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This water is so soft, it can be used just like RO water. You'll want to add minerals to build it up using a calculator. As for silicon... yes, it probably contains a little bit of sand (silicon dioxide).

Hell no. SKIP THE 122 F! Any rest at that temperature will lead to clear beer with no head, the opposite of what you want with a witbier. I know this from personal experience.

Looks like they asked Charlie Papazian for his recommendation of what to brew. Maybe Charlie doesn't brew anymore and doesn't know what hops are available or not... he's gettin pretty old. Or maybe he grows his own... hops...

@Miraculix I have always enjoyed your input and involvement here. I hope you will check in on us once in a while, for old times sake. You have a great deal of knowledge to share. Even if no longer drinking, you can share that knowledge. My grandfather would tell me, never say goodbye...

Odd. I don't get this at all.

My friends call it "earthy". For fun I call it "Fugly", even though personally I don't mind a little earth in my English style beers. It's not 100% earth, there's other spicy and herbal things going on with it to make it a decent hop, another tool in the toolbox. I'm also a fan of Brewer's...

Please let us know how it tastes when it's ready.

For the record, I get none of that. Maybe 20 years ago. Not in the last 10 years.

It turns out superbly clean and dare-I-say lager-like. You'll love it. No ice jugs required.

This makes no sense. It seems like you're saying something along the lines of "continental malt is made out of larger diamonds that bend the steel rollers on their way through". I exaggerate, but you see what I'm saying? Malt kernels are like 100 times softer than steel. If kernels are...

I dunno. I don't get diacetyl in any of my brews, as long as I condition them for a few weeks. No need for ALDC unless you're in a huge rush.

Some call it insurance. I call it cheating, and/or impatient. But I get it. Won't use it myself. But I understand.

About 3-4 weeks, NOT DAYS. YMMV

I mill all my grains just once. For a while my average brewhouse efficiency was 92%. I opened the gap on my mill slightly to provide extra assurance against a stuck runoff. Now it's in the mid 80s. Adjust your mill properly until one run-through is enough, and such that you only get a stuck...

Chalk (calcium carbonate) will stay behind with the spent grains. This is normal, not a problem at all. Even a pH of 5.7 isn't a horrible thing probably. IF you end up with any astringency in the finished beer, it could be from the pH. But I think it will probably turn out alright. You can...

That's a lot of baking soda. That's why your mash pH was too high, and caused clouding up of the strike water. A faint haze is normal, but with that much baking soda, plus adding calcium, you're going to end up with calcium carbonate in the water which is not soluble.

@betarhoalphadelta Yep, one pack is plenty. I'd pitch close to 65 F, hold there for like 12 hours, then let 'er free rise towards a max of about 72-73 F.

Swirl the fermenter a couple times a day, and give the beer several weeks to mature after packaging. In doing so, the diacetyl, if present, will be minimized.

Mash time is a tool in the toolbox. You can still make good beer with a short mash, as you discovered. I ran a series of experiments 20 years ago with mash times. In brief, I discovered that mash time had a far greater impact on attenuation than efficiency. A mash time of 30 minutes provides...

Hefeweizen is all about the clove and banana flavors, striking a balance between the two. I'm a clove guy so I've been using less wheat malt ever since I discovered clove comes more from the barley than from the wheat. Maybe a 55/45 split for me, wheat/barley. Lots of great info here (in...