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I used whole hops in the boil before, they're kind of a pain. Besides clogging up your strainer and being a mess, they seem to sponge a lot of liquid which you could otherwise be drinking later. Since then I've stuck with pellets. YMMV. Some brewers prefer whole hops.

Congrats on the first brew!!! It sounds like you did your studying before embarking on this venture, you are spot-on with your procedures and expectations.

About 25 cases and growing. Mostly 12oz, but I also have complete cases of 11.2oz, 22oz, grolsch, 17oz fliptops, and 750ml belgians. Thank god the place is a bachelor pad.

Sure you can steep oatmeal! Matter of fact, I'd recommend steeping it and squeezing the tar out of the grain bag. It is one of few adjuncts you can do that with. Put it in a separate bag, as squeezing your specialty grains can impart a certain astringency to your beer. Regarding maltodextrin...

Don't put your priming sugar solution in the carboy at boiling temps - cool it a bit first. Carboys are pretty sensitive to heat.

Sounds delicious if you ask me! The grapefruit flavor and aroma is something that I specifically shoot for in my IPAs and double IPAs. If you're not a big fan of the citrus, stay away from Simcoe, Amarillo, and any of the big American "C-hops". Most European hops have more of an earthy...

I do a combination of various methods in most of my brews. I'll dry-hop in the primary AFTER vigorous fermentation has completed. Then, after the beer has been sitting on the hops for about two weeks, I will rack to secondary and leave it there until it is clear. This also keeps little bits of...

Most hydrometers have 3 lines - Brix, SG, and Potential Alcohol. You sure you didn't read the wrong line on the last reading?

A buddy of mine recently made a maple-caramel-smoked porter, it was pure heaven. I like the suggestions on using German Rauch malt as opposed to peated malt.

As far as describing the beer you're doing just fine. Roasted, watery, thin, earthy... all great descriptors. I've had a few beers that were thin and really lacking in the mid palate, come to think of it they were extract kits as well. My solution was to make bigger beers. Something I've been...

There's always a bit of yeast in an unfiltered, bottle-conditioned beer. Don't worry about it, it is absolutely normal. Matter of fact, you will find this in almost all commercial bottle-conditioned ales, and almost all belgian brews. If it bothers you, just leave a half-inch or so in the...

Nothing YOU can do to reduce it in the secondary, although time and yeast might just do it for ya. If you're smelling the primary, with the yeast cake in it, don't worry about what you're smelling. If you're getting champagne flavors and aromas out of a glass of the beer (did you pour some when...

That's almost what I'm thinking at this point... something to the effect of crushing up artificial bacon bits. Or maybe creating bacon-bourbon, and then bacon-bourbon-soaked-oak-chips. More research is to be done...

No worries. They're hungry little bastards, if there's sugar at the top of the wort they'll be up there eating it.

Patience is a virtue. Give it a few days and see if it settles out. RDWHAHB

+1 to allowing your beer to condition. "Green" beer can often have harsh characteristics as you were describing. As far as the chemical you were referring to that generally boils off, I believe you were referring to DMS. It usually has a very vegetal flavor and aroma, not unlike cabbage, or...

11 pounds won't quite fit in a 2 gallon cooler, you're lucky to fit 5 pounds in that. Also, without an all-grain setup, the sparge is difficult at best. If you want to use as much grain as possible, you could do something to the effect of a 5 lb mash in your brew-kettle. There's a great sticky...

I brewed a big scotch ale utilizing peated malt once... 4 pounds of peated malt was a bit much, I'd recommend 2 pounds max. Every time I drink one I taste smoke for a few days :)

Thanks Revvy! I thought about possibly soaking the bacon in the bourbon to extract the flavor sans grease... I'll check out the links you just posted and update this thread as the brew moves forward!

Absolutely! A full boil is always better for full hop utilization, minimizing the caramelization effect, and overall sanitation (you're not adding water later). Doing a full boil will thoroughly strip your wort of oxygen, so be sure to shake it up real nice before the yeasties do their work...