hardness

Hey All, First time poster here. I have been home brewing for a few years now but still consider myself as a nube to the hobby. Overall I have been happy with most of my beers but want to capitalize on the overall quality of them. My next goal is to improve and understand water quality for my...

Hi, My water report shows a relatively stable PH variation between 7.73 - 8.29 (currently lying at 8.02) but my hardness is showing huge swings between 6.03-18.4 in German Degrees of Hardness. My latest reading was at the low end of that at 6.41°dH. Is this something I need to worry about...

In EZWaterCalculator the 'Mash + Sparge Water Profile' seems to be unaffected by the sparge water if I set the sparge water to 100% distilled or RO water. For example, 3.125 gal strike water 100% distilled with 5g calcium gives a calcium ppm of 115. If I then enter 3.375 gal sparge 100%...

In his latest edition of How to Brew, John Palmer writes (on page 338): "Water hardness helps lower mash pH, and water alkalinity raises mash pH." While I understand alkalinity and the way it makes water resist pH changes when mixed with acid (or malt), I am not sure how water hardness helps...