I have historically used the BF calculator. But since I have been taking a more personal interest I have been comparing calculations from steves post Vs BF.
The results have varied quite a bit. Mostly on the allowable range and affect of gypsum additions. BF seems to indicate it thinks that if I add 0.15g/l of gypsum in a beer (which is what SS calcs would point towards) BF says it's too bitter and the SO4/CL ratio is too high.
Something similar on acid additions to achieve desired Ph targets too.
So I'm playing around to see who's right [emoji6]
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I've never used the BF calculator, but most of the figures used in the OP are from Bru'n Water, although obviously much simplified. But there are a few things to bear in mind.
Firstly, this guide isn't intended to be the be all and end all of water treatment, but rather a stepping off point. The method here works fine, I've used it successfully for quite a while, but more important than the method, is the reasons behind the method. I'm a firm believer that understanding
why to do something is much better than simply understanding
what to do.
Another thing is that even the experts in this field don't agree on the details. One example is the sulphate:chloride ratio which I purposefully left out of this guide. The reason I left it out is primarily for simplicity, but also because some people think it's bollocks or at least not as significant as is made out (that being said, I did do a thread on that subject
here). Charlie Bamforth, AJ Delange and Martin Brungard have all suggested that too much emphasis is put on this ratio, and that if it is important at all then it's only under certain conditions (see
here).
Linked to this concept is the fact that we all have different tastes. So while one person may love a dry, sulphate-heavy finish, another may prefer a softer, fuller, chloride finish. So individual preference should be the main concern when it comes to chloride/sulphate rather than going by what a calculator tells you it should be. There is a really interesting blog post on that subject
here which I recommend reading.
Another point of disagreement is the disparity between British and American attitudes towards water mineralisation. Someone like Graham Wheeler might say that the American approach is overly cautious of what they call over-mineralisation. For example Bru'n Water recommends that if sulphate is high then chloride should be low and vice versa and that 40ppm calcium is an acceptable minimum, AJ Delange takes it further, using RO water with only a very small calcium chloride addition for many styles. Many brewers this side of the pond will tell you that that approach will give you a bland, flavourless beer and I've seen recommendations of 150 or even 200+ppm calcium as a target.
Another issue is that it is nearly impossible to accurately predict mash pH, and spreadsheets such as Bru'n Water or BF can only give an estimate (fwiw my last brew had a Bru'n Water predicted mash pH of 5.2, measured with a calibrated meter at 5.35). The correlation between beer colour and residual alkalinity is also not too well established. Even John Palmer who wrote extensively on the subject of RA said that it is "at best a hand wave".
I'm rambling now, but the point is that just like with most aspects of brewing, there are as many opinions on the correct method as there are brewers and so I have tried to take a happy middle ground with this thread, which certainty won't be a panacea, but should get you roughly where you want to be while keeping it relatively simple. Hopefully it will encourage people to look into the subject a little deeper so that they can then tailor their beers to their own taste.
Phew, sorry for the long post!
