Creating a Brewing Water Calculator - (Part II?)

[PeeBee]

Why suggest a new Mashing methodology after all these years?

Well ... it's not been "all these years" for most. About twenty years ago "RO" water started to become available to the general public. Before that there was a few brewers, like me, who "enjoyed" very low TDS water. But we weren't very waterwise (probably talking about myself) and who'd be interested when over 90% of the UK population had high TDS water. Anyway, the published water reports weren't that great (they existed, I remember going over mine and worrying about the hi-lighted "over limit" 2ppm iron content but satisfied my beer didn't taste of "blood" so who cares).

So ... no reason (or understanding) to muck about with it.

"RO" Water changes all that. Anyone can completely modify the water they use for brewing. Although we do seem to hang on to the mentality that the water assigned to us remains more or less the same throughout the brewing process. That the water used early on contains all the things it will need later on ... even though they get in the way of tinkering with the water early on.

My messing with water so that it's radically different early in the process compared to late in the process is done quite "blind" ... I am assuming a lot of what I can get away with.

It won't stay like that much longer! And my efforts now won't even register against what is to come. In fifty years' time? In thirty years' time? Look what's happened in only the last twenty years.

[PeeBee]

The "defective Stout" turned out well down on extract (1.049 when 1.055 was targeted) and the yeast's attenuation of sugars a lowly 55% (according to "Beersmith"). "Beersmith" calculates the ABV as 3.7%. As a valid data point this disaster goes straight in the bin (not literally, it's very drinkable in this hot weather).

How can I be so sure? (No-one asked that you arrogant twit ... Oh it's you again, well, someone might ask!). I can't use hydrometers, but I can turn to an older and more accurate technology, which I need to push through a custom-built spreadsheet (the piccie has been expanded out to show it is coming from a spreadsheet):

Screenshot 2025-07-11 122412.jpg (51.89 KiB) Viewed 11 times

Remarkably the Tilt hydrometer returned a very similar gravity (1.0213, NB 4DP). But it's a Tilt Pro and not affected by yeast buildups like original Tilt, and it's been calibrated by the pyknometer too. Note the pyknometer doesn't need temperature correction (the temperature is taken only to look up the water density at that temperature to show "SG" ... yes, "SG" is a temperature compensation if you have the right tool!).


(I never miss an opportunity to advance pyknometers!).