Brewfather: How to enter and use a water report

[@BrentLangdon]

I don't think you entered your Sulfate correctly. Ward Labs reports Sulfate as "SO4-S" which is Sulfate in terms of the Sulfur component. To convert from Sulfur to Sulfate, you need to multiply by 3. So you should have entered 48, which would probably bring your Ion Balance closer to 0.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yep you are right.. missed that.. thanks for pointing it out! 👍🍻

[@johnpayne5623]

Great demonstration. I have just started using Brewfather and changed my water source from filtered to RO. So your videos are very helpful. Thanks very much.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Great thanks! 👍🍻

[@randyfrancis5424]

Thank you Brian. Your video finally allowed me to see I was making this too complicated.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks! 👍🍻

[@bslampman]

I have never done water adjustments before. I have always been hesitant. This makes me feel like I can give it a shot.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yeah! You can do it.. you'll see a difference for sure! 👍🍻

[@Beerjunkieguy]

I've been using BF for 3 months and for the most part, the 'AUTO' option has worked some what close to be but the last 2 beers were way off. I'm not sure why. But, you're tutorial has cleard up a few things for me. Nice work and thanks!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Glad to hear!! 👍🍻

[@PortlyGentleman]

I like that dilution tip That should make a lot of people's lives a lot easier. I personally build up from RO. I wish I would have started paying attention to water sooner 🍻

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I agree on both of those points!! Cheers Bradley! 👍🍻

[@ejmillion]

Nice video Brian, what salts do you have selected in the settings for the auto adjust. Would love to see a follow up video on how you tinker with the salts to get them to exact. Sometimes when I hit auto you still need to adjust things up or down and then it starts throwing the other salts out too.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Salt, Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, and Epsom salt. If I remember correctly.

[@jarenrief9759]

Ward labs is a great choice for labs. I live in Nebraska where Ward labs is and have used them for water and agriculture applications. Midwest labs located in Omaha, NE also does water if want more options. Good video!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!!

[@WreckedBrewery]

I just started using Brewfather, coming over from BeerSmith. I am very impressed with it's capabilities and being fully cloud based. Makes life easy between devices. I have been using Bru N Water for calculating my salts and mash PH, but I'd like to try using this all-in-one program to consolidate if it's accurate. Do you find that to be the case when it comes to predicted mash PH? I have struggled in the past with Bru N Water being a little off with this and so I've been very careful to not over-do it with the acidulated malt as a result. For example: In a recent brew day, Bru N Water called for 1.5oz of Acid Malt to the mash for me to achieve a 5.38 mash PH. The mash PH ended up being 5.18, so I had to use picking lime to bump it back up in the 5.3 range I was aiming for. The same recipe imported to Brewfather, with my water source/target added, shows a predicted mash PH of 5.64....which is way higher than what I saw. I'm hoping it's just a matter of making sure it's configured properly. Maybe you can help. Any ideas?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

The only way to 100% calculate the adjusted pH after mash in. Is to have 100% pure "flat" water. (Distilled or RO) I noticed from some of your videos that you use municipality water. That can vary in fluctuate in starting pH from season to season. I assume you have a water report? I would check with a pH meter and verify that the pH of the water you're using is the same as it was reported to you. This is one of the reasons why I use RO water. It gives me a flat base to start from. generally I don't use acid molt I use lactic acid to adjust the pH. Which is what you may look at doing you can add lactic acid during the mash to bring the pH down if you need to. You can't remove malt. 👍🍻

[@WreckedBrewery]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Yeah I compare Ward Labs water report to my own LaMotte brewlab results, along with my ph meter and everything is spot on in that regard for source water, so I don't believe that's the culprit. I'm suspecting 2 things. I use potassium metabisulfate (campden tablets) in the HLT water...which if I check the PH of that water is much lower than my source water. I found that interesting. I also started thinking maybe my acid malt is stronger than I give it credit. I don't know. All that aside though, I'm trying to figure out why Brewfather gives me different numbers from Bru N Water...which what I think I'm entering in same data for. I'm probably missing something there. You're right about the acid malt vs lactic acid. That's something I may consider. I just liked the idea of the acid malt going into the mash and not needing to adjust anything. In any event, I just want to get the Brewfather water calc stuff to be as close to the real thing as possible. To do that, I need to figure out if my issue is user input error, or my acid malt, or my campden tablets that are throwing things off.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@WreckedBrewery okay I got you. All that acid malt is, is malt treated with lactic acid from what I understand. You might check the ingredients list in brewfather I think that Camden tablets are in there if I'm not mistaken. I could be. I don't know what calculations the two programs use or how they could be different.

