Has anyone ever added oak cubes? I'm getting ready to start another batch and was thinking of trying this. I'm guessing I'll soak them in vodka as to not add any flavor?
For what it's worth, I use both a thermowell probe and a stick-on thermometer and they always read the same. A 5 gallon carboy just isn't a large enough volume of liquid to see a difference between core and perimeter.
Well, speaking of other calculators, I checked mrmalty, yeastcalc and brewersfriend and the number of cells needed varied: 273, 366, 366 respectively. That's quite a difference.
I'm about to brew a 1.076 ale and was checking the MrMalty calculator for pitching rate. It says to use 2 packs for a 1L starter (assuming the yeast was produced between 1/2 and 3/8). I typically use 1L starters for a single pack. This ratio seemed odd. Does this seem right?
Just opened one up after 5 weeks in the bottle. Starting to get some nice carbonation. Nice tan foam. Amazing taste. A few more weeks and this thing will be stellar.
If it's insulated from the ambient air, you should be good. I would think the SS would be more accurate since it's thinner and is a better thermal conductor.