Beersmith and editing Mash pH - Help needed

[tschafer]

Question.

I have my water profile for my city.

I run that through the water profile settings. Say I want to target Burton on Trent water.

BS software tool gets me my target numbers to treat my water. Excellent!

I treat my strike water with whatever chemicals are needed.

I add that to mash and stir.

I check my mash pH. It says read 5.9 pH

Is there some way to tell BS what my mash pH is and have the software tell me "No problem brother; add XX of Gypsum, and XX of Lactic Acid and that'll get you to 5.2pH"

That is my problem. BS will helps me treat my strike water, but I don't know how to get it to help me reach my target Mash pH.

 

[PastorofMuppets]

you will be better off using bru'n water for these easy calculations.
BS water tool is way short of the mark compared to bru'n water in my very humble opinion

 

[acidrain]

I prefer Brewers Friend... does exactly what you described, and honestly, if you enter all the profiles, it will tell you exactly what the PH will be... very accurately.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/
One thing, unless you've tested your water, you really don't know where you're at. The standard profiles in the software are usually off.

 

[tschafer]

So what I'm seeing is that Beersmith just doesn't have a mash pH adjustment tool/calculator…Which is really disappointing. You would think something as important as mash pH would be included in the software. Bummer.

 

[kyt]

If you listen to this show, roundabout the 4:00 mark, John Palmer says the water pH doesn't really matter all that much.

Brew Strong: Water II - How to Adjust Your Water
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/500

 

[tschafer]

Kyt - i think you should keep listening to that podcast. you'll find that pH is very important

 

[jbaysurfer]

Beer smith is about recipe formulation, not water chemistry. That's what Bru'n water is for.

Yes...ph matters.

 

[tschafer]

Surfer - That's seems to be what I'm seeing across the board. It's a shame too. Seem's like something that should be add to that software. Oh well. I've got my pH meter and some acid. I'll be find, but would have enjoyed and preferred to stay in the BS program versus using Bru'n water or Palmers spreadsheet

 

[jbaysurfer]

Surfer - That's seems to be what I'm seeing across the board. It's a shame too. Seem's like something that should be add to that software. Oh well. I've got my pH meter and some acid. I'll be find, but would have enjoyed and preferred to stay in the BS program versus using Bru'n water or Palmers spreadsheet

Beersmith is powerful and fantastic software. Just look at the Bru'n water spreadsheet to understand the complexity it would take to program that all into beersmith. The fact is: most brewers aren't into water chemistry enough to justify putting that all in for Brad (the owner/programmer of beersmith), and the program would probably have to be considerably more expensive since he'd probably have to step up his technical consulting and programming hours to support it. As is, it's incredibly powerful for the price (IMHO).

Just think of them as tools. No tool does everything, sometimes you gotta swap out the circular saw for the jigsaw. ;-)

 

[kyt]

Kyt - i think you should keep listening to that podcast. you'll find that pH is very important

I did listen to it, I was listening to it while I was reading this thread. Ironically. How else would I have known Palmer said that around the 4:00 mark?
I wouldn't say pH is "very" important. It matters, but it just has to be close.
I check my pH every mash, but I have not once adjusted it.
"Very important" is fairly objective. Is the pH between 5.0-6.0? Eh, you'll be fine. I think they were saying 5.2-5.5 being ideal. The OP's 5.9 is not far from 5.5; sure he could try to bring it down a little bit more, but will it ruin the beer? Pfft no.
If it's 8.7, well yea sure you need to do something about that.