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Regular sugar is fine. Treat it as if you were bottling. Boil it first, cool it down and add the sugar solution to the keg. Let it condition at room temp for 4 weeks or so.

I really like the yeast you used but I've never used that much roasted malt in a saison before. Belgian yeasts can also ferment a bit cleaner at lower temperatures, especially saison yeasts which tend to be very expressive at higher temps. As for fixing it, Belgian yeasts change over time and...

I'd go with 644 and lower the ibu below 10.

There is some excellent troubleshooting here. I ferment wild beers and clean beers side by side and have for years with no contamination issues. Definitely going to echo that it's likely a piece of equipment rather than the fridge. Definitely clean the fridge, but double check all equipment...

Yikes. Good thing it wasn't glass! Have you checked your other bottles to make sure you don't have another cleaning session on your hands? I'd open carefully with safety eyewear, and if it was a lone incident, you can enjoy the cider while you clean.

This picture does not indicate infection to me. I just see a lot of co2 bubbles, likely from fermentation. The blend you used contains brett and bacteria, so your beer is already 'infected'. With all that head space, you will in all likelihood see a pellicle form and that's normal for brett & LAB.

37 is a great score. Good job! Care to share your recipe?

I've been brewing sour and clean beers literally side by side for years with no contamination issues. I agree that cold side plastic equipment should be kept separate (including rubber stoppers and airlocks!) but as long as your cleaning and sanitation are on point and aren't open fermenting...

I would not worry about it being a contaminant if your cleaning regimen is solid.

I bottled for four years before moving to kegging. Kegging is so easy! The only problem I've run into is that Belgians and mixed fermentation sours just aren't the same when kegging, so I continue to bottle them. If you plan on making mostly clean American, British, German styles kegging is...

I've had high gravity beers take months to full carbonate. I wouldn't try to rush a beer like this, but if you're in a hurry and are sure you evenly distributed the priming sugar throughout the batch, open the caps and pour a little CBC-1 or other bottling yeast in each bottle. Then leave it...

This is very common attenuation from 3711. I've even had it ferment to 1.002 with some crystal malt and a mash temp of 154. I wouldn't worry about it being too dry. 3711 is a high glycerol producer which will increase the mouthfeel.

That's a very respectable FG for a RIS that big. I remember reading some about some folks decarbonating some Bourbon County and measured a FG of 1.035. RDWHAHB

I'd go for something like a vanilla porter for this year and brew a big ol' imperial stout or quad for next year.

The lower pH can have an effect on how the brett asserts itself. Perhaps that's the issue you are having. I haven't experienced low brett character on third generation pitch of this blend. It was actually a bit of a brett bomb.

Ground water is very warm here in the summer. I typically use ground water for about 10 minutes, then switch to pumping ice water using a cheapo aquarium pump I got on Amazon. The pump could really use an upgrade, but it does work to get down to pitching temps when the ground water is 75º.

I would be worried about extracting tannins at a higher temp like that. Ever boiled oak cubes? That water is nasty stuff. I'd personally save the barrel for a nice imperial stout. I see you live in Nashville. Need help filling it? :tank::mug:

Wine yeasts work well at higher temperatures. I don't make a lot of cider, so I don't know if these yeasts work well but any saison yeast will work. I noticed you mentioned a dry yeast, so maybe try Belle Saison. The best cider I ever made was with wlp644. That's a liquid yeast but it works...

I'm not familiar with 1099, but I really love 1968 in a bitter. Curious to hear your results!

I'll take it!