Bru'n water question

[nealm]

I have got a problem with my water assay. My water source comes from a mixture of two rivers where the mineral content varies over the seasons. River 1 the alkalinity varies from 41 to 118 while river 2 varies from 25 to 39. The other minerals (Ca, Na, Mg, Cl and SO4) are also all over the place(see attached PDF file).


Using a Seifert alkalinity kit I have measured alkalinity over 4 months and it ranged from a low of 28 up to 150. In addition I measured the TDS and this ranged from 105 to 158 PPM.


My feeling is that I need to measure the alkalinity, Ca and TDS of the water that I am going to use at the time and modify the numbers in the “Bru’n water” tab 1 (the water report tab). This I am not quite sure how to do, so I am open to suggestions. How to others handle a varying water composition. Should I use the average values for each component provided by the water authority and hope that this gets me close enough.

NealM

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Set Water 1 in the water report tab, and have Water 2 as your dilution water (normally used for RO dilution). The average values would be OK for moderate beers, but there's too much variation for the extremes (pale lagers and dark beers).

 

[brewgar]

Neal. All RO + Bru'n water + required adjustment salts = easy peasy + consistency in your beer.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Test it before each brew day. I bought an exact iDip test kit for this reason.

 

[nealm]

Test it before each brew day. I bought an exact iDip test kit for this reason.

Yes but how do you apply this brew day testing to Bru'n water is my question.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Yes but how do you apply this brew day testing to Bru'n water is my question.

If you test each brew day you’ll have the information you’ll need. I tested my water Saturday before a brew day and added my salts accordingly. After a while I find out what I typically use and buy accordingly. I don’t need lots of chalk or even Epsom salts. I really only need some calcium and some acid to adjust the pH according to brunwater.

 

[rhys333]

I have couple Bru'n Water questions and I'm wondering if others including @mabrungard can help out. I'm planning to brew with 75% tap water and 25% RO, and I noticing that some of the mineral and acid data isn't adjusting to reflect this 3:1 ratio.

On #4, Water Adjustment page:
a) The "Actual finished water adjustments" row shows only the mineral additions I add. In this case CaCl2. It doesn't show the other mineral contrubutions from the 75% tap water. However, this information is included in the "Mashing water profile" row directly below.
b) The sparge water acid addition doesn't change at all, and assumes 0% RO dilution regardless of % water dilution. E.g: in this case it say 2.4ml for 0% dilution and the same 2.4 ml with 100% dilution. The only way to have it show 0 ml is to remove all the mineral additions in Sheet #1 Water Report Input.

Is this something I just need to navigate around and make a few calculations by hand, or am I missing something? Thanks in advance!