I've been a homebrewer for a few years now, and for me, Brewfather has the most intuitive and user friendly water profile calculator I've used. Additionally, the software itself put Beersmith to bed for me. Easy = no stress on brew day.
Novice homebrewer here, I just recently switched from BeerSmith to Brewfather, I've used it for about 7 brews now, versus 30+ brews with BeerSmith. Hands down, Brewfather water profile tool is much nicer, and well, almost any other feature is nicer. I almost regret I didn't give Brewfather a try way sooner.
I don't know how anyone could dislike this video, you gave helpful information to all brewers and even a small lesson in science to people who may not be brewers. Great video, Steve. I always find myself coming back to this one specifically on brew day just to double check my steps. Thanks for all of the uploads!
Good tip for beginners there with the city profiles as a general guideline. I've gone down that rabbit hole and if you're starting with RO water, it feels impossible with chemicals we have available to us to actually nail a particular specific city water profile. It's far better to know what the chemicals do, as described in the video, and make your adjustments based on what you want the finished beer to be and work towards that goal.
Yeah sometimes the extra high bicarbonate levels in places like London aren't always easy to hit with distilled or RO water. Glad you enjoyed the video!
So my tap water is around 9-9.1 PH, I've set each of my upcoming recipes to auto in each of their style of beers, in brewfather and come up with what to add to the strike water, im new to all grain and this will be the only time I've considered water chemistry, my tap water tastes great but I do have chloramine in my water, like you said you don't taste it in the water till you taste your finished beer with it in, I have a mate that has been doing all-grain for years, he gives me alot of advice and he is probably why I'm getting into all-grain, before that I've just been doing quick extract brews and mini mash/ steeps with specially grain but I'm confident I know how to brew all-grain lol. I was looking at clawhammers 240v system but ended up getting something more local, the brewzilla 35 litre 3.1.1 at kegland here in AU. Cheers 👍🍻
I know this video is 3 years old now but it's great and one to save for useful information. My Input for anyone brewing in the UK: 1) Very cheap RO water is available at spotless water, initially set up for window cleaners but so useful for brewing! 2) be careful with the brewfather water calculator. I made the mistake of clicking "auto" and not really checking the values, but it recommended lots of additions and still never reached the target profile 😂 Have fun brewing all
This video was insanely wonderful. I am one of those brewers who fight water chemistry. I have used this calculator before, but this has been a tremendous help! another satisfied watcher/subscriber Thank you!
FINALLY! Finally a simple approach to water chemistry, I have asked a lot of people that brew and usually just get either shrugged off or super in depth complicated BS that doesn't really help me, this video is 100% on point for me! Thank you for posting this, I will definitely be using this approach on my next brew!
Thanks for the brewers friend water calculator demo. I have been wanting to delve into this but didn’t know where to start. Thinking I’ll try to use some salt additions on the next hazy I brew!
I am just getting into all grain brewing and the first one I wanted to try was a NEIPA. I have been stressing out about water profile to obtain that perfect haze as I haven’t taken a chemistry class in 15 years. Thank you for posting this cheat sheet. Can’t wait to get brewing!
Glad I could help out! Believe it or not that haze has less to do with water than you might think. You're gonna get a lot more stability with the combination of a high protein grist, a biotransforming yeast and large amount of dry hopping to get those polyphenols to bind with the proteins. Then you'll have a completely opaque beer that stays that way!
Steve, thank you so much for this video. I've watched it before but didn't take detailed notes. Having just formulated a recipe, I feel I now have a lot more control over the water treatment and that I probably need to get a more up to date analysis from the lab I use here in the UK - Murphy and Sons. Their service is excellent and their recommendations for style very good but I can now tweak with confidence!
Definitely an improvement over your last water chem video and probably the most practical one I've seen so far. Cuts through some of the BS of "conventional wisdom". Great tips on ignoring historic city profiles, the logarithmic nature of ph, and the roles of each ion and salt in the process. I personally don't see the need to test so often or to bother with a ph meter. Have you ever had either of these tell you something that allowed you to save a brew? Btw I do use chalk, but I always have a keg of high carbonated water on tap for my wife and kid's italian sodas, so dissolving it isn't a big deal for me.
Oh yeah its just a little better haha. Glad you appreciated the way I put it together and learned something! And to answer your question, actually yes, ph measurements have indeed helped me improve a brew. I wouldn't go so far as to say it "saved" anything, but it's sure allowed me to get a much better beer than otherwise
Thank you for another informative video. I only have two all grain brews under my belt and have used BeerSmith for my water chemistry which has worked out well but I do like Brewersfriend and will probably use that for my next brew. Cheers!
you were correct to assume, you had to make this video! from all the brewing channels on here your video was actually the easiest to follow and made more sense! Made a lot of notes as i watched :) Thanks for making this!
Your last water chem vid was what inspired me to get into dealing with my brewing water. Well that and the fact that my efficiency was so bad. Getting the PH meter and calibration solutions was really the first step. I'm still figuring it out but can definitely see an improvement. By the way, nice shirt! That place is incredible! Their beers make me think of Spring!
Excellent video as per the norm! Although it’s fun to learn about regional water profiles like Burton-on-Trent and how it shaped the styles we all love (my city Edmonton is particularly excellent for stouts) I fully agree with starting at RO or distilled, and building up to a specific profile. It leaves me with complete control over the result, and helps me eliminate a couple potential sources of oopsies if something goes wrong.
I've watched a few water vids and this one finally clicked. Thanks. Also, my water is low in sodium and sulfates. Sodium sulfate is a thing, but it's not listed and I've never heard another brewer talk about it, and brewers friend doesn't even have a field for it. Have you hear anyone talk about it?
