Well, I'll tell you Bob. My disclaimer is I'm an old duffer.. got more than a few on you..
As with everything, I tend to want to be perfect before I start.. I think I have everything down.. or thought I did until I found BIAB..
. On 'the other' forum, I 'met' Martin and AJ.. probably two of the real gurus on water and had conversations with them. I've had people help me with trying to get my brewing water at least in the right ballpark for ales. They used both Palmer and EZ Water.. and one felt he had to use both because EZ Water doesn't allow for the use of plain table salt.. I think that was the one. Anyhow, I still don't think I could do it on my own.
Well, Palmer and Colin Kaminski who is a "local" brewer of some renown are writing this book you mention. Colin is really a guru. He has been playing with water for years and adjusts every batch of water for his brewery, Downtown Joe's, in Napa, Ca. Colin was invited to talk to us about water at our brewing club a couple months ago... and to show you I'm NOT the dimmest bulb in the house.. we all went away saying.. 'this guy knows his stuff'.. but, "How can I apply it to my brewing without a laboratory?"
Another local brewer of some renown, a winner of many awards in the past, wrote a book that is quite easy to understand for a beginner.. and he makes water treatment quite simple. His small book is LOADED with enough information that you can read it over and over and still pick up lots of things. For simplicity's sake, you might want to look for it. It's inexpensive and an easy read. Most of it you already know, but the information on hops and figuring out what your IBU's will be, grains, water, etc all make this a wonderful read.. it's those tidbits that make it a great read without having a couple hundred pages to go through.
HERE is a short description of Byron's book. I met Byron back in the days just after brewing became legal. He opened a shop in Berkeley, CA. He had already been brewing for years and was a real go-to guy. I had been brewing, albeit only a few times since the early 60's using Pabst Blue Ribbon Hop Flavored Malt Extract and Red Star yeast.. that was all that was available along with corn sugar. No instructions, etc. Made potent beer.. but, yuchhhh.. it was bad. Roll on Jimmy Carter and making brewing legal. Byron and his buds opened a store and a whole new hobby was born. We had good advice.. which turned into a paper handout at the store.. wish I still had mine. Followed by a book that has been revised a few times.
Byron sold the store in Berkeley and moved here to Santa Rosa where he opened "The Beverage People" Byron still shows up once in a while to give style talks, etc.. but the teaching is now in the hands of the new owner and another very good brewer. Whew........ That's a lot of prose.
So, what is the uptake of this treatise? Keep it simple.. Use Byron's method and you have a hard time going wrong. If you go to HBT and read the simple explanation AJ wrote you'd have a hard time going wrong.. very similar to what Byron wrote.. I think Byron's is a bit easier to understand.. for me.. or I'm prejudiced. Still, if you want to get down to the nitty gritty.. if that REALLY makes a difference.. get the pH meter and go from there. I bought the pH meter and am still waiting to use it. Now that I'm headed down the road of BIAB.. I may never need it or the chemicals I bought to calibrate it.. or the Lactic Acid and Phosphoric Acid I bought for adjustments. Argggggghhhh. It's tough (and expensive) being anal like me. I just WANT to have it nailed before I proceed.