I don't use a brewers program and I got tired of relying on GF's water online water calculator that produces different results as compared to the formula equations in GF's written instructions. For example, using 110v, 12 lb grain, for 6 gallons batch, the US online calc has mash and sparge gallon amounts of 4.81 and 3.4 (up it to 220v and the sparge amount goes up to 3.66). The instructions using the same bill and 6 gallons, result in mash - sparge gallon amounts of 4.98 and 3.62 (these are the actual amounts printed and used on the face of the instructions). So something is obviously off. So I inserted the GF instruction calculations into a spreadsheet where you can go back and modify many of the underlying assumptions used in the formula to customize your system. With this, at a minimum you have to input lbs of grain, desired post boil volume, and boil minutes, to get your mash and sparge amounts. However, you can now modify some of the default assumptions GF has built into its written formula, such as: quarts per lb of grain (for thinner or thicker mashes); boil loss; water loss to grains; and water loss to trub. Here's the link to the excel spreadsheet in dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/slvxrz4e6z4htgp/grainfather water calculator.xlsx?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/slvxrz4e6z4htgp/grainfather water calculator.xlsx?dl=0
