Beersmith Water Profile Tool

[earle]

@crowmanz did a great talk on water chemistry at our last brew club meeting so I am re-inspired to get into water adjustments. During the talk we looked at Bru'n water and EZ water.

Just wondering what people's thought are on the water tool in beersmith these days. Had a search but the few mentions I found were fairly old so probably relate to the older version of beersmith. I use Beersmith for all my recipes so while the other tools looked good I wondered if it makes more sense to do it as part of what I'm already doing.

@Bribie G , I sent you a pm yesterday about this topic as I think I recall you mentioning that you use Beersmith for water adjustments. You might not have seen it, probably a notification thing.

Cheers for any feedback or comments.

 

[crowmanz]

If I get a chance tonight I'll compare all three with the recipe and additions I made on the weekend using bru'n water.

I'll admit I've never used beersmith for water as when I started the calcs weren't as good as the spreadsheets. It will be good see if the updates to beersmith are any good.

 

[warra48]

I use it regularly. The upgraded tool in BS2 is much better than the one in the BS1.
You just need to get a water report from your local water authority to input your basic water analysis, and BS2 will calculate the best additions for your nominated style.
If you use rainwater or RO water, you can basically start with a blank canvas. Alternatively, for a few bucks you could use Pureau water from one of the big supermarket chains, which will also give a blank canvas to start.

 

[homebrewnewb]

Looking forward to you reporting back on your findings @earle i am pretty confident that in terms of greatest improvement to your beer for modest amount of work, getting on top of your water profile is it. Apart from getting the brew day right of course. Best of luck and please let us know what you find.

 

[earle]

If I get a chance tonight I'll compare all three with the recipe and additions I made on the weekend using bru'n water.

I'll admit I've never used beersmith for water as when I started the calcs weren't as good as the spreadsheets. It will be good see if the updates to beersmith are any good.

Thanks Damian, I was thinking I'd have a go in Beersmith and then send you the results to have a look at and compare. If you could compare all 3 that would be great given you've obviously got some experience in this area compared to my lack of experience.

 

[earle]

I use it regularly. The upgraded tool in BS2 is much better than the one in the BS1.
You just need to get a water report from your local water authority to input your basic water analysis, and BS2 will calculate the best additions for your nominated style.
If you use rainwater or RO water, you can basically start with a blank canvas. Alternatively, for a few bucks you could use Pureau water from one of the big supermarket chains, which will also give a blank canvas to start.

Thanks Warra, good to have some positive feedback on the tool in beersmith. A lot of the comments I found weren't great but I suspect they relate to BS1.

 

[earle]

Looking forward to you reporting back on your findings @earle i am pretty confident that in terms of greatest improvement to your beer for modest amount of work, getting on top of your water profile is it. Apart from getting the brew day right of course. Best of luck and please let us know what you find.

I'll try to report back. Funny, I always tell new brewers the biggest improvement come from sanitation and temperature control. I might have to change my spiel.

 

[crowmanz]

Thanks Damian, I was thinking I'd have a go in Beersmith and then send you the results to have a look at and compare. If you could compare all 3 that would be great given you've obviously got some experience in this area compared to my lack of experience.

Happy to do that as well and it might actually prompt me to jump on tonight and do it.

 

[homebrewnewb]

Oh you can't have have proper beer without sanitation and not everyone can temp control... I suppose it's about covering all the bases.

 

[crowmanz]

Ok I played around last night (over/after a couple beers though).

I managed to get the water profile loaded and the water adjustments tool working with the adjustments and figures being the same as I did on the weekend. They looked pretty spot on but I didn't pull up the bru'n water spreadsheet and check raw numbers (yet).

Only troubles I had was trying to work out how to save the adjustments into the recipe and I gave up on figuring out the pH adjustment tool.

Overall beersmith was a touch more fiddling around than Bru'n water but looked to be close on numbers. And was more complicated Ezywater. I will try and do all three on my next brew day and report back.

 

[Truman42]

So how did you go? I would like to know how the BS profile compares with Ez water and Bru n water.

 

[Edd]

They are very similar, not a lot in it at all. I am using BS and Bru’n Water for a light hoppy ale and the additions show exactly the same for both. I’m still going to have to use BW for the mash PH as can’t get my fat head around the BS method. But as for water profiles, yeah, not a lot in it at all. I’m happy to go with either.