Damn all you guys! Now I really want one of these. I had a long talk with a Traeger salesman in Costco a couple weeks back but didn't end up buying one because of the searing issue. Sounds like you can get one that will do that for more money. These things look awesome. Thanks for the thread.
Dude - you're over thinking this. There is PLENTY of healthy yeast in your starter. Don't worry about losing a little bit. Sounds like you got a very healthy ferment in your starter so just pitch what you have. I promise you that your batch will ferment just fine. However, I don't believe...
Exposing yourself to more non-beer aromas and flavors will make it easier to pick out what you're tasting. For example, it would be very hard if not impossible to pick a rosemary or thyme flavor out of a food dish if you've never tasted/smelled those herbs before. Try to expose yourself to...
I wouldn't use that much Victory without mashing. It contains quite a bit of starch that won't convert. There's also starch in the pumpkin. Also, I don't really like vanilla with my pumpkin flavors. Using whole spices is also better, Radical Brewing (Mosher) has some great advice on this...
For full boils yes it absolutely does. You will find people that will argue that using the "no chill method" works to make decent beer but you will not find a professional brewery that does this. If you are doing partial boils there are some other options. I used to freeze whole gallons of...
If you're just doing extract then there's no worry about DMS. It has already been boiled off during the making of the extract. If you actually conducted a mash (didn't just use steeping grains) then it might be more of an issue. Even if you do have some residual DMS, the beer will most likely...
If you already know they good and you like them then why enter them in a competition? All you'll get are some numbers created by someone that may or may not know what they are doing. Waste of beer IMO. Just drink them up and enjoy them yourself.