Glad I could help you out! I think the reason sodium sulfate isn't used that much is probably that you're going to overdo your sodium levels way before your sulfate levels. 90% of the time people are just trying to add sulfates or chlorides, and sodium has a low flavor threshold as well
Checking out Water Chem brewing videos in anticipation of starting to BIAB. Thanks for delving into Brewer's Friend especially. I use it to calculate OG for thrown together experiments and other hypothetical recipes I try out. Mainly wine, cider, & mead maker ATM. So I skipped over the water profile stuff on there so. I'll definitely have to label my bags of adjuncts with their chemical names, but will come back for a refresher when I get to brew day. I'm interested in nailing a good Cream Ale down, but will adjust for lack of wort chiller for now.
@@TheApartmentBrewer I've been homebrewing all grain since 2008, preceeded by 2ish years of partial mash/extract. If there's good information out there, I always appreciate the effort to share. The homebrew community by enlarge is the most patient, sharing community. We've all been there, and we're all trying to make better beer. Everyone/anyone can make beer, making great beer is harder. Easier though, when we share tips and techniques.
Nice and straightforward breakdown. I feel like water chemistry is something you have to practice a few times and then it becomes second nature just like building any other part of your recipe. I personally use Bru'n Water which seems intimidating at first but is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Brewers friend is my back up for when I'm on mobile but there was one time it was pretty wonky on the acid additions and luckily from experience I knew something was wrong. I'm sure they've sorted out that issue by now. Keep up the good work!
It definitely takes a minute to get the hang of it, its kind of interesting to see who likes which water chemistry tool. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Thanks for watching!
Hey great video. I have heard so many different ideas on water chemistry. I heard last week that 10 to 1 Cl to SO for NEIPA! This is from a guy with an in house brewery and makes really good beer. I just want to clarify that you are talking the entire amount of water going through the grain or just the mash water. Mash water is mentioned almost all through the video. Thanks
With NEIPA recipes its really up to personal preference. I've had great NEIPAs with almost no bitterness or balance made with 4:1 Cl:SO4, and some with a bit of bitterness (the way I like them) do well with a more balanced profile. And you should really treat the entire volume of water that is being used, in my case the mash and sparge water are the same, but for folks who use three vessel, just treating the whole hot liquor supply should do the trick. Cheers!
Me watching your first video ever as a new home brewer - **clicked away within a couple mins because it got too technical too quick** Me coming back a week later - **clicked away before finishing half the video for the same reason** Me getting more educated from simpler videos and having more space for more technical stuff and coming back the third time - "Okayy!! This is starting to make sense!" Me now (3-4 weeks into learning about brewing) - "Fucking love this dude! He's a genius!"
I'm not brewing yet but I love your videos. Greetings from Germany! What did you like most about European beers and what do you prefer when it comes to US beers?
great video dude! The impact of water is really underrated and this was a clear explanation! I've been using the bru'n water spreadsheet but I'm going to check this out, it looks easier to use.
Considering taking the plunge into Water Chemistry. I'll likely do a comparison (Austin, TX tap water vs distilled vs distilled with salts) and will likely stick with what gives me the best tasting beer!
I think I may have finally ruined my first batch of beer! I made a cream ale that I was going to fruit in secondary. During the mash I added 2 ml of lactic acid stirred and waited a few minutes then checked the PH again, didn't seem to help so I then added 2 more ml. Again the PH was solid at around 6.2. I thought I would add 1 more ml and then the PH went down to 5.3 which I thought was a good number. After the boil I put the wurt into my fermzilla, pitched my yeast and pressurized to 15lb. After a week primary fermentation was done so I tossed in 3lb of smashed up strawberries (previously frozen whole). I left them in the fermenter for 3 days and then pulled them. I allowed the beer another day to clear up again from the fruit. I then made a really amateur move. I pulled my empty keg from inside my keezer and did a closed transfer of the beer from room temperature into a cold keg. SHM it took a while and it was foaming like crazy. I put the filled keg into the keezer and allowed it to get cold. I went for a taste test and found that the beer is really thin. I mean really thin. Kind of like a white claw, it appears to be VERY VERY crisp and too much for my liking. I think the acidity of the fruit made the beer even more acidic. I am wondering if you have any tricks that may fix this, if not I am going to attempt to drink it but it's not quite pleasant to drink, not because it is bad but just not my thing. A cream ale is supposed to have a full mouth feel and creamy but this is a very very light mouth feel like drinking sparkling stuff!
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you many thanks sir thank you. My brain turns to mush as soon as ions and chemistry gets involved, but this made so much sense. You teach better than my former HS chem teacher 🤣
Love your videos. I have a spreadsheet with my water profile and tried to compare to your ion recommendations and the recommendations in the John Palmer “How to Brew” book. The 2 ranges differ greatly. Please advise
I just can't get distilled water. Our tap water is really good though so that is what I have been using. So far I cant find any bad taste that I could track down to water so is this anything I should be lookin after from now on? Every recipe so far has turned out so great.
If youre happy with the way your water is working now, thats great! If you can send your water in for a lab analysis or get a test kit, then you can customize it further for the beer you brew, but otherwise that sounds pretty great!
good vid. water in my place is not safe to drink off tap. we will need to boil it off before drinking. my water company do not publish the water report so we all have no idea whats in the water. im a novice. i will be getting a filter to start. i leave my water over night and pre boil, cool it down to mash temp before brewing. perhaps i should also look into campden. is there any tools out there that lets me test the level of each minerals in water? im still struggling to get those external minerals to adjust the profile
I'd recommend looking into purchasing a water test kit for your tap water so you know what you're working with. There's a link in the description for a LaMotte brewing water test kit that should help you out
Hi, whats your opinion about only treat the water for the final galons that you want? For sparge water only acidificate at the pH that you want. Finally when you finish the boil you have the profile of water that you want and the salts for the galons that you want. There aren't sals for 8 galons, only for 5 galons and its the goal. Thank you and cheers!
I 0refer to treat all the water you use for the brew day by adding salts to the mash only, accounting for sparge water and the water that gets absorbed by the grain. So even if I am only ending up with 5 gallons of wort at the end, I'll calculate water additions for all 8 gallons of water to avoid risk of dilution, pH changes etc.
