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What were your original and final gravities? Were you getting the expected attenuation from your yeast? If not, that's probably the sweetness part, and I'd start with looking at your aeration prior to pitching.

It's definitely not as hard as you'd think. My motivation was to have 15 gal instead of 10, but next time I think we'll do 20 gal instead of 10!

If the hydrometer is not floating, add more liquid. If you can't add more liquid, you need a taller sample jar. A good sample jar makes it a whole lot easier to read. I had one that was too narrow (though I didn't know that at the time) and it finally died (bought in ~1995). I got a newer...

You need to plan for all the liquid you're going to loose to evaporation, grain absorption, dead space in your kettle and mash tun, and anything else. For me, one of the hardest things about the transition from extract to all grain was ending up with the right volumes. We were often short too...

Go for it. My friends and I did one on Labor day, and it turned out great. You can steep any or all of your grains for either step just as you would have when doing extract + steeping grains recipes. In our case we went with straight base malt for the big, first runnings beer and topped the...

I don't think that rehydrating is meant to proof the yeast, merely to reawaken it with the least possible damage to the yeast. Sprinkling it straight into the wort is fine as long as you accept that you're killing more of the yeast that way than if you rehydrate it in plain water first.

I love S-05 and S-04, and have always just pitched them straight into the fermenter. We use a Mix-Stir to aerate, so there's always a lot of foam on there. I figure they get rehydrated in a high oxygen environment as they ride the foam down to the wort. The only time I've had dry yeast fail...

On Labor day, my friends and I mashed 40 lbs in our cooler and wrapped it with a space blanket and regular blanket. Drained the first runnings and batch sparge the next day. Only lost 10F overnight. I can't imagine there was any lacto fermentation in that. Also had eff in the 90% + range...

Kegs are great for storage, refrigerated or not. You should at least use your CO2 to add some pressure to set the lid. You can carb it at room temperature or in your fridge, or you can leave it uncarbonated until you're ready to carb it. Carbing it is a bit safer, since you know that you have...

This depends on your recipe, but many recipes call for either 60 or 90 minutes, though of course there are exceptions. Is this an extract or all grain batch? Do you have a hop schedule, that might shed some light on the intention of the recipe if it's not clear elsewhere.

My friends and I have been using a Mix-Stir, a drill-mounted mixer. Just hold it near the surface inside the carboy and whip it for 5 minutes or so. It beats the wort into a froth and looks good. We've also used the draining from bucket into carboy method to good success. Whatever method...

You shouldn't drink water from the hot water tank. It can have all kinds of nasty bacteria and chemicals and whatnot.

There's really no substitute for extract, whether you get it from DME, LME or your mash tun. Sure a few styles call for a small amount of sugar, but for the most part malt extract = beer. If you're not ready, willing or able to go AG, try buying your *ME in bulk to save.

Happy to be of service. I frequently think about offgassing! ;)

Would the orings "soak up" the flavor of the soda? I've heard about people having to replace the orings on "new to them" kegs that went out of service in the soda industry.

I got mine at the Maryland RenFest about 10 years ago for $30. Holds 2.5 12oz bottles. Someday I'd like to get someone to put a rim and finial on it. Drinking Horn

Wait until fermentation has subsided and then dry hop. Putting them in while it's offgassing rapidly might carry away some of the aroma.

Well you don't have to worry about the Cara-Pils. No mash required. I think it's essentially the lightest possible Crystal. I can't help with the math, but 35 Lintner means it can self-convert, so the Paul's has diastatic power to spare. If you're concerned, go halvsies between the Paul's...

Sounds like fermentation is well over, so that shouldn't be creating much heat. The freezer should maintain temp for at least a little while, and even if it gets a bit warm now, it's probably not the end of the world or anything. That said, if your wife can throw a bag of ice in the fridge...

If you're going to bother making a label, it's "Soylent Green". Soylent Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia