You could always place a foam stopper in the opening. It will allow O2 to enter the container and will hopefully filter out any bacteria carrying dust.
Brad
NORTHERN BREWER: Yeast Handling Supplies
(towards the bottom of the page)
Two things:
Is your boil-off really that high? 1.33 - 1.5 gallons per hour is pretty average. To have a pre-boil volume of 8 gallons and finish with 5.5 gallons over a 60 minute boil is pretty darn high? Is the 5.5 gallons including losses from hops, false bottom, chiller, etc? If so, those...
You got it, a soak in star san, squeeze the excess, add hops, tie them off, then put them in. No weights or anything. They will sink on their own eventually.
Some important notes on the pantyhose. I buy them at the dollar store and cut them to size depending on the amount of hops I am using...
I think that the podcast is overcomplicating a very simple process. With a mini-mash, you are just trying to convert the enzymes in the small amount of grain you are using but in the end, the extract itself will always be the major supplier of the fermentables.
I remember when I first...
I would suggest that you dry hop with .5 ounce of each variety, wait a couple weeks, taste it, then add more if necessary. Dry hopping with 1 ounce of Amarillo and 1 ounce of Simcoe in a 5 gallon batch might be a little bit much for a beer with an OG of only 1.061. You can always add more later...