Recent content by Wallonia

Okay -- it's been a while and I'm coming back to this one. I bought the Palmer/Kaminski book on water, but it's hard to follow for someone with an attention span and chemistry background of a 2 year old.... I'll get there. Just need some time! Anyways, I still struggle with residual...

I can understand how you must be frustrated -- especially if your beers taste promising during early fermentation. 1) Why do you attribute the problem to acetaldehyde? Can you give an aroma / taste description? 2) Any other off flavors? Over attenuation? 3) Did I understand correctly...

Thanks again!

Thanks all. I'm in the Hainaut region close to Ath. Water here is pretty hard. Actually what I find most around here is that the Ca and Mg ranges are normal but HCO3 is super high. I wasn't aware that acid actually got rid of the HCO3. Am I getting rid of other things by using acid? It's...

My water is very high in alkalinity – over 300 ppm in HCO3. What are my options to mitigate? If I boil, I understand that lowers the HCO3, but what else does that affect? Plus I never know how long to boil and it’s really a hassle. I’ve used phosphoric acid in the past to get the mash pH...