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+1 on checking your sparging water.

I also find the wording confusing. With that said, I don't have any idea in what it means by "2nd stage," so I don't know why it recommends adding more yeast. To me, it seems like an unnecessary step even if you were bottle conditioning. If it were me and I thought it tasted awesome...

And of course, just when I give up, the scores show up in the mail (postmarked October 15).

Thanks for replying. I guess something must have happened with mine. At least I won't keep looking for them in the mail and wondering when they'll show up.

Has anyone else gotten score sheets yet? If so, when did you get them? The competition was eight weeks ago and I still haven't received mine.

I can't add much to what AJ said, but I can tell you that I was in a similar boat of frustration until I purchased a pH meter and some phosphoric acid to adjust my water, which helped me hit my target pH range for the mash and also bring my sparge water pH below 6. That was a game-changer for...

Congratulations on placing. I can't say for sure whether or not you will get a medal this year, but I got one last year for placing second and I'm pretty sure that someone who finished third last year also said he got a medal. If I remember correctly, there wasn't any difference between the...

+1 to Brewing Classic Styles. It's a great place to start.

I haven't done a mini-mash in a bag, but your process sounds like it's worth a try to me. With that said, I would probably "mash" with about five quarts and "steep" with more than one (and for just a short while since all you are doing is really rinsing the grains), particularly if you are...

Well, you could leave it alone and see what happens or try to fix it. If it were me, I'd try to fix it. I'm not sure whether or not you are able to accurately measure your LME, but if you can, your results would be a little more "predictable." If I understand your situation correctly, I would...

Granted I tend to brew beers that fall in the 1.040 - 1.060 range, but I just roll with option 3 (ferment for 3-4 weeks and then bottle). Part of that reasoning includes accepting the idea that this is a bit of a fermentation sweet spot. I think I have read a few places that the beer continues...

I'm not sure how you came up with your numbers, but I'd spend a little more time working on them. Granted, I don't have BeerSmith, but for the program I use I came up with an OG of 1.066 for a 5.5 gallon batch by following that recipe. If I were trying to do what I think you're trying to do...

+1 on making sure they're sealed and putting them in the freezer. I brewed an all-grain that turned out pretty well even though I couldn't get to it for 2-3 months. Once I realized I wasn't going to be able to brew it right away (as in a few days after getting my grain, which was already...

If you started with 26 quarts and added 4.75 gallons, you had 11.25 gallons in all. Assuming you collected seven gallons, you have 4.25 gallons left to account for. If your grain absorbed .15 of a gallon per pound, you could say 2.1 gallons went to that, but that still leaves you with over two...

Using the tastybrew calculator (http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/recipe.html), I found following the instructions with your hop additions for a seven gallon boil (collecting 5.5 gallons when finished) would give you about 60 IBUs. Since the description of the kit doesn't really tell you...

I'm not super-postive about this, but I would recommend following the instructions unless you know the specifics of your ingredients. If my understanding is correct, hop utilization is affected by wort density, and NB extract kits come as partial boil kits. So...if you follow the instructions...

I'd say your expectations are off. I think 67% - 72% efficiency is a great place to be. I routinely hit in that range, and if I brewed a batch with 14 lbs. of grain, I would expect to be around 1.063, give or take. The temperature of the mash will affect attenuation, so I'd worry about it if...

I'm not sure where in WV you are, but I think there might be a homebrew store in Huntington, Charleston, and Morgantown. If I remember what I read correctly, they might be pretty limited in their offerings, but it's worth checking out if you are close. If not, you can find a host of online...

I'm with BlindOwl on this one if you are looking to adjust the recipe. If you are just looking for the extra alcohol and nothing else, I would suggest considering just adding sugar. A OG of 1.061 and a FG of 1.012 will give you 6.5% ABV, which means you need to come up with 7 more gravity...

I would leave it alone also. With that said, if you really wanted to try and "fix" it, Mosher states, "In a 5-gallon batch, a pound of suger contribute 1.0094 original gravity" (Radical Brewing, p. 196). With that in mind, you could add about 1/3 to 1/2 pound of table sugar to get you there...