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There are many yeasts that will work but you should really use a yeast intended for O'fest. The right yeast really does make a difference. My favorites are Wyeast Bavarian 2206 and Munich 2308.

RO water is the easiest. Wal-Mart in my area does refills for $.37/gal. As mentioned, download Brunwater. Go to the Brew Science forum and ask questions. AJ and Martin (who wrote Brunwater) are extremely helpful.

For info on pH (how to estimate mash pH, adjust it, measure it) post in the Brew Science forum. There are some very helpful people over there like Martin and AJ that can walk you through understanding it.

Dry yeast usually lists a shelf life of a couple of years if not abused (frozen or baked). Can't hurt to try it. However, I wouldn't give up on the 1450. Smacking a smack pack just gives it a bit of a jump start. Not smacking it before pitching just means it will take a little longer to get...

I've done a few NEIPAs with Imperial's "Juice" yeast with good results. An added plus is that the Imperial cans contain 200b cells so it's possible to brew with just one if the gravity's not too high.

I did a pineapple lager a couple of years ago and used 2 oz of pineapple extract. It was undrinkable for the first few months but I try never to throw out any brews. After about a year it had mellowed out. I have a couple of bottles left after 2 years and it's pretty good. In other words, it...

Once the bottles started to turn I dumped them all, rinsed out thoroughly and then soaked in hot water with Oxyclean for an hour or two. Thorough rinsing to remove residue. Once dried, I covered the tops with foil and put them in the oven. Baked them at 350 for an hour and let them cool off...

I would still drink up sooner rather than later. I've had several aceto infections over the years. They have typically taken 2 - 4 months to develop once in the bottle. The first sign is a "spritzy" feel to the carbonation. They will also start to get very foamy and eventually turn into gushers...

You don't say what the ABV or yeast is for your RIS. A lot depends on both. In general, I've learned that once the alcohol gets over 9-10% I always add extra yeast at bottling since the original yeast can poop out. If the ABV is at or above the tolerance of the fermentation yeast, I will use a...

You probably boiled off most or all of the orange flavor. However, all is not lost. Get some more dried orange peel from your LHBS and soak it a couple of days in a sealed jar with an ounce of two of vodka just covering it. When fermentation is done, dump the whole thing in your fermenter, vodka...

Here's my recipe. Forget where I originally got it but I have tweaked it over the years and it comes very close in flavor but a little darker than Sams SA. 45% Pilsner 35% White wheat malt 12% Torrified wheat 6% Carapils 2% Acid malt (or as required for pH) Mash at 148F for 75 min Boil - 60...

I would recommend sending a water sample to Ward Labs (Google them) for their brewer's water test. I think it's about $25. It will give you all the information you need. Your local water report doesn't really look at the stuff that's important to brewers. Once you get the results, post them in...

First of all, to save on buying ice I saved a couple of bags from when I used to buy ice and I just fill those up from my fridge ice maker over a couple of weeks and keep them in my garage freezer. I also fill a couple of plastic gallon milk jugs with water and freeze them, too. Other than the...

+1 for flaked wheat. I just did a wit with 50/50 Belgian pale/flaked wheat. It worked great and the flavor is spot on.

I don't think you need that much precision. As long as the vast majority (75-80%) of the fermentation is accomplished at lager yeast temps, the D-rest just let's the yeast finish up without changing the flavor profile. A few points early or late shouldn't make a noticeable difference, especially...

OK, so now we know you mashed ... sort of. Using the 2-row makes it a mash since it has the enzymes to convert itself and the other grains. Temperature is critical when mashing. When you say you steeped between 170 and 150, that's a big range. If it was mostly closer to 170, you likely denatured...

What grains did you steep? That will help us figure out if you were truly just steeping or actually mashing.

One of my standard summer brews is a clone(ish) of Monteith's Summer Ale (NZ). It's brewed with ginger, Rata honey and Riwaka hops. I splurged and ordered the honey and hops from NZ (NOT cheap). To be honest, the aroma and flavor of the Riwaka were very subtle. The best description i can come up...

Well, I pitched a pack of US-05 this morning with a few ounces of sugar. As I mentioned, I don't typically find repitching to be very useful. But at this point, I've got nothing to lose. So I'll give it another week and we'll see what happens.

Unless I missed something, the pitch rate should have been fine. Two separate pitch rate calculators (YeastCalc and BeerSmith) both called for 680b +/- cells. At 200b/pack, that should be more than enough. The Fermentis data sheet also calls for 15-22g (1.5-2 packs) for 5 gal so doubling it to...