I've recently been playing with water adjustment on BeerSmith. While I have generally gotten the hang of it, I am having a bit of trouble in understanding how BeerSmith predicts pH based on your selected water. It is difficult for me to explain, but I'll use some examples.
My base water (Wyoming, Mi) comes in at a pH of 7.5. Let's say I target 6 for the profile I am looking to get out of my treated water. I believe it makes sense to put 6 in the profile I have created and using the water profile tool, I should be able to get close. The problem is it doesn't matter if I use a value of 6 or a value of 8.5, I am told to use the same additions. I used 6 and 8.5 as test values since one is more acidic and one is more alkaline than my base water's pH of 7.5. This makes me wonder if the pH value in my target profile means anything at all.
Essentially, I would expect either the salt additions to change between the 6 and 8.5 profiles, or at the very least, predicted mash pH (and the lactic acid addition that for some reason is 15mL on both. Do I need to set my target profile's pH to that of my base water. I know I'm missing something, but I can not figure it all out based on FAQs or tutorials I have seen. Shouldn't some of the salts added change the pH? It seems that me putting 6.0 as pH on my target profile is arbitrary or meaningless (but, again, I am certain I'm missing something).
I have highlighted pH on some screenshots. The only variable changed is the pH on the target profile. It is difficult for me to explain this thoroughly, so for now, hopefully those with more experience and knowledge of the software than myself will be able to help and I can elaborate once you have seen my screenshots. I appreciate the help!
My base water (Wyoming, Mi) comes in at a pH of 7.5. Let's say I target 6 for the profile I am looking to get out of my treated water. I believe it makes sense to put 6 in the profile I have created and using the water profile tool, I should be able to get close. The problem is it doesn't matter if I use a value of 6 or a value of 8.5, I am told to use the same additions. I used 6 and 8.5 as test values since one is more acidic and one is more alkaline than my base water's pH of 7.5. This makes me wonder if the pH value in my target profile means anything at all.
Essentially, I would expect either the salt additions to change between the 6 and 8.5 profiles, or at the very least, predicted mash pH (and the lactic acid addition that for some reason is 15mL on both. Do I need to set my target profile's pH to that of my base water. I know I'm missing something, but I can not figure it all out based on FAQs or tutorials I have seen. Shouldn't some of the salts added change the pH? It seems that me putting 6.0 as pH on my target profile is arbitrary or meaningless (but, again, I am certain I'm missing something).
I have highlighted pH on some screenshots. The only variable changed is the pH on the target profile. It is difficult for me to explain this thoroughly, so for now, hopefully those with more experience and knowledge of the software than myself will be able to help and I can elaborate once you have seen my screenshots. I appreciate the help!
