National Homebrew Club Ireland

Hiya lads, I'm just wondering are many people in the Belfast area worrying much about water chemistry in their AG brews?

It's something I'm starting to look into and was wondering if there are any brewers practicing water additions, how hard did they find getting their heads around what needs to be done?


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Been looking into this myself when i get a chance.  theres a file kicking about called ez water.  Drop in your water profile, it roughly calculates your mash ph also (ph meter would be better).  i can get ro water from my brother source some if you can and then picking your additions needed to suit the beers profile.  i won't have a ph meter when i brew my next one but i'll know if its better by the taste or not anyway.

There is a user friendly element in beersmith which will calculate your additions for you

+1 on BeerSmith.

You literally tap in your local water profile and your target profile and click a button and it'll tell you what additions are needed.

Ryan's RO method is the most accurate way as all water profiles work on averages and this way you'll know everything is 0.

If you haven't done so already, definitely invest in BeerSmith!

+1 for BeerSmith.

Been using bottled Tesco/Asda water for a while now with with adjustments. Definitely makes a difference!

Interesting! Was reading back on the john palmer HTB book and watched a few YouTube videos on programs that calculate it for you. Wasn't aware that beersmith can also do this, this is good. Only recently purchased it so still getting to grips with it all. Must try and tinker with the water side of things too now! Awesome, thanks for that lads


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Another vote for beersmith here.  I got the latest reports for BT8 and set that up as the base profile.  As banjobrew says you can then easily make your additions to that to meet the target profile.  Very handy.

We're in the initial stages of organising the next club meeting if you fancy it.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,16472.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,16472.0.html)

I've actually never made it to a meet. Between havin a 3month old and only starting out on my AG journey.....Think I'll hold off for a bit until time is a bit easier and brews are a bit tastier haha


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We like the nasty brews too. They usually turn into award winning brewers

Yes, some of us have a particular penchant for astringency and TCP :P

Ugh TCP. 100L of band aid beer chez moi. Thankfully some mates love it

Bru'n water is excellent for water additions and information relating to effects of additions.
The free version is very good.  The paid version adds some more features and worth it imo. 
So,  if you like a good old excel spreadsheet,  then check out brun water

Does it tell you addition quantities? I've never used it tbh
Ez water is the one I had a go at, omg it's excel on steroids

Just touching back on the topic. After looking through the water report I've got everything I need bar bicarbonate. Isn't stated anywhere unfortunately.

For the meantime should I cut my losses and brew with ash beck water? Until I know for sure about the bicarbonate.

Or just treat my own water and
Not worry about the bicarbonate. Any advice greatly appreciated


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You have to email them and specifically ask for it but all you will get is a finger in the air "by an experienced member of staff"....Last time I tried I received the following for BT8

QuoteNI Water's regulatory sampling does not include any test for Carbonate/Bicarbonate.
However,  an  estimated  average  Carbonate/alkalinity  level  of  10  mg/l  has  been
provided by an experienced member of staff.

Bicarbonate Alkalinity as HCO3 (mg/L) = 1.22 *Bicarbonate Alkalinity as CaCO3 (mg/L)

You can get the CaCO3 here - https://www.niwater.com/water-quality-results.aspx

I'm not at home at the minute but so I'm not sure if it asked for CaCO3 on the water profile section of beersmith. So HCO3 is the same as CaCO3 if asked?


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If you go into Beersmith -> Ingredients, Water, Add Water, you'll see the bottom left text box looks for Bicarbonate (HCO3).  The water report shared above gives you the measurement as mg/l CaCO3, so you will need to multiply by 1.22 before you enter it into beersmith as HCO3.

Ah, this is good! Thanks for that!


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touching base again and being an absolute melter!

I've been reading on beersmiths info page about the water profiles, and I think I've got to terms with matching profiles


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However can someone just confirm that my additions are in the rows beside 'difference'?

And if so, how do I make these if they are -0.2 etc etc


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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161114/48a83ef5bfaa7bdfd4392a7b6bb2e0d1.jpg)


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Your additions are the amount in grams next to the name of each chemical.

Magic, thanks for that. When you started salt additions etc to your brews, did you notice a big difference to your beers compared to when you using standard tap water?


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Totally, makes such a difference to IPAs