I am just learning the bru’n water spreadsheet. I will be using 100% RO with the bru’n water recommended mineral additions. I usually heat 7 1/2 gallons of strike water even though I only need 4.66 gallons for this recipe. For the mash water volume, do I enter 7 1/2 gallons or 4.66?
I also heat 7 1/2 gallons for my fly sparge water even though I use a lot less. What amount should I enter for the sparge water volume?
If you plan to dissolve the salts in your strike water or your sparge water before adding it to the grains then the correct number is 7.5 gallons. If you are adding the salts to the kettle or to the mash directly then the correct number is 4.66 gallons.
Thank you for the quick reply. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to either method? Will the mineral additions dissolve evenly if just added to the mash? I do not have a recirculating setup.
The benefit of adding salts to the strike water or the sparge water is that you can easily visually check if the salts have dissolved. Usually you need to stir to get the salts to dissolve.