Question about Bru 'N Water

[LovesIPA]

I was using Bru 'N water today for an upcoming brew day like I always do and for whatever reason, I decided to double-check the ion concentrations against the values in the Palmer book, page 166 of the 3rd edition.

I'm brewing a 10 gallon batch of Amber ale. I'm building up off 100% distilled water. The target profile is:

Ca: 55
Mg: 10
Na: 10
SO4: 75
Cl: 63

Mash volume is 7.5 gallons and sparge water is 8.6 gallons.

After playing around with the ion concentrations, I was planning on using:

Salt: mash(g) / sparge(g)
CaSO4: 2.3 / 2.6
MgSO4: 3.0 / 3.4
NaHCO3: 1.1 (mash only)
CaCl2: 3.8 / 4.3

This gives me a mineral profile of:

Ca: 54.4
Mg: 10.4
Na: 10.9
SO4: 85.4
Cl: 63.8

Here's the issue: If I calculate what the ion concentrations are using the numbers from Palmer's book in my final wort volume, the concentrations come out significantly higher than what I listed above. If I calculate them based off the total mash + sparge volume, they match exactly. In other words, it's not obvious to me how to get Bru 'N water to give me the ion concentrations post-boil rather than the ion concentrations pre-boil.

I have the latest version (1.16).

Now obviously I'm missing something or doing something wrong. What is it?

 

[mabrungard]

It would be difficult and inaccurate to provide a calculation based on the post-boil volume. There are several variables involved in water losses that you haven't included in the calculation via Palmer's numbers and you are kidding yourself that they are correct.

Correlations for things like mash pH and flavor effects are not typically based on post boil concentrations since there is no way to decipher what they are without testing the final wort. Another confounding factor is that malt actually provides some of the post-boil ionic content.

Live with the pre-boil concentrations and base your preferences on those values. Remember, these are only numbers. The final decider as to the 'correctness' of any ion concentration is the taste requirements of you and your beer drinkers.

 

[LovesIPA]

Works for me. Thank you Martin!


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