Hi man. Why are you talking so fast in your last videos? It defies my English. But you do have an excellent pronunciation and I enjoy your videos and take some ideas from there.
How would this process be different if you weren't doing an all-in-one BIAB and sparging instead? I started with distilled water, input the Yellow Balanced target from Bru'n Water, and added salts to get the results I wanted. All green and pH are good after adding some lactic acid to the mash. However, I don't have to add any salts or acid to the sparge water?
You will be fine adding everything to the mash water. If you want to collect some water set aside for your sparge and treat both your mash and sparge water as well that is another way to do it, but either works fine
Do you have a workaround for getting the profile you want without using chalk? I was playing around with the online calculator with the Porter/Dark Ale profile and I couldn't find a combination of additions that got the Calcium levels where they needed to be without using chalk. Also, thank you so much for posting! This video and the rest of the content you produce is very helpful.
Outstanding video! Very helpful info! Your channel is really one of the most informative anyways and this only adds to that! Would you recommend baking soda as a good way to add sodium?
Glad you enjoyed it!! As far a adding Sodium, I would heavily encourage you to just add a few grams of regular non iodized table salt instead. Baking soda will change the mash pH
Oh yeah, and i can recommend the EZ Watercalculator. Just google it. It's a excel spreadsheet that's pretty detailed. You can chose to dilute your tap water with destilled water, if you want, wich is really handy. Plus: It gives the best prediction of your mash ph in my experience, so check that out, if you like.
I mash in a cooler and batch sparge, can I add all my salts in the mash water or should I put some in my sparge water as well? Trying to keep things as simple as I can on brew days.
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.
Super helpful video, thank you! Question for you… I typically do a sparge. Would I be better off doing treatments to my mash water and sparge water separately? Or could I make the treatments for the entire beer’s water volume all in the mash - that way I’m only worrying about this once per brew session? My guess is it should be done indivudally for each step, as to not risk having the mash PH be off… but perhaps I’m over thinking it and it can be done more simply with the one treatment.
Great explanation. One question: the water in my area is pretty high on carbonates (usually > 280 mg/L). What additions should I go for to bring them down?
Excellent information! About campden tablets, do you crush them? Do you need to let the water sit after adding them before adding malts? I have powder form stuff (potassium metabisulfate).
When is the best time to test pH? I always thought to test pH after adding brewing salts then dough in when the target pH is attained. Is this a wrong step? I have noticed one homebrewer testing the pH of the wort after mashing.
I prefer to use bru n' water for my water adjustments. It's free but not updated, however, you can pay the developer $10 for an updated version and is updated more frequently. It's very advanced but very easy to use.
@@TheApartmentBrewer I use brewers friend and considering making the switch to brew father. I just prefer bru n water because of the amount help it provides and how much customization you have. It also takes a lot of factors into play. I do agree on the clunkiness though, but I can handle it for that lol
I ran water profile calculator on Brufather and Brewer's friend on the same style of beer I want to brew. The salt amount (gypsum, baking soda, etc) is quite different when I compared the two programs, but the pH is similar. Any advice why the amounts are different? I am leaning towards Brewer's Friend based on your suggestion, but just wondering the cause of the different amounts.
When I use the grist pH properties are based on beer color, my ph drops to 4. I can't raise the ph without adding to much baking soda. If i use grist info based on grain bill it goes back to like 5.5. whats going on? I'm trying to make a tripel and I'm trying to use the beer color but the ph changes drastically.
Thats odd, considering its such a light color beer. Are you entering the grist color values in EBC, Lovibond or SRM? I believe the calculator only works in Lovibond. The individual grain option is ultimately what I use to generate accurate pH predictions.
@@TheApartmentBrewer First I make the recipe for the beer and then go to water calculator link when editing the beer recipe. From there I go to grist info and put in grain weight and SRM. i use SRM on my beer recipes. When i enter in the weight and srm, the ph drops from 5.6 to 4. when i change the option back to grain bill it changes back to 5.6. I don't see an option for lovibond. Do you link your beer recipes to water chemistry calculator?
So I have a question, in the beginning you state Chlorine and Chloramine taste like a rubbery garden hose, then at 2:06 you say you can taste Chlorine but not Chloramine. From what I have read they both have a rubbery taste. If you truly cannot taste chloramine why would you remove it from your water? I am assuming you mis-spoke at that point but wanted to ask for clarification incase I am incorrect.
That's a great question. Yes you can taste chlorine but chloramine is relatively flavorless, however the effect they have on beer is the same. It comes down to how they interact with the ingredients in beer and they will both cause flavor problems.
@@TheApartmentBrewer THanks for that clarification, I will be sure to work on my water profile (once i figure out how to read my towns water report lol) but for now I will use a campden tablet or a mixture of potassium metabisulfite
Love your content! I haven't brewed in over 20 years and the first batch I'm bottling this weekend is your Kveik Pilsner. Very excited. @@TheApartmentBrewer
Hi, my brew taste Bitter and im sure its not from the hops as im adding a very small amount would I have a high Sulphate to Chloride Ratio in rain water to make this happen ?
I have a pretty high bicarbonate level of 236ppm in my tap water here. This leaves me with a residual alkalinity of around 140ppm. Having brewed now for around 2 years I still find my pale'ish beers somewhat lacking. I am adjusting each brew with a buttload of phosphoric acid during the mash and I am hitting the target pH and gravities as I should. But would going with RO or another less minirally water source improve the end product?