[@WreckedBrewery]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers I'd love to ditch Bru N Water in favor of using Brewfather as an all-in-one brewing software. It's really great. I'm loving it the few days I've messed with it. I think you are right about the acid malt. All I know is when I input my last recipe into Brewfather, the PH is no where near what I actually got. So I need to figure out how to fix that. If it's ditching acid malt in favor of lactic acid (which I have), that's fine. But I want to know that the amount it tells me to use, will be right. I really do appreciate your help here and quick responses. Thank you!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@WreckedBrewery You might check the properties of the acid malt in brewfather and see if there's any way to adjust the amount of acid present. I don't remember what the typical amount is in acid malt? I would assume there's some kind of a standard but I don't know. Good luck with it and happy brewing. You may also pose your question on the brewfather Facebook group. Thomas the developers very active over there.

[@peterwalker2846]

Great video Brian. I am new to Brewfather and have my home water report, for some brews I mix 50/50 with RO water using Brunwater I like your idea of a dialution profile but how did you merge the 2 profiles to get the one?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I just took the municipal water profile and divided it by 2. Since the ro water had next to nothing in it. It technically will reduce the ions I'm the municipal water by half. 👍🍻

[@briangrove597]

Another great video Brian. Yes I am just now starting to adjust my water, got a PH meter and my ward report just recently. Looking to update to Beersmith 3 as I hear it is better for water adjustment! Never tried brewfather, been looking at that over the past few days. So I will be experimenting with water changes over the next few batches.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I like it MUCH better! 👍🍻

[@TwoandaHalfPintsHomebrew]

Great video! I've been playing around with water chemistry for a while now (mostly using bru'n water) and it has made a huge difference in the quality of my pale and dark beers. Luckily our tap water is very low mineral content so it's been easy to treat for any style. In addition to the standard gypsum and calcium chloride, our low ion water allows us to use NaCl, MgSO4, and baking soda to really hone in on a specific profile. I've only used Brewfather for some mobile recipe adjustments, I'll have to check out the water chemistry!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yeah I have used brun'water for several years as well. BeerSmith water calculator was not a favorite of mine at all. The brewfather auto calc is great and works well. That water report was from my old house and it would make incredible Porter's and Stouts. Before I knew much about water profiles I never could understand why my IPAs were meh... I know now the sulfates were so low it wasn't doing anything for the hops. Cheers guys! Keep up the good work! 👍🍻

[@humzilla707]

Good info. I just roll with whatever comes out of my Berkey filter but I'm about to move so it would be a good time to start adjusting my water. Can you add to the brew report for toxic stuff like fluoride and lead?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

You can add different mineral tests on the ward labs site. About 20 I think..👍🍻

[@bryanwilson-187]

Hi Brian. Another nice video. Just did a test boil on my new system using tap water and after I let it cool down I noticed a bunch of white sediment fall out and coat the bottom of the kettle. I think I have pretty hard water but not sure. What is the white stuff and can it be filtered out or? Thanks

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Probably calcium. If you get a RV water filter and put it inline that will probably help a great deal. And get your water tested so you know. If you go the filter route be sure if you have it tested use the filtered water so you know what that is for your stating point. 👍🍻

[@cardinal8206]

Brian, great video. Nice quality. In the opening of the video you mention that the next best thing to RO water would be to get a water report for your own (tap) water. Wouldn't the next best thing to RO water be distilled water? You're basically starting with a blank canvas with distilled water.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yes but what I meant was if you don't want to get distilled or RO. Knowing what the water is coming out of your tap gives you a good place to start.👍🍻

[@andrewbishop9018]

Thank you for your video. I am new to using brewfather. What scales do you use, or recommend for weighing your salts?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Any scale that will weigh a tenth of a gram is fine.

[@mattgirouard4832]

Great video!!! Exactly the information I needed. Love your videos. I wish I was your neighbor. 🍺 🍻 🍺 🍻

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Haha thanks! 👍🍻

[@chrisellis1991]

With a 3 vessel HERMS system do you add your sparge salts to the boil kettle? Thats one the trickiest things i've tried to figure out for a HERMS system. I've been just filling the mash tun with the mash volume and adding the mash salts, then filling the HLT up to cover the coils and using that volume for the sparge volume and adding sparge salts. But i've heard you can just add the sparge salts to the boil kettle. I've said salts too may times...

