Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

I just cant figure this out.

I brew an all grain 5.5 gallon batch (into the fermenter)

I set up my Recipe.
Then I go into the Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator.
I set my water volumes using a calculator from More beer and by experience since for the life of me i cant seem to get the water volumes to work with in BF.
The over all volume is set at 10 gallons and that usually works out to be true.

I then do all my salt additions and work till i get everything in the green Normal range
I save the water chemistry.
then I go into the recipe and save.

But when I return to the water chemistry calculator the water volumes change and this throws off the salt additions in to the red?

I must be doing something wrong?

 

[Yooper]

The water calc pulls the volume from your quick water requirements- so make sure that is correct in your settings.

 

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

hmmmmm i went over that just now.
in the water volumes it says by "total Volume" that "The total water volume to be treated may be larger than mash and sparge water combined."

yet after saving, closing and reopening it always reverts to 5.5 even if i put 10

 

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

also i dont understand why it says "0" gal under total mash in the mash guidelines on the recipe editor page.

 

[Yooper]

also i dont understand why it says "0" gal under total mash in the mash guidelines on the recipe editor page.

It's because you're not using the water requirements feature on our site- the volumes have to be entered for it to be accurate.

Can I ask why you're using different software to get your strike water/sparge water volumes and temperatures? What is it about ours that you don't like?

 

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

i must be doing something wrong. it all stems from the original question. of why It always reverts to 5.5 gallons in the total water volume section. Now i just opend a blank Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator and it says 8 gallons?

 

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

maybe its cause i copied an existing recipe? ill try it on a new recipe from scratch. All I know is that if i start out with a full 10 gallons of water it serves my system about right from transferring from all 3 kettles. using pumps.

 

[Yooper]

maybe its cause i copied an existing recipe? ill try it on a new recipe from scratch. All I know is that if i start out with a full 10 gallons of water it serves my system about right from transferring from all 3 kettles. using pumps.

Then I'd recommend trying to use the equipment profile to put in your water amounts and losses, so you can just pull those into the water calc- it will always default to your profile. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/profile/equipment

Here's mine:

 

[Ron Reyes (Papa Piggy)]

ok i think im finally getting the hang of this. thank you so much

 

[BigAl64]

I feel like there is a problem with the pH calculator when it comes to acid additions. The last batch I made the recommended addition was 7 ml of 88% lactic acid to get mash to 5.2. In reality, I only needed 2 ml. The calculator consistently over-estimates acid requirements. Am i doing something wrong?

 

[Nosybear]

I feel like there is a problem with the pH calculator when it comes to acid additions. The last batch I made the recommended addition was 7 ml of 88% lactic acid to get mash to 5.2. In reality, I only needed 2 ml. The calculator consistently over-estimates acid requirements. Am i doing something wrong?

That level of undershoot, I'd check my meter. O.03 is about the worst miss I've had.

 

[Mark Farrall]

That level of undershoot, I'd check my meter. O.03 is about the worst miss I've had.

I generally brew every second week and after a few unexpected results I started checking the pH meter every session. It was a toss up whether it was close or off by a fair amount. I don't check anymore, just calibrate it while I'm waiting for the water to get up to mash temp.

 

[ktm3002stroke@gmail.com]

I’m new to using the water calculator as well. After I put in my water test it shows me 6.09 mash ph. Ok so I go to the salt additions and nothing is populated. Isn’t it smart enough to just tell me what I need to put in? I’ve tried adding salts to lower which in turn throws off my total water report. I’m confused. Any help would be appreciated. I’m using well water, tastes great it’s just very hard.

 

[Craigerrr]

It is not an exact linear science, and there are different ways to achieve the same results. You really just have to try and play around with it. On the other hand I have used Brewfather, and has a magic wand which works pretty well.

 

[Craigerrr]

6.9 seems reeeaaaally high for a mash pH result, is this just your source water pH or your calculated mash pH?
Either way you can use lactic acid, food grade phosphoric, or acidulated malt to bring your mash pH down. The pH of your source water is inconsequential, you only need to concern yourself with the mash pH.

 

[ktm3002stroke@gmail.com]

Mash ph 6.09 according to the calculations.

 

[Craigerrr]

Could share and post your recipe?

 

[Nosybear]

6.09 is roughly Pilsner malt in distilled water. In other words, about the highest mash pH you can get. I'm thinking something is wrong with the calculation.

 

[Pricelessbrewing]

Please post your water and recipe so we can take a look and see what's going on.

Like they said, 6.09 is pretty unusual and undesirable, and there's probably an error somewhere.

 

[ktm3002stroke@gmail.com]

having a little trouble posting the recipe, but am working on it

thanks