Beersmith not matching a water target profile

J

Jikel

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I have recently added a profile for water from Faversham, Kent, UK so as to brew a clone of Bishops Finger. This in a very hard water profile which I built based on a report from the local water company. My usual process is to start with RO water and then ask BrewMaster to advise the adjustments I need based on the requires water profile. This works well normally but this time it will not build the match that I expect. What is the problem? The screenshot below shows the deficits in most columns and excesses in others.

Another question is what do all the colored dots indicative of?

1680300254922.png
 
The additions have already exceeded the Cl, SO4 and HCO3 levels for your target without even coming close to your Calcium target. The brewing salts you're adding each contribute to 2 ions, one of which is Calcium. In order to match the target profile, you'd need another source of Calcium. You may be better off using your tap water as a base if it has a reasonable amount of calcium and none of the other ions are too high.

That said, almost all breweries make adjustment to their water so matching local water won't match their brewing water unless they are one of the rare breweries that make no adjustments.
 
Bob is correct. Your profile has a lot of Calcium relative to the other ions and BeerSmith has no way to do that with the ingredients it knows about. One way to add Ca without adding the other ions is to use CaOH, also known as pickling lime. This will raise your mash pH, though, so you need to take that into account. BeerSmith doesn't know about CaOH so it won't work for that. The Bru'nWater spreadsheet can be used for CaOH.

--GF
 
thanks for the answers. I decided to go with a water profile for London which should be quite similar to Faversham. Not sure why the profile I put in was so hard but I will delete it and cease to worry about it. Life is too short, drink fast.
 
My advise is go with water profiles based on beer style rather than location. Chances are brewers treat their water, especially these days, with industry service providers offering water analysis and advice re treatment.
 
Keep in mind that you can never reduce an ion concentration by adding salts, so if your base water profile is above the target the only way to get a good match is to dilute the base water first.

Also it does a least squares match which will get close but never be an exact match because adding any salt increases at least two ions, so the best it can do is try to minimize the difference from the target.
 
Hi there, I came across this as I lived in Faversham and was looking for the water profile for my brewing.

Unfortunately Shepard Neame brewery is located right over their own private spring (or more likely a bore hole now!). I think most of our water is from an aquifer and also has the usual treatments, so not the same source.

Also, London water is the "worn out old pair of socks at the back of the cupboard" water. Tastes terrible, so likely will make a terrible brew. If was taken back when I drank it for the first time.

Also, on a final note, I suspect most British breweries will burtonise their water, so Bishops Finger will be to a standardised profile.

You could try emailing them and asking some technical questions. They're a friendly bunch.
 
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