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I couldn’t stomach the Water Book and I have not met anyone yet who can stomach that thing.

Throw water book out! and read Martin Brungard’s water chemistry: https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … It's short and all you really need to know. I use his spreadsheet.

The water book puts people off water chemistry, but should have been written to encourage, help, and make the subject interesting. Instead, it seems to have been written to impress the readers with how knowledgeable (aka how much research they did/didn't do) the important authors are (and who gives a flying f…!) instead of trying to help brewers understand an important and potentially enjoyable subject.

Brungard was the editor of the water book and is a true water expert. I wish he had written the damn thing instead. We’re being sold prestigious authors, rather than valuable content.

I seem to be in a ranting mood this morning. Does anyone else have anything to rant about?

I've learned that you can adjust Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Chloride, Sulfates & Hardness all you want, but there's more to water chemistry in brewing than those elements.

I've brewed using RO water and building it up from scratch, then brewed the same beer using city water and adjusted to a very similar profile - resulting in a totally different beer. There are obviously other things at play outside of the common elements that are adjusted in brewing.

I think the big thing is adjusting your water based on the final product. Use all the spreadsheets you want, but you need to adjust based on the final product.

The mash PH part of it may or may not need some acid of some sort, like phosphoric for lowering, or maybe something to raise PH (less often needed). Spreadsheets help with that stuff, they take into account the grain bill.

GuingesRock wrote:The mash PH part of it may or may not need some acid of some sort, like phosphoric for lowering, or maybe something to raise PH (less often needed). Spreadsheets help with that stuff, they take into account the grain bill.

A pH meter will tell if you if you need to adjust mash pH - a spreadsheet doesn't

I must confess, I now know how much acid to put in the cold strike water for a certain grain bill to achieve a certain PH, and what mineral profile I like for the grain bill and I use the spreadsheet rarely now.

You might also be right that water chemistry is actually fairly simple. Maybe that's why the book has so much padding ...water comes from the sky as rain ... etc.

GuingesRock wrote:I must confess, I now know how much acid to put in the cold strike water for a certain grain bill to achieve a certain PH

And you know this because you used a pH meter, right? You didn't just take the spreadsheet as being correct, did you?

GuingesRock wrote:and what mineral profile I like for the grain bill and I use the spreadsheet rarely now.

And I bet you've strayed from what is "recommended" for a certain style, and instead use a profile that works best based on your water and previous beers that you've made.

Yes.

But! (going down screaming) the spreadsheet did help me get started with it all.

GuingesRock wrote: Yes.

But! (going down screaming) the spreadsheet did help me get started with it all.

And I'd argue that the water book would accomplish the same. It's got base water profiles for various styles of beer, and tells you what each adjustment will typically accomplish. Is there a lot more in there than you need to know? Probably.

The key word in your argument is "would" and not "does" accomplish the same. I found it doesn't accomplish anything. But that's my rant ...and I'm sticking to it.

I would argue that as the editor, it's his job to help set the tone of the book. If it's an impenetrable mess, that's Brungard's fault.

Yes. It's not so much that it's poorly organized though. I think he oversaw the chemistry side of things. If you have someone going out to research a topic and then write a book based on that research, it isn't the same as someone who has already worked on a subject for years and become an expert writing a book. Brungard's training from the start was in this field (he's a water engineer) and he went on to specialize in brewing water. There are very few who have taken it as far as he has.

I think if I buy any more of these new glossy books, I will check first and make sure they are written by someone who is an expert in the specified field, and try not buy in to hype.

ps. Brungard has a good FB page to follow: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brun-Wat ... 1136933908" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … He's also very approachable by email & has exchanged many with me.