Depends on the kind of pale beer. IPAs and pale ales and hoppy beers will benefit from that type of water with a little extra adjustment. But for pale lagers and more delicate beers you would probably want softer source water. But sounds like your mash chemistry is on point, I bet you make awesome darker beers!
ok so i made a mistake today causing 236 ppm of Ca, 336 ppm sulfate, and 160 ppm chloride in my water. what will this high ca level do to my beer? was aiming for a sierra nevada pale ale. thx
I never got the chalk thing anyway. Even if it is in solution, it will drop out of solution after the boil and leave a chalky kettle behind. I heard the argument, that it's good for stouts or porters, because you want a high mineral level, but it's not even making it's way into the fermenter, so it's kinda useless to me
So I would value your insight. I RO my water (London water is great for dark beers but not light one's or lagers) I use Brewfather recipe calculator including water target style which gives me my salt additions for a 5.2 - 5.4 PH. Yet every time the mash overshoots by. 0.5ish and its about 5.85. I would welcome any ideas as to why?
What is your water pH before any salts are added? You might have a lot of residual alkalinity left even after your RO system has treated your water. If that's the case, the simple way to correct that is to add some phosphoric or lactic acid to your mash to lower your pH. www.brunwater.com/water-knowledge is a good deep dive into water chemistry that can explain it better than I can.
If its primarily a pale grist, you may still need to add some acidulated malt to the grist, or use some lactic acid to correct. I'm not immediate sure why thats behaving the way it is, try using a few different water calculators with the sale recipe and see if there is any variance. I'm assuming you're calibrating the pH meter as well, but if it's not recent it might be worth doing again
@@TheApartmentBrewer Hi If it is ok, I am going to brew Wednesday. I have two (getting paranoid now) calibrated PH meters. I shall take readings and I have a Brewfather calculation I should hit and I will report back after if things go as I suspect for you to see if I'm missing anything. Cheers
@@TheApartmentBrewer so I brewed as discussed and obviously the mere threat of your assessment was enough. A pair lager and I aimed for 5.21 and got 5.32. Good enough. Huzzah 😊
And for the purposes of measuring mash pH is ballpark at best with a resolution of +/- 1 pH level, which is fine if you're just starting out. It will help you know if you are wildly off or not but a pH meter will help tremendously in getting dialed in. A difference of 5.0 and 5.5 will make an impact.
One thing to add: The min and max concentrations for each ion are really just a guideline - don't feel like you need to always be in that range.
I've been a homebrewer for a few years now, and for me, Brewfather has the most intuitive and user friendly water profile calculator I've used. Additionally, the software itself put Beersmith to bed for me. Easy = no stress on brew day.
I think brewing software is really getting better, beersmith is kind of getting left behind.
Novice homebrewer here, I just recently switched from BeerSmith to Brewfather, I've used it for about 7 brews now, versus 30+ brews with BeerSmith. Hands down, Brewfather water profile tool is much nicer, and well, almost any other feature is nicer. I almost regret I didn't give Brewfather a try way sooner.
I don't know how anyone could dislike this video, you gave helpful information to all brewers and even a small lesson in science to people who may not be brewers. Great video, Steve. I always find myself coming back to this one specifically on brew day just to double check my steps. Thanks for all of the uploads!
I appreciate that! I'm glad you are getting good info out of the video!
There are anonymous idiots everywhere, personally I disliked it twice ;)
Great simplified look into water chemistry! I know it can be very confusing and this definitely made it digestible.
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
This video has been the kick for me to get into water chem. Suddenly it doesn’t sound overcomplicated, and just generally hard anymore, thanks a lot!
Exactly what I was hoping I could do for folks! Give it a try!
Good tip for beginners there with the city profiles as a general guideline. I've gone down that rabbit hole and if you're starting with RO water, it feels impossible with chemicals we have available to us to actually nail a particular specific city water profile. It's far better to know what the chemicals do, as described in the video, and make your adjustments based on what you want the finished beer to be and work towards that goal.
Yeah sometimes the extra high bicarbonate levels in places like London aren't always easy to hit with distilled or RO water. Glad you enjoyed the video!
So my tap water is around 9-9.1 PH, I've set each of my upcoming recipes to auto in each of their style of beers, in brewfather and come up with what to add to the strike water, im new to all grain and this will be the only time I've considered water chemistry, my tap water tastes great but I do have chloramine in my water, like you said you don't taste it in the water till you taste your finished beer with it in, I have a mate that has been doing all-grain for years, he gives me alot of advice and he is probably why I'm getting into all-grain, before that I've just been doing quick extract brews and mini mash/ steeps with specially grain but I'm confident I know how to brew all-grain lol. I was looking at clawhammers 240v system but ended up getting something more local, the brewzilla 35 litre 3.1.1 at kegland here in AU. Cheers 👍🍻
Glad you're learning more! Water makes a huge difference
I know this video is 3 years old now but it's great and one to save for useful information.
My Input for anyone brewing in the UK:
1) Very cheap RO water is available at spotless water, initially set up for window cleaners but so useful for brewing!
2) be careful with the brewfather water calculator. I made the mistake of clicking "auto" and not really checking the values, but it recommended lots of additions and still never reached the target profile 😂
Have fun brewing all
This video was insanely wonderful. I am one of those brewers who fight water chemistry. I have used this calculator before, but this has been a tremendous help! another satisfied watcher/subscriber Thank you!
I am so glad it was helpful!
I appreciate this easy to understand explanation. Keep these informative videos coming.
FINALLY! Finally a simple approach to water chemistry, I have asked a lot of people that brew and usually just get either shrugged off or super in depth complicated BS that doesn't really help me, this video is 100% on point for me! Thank you for posting this, I will definitely be using this approach on my next brew!
Glad I could help!
Thanks for the brewers friend water calculator demo. I have been wanting to delve into this but didn’t know where to start. Thinking I’ll try to use some salt additions on the next hazy I brew!
Glad I could help!
Fantastic job and very informative!
I am just getting into all grain brewing and the first one I wanted to try was a NEIPA. I have been stressing out about water profile to obtain that perfect haze as I haven’t taken a chemistry class in 15 years. Thank you for posting this cheat sheet. Can’t wait to get brewing!
Glad I could help out! Believe it or not that haze has less to do with water than you might think. You're gonna get a lot more stability with the combination of a high protein grist, a biotransforming yeast and large amount of dry hopping to get those polyphenols to bind with the proteins. Then you'll have a completely opaque beer that stays that way!
