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The ratio lets you know how bitter the beer is. For example, a beer with a BU:GU of .5 is evenly balanced between malty and hoppy. A BU:GU of .33 with give you a very malty beer and a BU:GU of .75 will give you a very hoppy beer. The ratio is easier to use than raw IBUs because the IBUs don't...

Keep posting your modifications and let us help you work on it. BU:GU is the ratio of bittering units to gravity units. So, a beer with 45 IBUs and an OG of 1.045 would have a BU:GU of 1. Likewise, a beer with 30 IBUs and an OG of 1.050 would have a BU:GU of 0.6. So, if you are making an...

You can also run off a smaller volume and top off if you are willing to take the efficiency hit. That's what I used to do before I got a larger pot. Regarding the original question: quality, reliable temperature control. Nothing else will have as large an impact on the quality of the beer...

Yea, Bar Keeper's Friend is money - that stuff works wonders. My drip pans are destroyed, too, but they're cheap. I'll gladly pay for new drip pans if I can brew inside in the winter.

No, you'll want to mash the grains. If you're mashing for the first time, check this link out.

I boil 6.5 gallons in a 7 gallon pot on an electric stove and have never had any problems.

Good point - I should probably note that I too use the Fermcap-S brand defoamer. I can't speak to the other brands.

I've found that I can usually get away with as little as 1 drop per gallon. I've never had to use more than two drops per gallon.

What exactly is wrong with a clear beer? Unless a beer is supposed to be cloudy, I consider clarity an important quality to strive for.

I use a round Rubbermaid cooler and it works like a champ. That said, plenty of people use rectangular coolers and are very pleased with their results as well.

Did you miss the part where he went to his doctor? I don't think he's obligated to explain his entire medical record in detail on HBT.

Not only that, but Palmer is talking about sterilization - killing all forms of life on the surface in question. That's much harder to achieve than pasteurization.

How soft is the silicone compared to the regular vinyl tubing? Also, what kind of high suction has caused it to collapse? Thanks for your input! :mug:

Yea, the opacity of the thermoplastic is a slight turn-off. Regarding infection, I've never had one and don't want one. The post-boil stuff that I use for siphoning is what I want to make sure is sanitized well. It always looks clean and has yet to fail me, probably because I'm pretty anal...

I'm thinking about replacing all of my tubing with either silicone or thermoplastic tubing. My reasoning is primarily sanitation. I replace my vinyl tubing every so often because I don't trust it, even after sanitizing with StarSan. I've just heard to many stories about people getting...

Cool, I'll have to give that a try. It doesn't pull out too much yeast and trub?

This is my method, as well. Just toss the pellets in and wait a week or so. Just to make sure, I also attach a sanitized extra fine nylon bag to the end of my autosiphon. Any remaining hop particles typically get filtered out by that.

Those buckets are HDPE and can withstand 230°F continuously. If you're really worried about it, dump a gallon or two of boiling water in and put the lid on. The steam bath combined with a StarSan treatment should leave it pretty well sanitized.

I bought mine from Brewer's Hardware. It's a workhorse and also works well with both 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon glass jugs. They also have DIY stir plate kits there if you are interested in making one yourself.

Congratulations! I agree - temperature control is probably what put your beer over the top. Keep it up! :mug: