Bru'n water help

[hcfd918]

After you enter your grist into the mash acidification page does this automatically adjust items on the water adjustment page or do I need to manually adjust something? Also there are red boxes in the water dilution profile but the finished water profile is all in green or light yellow. The dilution percentage is still zero. Any help would be appreciated as I am new to adjusting water and can't seem to find the answer to this anywhere.

 

[LovesIPA]

Disclaimer: The spreadsheet is quite complex and I am not claiming I've mastered it. There may be better answers or easier ways than the way I do things, but this is what works for me.

For a variety of reasons, it does not automatically calculate the water salt amounts for you. You must manually enter a salt amount (tab #3, column B, rows 17-24) and then compare the finished water profile values to those of the target water adjustment. They don't have to be exact, they just need to be close.

If you have your dilution % set to 0, it means you're be using straight tap water and adding salts to it. Most people don't do it that way, so I'm assuming that's not correct.

What kind of water are you using?

 

[hcfd918]

I have been using straight well water. It makes very good dark beers but I've been interested in changing my water profile to better fit IPA's. I just got my results back from Ward Laboratories and have been trying to figure all this out. You are right about the complexity of the spreadsheet. I'm sure it will take some time to figure out somewhat.

 

[hcfd918]

Here is what I'm see in regards to the red boxes on the dilution profile(if the picture attaches right).

 

[LovesIPA]

Your best results are going to come from using RO or distilled water and adding the appropriate salts for the style of beer.

You can send in your water to Ward labs, but that doesn't mean the water profile won't be different from year to year or even month to month. It may very well be the same - but unless you check it occasionally you won't know.

If you need less of a particular ion, you'll probably have to cut it with distilled or RO water anyway and built the other ions back up to where you want them.

I get RO water from a vending machine at the grocery store close to my house. For $1.25 I get 5 gallons of RO water. A few minutes with the spreadsheet and the 1/10 gram scale and I have water that's suitable for any style of beer I want to brew.

 

[coolharry]

I'm no master at this either, but the boxes in red are your target water adjustments. Basically those are the numbers you should shoot for with your additions. I can't make out the numbers, but seeing as how they're red I would assume there's already too much of those particular ions in your water. To reduce those you would have to mix in some other water.

 

[LovesIPA]

Here is what I'm see in regards to the red boxes on the dilution profile(if the picture attaches right).

They're in red because they're negative. What it's saying is that the target profile has less of a mineral than what the water you're using currently has.

Like I said, a dilution % of zero means that you're using straight tap water. You aren't cutting it with any distilled or RO water. The easiest way to reduce the concentration of an ion is to dilute tap water with RO or distilled water. Set the dilution % to 50% - or possibly higher if necessary - and the red boxes should go away.

 

[Yooper]

Your bicarb level is very high. Without dilution with RO or distilled water, you're looking at a too-high mash pH. That can cause some harsh flavor issues.

Once you get that page done, go to the mash area and see when you type in your grainbill (and the amount of mash water and the size batch) what the projected pH is.

 

[hcfd918]

OK, some of this spread sheet is starting to make sense now. I do understand the dilution of my existing water and how that will change things. For the profile of a yellow bitter this is what I have (my unmodified ppm / yellow bitter profile ppm) Calcium 58 / 50 , Magnesium 15 / 10 , Sodium 18 / 5 , Bicarbonate 249 / 0

I have my grist entered on the mash page. If I add 1 ml/gal phosphoric acid 77% concentration it gets me down to 5.4 pH on the mash page. When I do a 10% dilution with distilled water it takes me down to 5.3 pH and the following changes Calcium down to 52.2, Magnesium down to 13.5, Sodium at 18 and unchanged, Bicarbonates down to 20.1.

Does this seem reasonable?