RO water is perfect, especially for light colored beers like Spotted Cow.
I think I have moderately high hardness in the tap water here, luckily there is a grocery store selling RO water for .34 cents per gallon down the street. I think that's the next step, on top of triple checking my sanitation and hitting my numbers.
the comment you quoted had nothing to do with commercial though.
Thanks for the feedback. I am still relatively new to adjusting water chemistry, but will continue experimenting with some of the "balanced" profiles as suggested on Brewfather and Beersmith. Somewhere in the ballpark of 60 Ca, 7 Mg, 10 Na, 70 SO4, 70 Cl. Hopefully that's enough to make a difference with RO water.
I admittedly did transfer it to a keg very early and when I cold crashed there was a significant chill haze. That has since dissipated and the beer is clear, but there is still that "twang" that won't go away. You're right, I will try to give the yeast more time to clean up and re-absorb some of those off flavors. Patience is key.
Make sure you sparge with RO water as well (no adjustments needed). Often the water for mashing is great, but then someone may use tap water for sparging. Don't worry about the additions as much as a good mash pH of 5.3 or so. The flavor ions you listed are just that- for flavor. Think of those additions like salt (well, they ARE salts) for your food. A little salt and pepper makes a good dish great, but can't make a bad dish good. Same with brewing salts- you can take a very good beer to great perhaps, but can't improve a bad beer to great just with salts. What you can do is ensure that your mash pH and sparge pH are in range, which DOES make a huge difference!
No, the yeast doesn't clean up off flavors much beyond about 24 hours after FG is reached. Chill haze won't impact the flavor (although it does impact colloidal stability), and a well made beer doesn't need ages and ages to taste great.
That's a good point. I noticed when experimenting with my water adjustments in Brewfather that adding Calcium Chloride or Gypsum to the mash does not significantly lower the pH, but when adding 20ml of 10% phosphoric acid, the pH value drops by 0.24. That should in theory stabilize the mash for this particular recipe with RO water at 5.32. Let's hope it works out like that when I calibrate my pH meter.
What does a typical Ale fermentation schedule look like for you when starting with an OG of 1.046 and FG of 1.009? Fermenting between 59-68 degrees F. In my experience, FG for ales is typically reached by day 5 or 6. Rack to secondary or leave it? I'm not sure if leaving the beer on that yeast cake will pick up any harsh flavors from dying yeast cells.
One other thing on your equipment: do you use a plate chiller?
I use a copper IC that I put in the boil about 10-15 minutes before chilling.
