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You seriously underpitched. Should have rehydrated 2 packs of 34/70 for 5-7 gallons. Dry pitching wipes out about 50% of the yeast, so you're looking at a long lag time and maybe a little more esters than you planned on. I'd warm it up in hopes that it takes off, or pitch another rehydrated...

Easiest way to avoid suckback? Make a CO2 balloon. If you don't keg or have a source of 'canned' CO2, you can fill it with CO2 from fermentation. I make a 'balloon' out of a 1-2 gallon ziplock bag, with the corner cut off just enough to let tubing slide into it and stretch the bag out slightly...

I prefer to cold crash and fine prior to keg transfer; no issues moving the keg around that way and kegs are a lot easier to clean when they're not full of mud.

My insanely clear Helles says you're wrong. In fact, *most* lagered beer does. Cold crashing isn't just about dropping hops, it's about dropping yeast and chill-haze forming proteins out, as well as some other undesirable elements. That takes longer than 24 hours, even with gelatin fining...

That's the issue. You cannot get a final gravity reading with a refractometer. You need a hydrometer for the final gravity; the alcohol throws off the refractometer.

What are you taking gravity readings with? Yeast will not radically alter gravity readings. Where did you get this one from?

I'll bet the 'sour smell' is the CO2. Did it kind of burn your nose a bit? That's the CO2 being produced by fermentation.

I know this is you main line of business, but I'm always up to learning more. If I've given out incorrect info please let me know. Maybe consider putting together a FAQ for RO systems?

The sediment and carbon filters on the 'RO buddie' are undersized for the application, and the carbon filter won't remove the chlorine/chloramine due to lack of surface area, which will still allow chlorine through and will ultimately damage the membrane.

That RO Buddie system is a bunch of garbage. Steer clear of it and get an RO system from a reputable place.

Enjoy the fact that you have now discovered that 'juicy' IPA does not need to look like the dregs from the bottom of a fermenter, and the whole 'hazy' thing is a bunch of bollocks.

I use a couple of these, which are also made by thermoworks. They're reasonably fast reading and inexpensive enough to have a couple around.

The questions you're asking indicate that you're not ready to build something like this. You need to do a ton more research before attempting. 55 gallon kettles are huge, how many brews have you done before?

When I bottle (usually from the keg now, but also in the past when I bottled with priming sugar) I give them a quick dunk in star san, then they go on the bottle. I've found this in regard to the caps: "James on Basic Brewing contacted the manufacturer to ask this very question to him. He said...

But that's assuming they work instantaneously.

I've been trying to research this and coming up with not much. Have a source?

Ah, my apologies then. Didn't catch that!

Yeah, *don't* do that. That's how you oxidize the hell out of the beer, and end up with all the trub/yeast mixed back in. Edit: I missed the sarcasm, Stop teasing the new brewers! ;)

Manifolds are relatively cheap. That one was sitting under water, *in a basement*. There's no way to know what growing in each and every crevice, and if the valves are corroded enough to leak, you won't know until it's already blown your co2 tank empty.

I have one of the Zchillers. It's as fast as any plate I ever used with none of the clogging and hard to clean problems.