Bru'n water newbie questions

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Merkur

BJCP #B1441
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Bru’n water newbie here. I am having problems using the Bru’n water calculator. I have taken screen shots of the tabs to show the water profile and the calculated additions. There appears to be a big gap in terms of the sulfate level and the pH. Please see the questions below.

Paul

Tab 1: Water Report Input:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/e6vU2yApVAV73CZ12

Tab 2: Sparge Acidification
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YotFYeITWyBa16B2

Tab 3: Water adjustment
https://photos.app.goo.gl/OiJkdVyUKFLROVk33
Q: Why is the Sulfate number so high in order to increase from my brewing water which has 5ppm and the target profile has 300 ppm. Can’t gypsum be added to achieve this?

Tab 4: Mash Acidification
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DoTcFUue7tfBiwvE2

Tab 5: Adjustment Summary

Q: Why is the mash pH shown as being too low? Doesn’t the addition of the Lactic acid take care of this?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mdHKYGXOJZxyy8uD2
 
All of your grains are set as Roast Malt. Change the Maris Otter and flaked barely to Base Malt. This may take care of the calculated low pH.

edit: change the Carapils to crystal malt. Missed that at first look. I'm sort of new to Bru'n Water also.
 
OK thanks Flars. I did that and the Estimated Mash pH on tab 4 is now 5.0. A lot closer. Obviously some sort of Mash Water alkalinity is needed and I expected Bru'n water to specify how many grams to add. On the Adjustment Summary tab the 5.0 pH is shown in red with the red dot on the bottom (X) axis of the chart.

What am I doing wrong here?

Also on Tab 3 (Water Profile) the sulfate is shown in orange at 575.1 with a not this should be under 150.

Thanks,

Paul
 
I am also fairly new to Bru'n Water so can't really give a good answer on why the sulfate is showing that high level.

I would reduce the sparge volume closer to 0.5 gallons of water per pound of grain. Six gallons seems very high for 3 pounds of base malt. I would also reduce the intended pH of the sparge water to 5.5. Tannins could be extracted from the grains at a pH of 6 and above.

Is this a partial mash recipe?
 
You have 3.9 g/gal of Gypsum going into 2.8 gallons of water. You need to lower that if you are targeting the Pale Ale profile.
 
Bru'n Water doesn't tell you what minerals or acids to add. You have to enter 'trial' doses of the minerals or acids that YOU have available, in a quest to bring your raw water closer to your target.

As pointed out above, you have entered a huge amount of gypsum in the water adjustment sheet and have therefore boosted the sulfate content well above a reasonable target. You'll need to back that dosage back. The high calcium dose from the gypsum also depresses mashing pH.

PS: Have you read the Instruction page in Bru'n Water? While most experienced users find that Bru'n Water is very simple to use, you do have to understand the flow and input of the program to use it successfully. A novice user isn't going to be very successful without taking a few minutes to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
 
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