The Big Brew - Pointon's Proper Question

I am planning on brewing the Pointon's Proper English Style Dark Mild for the Big Brew on Saturday and have a few questions.

I batch sparge and usually use "spring" water that I buy at the store and do not make any additions to my water. This recipe calls for fly sparging and says to use 100% RO water and to acidify the sparge water with with .25 tsp acid blend. So, if I batch sparge should I use RO water? Should I acidify my batch sparge water? Should I just use my normal water and forget the acid blend?

Also, the recipe calls for 1oz of Black Patent Malt (550L) to be placed in the mash during the sparge (which, again, should be a fly sparge based on the recipe). I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the patent Malt is placed in the mash during the sparge so as to minimize the bitterness from the use of the Patent Malt. The problem is, I ordered a kit on line and when it arrived, ALL of the grains were mixed into one large bag. This obviously makes it impossible to only use the Patent Malt during the sparge. Will this mess up the brew? Will it make the beer more bitter than intended? Will it not likely make any difference at all since I am doing a batch sparge and I will mash for an hour and a normal fly sparge would take that long anyway? I'm kind of annoyed that the retailer of this kit put all the grains together but that is for another thread I guess.

Thanks for any help you can give.

No problem on all accounts in my opinion. If you've had good luck with the spring water (i have too btw but I'm switching to RO for cost savings) then stick with it. Don't worry about the acid addition, it doesn't even specify which acid, strength etc. If you're making good beer with your current setup, it'll be fine. There's no way they (recipe author) can get that specific with instructions when they have zero idea what the end user's setup is like. Fly sparge vs batch sparge makes no difference, again they're just being way overspecific. And the Patent Malt being mixed in is fine. I always mix all my caramel/roasted malts into the grain bill and mash the whole works and being only an ounce of Patent, you'll be in great shape.

I would take a pH reading if you can and adjust if needed. I have always used phosphoric acid as a pH adjuster rather than acid blend since it is in liquid vs. crystal form it is easier to do on the fly. I agree with hops2it, one ounce of black patent isn't going to matter. On these recipes I think the AHA is just giving the recipe as formulated by the original brewer, I plan to change a few things for my brew system/process.