![]() ![]() I am pretty active on the BeerSmith forum helping others with using the program (full disclosure), but I also recognize that some of the issues people have with BeerSmith are better handled with other options such as BrewFather and Brewer's Friend. I should probably start tracking this as well though to see what that relationship actually is though. Maybe it is just the way I had operated my process, but in switching to the Anvil and using a hop basket (versus just free additions previously, I am still at very low volume losses versus hop loading. Tracking trub loss versus hop loading for over 110 recipes brewed, I have found no reliable correlation (r 2 = 0.0182) between hop loading in boil and whirlpool (all pellets) and trub loss. I find the mash pH prediction, once you take into account the overestimation of buffering in Mark Riffe's model that BS uses, to be as accurate as Bru'n water so have not had any issues with that function. I track inventory separately due to that particular weakness in the program. I will totally agree that the inventory and issue with cloud storage are an issue with BeerSmith. Every program has its weak points and faults, it all depends on which ones you can live with. I have trialed BrewFather and Brewer's Friend and am sticking with BeerSmith. Learn how to evaluate your water chemistry and make adjustments to brew the best beer possible with Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®’s online course, Brewing Water: A Practical Approach.Any modeling software worth its weight will need to have an accurate description of the process and process variables. Finally, if needed, add small amounts (typically only a few ounces/milliliters total) of lactic acid to bring the mash down to the 5.2–5.6 range and then continue brewing your beer. Use a pH meter or high-quality pH strips to measure the actual pH of your mash. So to summarize: start with a good “drinkable” water source and start your mash. Lactic acid is probably the most easily found in an average homebrew store. For a homebrewer, this means adding small amounts of lactic acid, phosphoric acid, or acidulated malt to the mash until you get the pH down to the range you need. This is particularly true for light beers, which don’t have enough acidic dark malts to reach the desired range. Since we want to get the mash pH down to 5.2–5.6, we often need to use additional acid to drive it down further. That will depend on how alkaline the water was to start with, how much acid the water itself can absorb (which is measured by the water’s residual alkalinity), and how much dark vs. So when we mix our slightly alkaline water with our acidic grains, we get a pH that is often in the range of 5.0–7.0. Dark roast malts are very acidic and will have the largest effect, while pale malts are only slightly acidic. ![]() Grains, in contrast, are acidic, meaning they will lower the pH of the water/grain mixture. You might recall from high school chemistry class that pure distilled water has a pH of 7.0, but most municipal water sources have a higher (slightly alkaline) pH above 7.0, due to minerals they pick up from ground and surface sources. Ideally, you want a mash pH of 5.2–5.6 when you mix the water and grains. You can best find it by measuring it with a pH meter or pH test strips. Mash pH is simply the pH of the mixture of water and grains in the mash tun. The proper mash pH has a number of positive effects on your beer-improving both the flavor and stability of the finished beer. ![]() If you are an all-grain brewer with a “good” water source, the most important thing to worry about is mash pH. When the maltster created your malt extract he/she mashed grains and then concentrated the wort down by removing the water, which means the ideal set of ions for brewing are already in the concentrated malt. ![]() Interestingly, extract brewers can use distilled water for their brewing because all the minerals needed for brewing are already in the malt extract. If, however, you have a well or other source with particularly hard or soft water, then you can purchase bottled water from your grocery store and use that instead. Most municipal water in the United States can be used right out of the tap with no adjustment. Unfortunately, many of these books assume you have a good knowledge of chemistry, along with microbiology and brewing.Īssuming you have access to a “reasonably good” water source, you should not have to do much to your water to use it to brew beer. Water chemistry for brewing is a complex topic, which is why entire books have been written about water and brewing. ![]()
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