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I realize that carbonate/bicarbonate is the most predominate base at any alkaline pH in most drinking water (the pronation state is not consequential). Still, I don't conflating alkalinity, pH, and carbonate because they are distinct and have different effects/meanings. In fact, pH nicely...

There is a tension between utilization and flavor. Alpha acids are more readily extracted at high pH (because acids have low pKa values), but they are more readily isomerized at low pH (because the isomerization is acid catalyzed). Thus high pH gives you better utilization, but muddled...

Thanks for the answer, but I don't think I asked my question clearly... I don't like using total alkalinity and carbonate concentration interchangeably because it assumes that you are starting with natural water and I've seen a lot of confusion on this forum between carbonate, alkalinity, and...

I got myself a good pH meter and some phosphoric acid and brewed up an IPA with 100% Mosaic hops. It's currently on tap and it's delicious! The bitterness so perfectly balances the sweetness that neither is perceptible, yet it has a fresh hop nose and drinking it is like sucking on hop cones...

Good to know! I visited the St. James's Gate Brewery last year and the Guinness really was better than the stuff brewed on contract. Just out of curiosity I compared my water profile to Dublin, and it's actually pretty similar. But it is very different from the profile where my friend lives (at...

After reading the advice from you-all and doing some background reading, I've decided to use Bru'n Water to adjust my mash/sparge pH and to pay closer attention to the sulfate concentration. Apparently the 5.2 stabilizer stuff doesn't work well, so I got some phosphoric and lactic acids and a pH...

A grain mill was one of the best investments I ever made. I can buy bulk grains, my brew process is way more reproducible, and fresh-crushed grains smell awesome first thing in the morning. As for moving water: When I don't want to life a large volume of (hot) water, I put both containers at...

I have no LHBS, so I buy all my base malts in 25 kg sacks. I just stick them in a cabinet right in the sack they came in. Brewing about once a month (20 L) I've never had a problem. Ikea sells really nice sealable containers for the specialty malts, which I buy 1 or 5 kg at a time. However, a...

I usually bitter with Warrior at 60 min, do a 15 min addition of aroma hops (with the finings) and send the whole thing through a hop rocket to a plate chiller. When it hits the fermenter it smells strongly of fresh hops, but by the time I keg it there is hardly any nose (at least not compared...

Super, I'm happy to know that I have a "classic sign" of something wrong--it should be easy to fix! I found out that my water company now has an "online pH sensor" that I can check through their website. It stays super close to 7.7 even as it varies from the source (of which they also report...

The one thing I didn't do before starting this thread was double check my water website... it turns out they added a search-by-zipcode feature that gives you your specific water source, hardness, etc. Now I can just check that site on brew day :D

I found a more recent water report: Chloride 40 Sulfate 17 Magnesium 4.9 Calcium 37.7 Sodium 19.6 Carbonate 96 pH 7.7 I forgot to mention that I started adding CaSO4 to my pale ale brews, but that was just based on the observation that Ca helped with...

Second for the aeration stone. Since getting one my fermentations have become way more reproducible, removing that variable from the beerquation. I actually just brewed an 8% stout and it attenuated perfectly!

My beers always come out darker that what Beersmith predicts. I've heard explanations involving boil time, early hop additions, and mash pH, but I just adjust my recipes to compensate.

I've had the same experience with higher temperatures. The only times I've moved the needle on the FG is by heating/stirring through the entire duration of the mash (by hand) to ensure an even temperature and then mashing out to stop enzyme activity... but it's too much work!

I have really been struggling to make what I consider a perfect pale ale (something along the lines of Red Chair NWPA, but a tad less bitter). I've messed around with mash temperature and time, yeast, base malts, hop schedules, dry hopping, fermentation conditions, and even bought a Hop Rocket...

I'm in category 2. After years of trying to separate all the break material from the wort going into the primary, I now just send everything through the plate chiller and my beers are clearer than ever. Irish moss, however, makes a huge difference.

I have just about given up on brewing the warmest part of Summer for this very reason. I live upstairs and have no A/C and no room to chill a fermenter. About the only thing I can brew in August is a wheat beer with weihenstephan.

It's a matter of personal preference. I dump everything but the hops into my primary and get very clear beer and the sludge does not have an effect on flavor. Here are my observations on flavor, evolving from extract to mini-mash to AG over the years: I realize that this statement is...

Did you correct your FG reading for temperature? Not that 1.008 is a problem.