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Here is my SMaSH Ale, citra hopped.

Care to share your recipe?

Thank you. I forgot to mention that I just used charcoal filtered tap water on this brew. Next brew I will do a lager and I am going to try with RO water and use additions that you and the water additions article that was referenced in this post suggest. (and of course confirm with Bru'n...

OK, So today I brewed my "Standard" SMaSH Ale. Before I started, I re-calibrated my pH meter correctly! Distilled water, two different pH buffering solutions... (thx schematix!) I decided to do a no-sparge mash again. I added the required additions calculated by Bru'n water and began the...

Yup! and you can also select the profile in the spot that I have marked on the attached image. I didn't realize that was a drop down menu. This is what happens when we don't RTFM!!! hahaha

anyway, once I actually pay attention to which column in the sheet I am looking at, I think the fog is starting to lift... I didn't even realize I could choose a beer profile! it's starting to make sense.

oh wait.. hahah I was looking at chloride not calcium.. shoot.

oh wait.. is this what you mean? (marked in attached pic.)

oh and just messing around, I noticed removing mash acids and adding calcium chloride to the water also lowers pH. would that also work?

Yup! I've been brewing all grain for just over a year now and I have noticed differences from brew to brew of the exact same beer. So just out of curiosity. In the pic attached, I have put 8.5 gallons water for the mash and none for sparge. I have adjusted the Lactic acid amount till the...

well what the heck... I just plugged the numbers in to the spread sheet here at work, and it tells me I need LESS mash water alkalinity! Not sure what was happening at home last night. It's the same version of excel (2016) with macros and Iterative calculations enabled. I didn't do anything...

Hmm.. ok so I donated and received the newest premium version of Bru'n water. Still not sure if I am using it right... but after I enter the needed data from my city's water report, and then the grain bill info, Bru'n water is telling me that I need more alkalinity! This does not make sense...

I hear ya! and thx for all the advice. and for all involved trying pull my head through this... thx. I am going to try a batch with RO water this weekend and use this forums water primer recommendations for additions (and and some salt as per schematix). Then i'll re-calibrate my cheap pH...

Oh. I just read somewhere that using only mash pH as an indicator of success is not the most important thing. This was the article talking about cation, anion, total alkalinity and about 20,000 other items that made me fall asleep. I took this to mean that pH shouldn't be first thing on your...

Ok CaCl2 I already have. So for sodium, what exactly am I adding? Regular salt? and the "some acid" is what? literally an acid? like food grade phosphoric acid? Or can I just use some acidulated malt? thx

Ok so let me see if I have this correct... From the homebrewtalk water chemistry article that says this about using RO or distilled water: "Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride dihydrate (what your LHBS sells) to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist. Deviate from...

I was looking at a complete RO system a while back. They are not all that expensive. The more I read about water chemistry and the fact the pH is only one small component of the mash process (and apparently NOT the most important part), the more my heads swims.. All this stuff about cations...

HAHAHAHA!!! I'm not originally from Calgary, but I get the "need" for these two populations to dig at each other.

Ya I like to make pale ales and lagers... and apparently Calgary water is junk for both... although my finished product tastes pretty good to me!

Hmm maybe i'll just forget all this water and pH crap and just return to batch sparge. The whole point was eliminate a step and to not have to heat water twice, but I have since found out I don't need hot water for my sparge. At the end of the day, I make beer that I really like, it tastes...