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Sure you can do it. I use a 5-gallon cooler as a mash tun for 5-gallon batches. If you do a single infusion with 1.25 quarts per pound of grain, you could probably squeeze 25 pounds of grain in there. The specific gravity of your beer will depend on your mash efficiency, but that should give...

You can use the hydrometer reading to time the rest--it will show you when fermentation is 2/3 or so done. Or you can wait until the bubbles slow. And (sorry if this is obvious), to get your final gravity, you will still need another hydrometer reading when you suspect it is really done...

Yes--that's the idea. With your caveats, it should work. And the fermwraps are cheap, safe, and effective, should you decide this is something you need to do over and over.

Even though 1084 is an ale yeast, it throws off alot of diacetyl. So if you do a diacetyl rest, it will result in a cleaner beer. A 10 degree temp raise is about right. So either take a SG reading and start the rest then, or wait until the bubbles slow and start it. I'm not sure that...

I say lower and leave it for another week. Longer answer: Because I siphon from brew pot to conical fermentor, I leave my break material behind, and I have any trub down in the cone, so I have pretty clean yeast in contact with my beer in my primary. Generally, I leave lagers to ferment...

You're asking the right questions. As you do lagers, pitching rate matters more (because of the need for such a clean taste in the beer). So a stir plate helps you get there.

That's what I do. Two tanks. When one gets empty, I set it aside for refilling. The full one is good for 3, 4, maybe 5 5-gallon batches, so there isn't a big hurry. So if you have the space and don't mind having an extra few dollars tied up in propane, it's a convenient way to go.

You can use the hydrometer to determine when to start the diacetyl rest. As to precisely when to do the rest, I quote White Labs' web site: "Usually the diacetyl rest is begun when the beer is 2 to 5 specific gravity points away from the target terminal gravity." But as I mentioned...

You might also consider a diacetyl rest (raising the temperature back UP about 10 degrees when fermentation is mostly done). The surest way to time this is by taking a hyrometer reading, but you can guess at it by when the bubbling slows significantly. You may also want to leave your beer on...

Right. "Thick" means grain with enough liquid to keep it from scorching; "thin" means just the liquid with a few stray grains in there. And no problem doing it with a single infusion. It's a remedy that some of the literature recommends.

You should be OK. There are enzymes left behind. The standard practice is to do a "thick" decoction, though, and save the "thin" decoction for mash-out, when stopping the enzyme activity is kind of the point. But you can always boost your temp with a decoction. That's what they are for, and...

I used glass carboys for years--7 gallons for primary, 5 or 6 gallons for secondary. Last year I got a Stout conical. I still lager in carboys (so I can keep my conical gainfully employed). And in 20 years of brewing, I have broken exactly one carboy (It cracked when I left it outside in...

I am assuming your fermentor is at something like 50 degrees. Lagers need to be lagered after fermentation, meaning stored at near freezing (something below 40 degrees--fridge temp). Some people crash cool (putting it in a fridge at 33 degrees and letting the beer fall as fast as it will...

I use a 24 inch stainless steel stirring spoon I bought from a restaurant supply store. LHBS sometimes sell similar things. But then, I'm only working with 5 gallons at a time.

They are useful in making bread and beer (so we cultivate them, which is good for their species) and in balancing out sugars in other organisms (like people), so they have a symbiotic relationship with other living things. But if we could ask them, they would probably say they have the same...

When I used a spackleware canning kettle for partial mashes, I built a box out of plywood, then lined it with insulation. I got the mash to temperature on the stove, then stuck the kettle in the box. It stayed right at temperature. I still have the box--and now I use it for cheese making...

The "Classic Styles" table shows you that a larger starter can compensate for fewer packs of yeast. Starters have a multiplier effect, which John Palmer explains--including a summary of his and Jamil's rationale in "Classic Styles" in this "BYO" article. Here's a link...

I have grown hops in the ground and, for the past several years, grown them in containers (not as large as half barrels, but close). My yield was better in the ground, but when I moved to my suburban yard, I wanted to limit where the rhizomes went, so they are--contained. It works for me...

Since this new version requires OS X 10.8, it might be just the excuse I need to get a new macbook air. My old macbook topped out at 10.6. Perfect!

I do decoctions when the style calls for them. I have done the full triple decoction, but these days, I am more apt to do a step infusion (adding boiling water to my M/LT) and then a single decoction for mash out (boiling about a third of the mash for 15-30 minutes, then adding it back in...