Steve, thank you so much for this video. I've watched it before but didn't take detailed notes. Having just formulated a recipe, I feel I now have a lot more control over the water treatment and that I probably need to get a more up to date analysis from the lab I use here in the UK - Murphy and Sons. Their service is excellent and their recommendations for style very good but I can now tweak with confidence!
I'm glad you found it so useful!
Thanks for breaking this down,
It is very much appreciated!🍻
Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Very clear and useful info in here! Thanks for sharing
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Definitely an improvement over your last water chem video and probably the most practical one I've seen so far. Cuts through some of the BS of "conventional wisdom". Great tips on ignoring historic city profiles, the logarithmic nature of ph, and the roles of each ion and salt in the process. I personally don't see the need to test so often or to bother with a ph meter. Have you ever had either of these tell you something that allowed you to save a brew? Btw I do use chalk, but I always have a keg of high carbonated water on tap for my wife and kid's italian sodas, so dissolving it isn't a big deal for me.
Oh yeah its just a little better haha. Glad you appreciated the way I put it together and learned something! And to answer your question, actually yes, ph measurements have indeed helped me improve a brew. I wouldn't go so far as to say it "saved" anything, but it's sure allowed me to get a much better beer than otherwise
Thank you for another informative video. I only have two all grain brews under my belt and have used BeerSmith for my water chemistry which has worked out well but I do like Brewersfriend and will probably use that for my next brew. Cheers!
I really think its a bit easier to understand than Beersmith, glad you're enjoying the videos!
you were correct to assume, you had to make this video! from all the brewing channels on here your video was actually the easiest to follow and made more sense!
Made a lot of notes as i watched :)
Thanks for making this!
Thanks for the kind words, I'm really glad I could help you learn!
Your last water chem vid was what inspired me to get into dealing with my brewing water. Well that and the fact that my efficiency was so bad. Getting the PH meter and calibration solutions was really the first step. I'm still figuring it out but can definitely see an improvement. By the way, nice shirt! That place is incredible! Their beers make me think of Spring!
Thanks! I'm glad I could help you take that step, it's crazy how much of a change it can make. Keep it up! Ommegang beers are among my favorites!
Excellent video as per the norm! Although it’s fun to learn about regional water profiles like Burton-on-Trent and how it shaped the styles we all love (my city Edmonton is particularly excellent for stouts) I fully agree with starting at RO or distilled, and building up to a specific profile. It leaves me with complete control over the result, and helps me eliminate a couple potential sources of oopsies if something goes wrong.
Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I really don't think I'll be going back after working with distilled!
I've watched a few water vids and this one finally clicked. Thanks. Also, my water is low in sodium and sulfates. Sodium sulfate is a thing, but it's not listed and I've never heard another brewer talk about it, and brewers friend doesn't even have a field for it. Have you hear anyone talk about it?
Glad I could help you out! I think the reason sodium sulfate isn't used that much is probably that you're going to overdo your sodium levels way before your sulfate levels. 90% of the time people are just trying to add sulfates or chlorides, and sodium has a low flavor threshold as well
great video, cheers steve!
Cheers CH, thanks!
Checking out Water Chem brewing videos in anticipation of starting to BIAB. Thanks for delving into Brewer's Friend especially. I use it to calculate OG for thrown together experiments and other hypothetical recipes I try out. Mainly wine, cider, & mead maker ATM. So I skipped over the water profile stuff on there so. I'll definitely have to label my bags of adjuncts with their chemical names, but will come back for a refresher when I get to brew day.
I'm interested in nailing a good Cream Ale down, but will adjust for lack of wort chiller for now.
I'm very glad I could help out!
Great video, one of the most useful water chemistry videos i have viewed. Glad to have found this channel, simple instructions and very informative
That's awesome! I'm really glad I could help you out!
Doing gods work, Steve. Keep it up! Everyone new or seasoned in homebrewing can benefit. Thank you for your service(s).
I appreciate the support! Very glad people are able to take away some useful things from my videos!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I've been homebrewing all grain since 2008, preceeded by 2ish years of partial mash/extract. If there's good information out there, I always appreciate the effort to share. The homebrew community by enlarge is the most patient, sharing community. We've all been there, and we're all trying to make better beer.
Everyone/anyone can make beer, making great beer is harder. Easier though, when we share tips and techniques.
Nice and straightforward breakdown. I feel like water chemistry is something you have to practice a few times and then it becomes second nature just like building any other part of your recipe. I personally use Bru'n Water which seems intimidating at first but is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Brewers friend is my back up for when I'm on mobile but there was one time it was pretty wonky on the acid additions and luckily from experience I knew something was wrong. I'm sure they've sorted out that issue by now. Keep up the good work!
It definitely takes a minute to get the hang of it, its kind of interesting to see who likes which water chemistry tool. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Thanks for watching!
Hey great video. I have heard so many different ideas on water chemistry. I heard last week that 10 to 1 Cl to SO for NEIPA! This is from a guy with an in house brewery and makes really good beer. I just want to clarify that you are talking the entire amount of water going through the grain or just the mash water. Mash water is mentioned almost all through the video.
Thanks
With NEIPA recipes its really up to personal preference. I've had great NEIPAs with almost no bitterness or balance made with 4:1 Cl:SO4, and some with a bit of bitterness (the way I like them) do well with a more balanced profile. And you should really treat the entire volume of water that is being used, in my case the mash and sparge water are the same, but for folks who use three vessel, just treating the whole hot liquor supply should do the trick. Cheers!
Me watching your first video ever as a new home brewer - **clicked away within a couple mins because it got too technical too quick**
Me coming back a week later - **clicked away before finishing half the video for the same reason**
Me getting more educated from simpler videos and having more space for more technical stuff and coming back the third time - "Okayy!! This is starting to make sense!"
