Bottle conditioning and carbonation will change the taste of the beer, some seem to change more than others. Used to make a Scottish that did the same thing, way more smoke flavor in the keg as opposed to the bottle.
23+ lbs of grain, plus 6 of DME and you are shooting for 1.077? That seems VERY low. You should easily get 1.100+! All those hops sound good but I have to agree that it would be overkill. The trub would be crazy
I just throw my carboy in the fridge a day or two before I rake it to a keg. This of course means you would need the fridge space. It should work fine outside too, I just wouldn't let it set overnight or anything prolonged like that. But if it's to much trouble I just wouldn't bother with it.
Being that the LHBS is in New Orleans I would say that it is up to par with many other establishments in the area. (I used to live about 90 minutes from there) I love NOLA but cleanliness is not one of it's strong points :)
It looks like everything went ok for your first ag batch. My first one probably did not go as good as yours. As far as the og, what said it was supposed to be 1.055? It seems hard to get your eff. down the first few times. Adding of the extra water is probably what did that. The grain can...
One thing I can tell you is that you don't need any formal training to run a nano. IMO, formal training is a waste of money. Spend 20k to come out making 10 bucks/hour. Another thing I can tell you is that you are about a year's worth of time away from figuring out the answers to your...
What's up Homebrewtalk? I have been homebrewing for the past 6 or 7 years I guess, and for the past 3 I have been a head brewer at a small mirco. Thanks to a boss who is in need of some mental help, I no longer work there. Anyway, love brewing at home so much more than at the professional...