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Crap. Just when I thought I was getting used to Bru'n Water 2, out comes 3.0.
Matt? Any insight into the changes?
He's left off the RA calculation on the water adjustments page. I wish there was a simple: "These are the relevant changes" somewhere. Of course, it's late and I'm tired, so, I haven't looked hard for them. I'll work on it tomorrow.
I guess I'll have to use this newer, better version in the morning for my IPA. Oh, well, progress.......
Posted 34 days ago.
Is this the donation version? I'm still seeing it as ver 1.16.
Posted 34 days ago.
I didn't know there was a new one. Man, I had the old one working so well...
Posted 34 days ago.
Yes. If you've donated and gotten the upgraded version, this came in by email yesterday. I'm trying to get my coffee and then figure it out. He recommends reading the instructions again since there have been some improvements and changes. Great. It looks like some of the changes are geared to making the program usable for those with greater volumes than homebrewers. Interesting.
It looks as though he's written the article in Zymurgy and then rolled out a new version that focuses on the flavor ions in the mash and kettle separately. Here's the interesting part of the email to me:
"You will notice that the program's User Interface has been simplified in this version to help you focus on the things that really matter. In addition, the order of the program inputs has been revised slightly to have you input the grain bill before adjusting the water parameters.
The program includes improved error checking and it now presents the Flavor Ion (Sodium, Sulfate, and Chloride) concentrations produced in the MASH and in the KETTLE. This feature is helpful when additions such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, or CRS acids are used or when baking soda is used. The ion concentrations in the mash and kettle enable you to employ different mineral addition techniques to meet your brewing goals and avoid excessive concentrations in some beer styles. For brewers that have to neutralize high alkalinity in their tap water, the program now includes the ability to use up to 4 acids for water treatment. That can help avoid flavor issues when strongly flavored acids such as lactic, acetic, or citric are used."
Posted 34 days ago.
Yeah, I have been working with the beta. Planning a new subscriber walk through with it.
Note that the estimation algorithm has been tweaked... There will be a delta between the subscriber and free version estimates.
Posted 34 days ago.
So, what's my motivation?
I mean, as it stands right now, I hit my pH within .05 (expect when my water is even more alkaline than expected, which I remedy with a little extra lactic acid). I'm comfortable with the interface.
Why upgrade?
Posted 34 days ago.
First, it doesn't cost anything if you have given a donation. Any donation of any size gets you the current algorithms and a very improved interface.
Allow me to walk through some of the changes, you will have to determine if it is worth a few bucks donation:
1.) The slopes have been optimized - this should result in a +/- 0.02 difference over other versions when using normal water/grist ratios. This has been however, worked to be more accurate when working with very high water/grist rations - such as full volume BIAB. The older version's slope, relative to this volume, could be out by several tens of accuracy with certain grist types (particularly dark beers) for the full volume calculations. This new set of algorithms requires recursive calculations - so this is probably best used with Excel. Testing was done on the open source platforms, but I haven't seen the results.
2.) There are more acid options, as well as calculators for using mineral solutions (something I plan to write about in the coming months). So if you wish to blend phosphoric, citric, nitric or lactic options (not sure why, but it was a popular request) then you have that ability - up to two choices - in both the water adjustment and the sparge acidification worksheets.
3.) Some slight adjustment has been made to phosphoric acid additions, particularly with high calcium mineralization to account for slightly higher oxylate and bicarbonate precipitation in the mash, but I have no further information. I assume this is integrated into the slope algorithms.
4.) The ordered layout is more natural, although I argued that Sparge Acidification should come after the Water Adjustment page. Not a big deal.
5.) Grain Bill Input is essentially the same, but a modifier for acid malt strength has been allowed. This allows you to adjust your acid malt strength based on observation... if all else is the same, and you miss a pH by a small margin, tweaking can inform you on where your acid malt sits. Note that Martin (and I) have observed significant differences in acid malts from US vs Germany. So if you use acid malt regularly to control pH, this is helpful.
6.) Water adjustment has positioned calculators for using Calcium Chloride solutions, where it has been proposed to create a specific solution strength that prevents the decay of CaCl into chalk when exposed to air. Even when this reaction is slow, it has become clear that many folks do not realize that CaCl is hydroscopic and will take up atmospheric moisture. Even a small percentage of chalk contamination can change your mash stability and fight the natural pH lowering effect of the calcium in the mash.
7.) Adjustment Summary is larger (potentially) and the RA chart is removed.
8.) There are other hidden changes that drive better functionality and better cross linking of values so that the worksheets operate in a unified way, and reduce errors by having to input the same variable in multiple locations (such as volumes).
I have brewed by last 4 batches using the beta version - the first is a wash because there were significant errors compounded by some circular references that I didn't catch. However, I have been far closer in the last three batches (by less than +/- 0.02) when the mash stabilizes than the previous version. The questions about good enough with the older version are fair... but I am hoping more edge cases are accounted for in this spreadsheet (like the BIAB example). That said - this is a brand new spreadsheet and you should use it with validation until you are comfortable.
Look for an update to the Subscriber walkthrough in a few weeks...
I hope this helps. I am a firm believer that someone should get paid for their work, especially for a tool that can be deployed in a brewery lab or at home. I would encourage you to donate. I get nothing for saying this, so please take that into account. Enough of you are programmers to understand my position. I also do some very light work with an independent gaming company and see first hand the challenges of releasing 'shareware' or 'donation-ware' /end_soapbox.
Posted 34 days ago.
One final comment. RA is still utilized in the estimate. It is slightly de-emphasized as a profile target, but the value is still presented on the Adjustment Summary - showing the Residual Alkalinity utilizing the provided grist and water/grist ratios.
Posted 34 days ago.
Thanks for the thorough explanation. I agree, this is something worth a donation.
Posted 34 days ago.
Have donated, got no email. Will try to download it when I get home!
Posted 34 days ago.
It generally takes a few days for the system to kick in. Martin had it automated, but it was screwing up. Do check your spam folders as well - a friend's got caught there and it flagged the excel attachment for some reason.
Posted 34 days ago.
Matt,
I think the reason to blend the acids is to reduce the chance of a given acid reaching threshold tasting levels. It's an interesting concept that is probably more of a concern on craft brewery scale.
Posted 34 days ago.
Mine came to my wife's email addy. I'm guessing because the Paypal account used that email address.
Posted 34 days ago.
Oh, boy, getting it to print something I can read (yes, I'm old) is damned difficult.
Matt, how do you print out a READABLE adjustment summary?
Posted 34 days ago.
So I am on the horrible Windows 8 and using Office 360... but here's a screen shot in case it works for you.
imgur.com/k38wgWa
grrr - technical problems - please hold.
Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by mchrispen