Me now (3-4 weeks into learning about brewing) - "Fucking love this dude! He's a genius!"
fantastic intro into water chemistry for brewing! Well done and cheers!
Thanks for watching, cheers!
Thanks for this video, very helpful!
Glad I could help!
As usual your content is extremely informative and helpful. Now time to get into my brew shed in here in Massachusetts and start brewing again!!
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm a bit jealous of the idea of a brew shed!!
I'm not brewing yet but I love your videos. Greetings from Germany! What did you like most about European beers and what do you prefer when it comes to US beers?
Glad you enjoy the channel! Love the amazing flavor variety of European malts, love the piney resinousness of American hops!
great video dude! The impact of water is really underrated and this was a clear explanation! I've been using the bru'n water spreadsheet but I'm going to check this out, it looks easier to use.
Thanks for watching! I used to use brun water as well but I kinda stopped after discovering brewers friend. Cheers!
Considering taking the plunge into Water Chemistry. I'll likely do a comparison (Austin, TX tap water vs distilled vs distilled with salts) and will likely stick with what gives me the best tasting beer!
Do it! It makes a huge difference!
Great video! Thanks for putting it in super simple terms.
Thanks for watching!
Love the brewery shirt
I think I may have finally ruined my first batch of beer! I made a cream ale that I was going to fruit in secondary. During the mash I added 2 ml of lactic acid stirred and waited a few minutes then checked the PH again, didn't seem to help so I then added 2 more ml. Again the PH was solid at around 6.2. I thought I would add 1 more ml and then the PH went down to 5.3 which I thought was a good number. After the boil I put the wurt into my fermzilla, pitched my yeast and pressurized to 15lb. After a week primary fermentation was done so I tossed in 3lb of smashed up strawberries (previously frozen whole). I left them in the fermenter for 3 days and then pulled them. I allowed the beer another day to clear up again from the fruit. I then made a really amateur move. I pulled my empty keg from inside my keezer and did a closed transfer of the beer from room temperature into a cold keg. SHM it took a while and it was foaming like crazy. I put the filled keg into the keezer and allowed it to get cold. I went for a taste test and found that the beer is really thin. I mean really thin. Kind of like a white claw, it appears to be VERY VERY crisp and too much for my liking. I think the acidity of the fruit made the beer even more acidic. I am wondering if you have any tricks that may fix this, if not I am going to attempt to drink it but it's not quite pleasant to drink, not because it is bad but just not my thing. A cream ale is supposed to have a full mouth feel and creamy but this is a very very light mouth feel like drinking sparkling stuff!
I'm sorry to hear that! pH is a huge part of beer flavor and mouthfeel!
Excellent job.
Thanks!
Gratis explanation. Congrats
Great explanation. Congrats.
Thanks for watching!
urg, the big freeze killed my RO system so I'll be starting over. Nice timely upload
Glad I could help out!
Great great video very informative thank you for education
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you many thanks sir thank you. My brain turns to mush as soon as ions and chemistry gets involved, but this made so much sense. You teach better than my former HS chem teacher 🤣
I'm more than happy to help!
Solid video.
Love your videos. I have a spreadsheet with my water profile and tried to compare to your ion recommendations and the recommendations in the John Palmer “How to Brew” book. The 2 ranges differ greatly. Please advise
Excellent. Thank you.
I just can't get distilled water. Our tap water is really good though so that is what I have been using. So far I cant find any bad taste that I could track down to water so is this anything I should be lookin after from now on? Every recipe so far has turned out so great.
If youre happy with the way your water is working now, thats great! If you can send your water in for a lab analysis or get a test kit, then you can customize it further for the beer you brew, but otherwise that sounds pretty great!
Great informative video!
Thanks for watching, cheers!
good vid. water in my place is not safe to drink off tap. we will need to boil it off before drinking. my water company do not publish the water report so we all have no idea whats in the water. im a novice. i will be getting a filter to start. i leave my water over night and pre boil, cool it down to mash temp before brewing. perhaps i should also look into campden. is there any tools out there that lets me test the level of each minerals in water? im still struggling to get those external minerals to adjust the profile
I'd recommend looking into purchasing a water test kit for your tap water so you know what you're working with. There's a link in the description for a LaMotte brewing water test kit that should help you out
Hi, whats your opinion about only treat the water for the final galons that you want? For sparge water only acidificate at the pH that you want. Finally when you finish the boil you have the profile of water that you want and the salts for the galons that you want. There aren't sals for 8 galons, only for 5 galons and its the goal. Thank you and cheers!
I 0refer to treat all the water you use for the brew day by adding salts to the mash only, accounting for sparge water and the water that gets absorbed by the grain. So even if I am only ending up with 5 gallons of wort at the end, I'll calculate water additions for all 8 gallons of water to avoid risk of dilution, pH changes etc.
Hi man.
Why are you talking so fast in your last videos?
It defies my English. But you do have an excellent pronunciation and I enjoy your videos and take some ideas from there.
Thanks for watching!
How would this process be different if you weren't doing an all-in-one BIAB and sparging instead?
I started with distilled water, input the Yellow Balanced target from Bru'n Water, and added salts to get the results I wanted. All green and pH are good after adding some lactic acid to the mash. However, I don't have to add any salts or acid to the sparge water?
You will be fine adding everything to the mash water. If you want to collect some water set aside for your sparge and treat both your mash and sparge water as well that is another way to do it, but either works fine
Great video. Just need to calibrate my pH meter now!
Thanks!
Do you have a workaround for getting the profile you want without using chalk? I was playing around with the online calculator with the Porter/Dark Ale profile and I couldn't find a combination of additions that got the Calcium levels where they needed to be without using chalk.
Also, thank you so much for posting! This video and the rest of the content you produce is very helpful.
I try to use baking soda/sodium bicarbonate to get the bicarbonate content I need instead of chalk. Generally works pretty well
Outstanding video! Very helpful info! Your channel is really one of the most informative anyways and this only adds to that! Would you recommend baking soda as a good way to add sodium?
