+ Setting up a Gmail filter

Gmail is especially suspicious of email with Attachments and it places them in your Spam or Trash folder. You might have to hunt for it in your email system.

From a computer browser not a phone app, go into Gmail and click the gear symbol in the upper right corner. Go to Settings and then Filters and Blocked Addresses.

Click "Create a new filter" and enter the following:

-Matches From: mabrungard@hotmail.com

-Never send to Spam

-Star it

Supporters on other email services can also add mabrungard@hotmail.com to your contact list since that helps email services know that messages from that address are welcome. Including that contact address may help keep messages and updates from Bru'n Water out of your Spam or Trash folders. If your email can be set up with a Filter (like above) to automatically send any message from mabrungard@hotmail.com to your inbox, that reportedly helps assure that updates get to you.

+ Getting started with Bru'n Water

In addition to a useful water tool, Bru'n Water provides a substantial tutorial on brewing water chemistry and treatment. This program helps brewers to not only adjust their brewing water, but to understand why they're doing it.

Download the Excel spreadsheet, Bru'n Water, from the File Download page. The link to the File Download page is at the top of this web page.

The program uses Macros to power the drop-down lists. A standard MS Excel warning regarding macros may pop-up when starting the program or trying to select the drop down boxes if the macros have not been enabled. The user can review the spreadsheet to assure themselves that the program will be useful before enabling the macros, but to enjoy the full utility of the program, utilities will have to be enabled. Mac computers don't use macros and Excel for Macs invites the user to remove the macros. The program will still work properly on the Mac but probably can't be shared with a PC after that. The program has been reviewed on LibreOffice software and seems to work acceptably. The formatting of text and layout may be altered when using LibreOffice, but the functionality should be maintained.

Users should first adjust the ZOOM setting under the View Tab of either Excel, or LibreOffice so that the size of the work area is maximized to the User's computer screen. Text in some of the cells within the program may be improperly displayed if the ZOOM setting is too small.

Bru'n Water is set up with multiple sheets that help organize the brewer's progress through the water analysis and adjustment.

+ Enter Water information

The first step is to evaluate your water supply. The Water Report Input is where water quality data is entered from their water report.

Hover the cursor over cells with red marks in the corner. Helpful tips and information should be displayed to help the user.

The Blue cells are where data are entered, Pink cells are Selection boxes, and the Yellow cells are where results are reported.

The first task is to select the units for operation. Gallons or Liters are selectable. Pounds are the weight unit when gallons is selected and kilograms are the weight units when Liters is selected.

Enter the concentrations for the various ions listed in the blue cells. Not all water reports provide results for all ions. Enter those that are available and make sure that they are reported as ppm or mg/L.

The Water Report Input sheet helps the brewer analyze their water report and evaluate if the water report has errors. Basic results such as the ion balance and alkalinity are also presented. To aid the brewer, some cells throughout the program change their color to help indicate when good or bad results are calculated.

If water supply quality remains fairly constant, it may not be necessary to adjust this sheet for future brews.

+ Enter Sparge Acidificaton information

After entering their water supply data, the brewer then calculates the amount of acid needed to bring their sparging water down to a proper alkalinity and pH.

Enter the water's reported or estimated pH. Enter a target finishing water pH and review the resulting Final Water Alkalinity. Adjust the target pH until the Final Water Alkalinity is below 50 ppm.

Select the acid type, strength, and strength parameter from the drop down boxes. If the Brewer's water supply is fairly consistent and does not change over time, the Brewer should not have to revisit this sheet for subsequent brewing sessions.

+ Enter Grain Bill information

The Grain Bill Input sheet is where the proposed brewing grist is entered along with important mashing parameters to predict the mash pH.

Enter the weights of the individual grains along with their color rating. The color rating system can be set to either EBC or Lovibond. Select the Grain Type setting for each grain that best correlates to their type. Grain names can be entered to help organize the inputs.

+ Enter Water Adjustment information

The Water Adjustment sheet provides a comprehensive analysis and adjustment tool that is useful for determining the mineral and acid additions needed to produce a targeted brewing water profile and mashing pH.

Select a Desired Water profile to target from the drop down box. If dilution water will be used, select the type of water from the drop down box. Enter the percentage of dilution water to be used.

Enter the volumes of mashing and sparging water to be used in the batch. While comparing the Target Finished Water profile with the Actual Finished Water profile, enter prospective amounts of minerals in the Addition column until the actual ion concentrations near the target concentrations. The yellow cells in each mineral's row show which ions will be added for each mineral. Through trial and error, adjust the amounts of minerals and acids that you have on hand until the target and actual concentrations are reasonably close (typically +/- 5ppm).

Ignore bicarbonate concentration when adjusting the water profile. Bicarbonate will be adjusted as part of the mashing pH target. Do not add Pickling Lime or Baking Soda unless the mashing pH is too low.

If necessary, input the acid type, strength, and strength setting and enter an acid addition to reduce mashing pH. If mashing pH is lower than desired when NO acid has been entered, add Pickling Lime or Baking Soda to raise mashing pH to the target level.

Readjust the mineral additions as needed to fine tune the concentrations. Don't worry if some concentrations are somewhat high or low.

+ Use the Adjustment Summary information

All water volumes, mineral quantities, and acid quantities are summarized on the Adjustment Summary for easy reference for brewing.

+ What's the best way to operate Bru'n Water?

For best results using Bru'n Water, use Excel software. However, Mac users may find that Excel for Mac does not perform as well.

The next best option to the Excel program is currently LibreOffice. It is preferred over Open Office. If working with LibreOffice, saving files as .xls files is suggested since saving as .ods files may erase the text from the pop-up comment boxes. The Data Manager in the Supporter's version will not operate under LibreOffice.

