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Threads like this come up all the time, and it seems like the vast majority of the time there is something obvious to look at, such as water and - particularly in the case of IPAs - cold side oxygen. But if you're working as you describe, it sounds like you're taking good measures to address...

IMO, preventing dry hops from getting into your packaged beer and/or jamming up your plumbing during transfers is one of the biggest challenges to overcome with a basic homebrew setup, in particular if you're going the extra mile to keep oxygen out as much as possible because that means your...

I'd strongly urge you to get a pair of 10lb tanks rather than a single 20lb. For just 4 taps, a 10lb tank will last quite a while, and IMO having a back-up tank is essential. First of all, the obvious: if your system develops any small leaks, you will come home one day to an empty CO2 tank...

Regardless of what method you use, just be aware of the impacts you're likely to see on efficiency. If you're using a tool like Beersmith to figure your grain bill based on some target OG, and it is set up based on the efficiency you get from a more conventional brew where you're doing a full...

I've tried all kinds of commercial "honey" beers and I've never - not once - detected anything in the taste that I could actually attribute to honey. As such I've always just kind of written off honey in beer as a marketing gimmick. As in, its primary purpose is to appeal to the craft beer...

I fully admit my avoidance/questioning of growlers for bottle conditioning is basically me following the herd in that respect. Again, there may not be any detailed "data" but what we do have is a pretty far-reaching historical record of legions of homebrewers over the course of decades using...

If pressurizing growlers works for you, then go for it I guess. Other than the fact that standard beer bottles are sold and exchanged in the millions on a daily basis through commercial beers and hobbyists, largely without exploding, I certainly don't claim to have any data or results from...

Yeah, that's definitely a red flag. :) You can confidently scratch #1, #2, and #4 off the list, IMO. I think the reduced fermentation temperature for S05 is worth checking out but personally, I'm a bit skeptical that alone is going to make the difference between a beer your friends will...

I'm still not really clear on the specifics of OP's process for transferring from fermentor to keg, but I think moving to a closed transfer system will very likely yield improvements. The way the problem is described sounds almost exactly as I would have described my IPAs a few years ago. In...

I'm sure it's possible to pressurize a growler without catastrophe, but my question would be, why? I've got boxes of clean bottles of various sizes and types, flip tops, plastic with screw-on lids, etc. that cost next to nothing and now I can't even give them away. The point being - with the...

Of course I have no way of knowing for sure, but I'm pretty skeptical when I read stories of people "just following a normal bottling process" on a NEIPA and getting anything but thoroughly disappointing results. It certainly never worked for me, to the point where I, as a rule, eventually...

You definitely want more kegs than taps, so you don't need to wait for a keg to drain before packaging another brew. When you say regulator, I would think the kegerator would come with one as the kegerator can't be used without it. A secondary regulator for having different pressures in...

In my experience, the "effects of oxidation being different based on style" rings true. When I do amber ales and porters (for example) I don't feel like it's a big issue, as long as I consume the beer within a reasonable time (a few months). Speaking from direct experience, the very first...

Yes, the burst carb method is tempting because it short-cuts the waiting, but if you're not careful it's really easy to screw it up and get too much gas into the beer. It's always better to undershoot a bit on the burst carb because the carbonation will creep up over time to the target zone...

I'm not sure how anybody could consider S-04 to be "similar" to S-05. I've made a few dozen 10gal batches where I'd ferment half with each of these yeasts, and IMO the differences are extremely obvious for most recipes; sometimes it's hard to believe they're even the same beer. For the...

Sometimes on brew day I pull some wort from the kettle 10min into the boil and chill it to pitching temperature. Then I mix in my yeast and put it on the stir plate for the rest of the brew day until I’m ready to pitch into the fermentor. Last time I did this I pitched at around 11pm and had a...

I definitely get that “I just don’t feel like brewing” feeling fairly often but like you said, as soon as I get going I remember why I love it. Sometimes it’s just getting the ball rolling that is the challenge. I won’t lie though, I wouldn’t complain if all grain brew days took 2-3 hours...

^ it's not just about pulling sediment or not; another notable benefit of the floating diptube is the fact that you can pour pretty clear beer in a pretty short amount of time because the intake of the floating diptube draws from the top where the beer is clearest. I agree with McKnuckle on...

I kind of miss the level of excitement I used to have for sharing my homebrewed beer with friends and family. I mean, I still share the beer all the time and people love it as much as ever (probably more, considering quality has definitely crept up steadily over time), but after several years...

I like to do starters with liquid yeast when I need some kind of more "special" yeast, but lately I've been using a lot of dry yeast because it's so much simpler. And so long as I'm just wanting a fairly neutral-tasting ale yeast there does not appear to be a downside to just opening the packet...