Beersmith3 vs. BrewersFriend for Water Additions

[afro_lou]

Hey All!

I know there are myriad threads about BS3 vs BF, but here's another one!

So, my specific question is: Being a Mac user and not having an easy way to access my Bru'n'Water spreadsheet, which program is more accurate in terms of water additions?

I only use 100% RO on brew days, so I've set up a base water profile in each program of zero salts across the board with a base pH of 7 and zero alkalinity. Firstly, does this sound correct? Secondly, when I input a desired "Target Ion Levels" in each program, I seem to get a pretty large discrepancy in terms of what I should add to the mash. Especially in the acid additions. i.e. BS3 says to add 14ml of 85% Phosphoric Acid while BF says to only add 3ml of the same...

For the last 6 or so batches, I've been relying 100% on BS3's calculations, and I can't say I've noticed anything off. In fact, its been some of the best beer I've brewed in a long time, so I'm just curious as to what is actually "correct." I'd like to use Bru'n'water, but at the same time it would be nice to have an all-in-one solution, plus, the mac issues.

TIA!

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

The biggest challenge I've found when using MS Excel spreadsheets on a Mac is the lack of support for Windows ActiveX controls. The Excel IDE for macro coding and debugging is much more robust on Windows than on a Mac. And Windows Excel supports more native functions and formulas than Mac the version Excel.

Even with the stated limitations, a Mac version of Excel should still be able to support most if not all of the functions needed for water calculations. But for that, I'd defer the answers to other Mac users who use Excel spreadsheets.

 

[RPh_Guy]

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/?type=mac-x86_64&version=6.2.2&lang=en-US