Bru'n Water cannot operate under the Mac Sheets program.

+ How do I keep up to date on Bru'n Water?

Bru'n Water's Facebook page is where announcements about Tips and Upgrades first appear. Like the Bru'n Water Facebook page to keep up to date.

+ I donated. Where's my file?

Each Bru'n Water file is customized to help deter piracy. It may take a day or so to produce and send. Sorry for the inconvenience! Be aware that donations of less than $10 will be returned to contributor.

+ Why won't Bru'n Water open?

Users of the Supporter's Version are now sent their program with a file extension of .dat to avoid some email providers tendency to block spreadsheet attachments that can have self-executing code (macros). Users now have to manually change the file name of their delivered program to have a .xls file extension (ie: Brun_Water.xls instead of Brun_Water.dat). PS: Bru'n Water does employ macros to perform the data saving and recall. If you're working on a Mac, it is OK to let the program save the file as .xlsm if the program requests it.

+ Why isn't my pH Value changing?

Iterative calculations must be enabled. Follow the instructions listed under Circular References below. Also be sure that Calculation Options is set to Automatic or you will have to press the Calculate Now button after each change.

+ How do I change the program file extension?

Many computers default to not showing the file name extension and you will need to make that extension visible in order to change the extension name.

On a PC:

• Go to File Explorer and select the View tab.
• Go to the Show/Hide area at the top of that page.
• Make sure the box for File name extensions is checked.

On a Mac:

• Select the file, then choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I.
• Click the triangle next to Name & Extension to expand the section.
• To show the filename extension, be sure that “Hide extension.” is NOT selected.
• Once the file name extension is visible, highlight the entire file name and type in a file name of your choosing and include .XLS at the end of the file name. Such as: MyBrunWater.xls
• If you're working on a Mac, it is OK to let the program save the file as .xlsm if the program requests it.

+ Why is a password required to view my file?

A password is never needed to operate Bru'n Water. Most often when this message is displayed, it's due to running Bru'n Water on an incompatible computing platform. Bru'n Water will not typically run on phones or iPads, regardless of whether Excel is loaded on those machines. The most reliable way to run Bru'n Water is on a computer running Excel or LibreOffice software.

LibreOffice users may encounter a Hash Incompatible warning and a request for password. This is a problem in LibreOffice with the AutoSave function. Go to the LibreOffice Menu and click: Tools -> Options -> Load/Save -> General. In that General menu, either deselect the Save AutoRecovery Information or increase the time interval to 60 minutes. Either of those fixes should enable you to avoid the warning.

+ Why does my copy of Bru'n Water have blue arrows all over the place?

The arrows typically indicate that the program includes Circular References. You will need to enable Iterative Calculation as described below.

+ Circular references

Bru'n Water does employ a refinement technique in which the previous results are used as the starting point for a recalculation of the result to improve accuracy.

• In Excel (Windows), go to File/Options/Formulas and enable Iterative Calculation.
• In Excel (Mac), go to Preferences and then look under heading “Formulas and Calculation” and open “Calculation”, then click box “Use iterative calculation”.
• In LibreOffice, go to Tools/Options/LibreOffice Calc/Calculate and enable Iterative References.

+ Why isn't Version 5 calculating?

Users of the Supporter's version of Bru'n Water that have copied and pasted their data files from version 4 to later Bru'n Water versions will experience program inoperation. The problem is due to a change in Grain Type naming from Roast Malt to Roast (not all roasted grains are malted).

To correct this issue, go to the Data Manager sheet and perform a Search for "Roast Malt". Change each occurrence of "Roast Malt" to "Roast" and the program will operate properly.

+ Why isn't Version 1 or 5 calculating?

If the pH prediction is stuck at 5.00, its likely that one of the Grain Type cells is either empty or has incorrect input (see the item above). Input data into each Grain Type cell using the drop-down selection box.

+ Why does it display Errors or not calculate?

If cells display error messages like #Num!, #Name!, #Value!, or similar warnings, be sure that all Blue colored cells (data entry cells) have the proper type of data entered and its in the proper format. For almost all the Blue cells, a numeric value is expected. Be sure that numeric values are entered with the proper decimal separator. In some countries, the period is used and in other countries, the comma is used as the decimal separator. Be sure that you are entering those decimal values with the separator expected by your version or Excel or other spreadsheet program.

+ I sent in a donation and never received my Supporter's version of Bru'n Water.

Bru'n Water is delivered to supporters as an attachment to an email message. It will be from: **mabrungard@hotmail.com and it will have your copy of Bru'n Water. Since attachments are viewed suspiciously by some email services and are often placed in a Spam or Trash folder, you might have to hunt for it in your email system. Gmail is especially prone to do this. Supporters should add mabrungard@hotmail.com to your contact list** since that helps email services know that messages from that address are welcome. Including that contact address may help keep messages and updates from Bru'n Water out of your Spam or Trash folders. If your email can be set up with a Filter to automatically send any message from mabrungard@hotmail.com to your inbox, that reportedly helps assure that updates get to you.

Another reason you may not receive your program is that you didn't include your email address when you made your Paypal donation. We can't contact you if there is no address to send it to. Don't be that person.

Finally, if your email or internet provider requires us a jump through some hoops like proving we aren't a Bot or spammer, you are out of luck. Please provide an email address that accepts messages without preconditions! Be aware that donations of less than $10 will be returned to the contributor.

+ How do I bring my data files from my old Bru'n Water version to my new one?

Go to the Data Manager sheet in your old version and highlight all the rows and columns in the blue-colored table. Select COPY.

Go the Data Manager sheet in your new version and select the left uppermost blue-colored cell on that page. Select PASTE and all the data from your old version should appear. You can then save the new Bru'n Water version and the data should be embedded.