Glad you enjoyed it!! As far a adding Sodium, I would heavily encourage you to just add a few grams of regular non iodized table salt instead. Baking soda will change the mash pH
Very helpful. Thank you.
Glad I could help!
Is there a chart or poster for a newbie to visually see what different additions change each value?
Oh yeah, and i can recommend the EZ Watercalculator. Just google it. It's a excel spreadsheet that's pretty detailed. You can chose to dilute your tap water with destilled water, if you want, wich is really handy. Plus: It gives the best prediction of your mash ph in my experience, so check that out, if you like.
Great suggestions, thanks for sharing!
Liked and subbed! Great channel and useful info man 👍
Awesome, thank you so much!
Really enjoy your videos!! How much lactic acid or bicarbonate do you add at a time to decrease or increase mash ph? I have 80% lactic acid.
It depends, I have 65% concentration lactic acid so I would add it to a bowl and measure by weight, usually only a few grams for either
I mash in a cooler and batch sparge, can I add all my salts in the mash water or should I put some in my sparge water as well? Trying to keep things as simple as I can on brew days.
Yes, absolutely. You can honestly do either as you wish. I prefer to put them all in the mash though since it just makes it easier.
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.
If that is exactly how it is shown in your water report, then follow Ward Labs' instructions.
Super helpful video, thank you! Question for you… I typically do a sparge. Would I be better off doing treatments to my mash water and sparge water separately? Or could I make the treatments for the entire beer’s water volume all in the mash - that way I’m only worrying about this once per brew session? My guess is it should be done indivudally for each step, as to not risk having the mash PH be off… but perhaps I’m over thinking it and it can be done more simply with the one treatment.
You're totally fine adding all your salts to just the mash water, or splitting between the mash and sparge. Either one works.
Great video! Congrats!!!
Thank you!
Great explanation. One question: the water in my area is pretty high on carbonates (usually > 280 mg/L). What additions should I go for to bring them down?
I think you would need to pre boil your water and that may precipitate some of them out
@@TheApartmentBrewer I see, thanks for the fast reply!
Excellent information! About campden tablets, do you crush them? Do you need to let the water sit after adding them before adding malts? I have powder form stuff (potassium metabisulfate).
I think I used to crush them but it really doesn't matter as it will dissolve on its own. I would usually would let the water sit for around 20 min
When you say Epsom, can I use Epsom Salt that I get from the grocery store?
Only if it is food grade. Not all Epsom salt sold at the store is food grade
where are you getting your water salts from?
Typically just order them online or pick them up from a local homebrew shop
Olá (hi)! Excelente vídeo!
What u think about ascorbic acid (C vitamin) to deal with cloramines?
Never heard of using that for removal of chloramines. I usually recommend a campden tablet to remove chloramines, which is potassium metabisulfite
Hello what about using pickling lime aka calcium hydroxide to raise your mash pH??.
This is another good option as well, I just don't usually use it
What PH Meter do you use now? Don't mind spending more if it's durable and accurate
Apera pH pen. Should be listed on my amazon store if you are curious.
When is the best time to test pH? I always thought to test pH after adding brewing salts then dough in when the target pH is attained. Is this a wrong step? I have noticed one homebrewer testing the pH of the wort after mashing.
You should be checking pH around 5-10 minutes after mashing in, not before, since malts will affect the pH.
I prefer to use bru n' water for my water adjustments. It's free but not updated, however, you can pay the developer $10 for an updated version and is updated more frequently. It's very advanced but very easy to use.
Each software has its own strengths and weaknesses, I'm a sucker for a good UI though, that was what drive me away from bru'n water and beersmith
@@TheApartmentBrewer I use brewers friend and considering making the switch to brew father. I just prefer bru n water because of the amount help it provides and how much customization you have. It also takes a lot of factors into play. I do agree on the clunkiness though, but I can handle it for that lol
also don't use too much magnesium unless you really don't like people- laxative effects
I've never experienced this in the past but I'll have to look into it, would that really happen with like 3-10 ppm?
@@TheApartmentBrewer oh no, you need like 30+ but at 30 ppm can affect flavor
A “massive” theoretical impact or a “readily” discernible one
I ran water profile calculator on Brufather and Brewer's friend on the same style of beer I want to brew. The salt amount (gypsum, baking soda, etc) is quite different when I compared the two programs, but the pH is similar. Any advice why the amounts are different? I am leaning towards Brewer's Friend based on your suggestion, but just wondering the cause of the different amounts.
Strange, my only guess would be that the two calculators make different calculations for pH adjustment.
When I use the grist pH properties are based on beer color, my ph drops to 4. I can't raise the ph without adding to much baking soda. If i use grist info based on grain bill it goes back to like 5.5. whats going on? I'm trying to make a tripel and I'm trying to use the beer color but the ph changes drastically.
Thats odd, considering its such a light color beer. Are you entering the grist color values in EBC, Lovibond or SRM? I believe the calculator only works in Lovibond. The individual grain option is ultimately what I use to generate accurate pH predictions.
@@TheApartmentBrewer First I make the recipe for the beer and then go to water calculator link when editing the beer recipe. From there I go to grist info and put in grain weight and SRM. i use SRM on my beer recipes. When i enter in the weight and srm, the ph drops from 5.6 to 4. when i change the option back to grain bill it changes back to 5.6. I don't see an option for lovibond. Do you link your beer recipes to water chemistry calculator?
Good job 👍
Thanks!
So I have a question, in the beginning you state Chlorine and Chloramine taste like a rubbery garden hose, then at 2:06 you say you can taste Chlorine but not Chloramine. From what I have read they both have a rubbery taste. If you truly cannot taste chloramine why would you remove it from your water? I am assuming you mis-spoke at that point but wanted to ask for clarification incase I am incorrect.
That's a great question. Yes you can taste chlorine but chloramine is relatively flavorless, however the effect they have on beer is the same. It comes down to how they interact with the ingredients in beer and they will both cause flavor problems.