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

You add salts to your mash tun for your mash and then you will also add the salts to your HLT based on the volume in the HLT with some sort of calculator software. by that I mean if your HLT takes more water to cover the coils then your recipe calls for you need to recalculate your salt addition based on how much water volume covers your coils

[@cheeno44]

Nice Video Brian. I really like Brewfather but I wish they would allow you to use 2 separate water sources instead of trying to half it like you did in the video. Beersmith allows you to use 2 separate water sources. I have opened a feature enhancement request for Brewfather to add to water sources but I don’t know when that will happen.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

They are working on a dilution feature

[@allanbrand]

Great video Brian. I'm only just now getting into water adjustments. Do you know if Brewfather will be implementing an automatic acid adjustment?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Not sure.. I will ask them. 👍🍻

[@Brewfather]

Maybe :)

[@ruggend]

Great video! Quick question about the SO4-s. I have read that in the report from ward labs this number needs to be multiplied by 3 since they report the sulfate as sulfur. Do you know if that's correct? Thank you.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yes actually I forgot that part.yiu are correct.

[@ruggend]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Awesome. Thank you!

[@BrewLogSC]

I have a well that is actually not bad for brewing porters and stouts even though the sulfide and chloride is a little low. I then dilute the water to drive the alkalinity into the range that is needed based on style. Next, I add salts to support the hardness and sulfide and chloride ratio I need. Although use beersmith 3, I still like to use Bru'n Water tool because I think it is the most mature water tool out on the market and I like how it lets me work on my sparge water separately.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Yeah the water I show in the video was bang on for Porters and Stouts. I would get upwards of 80% efficiency with Jo additional minerals. That bicarbonate number attributed to it now that I look back on it. 👍🍻

[@coreytaylor1673]

Man that bar looks awesome!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks man! 👍🍻

[@peteraller6929]

Wonderful explanation thanks

[@WGK21]

This was extremely helpful thank you very much! Keep up the great work

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!! 👍🍻

[@randydensmorejr3431]

When you hit the auto button for the water source in the recipe. Are the additions per 1 gallon?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

It is for the full volume of mash or sparge water.

[@Kberrysal]

I just got into the water 💧 science of brewing, i am using ro water in my apartment we have a ro water machine that i pay 50 cent for a gallon for, this program was a lot easier to use than the brewsmith water program

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I agree. I was using brun' water and not BeerSmith water calculator prior to switching. 👍🍻

[@Brewfather]

Great video. Thanks Brian! Looking forward to more of them. Great quality!

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!! 👍🍻

[@DavidHeathHomebrew]

Nice and useful video as always Brian :) Many thanks for the mention :)

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks David same to you! 👍🍻

[@87jdm350z]

I always enjoy your videos. I use RO water for my brew. Would you recommend sending a sample test of the RO just to get the values?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Thanks!! Sure. You can verify what is in the water. 👍🍻

[@thisisthenameiwanttouse646]

Regarding water PH. Does BF tell you the PH of the water to start or is that the MASH PH. The mash PH is all that matters. By your example, the addition of acid lowered to 5.37. Is that estimated MASH PH?

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

As long as your water profile is accurate it will tell you the predicted mash pH and then when you add the acid in the software it is still a predicted pH. But should be a good representation of what you should get after adding the acid.👍🍻

[@hmmy92]

please could you inform me how much lactic acid can we add per liter until to be noticed in the flavor

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

I probably wouldn't go over 1ml per liter. If you need more adjustment than that I would switch to phosphoric acid. Not as strong of an acid but won't impart any sourness to your beer. Hope that helps! 👍🍻

[@hmmy92]

@@ShortCircuitedBrewers thank you. I will have this in mind

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Welcome!

[@FermentationAdventures]

I still rely on the Bru'n Water spreadsheet... I then add the mash and sparge additions to the Brewfather recipe. I tried the "auto" feature and it looked a little whacky, and went back to the spreadsheet.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Gotcha. I have used brun'water for many years as well. I will double check from time to time. But my experience has been good overall.👍🍻

[@williamdarst3234]

what if i use spring water

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

See if the company has a water profile available and enter it in the software. Or you could send a sample to ward labs to find out what's in it. 👍🍻

[@kegster4707]

Wow, your water report was from 2013. I get mine checked by a water chemist twice a year. Why does 'brew father' need a pH measurement? It's the pH of the mash that matters. I'd be aware of the delusion, personally.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

You need to know what you are starting with. I also said that I was just using an example from a place i used to live. The pH of the mash does matter but you have to know your water pH in order to adjust it to be correct.👍🍻