I use BeerSmith to formulate all of my recipes and typically load the water profile for the beer style I am brewing from Bru n' Water into the water profile tool in BeerSmith and have the software calculate the adjustments for me. This works great, however there are a few limitations I am seeing and wonder if anyone has a solution for these problems. First, it only calculates mineral additions for the mash and does not divide them into sparge water additions. Should I be splitting these up and if so, how so? Also, one thing that Bru n' Water calculates that BeerSmith does not is acid additions. BeerSmith does not mention acid additions at all. How should this be calculated to complete my water profile additions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Brewing Water Calculators
- Thread starter alooper86
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It's not imperative to split mineral additions between the mashing and sparging water. In cases where the water mineralization is intended to be low, its actually beneficial to add all the minerals calculated for the entire water batch to only the mashing water. That can help boost the calcium content of the mashing water to aid in oxalate precipitation. Since I typically brew my lager styles with low water mineralization, I often use the 'add all minerals to the mash' technique for them. For my other brews, I often dose both the mashing and sparging water with their prescribed mineral and acid doses.
Acid additions can be a critical need when brewing pale beers. That need is further accentuated if your water source has much alkalinity. I was unaware that Beersmith doesn't provide you with guidance on acid additions. So it appears that brewers should use a tool like Bru'n Water to help guide acid additions and create a desirable mashing and kettle pH for their wort. High wort pH tends to produce beers that have a dull or flabby taste.
Acid additions can be a critical need when brewing pale beers. That need is further accentuated if your water source has much alkalinity. I was unaware that Beersmith doesn't provide you with guidance on acid additions. So it appears that brewers should use a tool like Bru'n Water to help guide acid additions and create a desirable mashing and kettle pH for their wort. High wort pH tends to produce beers that have a dull or flabby taste.
I typically brew ales that are lighter in color and per your suggestion would benefit from both mash and sparge additions. If, however, beersmith is only giving me totals for mash additions how should I go about dividing the total minerals into mash and sparge?
Oh man! I haven't tried out Beersmith in years, since I bought Promash way back when. I'm not sure how it handles mineral additions for the mashing and sparging volumes, or if it does at all. For that matter, I don't think that Promash does so either. But I never used it's mineral calculator.
You should be able to get the program to tell you how much of each mineral per gallon of water and then apply those rates for the actual volumes of mashing and sparging water...or you could use Bru'n Water to divvy those doses up based on the water volumes that you input.
You should be able to get the program to tell you how much of each mineral per gallon of water and then apply those rates for the actual volumes of mashing and sparging water...or you could use Bru'n Water to divvy those doses up based on the water volumes that you input.
Martin, too funny. I'm literally on PM as I write this, tweaking some old bitter recipes with some hops that weren't known to me at the time I last brewed - 2005?. It does give both mash and sparge mineral addition totals. I have found it a great program over the years, and am grateful I still have it to use.
Hey Martin
How about a check box in Bru'n water for add all salts to mash? I use this his technique a lot with my very soft water I use for brewing hoppy yellow ales. The gypsum addition pretty much takes care of any need for acid in a he mash if I put it all in the mash. Hi gen a little lactic in sparse water and a I'm set. Hardest part is telling bru'n water all salts in mash...
I just checked out the Bru'n water page and see the donation version seems to include this feature! Paypal on the way!
