Brewfather Brewing Water Tutorial

[@peteraller6929]

This video may be three years old but it's current to me as I am relatively new to electric brewing, so this has been a great tutorial. Thanks Brian

[@martinhudson599]

still as relevant and informative as it was 2 years ago....

[@farrny_13]

Brian is really the best there is on KZbin, teaching us all in a friendly and easy manner that is a pleasure to consume repeatedly. Thank you, Brian.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks man!! 👍🍻

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Clarification. If your water report shows SO4-S you need to multiply be 3 If your water report shows NO3-N it is actually not a reading brewfather needs. So disregard my comment on that. Another program I used in the past used it, but not brewfather. If your water report shows SO4 do not multiply Hope that helps.

[@michaelford8494]

Thank you for your response. So if the N03-N is there we multiply the nitrate # or the Na # 4.43?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@michaelford8494 yes sir

[@michaelford8494]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers which one? the nitrate or sodium? or both? Thanks again

[@davidwalsh3734]

Sodium is not related to Nitrates. The sodium is already presented in the Ward report as Na+ in ppm. Brewfather does not ask for the nitrate number.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@davidwalsh3734 I was used to putting the report in Bru'n water. So I mentioned it.

[@TheEffectOfMass]

How often can you adjust the PH during the brewing process? I treated my water for the first time on my most recent brew. I followed Brewfather and ended up overdoing the lactic acid addition, lowering my Ph to 4.8. I didn't realize it was that low until my mash was done (before the boil). I wasn't sure if I could add baking soda at this point, but I did anyway. So i brought my Ph up to 5.3 before the boil. After the boil it was down to 5.1, so i added a little more baking soda again before i pitched the yeast. All that to say, is this normal?

[@haydnmaxwell649]

Hi Thanks for the video. trying to get my head around The water treatment side of brewing. Made contact with our water board and got these results for our water quality. Have saved in brewfather. However i have noticed the +5% ions highlighted in red. Have i got the right data. On the brewfather water calc page it says "cations 0.82mEg/l ion balance +5%.?? Thanks for any assistance you can give.

[@johnandjanetmcdermott1936]

OK, I think I've figured out the corrections from your first video. The many comments below have helped. I only need to worry about the Sulfate (SO4) correction. So ... the SO4-S on the Ward report needs to be multiplied by 3 for SO4^2 on Brewfather, BUT - in this video you still have it shown as 16? Why didn't you change yours to 48? Confused why you didn't fix yours?

[@jimmythekidd78]

Great video!!! Appreciate I'm a bit late to the show here as just starting to tinker with water on my brews but I wonder if I've been making a mistake. Typically I'll put all my water (30 whatever litres) into my Brewzilla, treat it all and then pump off the sparge volume to my sparge water heater to save for later. By doing this, am I screwing up my numbers? Should I not be treating the sparge water at all? Just wondered having seen the 'acid mash' option.

[@adambroad3479]

Great video Brian. Good introduction for the folks starting in to water profiling.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks! 👍🍻

[@jasonwarren4023]

Hey Brian awesome video! I'm jumping over to Brewfather from Beersmith so I've been watching as many KZbin videos as I can find. This one is extremely detailed. I noticed that your Na requirement in that Hoppy NEIPA profile came from your Source Water. If I'm using Distilled water then I will have to get it from Sodium Chloride correct? I will have to select NaCl (Sodium Chloride) Canning Salt in the water settings. How important is this ingredient? Will there be adverse effects true to the style if left out? If it's definitely needed what should I look for a the grocery store? Is it called canning salt or something else? Thanks in advance!

