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I've never used an Igloo cooler, but I can give you the rundown on my round Rubbermaid cooler. Basically, it has worked like a champ for me on close to 30 batches. There was a bit of warping on the interior after the first couple of batches, but it seemed to stabilize after that...

Sounds good. Any questions? Good luck! :mug:

Is this for a 5 gallon batch? The Mr. Malty pitching rate calculator says that you'd need a 2 liter starter with 2 vials to have the proper cell count, if you are using a simple starter. Given that, I'd be tempted to pitch another vial of yeast. Even if you don't, the beer should probably...

I've never used the hop sack, but it sounds like it would work fine. I typically just toss the pellets into the fermenter. When it's time to bottle, I take a fine mesh bag like the one here and attach it to the bottom of my autosiphon with a sanitized rubber band. I find it works best if I...

Do you prefer an American or British yeast? You can use any number of yeasts. If you are looking at dry yeasts, you might consider US-04, US-05 of Nottingham. If you are looking at liquid yeasts, most American or British yeast will do the trick, you just have to decide which direction you...

Let it sit for another week and check the gravity again. Sounds like things have slowed down, but I can't imagine it's finished, especially with an OG of 1.043. My beers often sit in the primary for up to three weeks, so don't be afraid to give it a little time. Good luck! :mug:

How big is this beer? What's the recipe? For a standard strength dubbel, I just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks, then bottle. I usually let the bottles sit 6-8 weeks (or to taste) @70F for conditioning and then drink. Once it's carbonated and tastes good, you can toss it in the fridge...

Looks like your starter is only 1L. Is this a 5 gallon batch? If so, I'd just pitch the whole thing.

You might be able to get a slightly lighter colored beer with dry extract, although I doubt it'll make much difference with the wheat extract. What is the final batch volume? The appearance of extract in packaged form can be deceiving. If you are doing a 5 gallon batch, 7 lbs of wheat LME...

Channeling shouldn't be an issue if you are batch sparging. Your braid should be fine.

That's true as long as you are not trying to troubleshoot your efficiency. Then you really need to know what your conversion and lauter efficiency numbers are.

Good idea - I would keep it simple and stay with what's familiar to you until you've got a few batches under your belt. Really, there's no reason to try a different mash schedule unless (a) you're unhappy with your results or (b) you feel like tinkering around for fun. Good luck! :mug:

I mash in a 5 gallon cooler and, after trying many different approaches, I settled on the Hochkurz mash discussed by Kaiser. I try to end up with the mash as thin as possible, up to 2 qt/lb of grain, as I find that this allows me to maximize my conversion efficiency. I then sparge with...

I am limited to boiling on my stove in the kitchen, so I use this method all the time. It works great for me and for a beer of about 1.050 strength (5 gallon batch), I achieve about 75% brewhouse efficiency. If you have any further questions, please let me know and I'd be happy to give you...

Beersmith works well on Windows 7 64-bit as well.

Yea, 3.3 pounds of LME for 5 gallons yields an OG of around 1.030. Are you sure you didn't have any other fermentables? Did you take any gravity readings?

Whose kit? Care to post the recipe? It's hard to respond without some more information.

Yup, and that is the WY3724-Belgian Saison strain. Link. For most other Belgian strains, I wouldn't let the yeast get that high. Check out "Brew Like a Monk" and the section on yeast. :mug:

My experience is as follows: Last fall I brewed a barleywine that clocked in at 10%. It spent 8 weeks combined in primary and secondary. At bottling time I did not add anymore yeast and when I tasted it 8 weeks later, it was nice and carbed. The yeast I used was nothing special, just Wyeast...

I follow you. :mug: I have also read of some breweries letting their Belgians get into the low 80s. But, as far as I can tell, even those breweries pitch in the mid-high 60s, which is important.