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I've made many starters in an old gallon milk jug and just setting the lid loosely over the top. I've never had a problem doing this. Remember, you're just making beer. It can be as complicated as you want but it can also be as simple as you want.

I'm not familiar with this kit. What are the ingredients?

What you have will probably be fine (although not what you were going for). My main concern would be that since you were originally going for a tripel that you won't have enough bitterness to balance the sweetness.

Nobody will be able to help you without more precise information.

3417 + 5 gallons of imperial IPA = 3422 gallons.

Ah I didn't notice your fermentables. Since you had a relatively low gravity during boil, combined with a fairly large volume you were going to have a high utilization of the bittering compounds for your beer. My calculator came out a little over 60 IBUs.

Hmm...maybe you're just sensitive to bitter flavors? You basically only used 30g of Columbus (a little over 1oz) to provide bittering for 6 gallons. As to your question though, I think it's the case that both the bittering and aromatic compounds of hops decay fairly rapidly.

The RIS is pretty good. It was my first kit. It's extract + steeping grains(roasted barley, black patent and caramel 60, I think) and turned out pretty well. I'm not sure if a single packet of s-04 is sufficient for a brew that large. It got down to 1.030 pretty quickly but 1.030 to 1.020 took 2...

Seems like it's hard to always predict how yeast will react to wort. A few batches ago I brewed a hefeweizen with the Danstar Munich yeast. OG was only 1.055 but fermentation was so violent the lid would've blown off my fermenter if I hadn't been paying attention (noticed liquid being pushed out...

I just sterilize my pyrex measuring cup, the kind with the handle like this and dip it right in. I never pour back into the fermenter though. First, I don't feel like sterilizing the hydrometer and testing tube. and second, tasting also tells you something about how the brew is coming along.

Gravity readings and observation tell you almost everything you need to know about your fermentation. And as for a leaky bucket letting air in it depends on the type of leak whether it'll be a problem.

Saccharin is a disgusting artificial sweetner and I wouldn't bring it within 10 feet of my beer. Just bottle your beer as it is.

OG is really important in grain brewing so you have an idea of mash efficiency. For extract brewing there's few reasons why your actual OG would vary much from the calculated OG.

1.120 to 1.039 is already 10.8% abv. Your yeast only handles up to 11.5%. Sounds like it's too alcoholic to continue fermentation with that yeast.

You'll probably need to repitch to get the gravity down at this point.

BB kits are decent on everything except the yeast. Big brews need big starters typically. My first was brew was a BB RIS stout kit. I did everything according to instructions and it was a real chore just to get it down to 1.020. Lesson learned. I just recently did a tripel that I pitched with...

Aye, I live about 80 miles west of Knoxville. Here all craftbrew is $9-10 per six pack minimum. Hell, Guinness is $10 for a sixer. Rasputin RIS is about $13 for a 4 pack. I know it's a dangerous conceit to get into homebrewing to save money but with the prices around where I live I might...

Check the gravity and compare it to SG. Easiest way to see if there's been fermentation or not. You could just have a bad seal on your fermentation vessel. No need to panic before you're sure there's a problem.

I think this article has already been posted and discussed at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/nice-article-how-ab-inbev-trying-destroy-good-beer-higher-profits-363728/

I think he was talking about making a bockbier (or variation such as doppelbock, both of which are lagers) with wheat in the grain bill. Not making a weizenbock. Names are confusing.