mmgerecke said:
What's unclear to me is the volume for the base profile. Is it looking for total volume, or preboil volume.
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My theory is that I would just need to treat the preboil volume because of this, but looking for some help.
BeerSmith is assuming a treatment profile for your total water. Insofar as giving you a full list of minerals to use, it's fine. You can then use a standard ratio of 1/3 in the mash, 2/3 in the boil.
HOWEVER!! The water profile tool has limitations that are documented all throughout this forum.
The link that ihikeut cited is a more specialized tool for dynamically honing in your treatment, based on your local water and recipe.
There is a growing homebrew myth that brewing water MUST be treated and that the treatment MUST be precise. It aint so. A certain amount of treatment can be beneficial for mash quality and taste, but there is a huge range of acceptability.
I have a very "hard" mineral profile that rivals Dortmund and Burton. I treat my paler beers with acidulated malt to get the pH I want, based on the water I get most of the year.
I take a dissolved solids reading before each batch as a nominal guide to what the city is sending me. That reading alone doesn't tell me anything, except that when it rises, I know I am being sent more ground water. Through past analysis I know what the ground water typically has in it. Over a certain amount, a small amount of phosphoric acid is used to adjust pH.
I don't treat my sparge water, at all. This flys in the face of a lot of online advice, but the last runnings of my mash are seldom above 5.6.