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I store the air stone, tubing and filter as one piece in a zip lock bag. Before using, I suspend the tubing over the kitchen range with the stone submerged in a small pot of boiling water. While doing this, I use an aquarium pump for airflow to keep steam from ruining the filter. I boil for...

There is a difference between cost and value. I spare no expense on the things I value, but save on cost where I can in order to afford that luxury. I see no value in buying base malt by the pound. My cost is cut in half by buying the same malt by the sack. I see no value in buying hops by...

The big difference is that the Starsan foam is just fine, but the Oxyclean foam requires rinsing.

The subject has been pretty well covered in this thread. I agree that using what works for you is fine. No reason to fix something that ain't broke. However, I really think new brewers who come here for advice need to see the best practices in response to their questions. It's fine to relate...

I see pin locks on Homebrew Finds quite often for around $35 each when you buy 4.

I'm 70 years old, had chickenpox as a child, and haven't gotten shingles yet. Does that mean I won't in the future? Answer that question and you'll see where the skepticism you're seeing here is rooted. If your cleaning/sanitizing routine works for you, that's all well and fine. What is not...

Beersmith 3 isn't an upgrade. It's a separate product. BS3 supports cider, wine and mead brewing and integrates the water tools into the recipe design. I feel it's worth the price. I use BS3 for recipe formulation and to keep track of my pipeline and BS2 to store recipes by style. I only use the...

Four percent from room temperature to boil temperature. You can figure right in the middle of that for mash temperature.

Wow! Now that's a very refreshing exception to the norm.

It's that time of the year. A boat load of people got sub-par brewing kits for Christmas and think they can just throw the ingredients together and make an award winning beer. It happens every year and will continue to do so. I think the past couple of Christmases have been worse than before...

You're at about 65% of your normal efficiency, whatever that is.

A poor crush is the #1 cause of poor extraction. A few degrees higher on the mash temp. would usually affect the FG, not the OG but 160 is getting to a point where Beta Amylase denatures rather quickly. Lastly, I expect a pretty good hit on efficiency with big beers. You don't mention your...

Unless you see some physical damage to the post or to the connector, replacing the O ring on the outside of the post usually does the trick. Be sure to use some keg lubs on it.

If My vacuum sealer has a hose attachment to facilitate sealing different containers. I use an adapter to seal my hops in Mason Jars using the standard sealing lids. The adapter was about $10. The biggest thing for hop storage is temperature, but removing as much oxygen as possible will reduce...

The only reason I can see to strictly adhere to style guidelines is if you're gong to enter the beer in a competition. They are, however, guidelines and can be used as such if you're looking to brew a specific style. Great thing about homebrewing is you can brew whatever you want.

Setting the altitude in your equipment profile should make adjustments to all boil additions. They all contribute to bitterness, but to lessening degrees as you get closer to the end of the boil. Post boil additions are affected by time and temperature, not altitude. Remember, whichever formula...

Understood. Sometimes it just isn't worth the energy it takes do argue :)

As a side note, using the furnace to raise the temperature more than 10 degrees every morning isn't saving much energy at all. Overall, the most efficient use of a furnace is to maintain a reasonable and consistent temperature. I would consider 65 degrees to be a very efficient temperature to...

Just be gentle when you stir.

Yep, a stirring motion from bottom to top works well. When bottling it's best to put the warm priming solution in the bucket first and then the beer. Once the beer is transferred a gentle stir, again with some bottom to top motion. I always gave another gentle stir after every 8 to 10 bottles...