Hello gents...
Ive been extract and mini mash brewing for almost 12 years. I switched to AG last year and have started dialing in my system. I am to the point where I need to dial in my mash pH. I live in an area with terrible water, so our house has a water softener. It is a whole house softener, so even our hose water is soft. However I do have a small RO system under the sink in our kitchen.
I just sent a sample to ward and received my results. and will post below- typical soft water, everything is low except for sodium and bicarbinate/alkalinity.
I have put my numbers into Brewers Friend and EZ water calculators for an IPA (92% 2 row, 4% c20, 4% carapils) and have very different results. I do plan on using 50% soft water and 50% RO water to cut sodium and alkalinity, which I did also account for in both calculators-
adding 8g of gypsum, 4g of Calcium Chloride and 5ml of lactic acid into both calculators I get:
brewersfriend = mash pH 5.43
EZ water = mash pH 5.29
As my goal is a mash pH of 5.3 i figure i will just make my additions and then dough in and take a pH reading at 5min and adjust accordingly for the next brew. But long story short...
1. Does everyone have such mixed results using the different mach calculators?
2. Is there one that you find is more accurate than the others?
Ward results:
pH- 7.5
Na- 109
K- 2
Ca- 1
Mg- >1
CaCO3- 3
NO3N- 0.3 (SAFE)
SO4-s- 11
CI- 50
CO3- <1.0
HCO3- 185
CaCO2- 152
Cheers