[Wort-H.O.G.]

A pH of 5.8  is what you should get if the distilled water is in equilibrium with the CO2 in the atmosphere (according to the internet, which is about what I remember).  YMMV.

I hear you..I read the same thing about 5.8 for distilled. I also read not all distilled water is created equal, so perhaps there is a ph range variance amongst brands.

Anyway , with distilled, the ph is pretty much irrelevant in the context of his question regarding the alkalinity and buffering capacity. 5.8 or 7.0, the grain and brewing salts will drive the ph of the wort and it should not be required to add acid to sparge water.

[mabrungard]

I think the 5.8 pH that is mentioned above may be referring to the mash pH of a pale malt mashed in distilled water. 

By the way, Kai's online calculator is cool.  However, the need to plug in a code number is not.  If they made it with cookies so that the website recognized the user and brought up all their work, that would be a nice feature.  I don't like being tethered to the net, but that feature would make it more appealing.

[Wort-H.O.G.]

I think the 5.8 pH that is mentioned above may be referring to the mash pH of a pale malt mashed in distilled water. 

By the way, Kai's online calculator is cool.  However, the need to plug in a code number is not.  If they made it with cookies so that the website recognized the user and brought up all their work, that would be a nice feature.  I don't like being tethered to the net, but that feature would make it more appealing.

While the residual alkalinity of water is the driver, I just wanted to note that the pH of distilled water is not 7, it is acidic (often around 5. because of absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

"Water with a pH value of less than 7 is acidic. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), distilled water has a pH of between 5.6 and 7."

Read more: Distilled Water pH Levels | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_7219887_distilled-water-ph-levels.html#ixzz2OGvLVfp4

[erockrph]

I think the 5.8 pH that is mentioned above may be referring to the mash pH of a pale malt mashed in distilled water. 

By the way, Kai's online calculator is cool.  However, the need to plug in a code number is not.  If they made it with cookies so that the website recognized the user and brought up all their work, that would be a nice feature.  I don't like being tethered to the net, but that feature would make it more appealing.

That's weird. When I log in via Firefox the calculator recognizes that I have used it before and prompts me whether I'd like to restore my previous session. If you save a session, then you can always bookmark the URL specific to that session and that will pull up the values you have entered.

[Kaiser]

By the way, Kai's online calculator is cool.  However, the need to plug in a code number is not.  If they made it with cookies so that the website recognized the user and brought up all their work, that would be a nice feature.  I don't like being tethered to the net, but that feature would make it more appealing.

There are two ways to solve this:
- bookmark the link with a descriptive title and manage the bookmarks. I have done that.
- sign up for BF with a trial account and you'll see a list of all your saved water calculations since having signed up. We recently added a title and description field that makes the bookkeeping easier. This is new since v1.4

I agree that keeping a code around is not very practical. I never use the code w/o the link. Sometimes folks send me just the code when it would have been as easy to send me the link+code.

The restore feature is for cases when you accidentally press the back button. This was something I asked for as a must since I hate forms where you fill stuff in, press the back-button for some stupid reason, and have to fill them out again.

I know that availability on the web is an issue. I talked to BF about this and since their business model is build around an on-line only calculator lots of investment is done with respect to redundancy and uptime. They can't afford even rare events of downtime since that can ruin their reputation. Especially if it happens while you brew. It can be argued that your records are safer on the web then on your computer unless you have a good back-up system implemented. That may not be that easy if you only work with a laptop, but there are solutions available. Many folks have lost all their recipes and other files due to hard disk crashes. That's an argument often forgotten when folks don't trust the cloud.

I'm not a big fan of the cloud either. I rather keep my stuff on my computer but in some cases it just makes life a bit easier and is not a huge risk.

Kai

[kramerog]

I think the 5.8 pH that is mentioned above may be referring to the mash pH of a pale malt mashed in distilled water. 

And you call yourself a wastewater engineer, Martin!  pH of distilled water in equilibrium with CO2 is 5.8.  See table at bottom of page http://www.lenntech.com/applications/process/demineralised/deionised-demineralised-water.htm.

[mabrungard]

And you call yourself a wastewater engineer, Martin!  pH of distilled water in equilibrium with CO2 is 5.8.  See table at bottom of page http://www.lenntech.com/applications/process/demineralised/deionised-demineralised-water.htm.

Yeah, I know.  But distilled water is not encountered very much in the wastewater circle.  Do remember that with modest heating of distilled water, the pH will rise to near 7. 

[gandelf]

I don't want to turn this into a "which is better" discussion, but I will say that in my case not having to use internet to access a program is a big plus.  Anything that's online only is a deal breaker for me.

+10 I'm not a cloud fan. I trust my data and money in MY possession, not someone else's.