[@mikebeswick3420]

Hi. So it you opted to use the mash and sparse water in your treatment. The programme would distribute the correct amount between the two in a ratio dependant on water volume. If you just put it into the mash presumably it would increase the concentration so that when the sparse is added it will end up at the final requisite concentration. Also does it take into account water loss through evaporation and mash absorption and consequent increase in salt concentrations. Thanks

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Not enough evaporation with the lid on to make a difference. You could add all the salts in the mash. Acid for pH adjustment is a different story. 👍🍻

[@neileyre6019]

Hi Brian, I’ve just started watching your videos and your delivery and manner is magnificent Sir! Also I have just, within the last few months, begun to use Brewfather and I agree with you it is a wonderful piece of software. This video was very helpful but I only , at the moment, brew extracts. Time , space and money being in limited supply! I’d like to get a bit more into the water aspect and in my last few brews (which are mainly English Bitter recipes - me being English now living in the US) I’ve just added a few teaspoons of gypsum in the boil and they turned out great. I have now bought a gram scale so I can keep a better more accurate record and am fortunately fluent with metric😁. Within Brewfather I’ve found that the water option disappears when setting the type of brew to extract. So at the moment I’m just playing around with how I might get it to work properly for extract. Mainly using it for recipe modifications at the moment and not as an integral part of my brewday. I use a mixture of RO water and ‘bought distilled’ all depending on if I’ve managed to collect enough from my birkey filter. I now see from this video that Epsom salts will be handy to add to the water too. Would you say that the best time to add the chemicals is in the boil? Since I’m not mashing will ph be a problem? If you can suggest anything to help me at this point , it would be greatly appreciated 👍🏻🤓🍻 Also I’ve found a quick way to scale (up or down) extract recipes that don’t use full cans of extract, usually 2 full cans 3kg. eg. Assuming I have put in all the ingredients and the water amount for the full brew into Brewfather. Let’s assume in this recipe the malt extract needs 3400g (more than 2 cans) and the water is a 23 litre batch. The scale factor to get from 23 to 3400 is 3400/23=147.82 Now if I divide my required extract 3000g (2 full cans) by 147.82 I get my required water=20.29 litres. I can now scale the whole recipe using the scale button using the water as 20.29 litres. Hopefully it’s a help to other extract brewers.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Awesome! Welcome to the channel. Thanks for all the info! It may help some other brewers.

[@prOkrEAt]

What do you do if your report SO4-S is

[@A2an]

Thanks for the video series of brewfather, Hasta la vista baby, i'll be back for the next video 😊

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Haha nice! 👍🍻

[@HOMEBREW4LIFE]

When's the Mtv cribs tour of the room?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Lol soon!

[@MichaelOQuin-w9t]

I've been using Beersmith but the last couple of batches I've started using Brewfather. What I have always done is mixed up a couple of 5 gal jugs with the target water I want using the Beersmith water tool. This seems simpler then trying to treat the water while I am brewing. Am I missing something or is this method acceptable?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

You can do that if you are brewing the same beer for the profile with the same grains etc.

[@jimlewis7938]

Love the channel! Thanks for the updated video but confused on something. My Ward water report looks to show everything already in ppm. The first thing on the report is Sodium,NA but not NA+. In this area do I actually enter the Nitrate, NO3-N * 4.43? Also if the ward report is already in PPM is the multiplication needed? Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Check the pinned comment for the clarification. 👍🍻

[@joshevans3781]

May I ask why you multiply from what ward labs sent you? The SO4 and NA+ I didn’t think I heard an explanation why. Thanks!!!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Read the pinned comment I detail it there

[@Lopdog0218]

you said that you bought your grain storage containers from Dollar store; could you include a picture to know what to look for. would that be comparable with the pet food storage containers I've seen other people use

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I have a video on the channel showing all the containers that I use should be able to find it under storage if you look on my channel

[@prodanman]

Hello, love this video. Can you help me? Brewfather water addictions recommended 0.1g of Ca. My question is per/gallon or total

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

It should give you a total on your recipe screen after you calculate the addition.

[@sunder1983]

Would you use sparge additions on a 35L robobrew or just add your acid and minerals to the mash water?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Just the mash should be fine on that size of a batch.

[@sunder1983]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers thanks boss

[@thegallows126]

Do you use a 3 stage or 5 stage RO filter? Also do you adjust the sparge water pH? or only the mash? Cheers.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/omWmnHuMaLakpdE and depends on the style of beer. On a light lager I will.

[@mikeestes3022]

Great video. I do have what might be a dumb question. How MUCH water do you use for Mash-in? We have been using around 1.2-1.5 qts per pound of grain bill. What do you use? Do you have a video or a guide on this? Thanks!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I use the standard profile for brewFather. You can always adjust it to your liking in the equipment profile to fit what works for your system. 👍🍻

[@kevinrich5312]

Thanks Brian. I really appreciate you breaking this down for us. Thanks for all you do!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks for watching!! 👍🍻

[@WreckedBrewery]

Great video Brian! I love Brewfather and it has a nice water section that seems to be pretty accurate. Cheers!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Cheers Matt! 👍🍻

[@k-daddy5598]

Thanks for the video Brian. I recently went with an RO water system and have switched from Brewsmith to Brewfather. In Brewsmith, I set all my water parameters to 0 for the RO water but see that Brewfather has a distinct profile for their RO water. Should I adjust my numbers accordingly?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

There's not much difference honestly... I'd leave it..

[@asiasmells71]

Looks like it's still wrong or maybe I missed the temperature correction for the hydrometer from ur 72 deg to 60 deg

[@buddygreer8482]

Great Tips! Question though... no matter what I do to my CL / SO for a NEIPA in Brewfather, the water profile never changes even if I set CL to 300 and SO to 150. Total water profile remains as CL 99 and SO 110. Any thoughts on this? The Ph always seems to read a bit off too compared to Brew n" Water spreadsheet.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Are you using the auto calc function?

[@GentleGiantFan]

@Short Circuited Brewers Hey Brian, can you list the brewing salts that can be found at the local grocery stores? I know you said gypsum isn't one of them, but besides calcium chloride, epsom salt, sodium chloride (pickle crisp), and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), what else can one get to make a stockpile of brewing salts? What would be the essential salts to have on hand for those who are starting to learn more on water adjustments? Maybe there could be another separate video on just brewing salts, what they do, and their importance on how they affect the taste of different styles of beers. I'll be honest, this part of the brewing process is still intimidating to me to say the least. Once again, great video (as usual). Thanks and cheers!

[@johngates3040]

Great video your knowledge is amazing and I am able to understand when you talk

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks John I appreciate it!!

[@MikeS29]

I always assumed RO water was going to be all zeros across the board. Have you found this to NOT be the case? Great video, as always.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

A traditional ro system has a slight mineral content unless you use a DI polishing filter. That will take it to zero. I have one on mine.

[@blackwoodbrews]

Thanks for video Brian, I will definitely be looking into the water adjustment tab on brewfather. I like the auto adjustment feature, they provided. It’ll make easier for me to switch to distilled or RO, rather than using bottled drinking water. 🍻 🍻🍻

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

It's really easy for sure! 👍🍻

[@paultidsy4019]

Good tips in there, thanks Brian. I was adding salts to the sparge water as well and it was kind of a pain, given that i was taking the sparge water from a much larger volume. Didn't realise there was a setting for adding to the mash only. Face-palming myself pretty hard right now...

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Hey glad you found some helpful info! 👍🍻

[@bartdegroof4783]

Thanks for the video Brian! Great content! Did you notice that the chloride content was not reached by the auto function? How do you solve that?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I think it was because I had auto corrected previously. The first time should be accurate. 👍🍻

[@SankaraHomeBrewing]

Thanks for sharing how to do water addition. Question If i'm using beer smith do I need to still do the multipliers of NA and So4 I did have my water tested. I multiplied one of them do I need to do the other? Hope I'm explaining my question okay. Cheers!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Depends on the water report. If they have an S at the end you do if they don't you won't need to. And get on the brewfather train to!! Lol 👍🍻

[@SankaraHomeBrewing]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Next year I'll be switching to brewfather. Brewfather is so much easier to use. I have the free account right now. Beer Smith to me is to cluttered and a little hard to use.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@SankaraHomeBrewing gotcha...I tend to agree with you on that description! 👍🍻

[@laurahigle4962]

Terminator series? Thanks for a great you tube!

[@rogeliomoreno1441]

Hey, thanks for the video! One think I´ve been struggling with is that Brewfather seems to account for evaporated water volume for the salts additions when, as far as I understand, this should not be done since salt additions are not evaporated but stay in the wort... any idea if you can adjust this so that Brewfather salts addition calculator accounts only for non-evaporated water?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I've never heard such a thing. Not sure where you got it from but it certainly seems like over thinking it to me.

