The Water Profile Tool (Tools Ribbon) can be used to match specific brewing water profiles from around the world. This is important, particularly for all grain brewers who would like to match a particular water profile during the mash to achieve a certain flavor or bitterness profile.
New Feature: BeerSmith now includes a Calculate Best Additions button that automatically finds the best water additions to match your base and target water profile. It does this using a "best fit" linear programming model.
Online Articles: Understanding Brewing Water, Mash pH - Water Treatment for Brewing
How to Use the Water Profiler
| o | Select the Water Profile tool from the Tools menu or ribbon. |
| o | Select the water you are targeting using the Target Profile button |
| o | Select the water you are starting with, such as your local water profile using the Base Profile button and enter the volume of water used |
| o | Click on the Calculate Best Additions button to find the best additions possible to match your base profile to your water profile |
| o | Optionally, you can also use the Dilute With button to add a volume of water to dilute the base water profile. This is useful, for example, if you want to use distilled or bottled water to reduce the ion content of your base water to match a given profile. |
| o | If you click on Save Totals you can save the total ions shown as a new water profile. |
| o | If you click on Save Additions to Target you can save the water additions to the target water profile so they will be used in a recipe if you add that target water profile to a recipe in the future. |
Understanding The Tool
| o | The tool is displayed as a table. The columns in the table represent the various ions present in the water profile (Ca for Calcium, Mg for Magnesium, Na for Sodium, SO4 for Sulfate, Cl for Chloride and HCO3 for bicarbonate). |
| o | The rows from top to bottom show the base water profile, effect of various water additions (such as Gypsum and Chalk), the water you are duliting with (if applicable), and the totals for your base water, plus additions and the dilution. |
| o | The bottom two rows show the water profile you are targeting, and the difference between the total water profile you have created and the target. In most cases there will be a difference shown, even after Calculate Best Additions is pressed because a precise match is not always possible. |
| o | If you find a large positive difference in a column after calculating the best additions, you should consider diluting the mix with distilled water, as likely your base water has too high a concentration of that ion. |
| o | For additional information, consider reading the articles referenced above or visiting our online forum. |
