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Great point, sorry for leaving out details. This is eldorado spring water - I linked the info somewhere else in this thread. I should have written down what I added to it... it was a mix the guy at the homebrew shop uses and I've forgotten what it was. I'll get this info next time! My next...

I'm back! Reviving this to hopefully help someone. I've been experimenting over the past 6 months or so. I'm still determined to make good beer, and I've realized that my standards are unreasonably high (but I'm keeping them there). I had a bunch of grains hanging around, so I started with...

Yeah good call. It still does it at 45% which is where I have it! At 100%, it's pretty volatile.

I run the foundry at 45% power during the mash, but it's a good point that I really shouldn't have to have much, if any, power. I'll try the insulation and only run it if necessary next time. I do think the gunk and general uncleanliness of the kettle is going to make a difference. I'm...

I mashed for 70 minutes... I think I had the temps dead on except for a spike around 20 minutes to ~157ish. The foundry gets a little excited on that first dip, trying to get the temp back to 152 and overshoots it. This happens every time, so I can plan for it next time. I still didn't mess...

I did indeed forget that candi sugar will dry the beer out and not sweeten it, thanks for that reminder. I'm going to leave that out next time I brew this. That is definitely contributing to the harsh flavor I bet. The bucket I use is the anvil stainless steel bucket, so I don't think oxygen...

This is great info. I'll contact Anvil as this seems like quite a process.

The raking and the no mash-out is because I've been following the instructions that came with the foundry exactly. I figured I'd start there, as it's tried and true, and experiment later. I stop recirculating after the mash is complete at 60 mins, then raise the basket, then raise the temp. I...

Makes sense. I'll contact the water company and see if I can figure it out. I did a thermometer test, it seems like the foundry reading is dead-on or within a degree or two, not enough to cause this much of a problem I don't think. My next step is to clean it with bar keeper's friend and do a...

I haven't verified the accuracy, I'm going to do this today. Good call.

I think the possibility of the wort scorching is low due to the design of the foundry, but it still seems like a possibility. Like I said, I get it to a boil really quickly at 240v. I'm definitely going to back down the power to maybe ~75% next time to see if it helps. Great idea... not sure...

I changed just the rig from when I was making good beer. I had made extract prior to both rigs. My previous rig (where I did make good beer) was still AG and with tap water. This new rig I've tried both tap and Eldorado spring with the same poor results. I did clean the new rig with oxyclean...

I don't think I'm super sensitive to bitterness, some of my favorite beers are IPAs. The Eldorado water smells and tastes like good water to me - comes in 1 gallon jugs.

The last time I did extract was in 2012 I believe. I took a long break from brewing about 2016 to now. Back in 2012, they were some of my best beers. I brewed a stout for a wedding that many said was the best stout they'd ever had (it was extract). I was using Boulder tap water then. As I...

This is a great thought. I really don't want to go back to extract, but you're right that it would give me some needed info.

I have it in a jar of water in the freezer, seems to work pretty well.

Using a chest freezer with inkbird. I have a temp strip on the bucket.

The water is 7.2, but I believe my mash pH should have been around 5.64 (according to calculators). Not ideal, but definitely not crazy I believe.

I just tried it again now. Not sure if this is helpful, but the harsh taste is MUCH more pronounced now then when I first put it in the keg. Super bitter taste, like so bitter it's hard to taste anything else. Reminds me of west coast IPAs during the IBU craze. Probably not bad if you're...

First of all, you all are awesome and this community is great. Thank you so much for the help. Here's hopefully a good breakdown of my full process for my latest finished beer, an amber ale that I wanted to be on the sweeter side. It's been in a keg for two weeks and tastes just like the...