[@gonzalezzymology9286]

Keep in mind that ratios are more important than absolute values. Not to say that they don't matter, but 90% of the value of managing salts in your water is in balancing the ratios to compliment your beer style, and only maybe 10% the actual specific concentrations in PPM. The amount of evaporation you'll experience is essentially irrelevant to this situation since all the salts will concentrate equally and maintain your ratios.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@gonzalezzymology9286 good tips! 👍🍻

[@Louz_Drumz]

After selecting your target profile (hoppy neipa) and hitting auto, your numbers dont come out the same as the hoppy neipa profile. This must be normal, because it always happens to me too. Hoppy Neipa's numbers are 100, 18, 16, 186, 93, 0. After selecting Auto, the numbers in the water calc menu, under mash ph heading display 100, 10, 8, 139, 93, 16. Why does this happen? Is this a result of the grain bill etc? I have been trying to answer this question for awhile. I dont get why you enter a set profile, ask bf to spit out the addition amounts based on your profile, and then bf gives you the amounts but changes your profile numbers.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I believe it takes your base water profile into account. And then the mash figures are the ADDITIONS not the actual number.... I think...lol

[@dwerg1]

You have maxed out Ca and SO4. To get the Mg up you'll end up overshooting the SO4. To get the Cl up you'll be overshooting Ca, unless you use NaCl. I found NaCl to be disabled by default in my BF, turn it on for auto and calculate again. You'll then see you get your Cl higher until Na reaches 16ppm, you won't get Cl there all the way with this though. BF doesn't go above the target profile, once an element such as Ca is at target it won't add more CaSO4 or CaCl2 for the SO4 or Cl. Since Mg is added as MgSO4 it won't add more because SO4 is at target, it can't add more Mg without adding too much SO4. I'm not sure if the Mg can be fixed by simply adding less CaSO4 and more MgSO4, this would leave more room for Ca to be added as CaCl2 to get the Cl up some more. I suspect the app is prioritizing some things over others.

[@sperreault]

Your explanation about the Ward Lab profile for Na+ - can you go over it again? My lab report states "Sodium, Na" 24ppm - do I multiply it by 4.43?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Does it read SO4-S in the report? If it does then you need to multiply by 3 if the NA has a -S at the end in the report you need to multiply by 4.43 If you watch ky water report video you'll see the -S at the end of those readings.

[@sperreault]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers AHHH gotcha. I missed that "-S" part. Thank you for the quick reply Brian!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@sperreault 👍🍻

[@ssuhy65]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Can you explain the rationale here or the 'why'? That would be useful. Thx!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

If the report shows an -S after the SO4 (SO4-S) then the reading is measuring the sulphur. In order to convert it to sulphate you need to multiply by 3

[@johnnyo3478]

NO3-N on the Ward Labs reports is for Nitrate - not Sodium. I've never heard of a need to multiply the Na result for the Ward Labs report - where did you get that?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

The bru'n water spreadsheet. If the reading has a -S after it is the only time it's necessary..

[@johnnyo3478]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers confused. Do you need to multiply the Na value on the Ward labs report by 4.43 or not? Or did I misunderstand what you were saying there? I already knew about the sulfate adujustment.

[@johnnyo3478]

At the 5 minute mark

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Only if the report shows it as. NO3-N then you need to multiply. If it just says NO3 you don't. The reason I added it to this video was because my water report had the issue on both of those readings that needed to be adjusted and I failed to mention that in the water report video.

[@johnnyo3478]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Brian, I am not trying to belabor the point - but I now think you may be a little confused. At 4:46 you start talking about adjusting the Na+ value - which is the sodium ion. The N03-N value on the Ward Labs report is assciated with Nitrates. Sodium is abbreviated Na on the periodic chart. I have never heard of a need to adjust the sodium ion portion of the Ward Labs reports when inputting water profiles. There is no input for Nitrates on the brewfarther water chem app. I do not think you need to adjust your Na+ by 4.43.

