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I have pitched directly on top of the yeast cake before with no ill effects. Just consider it a giant starter. If you want to control the fermentation, put the fermenter in the tub and fill it with several inches of cool water. I did exactly that last beer I made. I made a barley wine last...

I would make the starter right now, for use on Sunday.

I would not want to take the chance of loosing beer due to using twist off type bottles. I am not sure I have had a good beer that came in a twist off bottle. BIAB is well worth trying. There is nothing inferior about using that method.

I frequently do 5 gallon batches in a 15 gallon kettle. It is not ideal though as the thermometer can get out of the wort. I bought another kettle at 10 gallon capacity for those batches now.

When I was using the BIAB method I used this same technique (you will need a 2nd pot). But it really does get you extra sugars and that helps efficiency. Also, just in case, it is always a good idea to have a 3LB bag of DME around when you are first trying this stuff. That way you can hit...

I have a Schmidling A (with hardened rollers) and it seems to work pretty good. It will work either powered by hand or with a drill. No issues to date and it is nice to be able to buy 55LB sacks of grain and mill them when needed. I have not used any other mills and so have no opinion of...

The other guys are spot on with the advice of do not mess with it. This can be taken a step further: Don't mess with the beer for a while. Patience is rewarded. Garage, guest bathtub, basement or whatnot, pick a stable temp area and keep light from the beer.

Perfect! Thanks guys. Due to space constraints I am using a picnic faucet. It all makes perfect sense now. I just don't like the gunk that can get in the flexible lines and was wanting a line I could clean out instead of throw away when it got gunky. Usually I have the line in constant use...

It is hard to go wrong with US-05. Depending on your temps you might also consider Nottingham. I usually use Nottingham if the temps are going to be below 60 (to avoid a slight peachiness from the US-05). But if your temps are in the low 60's you can use that 2112 lager yeast. I have a 2112...

So it could just be the home-brew that I have already consumed today; but I fail to see how either of the John Guest connects would attach to the faucet end of the keg serving line. It is easy to see that...

Are you still on the primary yeast cake? If you leave it on the cake for a bit longer it could clear up that problem, perhaps give it a swirl or two to get some yeast in suspension. Hopefully you just tasted your gravity reading (I always do that) and so are still in the primary. I have cured...

@lookingglass, I have found E.K.G. to be smooth no matter how I use them(they are terrific hops!). I have not tried a FWH instead of a normal 90 minute bittering addition. After reading this thread I am considering it.

Your hop schedule falls within the guidelines for an American IPA (I am getting 43.7 IBU from Beer Smith). I think you are going to find with that much crystal that you may want more hop bittering. Do you like a sweet tasting IPA? The LME and DME have already been boiled up once. The...

I would not serve the immature beer. I would get a corny keg filled at a local brewpub and serve that instead (it is a wedding so why not?). Unless you have a few extra kegs of personal home-brew laying around? Then make up a starter of yeast and pitch that in your buttery beer and let the...

Looks like a killer first try to me. My only suggestion would be more Cascade hops (to hell with the guidelines) and longer boil time. I would go with a 90 minute addition ( I like a 90 minute boil ) and a doubled up 20 minute addition and do a whole 1oz at flame out. With your lower mash...

1.5 LBs of Caramel or crystal is rather high for your 9 or so LBs of malt base (at least for my taste). That being said, there is nothing like doing and learning to figure out what you like and what ingredients do. I am a big fan of the target and Goldling hops. And if you end up liking the...

While a larger kettle will make things easier you can do a BIAB with a 30 quart kettle. My buddy Don gets by using a 5 gallon kettle using that method. Seeing as how you have a baby on the way and need to control costs that would be your best method. You will just be making smaller batches...

A few things to check: Amount of water mashed in and amount of water you sparged with. Check the numbers under the mash tab in Beer Smith. Grain crush, are you getting dough balls or do you have some uncrushed grain? Temp calibration of your thermometer. What temp are you getting your...

Sorry about not giving you the chart earlier. Mr. Palmer has one in section3/chapter15-2.html in his free online (howtobrew.com). I would not obsess over every little detail of the water. My advice would be to just look for major deficiencies in minerals for a particular style. Or make your...