custom" water profile should not be set to the final mash water profile, instead it should be set to your base water profile (what you are starting with). The line "Mash Water Profile" in the Water Profile Adjustment tab should then read your desired mash water profile after adjustment with mineral additions.

 

[DuncB]

Thanks for the extra information.
You have a water profile treating 36 litres of sparge water and you are only using 19 litres I think you said.
Why not just put all of the salts in the mash water and get the pH reading and projection from that.
Just adjust the sparge water to ensure the pH is around 5.2 so no tannins washed out ( if you believe in that).

 

[DuncB]

Just noted as well that the lactic acid is 85%, I don't use lactic acid very often but isn't it 88%?

 

[sarandos25]

@sarandos25 - The "User Custom" water profile should not be set to the final mash water profile, instead it should be set to your base water profile (what you are starting with). The line "Mash Water Profile" in the Water Profile Adjustment tab should then read your desired mash water profile after adjustment with mineral additions.

View attachment 866191

@AdjunctBrewer I don't believe that to be accurate... User Custom is an entry I made for the NEIPA profile I am trying to achieve. The base water profile I am starting with is the row "Existing Water Profile" which is picked up from the Water Report Input tab.

Re: the comment on acid strength - to be clear, I am NOT using acid at all when I brew. This is just a plug in the calculator to adjust down the estimated mash to reflect what I have observed in previous batches. I appreciate the correction, so I'll fix it, but it doesn't change the purpose /result.