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When I remember to lurk. These days I'm usually just hanging out in the chat room on IRC. :) So far I have only slanted brett. It slants just like saccharomyces yeast, it just looks quite a bit different -- the colonies grow up with funny looking fractal shapes that are very neat looking.

I would double the Special "B" and the roast barley amounts to 1/2# and 2oz, respectively, you don't have enough in there to make it actually turn red. For the roasted barley, grind it up in a coffee grinder or a blender, into a powder, and sprinkle it on top of the mash right before volauf. I...

My experience has been that if you build up a big sour starter and pitch it into a barrel the beer can be outstanding at six months. If you pitch a pack of roeselare and let it sit in a keg it will take two years. There is something about the barrel environment (micro oxidation? wood for brett...

Maple syrup would be nice. I used clover honey the first time, wildflower the second, the wildflower was "funky", better to stick with something more neutral, I think. Bottle conditioning big beers is tricky, I have used Montrachet added to the bottling bucket, works great, carbs up and...

33 is right where I try to keep mine. As close to freezing without freezing. :)

Wyeast 1028 (or WLP013) is closest to their house yeast. I know from experience if you follow the recipe and mash at 151*F you will hit your FG exactly with it. US-05 or Nottingham are acceptible for dry yeast.

On my equipment I mash at 1.5 qt/lb (fairly thin) and fly sparge because it's the easiest method. Doesn't really matter how you mash/sparge as long as you get the right mash temp so it finishes dry enough.

A 48 qt cooler is definitely big enough for a 5 gal batch of this but would be a squeeze for 10 gallons. I have a 70 qt cooler and a 20 gal Blichmann w/ false bottom.

Size sounds OK assuming they are autoclaveable.

Way too much sulfate and calcium. Looks to me like you are overdoing it a bit. Think minimal ... your water is pretty good as-is, if you just adjust your mash pH with acid you might be happy with the results, try it.

Possible the mix settled before you poured it? I had that happen with one batch half went to water and had to be tossed. If they are all watery you need more agar.

If you try the 833 you'll want to mash super low like maybe 147 or 148... but why not if I had the yeast I'd try it myself. :)

After three pitches I had about 1" of slurry. What you are talking about sounds fine, though if you wait that long to pitch you probably want to add some fresh saccharomyces yeast with each pitch since it will all be dead by then.

Nope. Went straight to keg, force carbed and put on tap. I suppose you could probably put this on at around two weeks if you wanted but I wasn't in a hurry. The flour has lacto, and if you try to add it to boiling water you will get a sticky mess due to the gluten so I am not sure it's a...

Sitting at 1.056, I racked it yesterday off of about 1" of lees in the secondary. I'll probably start the blending beer sometime in September (or later) once it cools off outside.

There are two types of brewers: those who always use a blowoff, and those who occasionally use a mop on the ceiling. :D

I'll second the choice of WLP007 if you try, it's the fastest yeast strain I know of. A local brewery here uses it as their house strain and they turn around a 1.114 RIS in 21 days grain to tap...

I lost a half a batch to cork taint. Lesson learned: don't scrimp on corks. Saved $10 on corks and dumped $100 worth of wine down the drain. I did learn what cork taint tastes and smells like from that experience, and saved a few bottles back to taste with the homebrew club. Musty, mushrooms...

The cost cutting corporate culture has been all the rage in the last decade, and along with it low employee morale, and lost productivity. I hope the next generation of manglers is trained to actually give a sh** about their employees, and to take a look at the big picture, since often a dollar...

The goal is to hit your target mash pH. I use Palmer's spreadsheet to adjust the sulfate or chloride content if needed (careful not to over-do the calcium!) and then adjust the RA to the target with acid. This always gets me in the butter zone when I have checked with my pH meter. If you are...