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EZ Water and Bru'n Water First time out

Post #1 made 9 years ago
by andyisavinit
Hi people

Hope you can help by looking at my ez water and bru'n water files and sanity checking for me. My main concern with both of these files is that they call for 10ml (ez water) and 18ml (bru'n water) so a 8ml difference. I'm using 80% lactic acid. I have hard water - 260 CaCO3

I have actually brewed this as I was confident I knew what I was doing hahahaha – I ended up using the bru'n water additions of acid i.e. 18ml after slowly adding acid to my total water it did take 18ml to get down to 5.4 ph - So why is ez so different?

After doing some reading I can't find conclusive answers to the question - Is 18ml of lactic acid too much? I have read that J Palmer says that as long as the dose is no more than 2ml per gallon you shouldn't taste any souring. I used 18ml per 36.3 litres. So US gallons (I'm in the uk) = 36.3/3.78541 ltrs. So 9.58 gallons. So just under JP's dosage.

Also I have read that acid additions shouldn't be above a certain % of total grain bill. My bottle of acid says 12.5ml = 15g. So 18ml = 21.6g. So % of acid to grain = 21.6g/4881g * 100 = 0.44% ---- Is this the correct way to calculate this figure??? Seems too low?

I have also read that Lactic acid doesn't add ANY off flavours. I suppose I will find out. All my tasting so far has me paranoid that I can taste sourness, annoying! (It's day 4 in the fermenter at the moment)

I have read quite a bit about reducing the carbonate levels by using RO water or distilled water, but is there an issue to just adding 18ml of lactic acid?

Sorry for all the questions I would really appreciate anyones thoughts especially if you take time to look at my files.

Sorry I don't have my biabacus file to hand. It's a Graham Wheeler Black sheep recipe 27 ltr batch. Scaled using biabacus.
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Post #2 made 9 years ago
by Rick
Bru'n'water has always been spot on for me as well, but there are others out there who say EZ water is more accurate to their actuals. EZ is off for me, so I don't bother with it.

I'll assume everything is entered properly, considering you got the expected results.

I use acidulated malt, and the maltsters say up to 10% of the grist can be used. That figure may be what you saw. The way I understand is 10% of the base malt can be substituted with acidulated malt, which is sprayed with lactic acid (malt itself is 1-3% acid by weight). So compare your calculations on that figure.

I've used up to 5% of the malt, and haven't noticed anything close to an off flavor. If you are under the recommendations of cited sources, you need to have a chill pill and be patient! :D

As far as your acid addition, you will notice the red fields on the Water Adjustment tab (brunwater). Hover your mouse over the "Target Water Adjustment (pppm)" to the left of said red fields.

It will tell you that red is okay, but only if less than 20ppm. 2 out of the 3 figures are over that 20ppm. I'm no chemist, so I have no idea what the ramifications are, but you probably needed to dilute this one.
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Post #3 made 9 years ago
by andyisavinit
RAHAHB or chill pill - good idea!

I noticed those red cells too. Bicarbaonate says not too worry as there is no ideal concentration (adjust to get correct mash ph), sodium is only -12.7 out and calcium is a bit more but I didn't want to worry too much about this as it's my first bash at adjusting my water. Calcium as long as it's not too low is ok I thought.

Will report back when it's ready to drink.

Post #4 made 9 years ago
by Rick
Calcium is the only one I'd consider worrying about, but even here I don't think there is any worry. Slightly over the bru'n'water max, but Palmer's How to Brew states 50-150ppm. You're well within that.

So nothing inherently wrong, the red is more or less telling you that you're straying from the selected profile.
Last edited by Rick on 30 Oct 2014, 21:46, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #5 made 9 years ago
by andyisavinit
Rick wrote:Calcium is the only one I'd consider worrying about, but even here I don't think there is any worry. Slightly over the bru'n'water max, but Palmer's How to Brew states 50-150ppm. You're well within that.

So nothing inherently wrong, the red is more or less telling you that you're straying from the selected profile.
Yes thats exactly how I read things. It's the 18ml of 80% lactic acid and off flavours from that I'm much more worried about. There should be a warning on bru'n water about that if it's an issue.
Last edited by andyisavinit on 30 Oct 2014, 22:06, edited 1 time in total.

Post #6 made 9 years ago
by jhough
Andy, I've not been able to get Bru'n Water to work for me ,but, using ez water works about 1/2 the time for me. I've used Brewers Friend with limited success too.
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