Recent content by postal_penguin

I like ball locks because they fit better in my chest freezer(taller and skinnier versus pin locks). There is no real performance difference so I'd do a little research and find out which ones are more common in your area. In any case you can mix and match them so long as you have connections...

Have a blow off tube ready. WLP hefe yeasts generate massive amounts of krausen.

4.5 with my Blichmann Top Tier heating both mash and sparge water in 40F weather and 80 minute boils. Probably closer to 5 or 5.5 if you do 60 minute boils and are in a warmer climate.

The thermometer ballast was likely steel shot. No homebrew thermometer would have lead in it.

I use the brewometer as a "rough" gauge of when I need to start using my digital thermometer to start checking.

I use a scoop per 5 gallons, never had a problem with it drying out my hands.

WLP029 I find to be quite clumpy too. Took me a lot of shaking the vial to get it all of it suspended.

Make a starter and if no activity by tomorrow, buy some more.

I have two towers and while I get small pockets of CO2 the beer pours fine. No cooling necessary.

A few degrees matters a whole lot in the mash. The difference between dry and sweet beers is only a few degrees.

That is good to hear. Its US-05 in an IPA and I dump mostly everything into the fermenter so I figured it was the yeast hanging out on all the break material in there.

One of these might help in the future: http://www.homedepot.com/buy/plumbing/pumps/basement-watchdog/battery-operated-water-alarm-41623.html

Its probably cold break. BIAB typically allows more "stuff" into the wort than other methods. It all settles out in the end anyways.

Yeast rafts? Hop particles? Its kind of greenish, just over 1 week after start of fermenting still bubbling pretty quickly. Never seen it before.

You'll still need the DME as your base so you need it to be the bulk of your fermentables, go with extra light or light extract(not sure what your LHBS sells). Crystal malts add a touch of sweetness so if you want to go really dry, omit them as cheesydemon3 says. And by sugar/rice/corn I meant...