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@Timmy83 - As others have stated, good-to-great can be subjective, but wanted to weigh in with what has helped me, and might be applicable based on your experience and comments thusfar In general, it sounds like you pretty much have the brew day components down, with maybe the exception of...

I have the same issue here, some brews worse than others. Personally, I put the filter on backwards (so the rubber cap is held on by the temp probe well), and if I see a slowdown I just gently scrape the filter with the mash paddle. I try to do this while it's initially recirculating through...

Ditto on the ceramic bulb here. I have a 14.8 CF chest freezer, and have this lamp w a 60w ceramic bulb and a small USB powered fan sitting on the compressor shelf. I haven't tried cranking it up high, I tend to hold around 65f...

All dry yeast direct pitch here. Most of my batches only require one packet, but if it needs two the LHBS gets their extra 4 bucks from me. I've re-hydrated a few times and did a starter once or twice, but it didn't seem to make an appreciable difference in the beer and I'm a lazy, lazy man.

Two quick ones: I use a grainfather, which has a grain basket you lift out after mashing and set on top to sparge. Decided to press down on the screen a bit to "get that extra little bit of liquid out". Bottom screen gave way and I dropped 14 lb of grain back into the now-200 degree wort...

so many bad jokes!!! Flux'd her real good? Was it really hot? Little solder can still salute I see! (ok I'll stop now and apologies in advance to to anyone this is bound to offend :D )

Awesome! Glad the build went smooth and you got it going :)

I take refract readings pre- and post- boil, as well as FG. Mainly because I keep a brew log and like to look for trends, and perhaps adjust the boil time if I come up a little light somehow. It's quick and easy, and I'm not sure I'd still do it if I had to pull and cool hydrometer samples. I...

I've done the same as Kingmatt, though I tend to use a bag for both or at least the second addition of dry hops. I would think dropping and raising the temp like that would mess with the yeast and probably do more harm than good.

It's all cool - I've been married for a while, "ignored" is just code for not wrong.... yet.... :D

I know you asked about 'building', can't comment too much there. I have a Tilt hydrometer and a PI setup running Fermentrack, and really like it: https://tilthydrometer.com/ https://www.fermentrack.com/ I still plan on getting around to automatic fermentation temp control and the like, but...

Nice!

Short answer: Correct. Mathy answer: OG - ((OG-1.0) x Att%) = FG So if your 1.026 was not adjusted for alcohol, you're pretty much in the expected range :) There are a few calcs out there, e.g: https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

Like others have said, verifying the OG and the temps are worthwhile, but with 6 years of consistent results under the belt, I'd definitely be focused in on what's changed! Does the crush look/feel about the same compared to the previous place or maybe a different brand of base malts than...

Just a sanity check, was that with a hydrometer or refractometer? 1.026 with a refrac and not adjusting for alcohol would be ~1.012. Sitting at 1.026 after a week defintely seems slow, but I haven't used the smack packs so no idea if sitting unpitched for a week would mess with em.

Gotta love a nice irish red :) What are you using for a fermenter and airlock? It sounds like the yeast are plenty active based on your description. Have you taken a gravity sample? I would imagine that with most yeasts, a week for a 1.050 ale the majority of fermentation would be largely...

The hose/funnel is a good idea - I always just pop the lid off, but that's probably better. Maybe use the gas post to add it to the top instead of the bottom, and then purge the headspace a couple times. The gelatin volume is relatively small... I use 2/3 of a cup with one tablespoon of...

1) Seems a safe way to add the salt and get a good mixing on kegging. I haven't done a Gose before so can't speak from experience but nothing sets off any alarm bells there aside from O2 exclusion (see below) 2) I've added gelatin after carbing, doesn't seem to hamper the process from my...

Bracconiere hit it on the head here - I think that regardless of brew system, fermentation temperature control is the best thing you can do for your beer! I'm not sure what Robobrew you were looking at, but I'd definitely recommend getting one of the models with a pump/re-circulation setup...

The extra info is helpful Nick_Z and don't let it get you *too* pissed off :) Figuring out the specifics for any setup is just part of the process. It sounds like the recipe was scaled for 5 gallons, and you divided by 5, meaning the bitterness from hops as well as the sugars from the grains...