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No way to know for sure, but count me among those suspecting that the word "ester" was used incorrectly by the judges. Now, the reference to Belgian flavors I don't doubt one bit, based on direct personal experience. I have used S05 countless times, but I have had 3 blonde ales brewed with...

You're probably going to get some varying opinions on this, corresponding to the varying types of processes that different brewers have fallen into based on what kinds of time schedules are compatible with their lives. This variability should provide a hint. If nothing else, it demonstrates...

Just as a point of reference, I mash in one of those orange Igloo coolers, fitted with a false bottom and valve, and I batch sparge exclusively. Here is my "vorlauf" process: - crack valve roughly 1/4 open** - collect about 2 quarts of wort, at which point it is already looking mostly clear -...

My $0.02: I believe your concern here is whether or not you need to mind the temperature of your wort between the mash and the boil. The answer is, letting the temperature drop/fluctuate during this time is not going to create any negative impacts/flavors in your beer. In fact, some brewers...

I find it works well if you put some keg lube on the big o-ring for the keg lid, close up the keg, and hit it with a little bit of CO2 pressure to "seat" the lid. Once you do that, even after you release the pressure from the keg, the lid seems to maintain a decent seal.

I'll go rogue and put in a vote for skipping cold crashing altogether. Doing it in such a way that it does not compromise anything else in the process (i.e., oxygen exposure) is - as can be plainly seen by looking around this forum - a pain in the ass without a fermentor capable of holding...

Hey dude, just a heads up - I think I'm officially declaring my experiment a failure. The yeast are going crazy (WLP090) but no trace of bubbles coming out of the serving keg. It could very well be that CO2 is getting into that keg, but I'm not going to assume anything. Liquid purge it is...

The red 5/16" tubing has a 1/2" O.D. and "friction fits" right into the 1/2" I.D. silicone tubing. I make sure I have 1.5" - 2" overlap and use a gently tightened hose clamp. Actually, the hose clamp hardly seems necessary; the fit is pretty snug. I use this trick elsewhere as well, for...

I'll definitely let you know what happens, but like I said, confidence is not very high it will work. I have a rubber airlock grommet on my plastic bucket fermentor lid (the same kind commonly used for airlocks.) Inserted in that grommet, I have the bottom piece of a standard 3-piece airlock...

I love this concept and am currently trying it out with a plastic bucket fermentor. Honestly, I have low confidence it will work with my setup. Since the flow path of the CO2 from the fermentor to the jar of starsan includes a few feet of tubing, a liquid dip tube, and a bunch of fittings, I'm...

I like the concept of this keg washer, mostly because it makes it possible to effectively clean kegs without having to fill them. One thing I can't help but wonder, though: if the system uses some kind of submersible fountain-type pump, doesn't that pump get all clogged up from the gunk in the...

+1 to this Let it ride and change your gypsum levels next time you brew the recipe.

The taste of very early samples is not a terribly effective way of determining what the final, conditioned, carbonated, and chilled beer will taste like. That's not to say there is no good info to be gleaned from such samples, though. My process has evolved over time to the point where there...

The only way to get a meaningful answer would be to post what the recipe was "supposed to be" and then what you're proposing to do instead. When I see the terminology "finishing hops," that makes me think of things like whirlpooling or dry hopping. Or, at least hops added very late in the...

^^ this is a balanced take; I like it.

That's definitely one way of doing it. Never tried it myself, but I know lots of people do that and like it. If you do decide to ferment in your keg, it provides a pretty convenient way of purging the serving keg. You can use fermentation CO2 to purge the serving keg, instead of doing the...

I agree the link between oxidation and the descriptor "earthy" is tenuous at best, but the problem with this sort of subjective thing is that describing what things taste like is difficult and not remotely standardized. I know I suck at it; not sure about OP. I immediately thought of...

^^ See, these are exactly the types of "established facts" that had me expecting that my batch of sorely under-pitched beer would end up sucking, yet, somehow, some way, it was completely fine. The infection fighting benefits of a short lag time make a lot of sense intuitively, and for that...

I prefer to keep things simple with the additions. I use Bru N Water with the following: gypsum CaCl Lactic acid (88%) baking soda The lactic is only needed for lighter colored beers, and the baking soda is only used on darker beers, if at all. Some amount of gypsum and CaCl are in all of my...

^^ that sounds crazy, but somehow I'm not remotely surprised. On that note, am I the only one who thinks the Mr. Malty calculator is kind of useless? I guess it’s a nice tool to look at as a purely academic exercise, but in a practical, hands-on homebrewing situation I strongly question...