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Original poster. YOU Note the same little green OP next to your name

I use a food dehydrator. I'll pick a bunch put in a bucket. Load up the dehydrator, rotate the trays when the lower tray hops start to dry. (They will open up). Dump dried hops in another container, refill the dehydrator then start weighing out 1 ounce of dried hops in a large bowl. Form a new...

1234 1 too soon (smells green, light color, soft) 2 nearly there (darker, little springy) 3 almost too late (springy, crunchy, browning) 4 too late.(brown, falls apart, crunchy) Since they do not all rope at the same time I will end up with a slight mix of anything from 2-4 with most falling...

Looks a little a early but hard to tell from a photo.They should be springy when compressed. A little papery. I usually look for a little browning at some of the tips with a rustling sound and feel (paper like) when rolled in fingers. Other than the already harvested early batch, I expect I...

Loading up with hops

Never used the filter method. You could lay them out on screens as well. I use a dehydrator. Rotating the layers as the bottom layer dries more rapidly. I then vacuum seal them with a food saver and freeze them. I use the long rolls and create bags from it. Occasionally a bag will leak and...

Yes. You can use the refractometer to determine progress and completion but the readings will be inaccurate once alcohol is present and must be converted. Using to the refractometer will use less of the product for each test over using the hydrometer. The hydrometer will provide a correct...

My guess would be a buried heating oil tank from days gone by. Why? Looks like there are threads remaining for a cap. The existence of two might indicate otherwise unless one was a vent. Cleveland (if that is where you are) is an older city towards the North where heating oil would have been...

3) yes, of course. I usually brew six gallons and keg 1. Head space isn't much of an issue for less than 5 gallons as long as you use a closed transfer or at least purged the keg with CO2 after transfer.

You may be overly concerned about scratches here. Take care when cleaning, don't use anything likely to scratch it, sanitizer properly and keep using them for years. I have a bucket that is older than my adult kids that I still use on occasion

Yep, that is exactly how an extract kit is done. Steeping grains for some complexity. A partial boil with DME (or LME). Cool in ice/water bath. Top off with cold water to complete cooling and obtain full volume. Ferment. Sounds like a plan. Mixing for hydrometer readings can be an issue (not...

That and your accuracy in measuring water volume and hydrometer scales. If you did a full boil, your boil off rate may have had an impact as well. Did you end up with exactly X gallons (whatever your kit was designed for) going into the fermenter? I am not sure that amount of DME is enough to...

USA ITC-308 Thank you

I get what you are attempting here. Split your batch at or near completion of fermentation. No need to let it sit any longer. Then you can add your various adjuncts to each container and allow them to finish. With careful transfer you can minimize potential problems. Or you could split the...

I have only had the valve rotate when removing the collection ball maybe a couple times. Each time it did that, I had difficulty due to an overtightened collection ball. It really doesn't have to be tight to not leak with the o ring in place.

I have a couple of the 7 gallon version. There is an o ring that goes between the collection ball and the valve. The groove that hold the o ring is on the valve and usually stays put. There is a raised area on the collection ball where the o ring would contact. I have found that I do not need...

I always prefer DME over liquid malt extract. Select just one yeast. They are offering options. Using more steeping grain would result in more flavor from those elements. There may be a negligible amount of fermentable sugars added.

The recommendation of secondary for long term aging comes from the worry of autolysis. This is not going to be an issue over a couple months but could be if you are ageing for several. A few months isn't going to hurt anything. Exactly how long is to long is debatable.

Try soaking it with water and baking soda. If you cannot sit it in the solution, wet the area, sprinkle baking soda and cover with a wet cloth. After soaking a while you should be able to scrub it off with the cloth Works great at removing bottle labels with sticky residue.

No, nothing special. Honey adds fermentable sugars. There is a honey character left behind but it is not sweet or honey like.