[@TheHammertownhead]

Buy lactic acid from the brew store? Awesome video! Thanks so much!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yes or online. Thanks! 👍🍻

[@GhostPants8012]

Nice video. Very well explained.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!!! 👍🍻

[@michaelford8494]

Why should we need to multiply by 3 and by 4.43? Even if we got the beer test from ward? Thanks

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Because of how it was measured by ward labs. Concentration levels bases on his it's measured. The -S is the determining factor. If the report doesn't have the -S you don't need to multiply.

[@michaelford8494]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers thank you. Do you know where on the report it would be located.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

It's in the NO3 reading and the SO4 reading. If either of those have the -S at the end you would need to do the multiplier

[@michealwick928]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers So I am confused on this. My Ward lad report for Sodium, Na : 98 and Nitrate, NO3-N : 0.1 (Safe). I don't have the "-S" after my Sodium, but have a "-N" after the Nitrate. I am getting confused on which reading you are talking about multiplying by 4.43. Are you talking Sodium or Nitrate? Thanks - also nice video by the way.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@michealwick928 if you watch my video on the water report it had -S after my numbers. If yours doesn't. You don't need to multiply at all. It sounds like yours doesn't. Based on the that sodium number it doesn't look like you need to do any math.

[@northerntrouble]

Lol, Terminator “ Skynet “ thanks from another educational video

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I'll be back!! Lol 👍🍻

[@beerandbbqhobbyist6464]

What about adjusting a water profile to make a profile more malty vs less malty according to what ever grains your using? Skynet.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I would use the style appropriate profile or the Dublin profile for those beers. 👍🍻

[@beerandbbqhobbyist6464]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers oh ok, I started using Bruin water. You feel that brew father is just as adequate to make the same adajustments?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yeah they both are very close. They might differ slightly but the brewfather app takes less "fiddling" with to get everything where you want it. If you use brun'wate you know what I mean..

[@beerandbbqhobbyist6464]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers yeah I got you. I’ve looked at Bruin father. Maybe I should start using it. I know Brad Smith has said that’s he’s gonna start working on his program to make it more user friendly. I wonder if that will make it online with these other softwares out there!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yeah I definitely used beerSmith for a long time. But I just like the way the brewfather app feels and works. I really like the ability to have all your recipes saved in the cloud so you can start a brew day on one device and continue on a different one. ,👍🍻

[@alexrocks135]

I did everything correct and it told be to add 4ml of lactic acid to reach a ph of 5.2 to my mash and when I took a reading on my meter it showed 4.02

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

What type of water didi you use? What was the meter? How long did you wait to take a sample?

[@jonmccombs1711]

GReat job and very informative

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!

[@johnsnow9896]

The pump you recommend is not food grade. Thanks

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

What pump?? There's no pump in that video?

[@sometimesifly_356]

Would be nice if Brewfather would include the BrewEasy (Classic) in their list of equipment. Seems like a useful software. I don't see the point in trying to reverse engineer recipes to make them work in Brewfather, just to use Brewfather.

[@sometimesifly_356]

Or am I missing something? Lol

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I thought I had sent them the profile. I'll double check that.

[@sometimesifly_356]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers hopefully they'll add it. I'm a new home brewer and need all the help I can get. Haha. I have the 10 gallon finished batch size system.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@sometimesifly_356 ok I'll get with them

[@claymore252]

The Terminator

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Right!! 👍🍻

[@PetraKann]

To digress away from this topic a bit, have you seen the extender rings or sections that can fit onto fermeters and mashing units in order to increase the capacity of the brew??? Are they stable? Do they heat evenly? Would be great to see a review on these extenders. This is the video I recently watched: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYbWlIJ6i9ekf9U Cheers

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yes I just saw them too! Blichmann was actually the original company to do this. The brewzilla latches make them easy to add extensions to. The only issue I see with them is that the more depth you get into a mash the less efficiency you're going to have. They're definitely is a point of diminishing return if your capacity goes up and not out. 👍🍻

[@scottmorrison9731]

Sounds like an idea for a test video 😛