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You can't go wrong with any of the yeasts mentioned above. I haven't used them side by side to know which one(s) I might like best, but have used them at different times on different batches and was pleased with the results of each.

I agreed with everything you said in your first paragraph. But then you dared to say: This has nothing to do with reverence to early beer writers. I have tasted McEwan's IPA, which was discontinued years ago. Back in the day, McEwan's and Belhaven were the only beers we could get in the...

Indeed, that is a pretty decent guess to a grist for any Scottish, Scots, or Scotch clone in anybody's book.

Certainly we can make good beer with whatever methods. It's just.... not a clone in any way shape form.

I've often heard, and have tried, pulling a gallon and reducing 75% to one quart. But I haven't done that in many years.

LOL, it's been discussed for decades how poor those recipes are. They have zero basis on any discussions with the real breweries. They are two people's wild guesses from the 1990s as to something that might vaguely resemble the commercial recipes, at least in color if nothing else.

I've heard that the brewery does not actually concentrate the wort like this. It is only a homebrewing technique to add intrigue, nothing that is actually done commercially.

Caramelization doesn't happen until gravity gets insanely high like 1.200 or something like that. Not happening in any standard boil, and even not after a 4-hour boil unless the SG is driven that high. There are other oxidation reactions happening as Martin mentioned which can do other things...

No worries. All wheat yeasts always throw a lot of sulfur. Always. It's usually gone in 2 weeks, occasionally takes 3 or 4 weeks. Nothing to be concerned about unless you wanted to start drinking it this weekend.

Noonan is dead. Smart dude, but some things have changed. Here are my opinions based on things I have learned: 1. A little gypsum doesn't hurt. Can help balance, adding dryness and "bitterness" in addition to or instead of hops. 2. High mash temperature is appropriate as long as you're...

Not a "meme" but a nice random quote.

The more I think about this... almost sounds like unmashed grain-water, like you steeped some grain in cold water and then tasted that?! This might sound strange to have to ask, but, are you milling the malt, then adding the water and keeping at around 150 F (65 C) for an hour to convert the...

Oxidation is certainly a big deal, and is another very plausible explanation. I've suffered from oxidation issues for decades. Recently my beers improved by paying much closer attention to this.

P.S. I forgot to mention... mash efficiency can suffer also if pH is wildly out of range. You might find you get improved efficiency by shooting for the mid-5's for mash pH. (All of these pH's assume measurement at room temperature. If dunking anything into the hot mash itself, all numbers...

It *might* be a pH thing. Get a pH meter (if you don't already have one), calibrate it frequently, and make sure your mash pH is close to 5.5 (ideally), or in a range of 5.2 to 5.6. If the mash pH is greater than about 5.7, the finished beer will tend to taste more grainy, but you can fix this...

I split almost every batch like this to try different yeasts. Any two different yeasts is useful as an experiment. Even similar or "same"/"equivalent" yeasts from different manufacturers will taste a little different. Do it. And often.

I know what you are thinking, but that's not the problem here if SG=1.018 unless the beer is contaminated, otherwise true SG would be 1.000. To those who have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it, you don't want to know.

Warm it up, pitch a couple packs of US-05, and hope for the best? It might not work, but at least you tried. US-05 is reasonably clean, and has exceptionally high attenuation compared to most standard yeasts.

The pill doesn't read accurately when yeast and hops are stuck to it in the fermenter. If you want cheap & easy for your old eyes, I'd stick with a traditional hydrometer, and a $10 pair of reading glasses from Dollar Tree.