@@TheApartmentBrewer THanks for that clarification, I will be sure to work on my water profile (once i figure out how to read my towns water report lol) but for now I will use a campden tablet or a mixture of potassium metabisulfite
@@codebowl it's an easy way to be sure!
Great video! How accurate is the predicted pH by BrewersFriend vs the actual measurement ? Asking for the ones like me that don’t own a pH meter
Its kind of varied for me in the past. Depends on the beer but usually its within 0.2
@@TheApartmentBrewer cool, aim for 5.4 then and get it between 5.2 and 5.6
As alife long aquarist/fish keeper, I found a perfectly good ph meter on EBay for $5.99 cnd all in.
Nice find!
Idc if you don't care...I'm a still ganna like the video!
Love the content, starting to explore water chemistry so great vid
I do care, and I appreciate it! Thanks!
what scale do you use for measuring your salts?
I'm using this one: amzn.to/3uIRgRJ
It's pretty precise to the gram level but only rounds to whole grams
hey thanks for the speedy reply, one last question are brew shops the only place to buy the food grade salts mentioned?
You can find them pretty easily on Amazon as well, just search for each salt followed by "brewing"
Locally reversive osmosis water is .50 a gallon when you fill your own.
If you have it in your area. Not the case everywhere
Love your content! I haven't brewed in over 20 years and the first batch I'm bottling this weekend is your Kveik Pilsner. Very excited. @@TheApartmentBrewer
@@thomasmurphy1907 welcome back to the hobby!!
Have you ever used Five Star 5.2 Ph Stabilizer before
No I haven't, but for the most part I've avoided it because it seems to have some mixed reviews
I thought you'd like english bitters malty rather than dry and hoppy 🤔
Hi, my brew taste Bitter and im sure its not from the hops as im adding a very small amount
would I have a high Sulphate to Chloride Ratio in rain water to make this happen ?
Check to make sure you don't have a pH issue before looking at sulfate vs chloride. Rain water has all sorts of stuff in it
I have a pretty high bicarbonate level of 236ppm in my tap water here. This leaves me with a residual alkalinity of around 140ppm. Having brewed now for around 2 years I still find my pale'ish beers somewhat lacking. I am adjusting each brew with a buttload of phosphoric acid during the mash and I am hitting the target pH and gravities as I should. But would going with RO or another less minirally water source improve the end product?
Depends on the kind of pale beer. IPAs and pale ales and hoppy beers will benefit from that type of water with a little extra adjustment. But for pale lagers and more delicate beers you would probably want softer source water. But sounds like your mash chemistry is on point, I bet you make awesome darker beers!
Is filtered rain water almost 0 in most minerals?
Not necessarily. There are a lot of things in rainwater though that would make me very hesitant to use it for brewing.
Campden is sodium metabisulfite not potassium but they do the same thing
I believe they come in both sodium and potassium metabisulfite forms but I've only ever seen the potassium ones
ok so i made a mistake today causing 236 ppm of Ca, 336 ppm sulfate, and 160 ppm chloride in my water. what will this high ca level do to my beer? was aiming for a sierra nevada pale ale. thx
You'll probably end up with somewhat chalky tasting beer. However, it's probably not going to be as bad as you think.
5 stage water filter at home.
No contaminants in my brews.
I never got the chalk thing anyway. Even if it is in solution, it will drop out of solution after the boil and leave a chalky kettle behind. I heard the argument, that it's good for stouts or porters, because you want a high mineral level, but it's not even making it's way into the fermenter, so it's kinda useless to me
Yeah chalk can be difficult to get to work. I used it for a while and it didn't work great
How do you like that ph meter?
So far I have no complaints!
Do you have links to where to buy all of these minerals?
Any decent brewing supply shop should have them on the shelf. And if nothing else, there is always Amazon.
I'll echo this. The LHBS should have these, but amazon is going to probably be the best way to go. You can buy in bulk and cheaply.
So, you're supposed to control six variables (ions) with five degrees of freedom (salts)? That doesn't make much sense
So I would value your insight. I RO my water (London water is great for dark beers but not light one's or lagers) I use Brewfather recipe calculator including water target style which gives me my salt additions for a 5.2 - 5.4 PH. Yet every time the mash overshoots by. 0.5ish and its about 5.85. I would welcome any ideas as to why?
What is your water pH before any salts are added? You might have a lot of residual alkalinity left even after your RO system has treated your water. If that's the case, the simple way to correct that is to add some phosphoric or lactic acid to your mash to lower your pH. www.brunwater.com/water-knowledge is a good deep dive into water chemistry that can explain it better than I can.
hi I should have added that information last time i looked a couple of brews ago it was about 6.90
If its primarily a pale grist, you may still need to add some acidulated malt to the grist, or use some lactic acid to correct. I'm not immediate sure why thats behaving the way it is, try using a few different water calculators with the sale recipe and see if there is any variance. I'm assuming you're calibrating the pH meter as well, but if it's not recent it might be worth doing again
@@TheApartmentBrewer Hi If it is ok, I am going to brew Wednesday. I have two (getting paranoid now) calibrated PH meters. I shall take readings and I have a Brewfather calculation I should hit and I will report back after if things go as I suspect for you to see if I'm missing anything. Cheers
@@TheApartmentBrewer so I brewed as discussed and obviously the mere threat of your assessment was enough. A pair lager and I aimed for 5.21 and got 5.32. Good enough. Huzzah 😊
Water makes 97% of a beer? That beer would need to be less than 3% alcohol by volume.
Really well explained though
A one-dollar pack of Lithmus paper will last a lifetime, and never needs to be calibrated.
And for the purposes of measuring mash pH is ballpark at best with a resolution of +/- 1 pH level, which is fine if you're just starting out. It will help you know if you are wildly off or not but a pH meter will help tremendously in getting dialed in. A difference of 5.0 and 5.5 will make an impact.