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Decocting shouldn't make a difference with respect to mash pH. You should have about the right alkalinity level in your mashing water to match your grain bill's needs to produce an appropriate mash pH regardless of decoction use. I take it that you are worried that the mashing water may have...

Sulfites can be incorporated into wort if campden tablets (metabisulfite) are used to dechlorinate brewing water. When dosed properly, all of the metabisulfite is oxidized into its ionic components and there is no sulfite left in the wort. But if you overdose the water with metabisulfite, the...

It's far from ideal. Other researchers have found that it buffers to a pH of more like 5.7 which is several tenths higher than desirable. Learning to use an acid to neutralize excess alkalinity is a better approach.

Thanks for the mention. AJ Delange and I were the technical editors for that book. It should be out in October. FB: calibration solutions are a necessary part of pH meter use. Yes, they have to be used prior to each day's use. They aren't expensive though. The plastic strips seem to be...

The pH of wort can easily drop by several tenths with a roast addition. Guinness is made with very low alkalinity water. They employ an all pale base malt mash and they create a separate all-roast steeped wort (aka: Guinness Flavor Extract) that is combined after mashing. Guinness is known...

If your water has very low sodium, using baking soda can be a good way to add alkalinity for mashing water. You will want to limit the baking soda addition to only increase the sodium to 40 ppm or less. That will keep the sodium from adversely affecting beer flavor. Another option for adding...

Paper pH strips are not reliable for brewing use. The plastic ColorpHast strips are generally reliable, but they have a systematic error of reading about 0.3 units too low. Since those strips are consistently low, you can adjust for that error. But paper strips are just not reliable at all...

The use of high alpha hops for the main bittering charge is a good way to reduce the mass of hops in the kettle. Beyond that, making sure that the kettle wort pH is less than 5.5 is another good measure. If harshness continues to be a problem, further reducing the kettle wort pH may help. Be...

If you like the flavor of lactic acid in your beer (lactate) when you overdose it, then you will love calcium lactate. It adds 2 ppm of lactate for every ppm of calcium added. Fortunately, lactate is a typical component in beers and is often at low concentration. Most people can start to...

Bicarbonate in ppm is equal to the Alkalinity ppm (as CaCO3) divided by 1.22. For example: 122 ppm alkalinity (as CaCO3) is equal to 100 ppm bicarb.

Mhay, you don't mention your water conditions or any adjustments you make to that water. That could easily be a factor in the taste you encounter. Is the water too alkaline?, too mineralized?, doesn't have enough minerals?, etc. Finding out what is in your water is the first step in...

Fine water to start with. Yes, there is plenty of room to add minerals to create water styles that fit your brewing. The calcium level should be increased for most brews to help promote yeast health, flocculation, and reduce beerstone formation in your equipment. I find that a minimum of 40...

NPT means National Pipe Tapered. The Camco elements are NPS (National Pipe Straight) threaded. If you are trying to screw the element into a NPT fitting, it may not go all the way in before binding. I had that problem with my first RIMS chamber. If you are going to use a 1" NPT nut, its...

Using a PID in it's temperature control mode can be done, but its not a good way. I had a SSR blow in my brew pot circuit last month and I ended up dumping the wort in my PID controlled HLT to finish the boil. I had to constantly adjust the temperature setting to avoid over-boiling. Part of...

From the reports I've seen, Melbourne water is at near RO quality already. But to answer the original question, RO water quality is not typically at 0 TDS. There are low concentrations of any ions that are present in the feed water. In practice, RO removes a high percentage of the ions. The...

I will be presenting at the conference. Since the organizers want to focus on 'history' (since its a historic American city), my presentation is on understanding and brewing with water profiles from historic brewing cities. I look forward to meeting any of you Aussie's that make it to the...

I'm hoping you see the irony in your statement. It is a sanitizer because it can be lethal to microbes, including yeast. However you are correct, its unlikely that you would contribute enough iodine to water through iodized salt. Its just that it is clearly counterproductive to the yeast we...

Don't worry about the anti-caking agent. It is at low concentration. The main thing to avoid with table salt is iodine. Be sure to seek out salt that states that it is non-iodized. Sodium in brewing water is a welcome component...at low concentrations. You can read more about ion effects...

Starting with low mineralized water makes a lot of things easier. The only thing that will be tougher is when you need more alkalinity when brewing darker and more acidic grists. Using slaked lime is preferable since chalk has been proven to work poorly in the mash (it doesn't add the...

Knowing what is in your brewing water and what to do with it, is the most important thing to learn about water. There isn't a blanket statement that can be used for water. The requirements change with each beer style. I suggest you visit the Water Knowledge page of the Bru'n Water website to...