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There's a lot going in in this recipe! I agree that Bells double cream stout is great, so if this is a certifiable clone, go for it. OTOH, if you're inclined to tinker... 1) I don't know what the flaked barley is buying you in this recipe - you could simplify by swapping base malt. 2) Munich...

if you like the effect, Chinook has a spiciness that is quite distinct from Cascade.

The differences you see from these yeasts might be quite subtle - they are all clean, neutral strains. Wyeast 1056 is from Sierra Nevada; American Ale Blend WLP060 is obviously a blend, but includes the same SN strain as well as a couple others. The Pacman is from Rogue - I've never used it...

OK, I don't have your answer, but it doesn't sound like CO2. Carbonation adds a sharp, prickly, maybe even tart flavor, but not sweet. About the most highly carbonated beverage you're ever likely to drink, and otherwise flavor neutral is seltzer water - that should be your taste bud calibration...

Good advice from bigin31 and dantodd. I'd just point out that while you certainly can steep those grains, since the starches have not fully converted to sugars, so will likely add starch haze to your brew, especially from the Munich. Those grains are fundamentally different from crystal malts.

Invest in a recipe calculator - you will not be sorry. Assuming 5 gallons, this is too much fermentables and not enough hops. Plus, the malts you've chosen need to be mashed, not just steeped like crystal malt. You've included spices as well - can't comment on that, since I don't care for...

There's no way of knowing, but you'll find out soon enough (if your starter doesn't start). It is well worth taking the time to cool your starter to your intended fermentation temperature before pitching. Pitching too warm, even if it doesn't kill the yeast, can create off-flavors. Also, you can...

Sounds like a winner. It should get more clear over time - chilling for a few days before bottling should help a lot.

This is way too early to obsess about re-pitching - sounds like you didn't do anything wrong. Once the wort is fermenting, the yeast sets its own schedule. Give it a week, measure the gravity, and then decide whether you need to worry.

It's been a while since I've brewed from extracts, but the designations "pilsener" and "pilsen" problably don't mean anything different. The wort will (obviously) be from Pilsener malt, and if it is hopped, presumably it will be in the Pilsener style, noble hops and all that. If you're making a...

I'm a little confused as to where you are dividing - you're splitting the yeast into the starter or into the carboys? I do the latter (10 - 12 gallon batches), and usually see some difference in lag time between carboys (up to half a day). It has never made any difference, though.

I don't think this is a newbie or newbish thing - I've been brewing 18 years, and still manage the occasional hum-dinger. I doubt that kegging would solve it (my brew partner kegs, and I don't; we have roughly equivalent screw-up rates). Sympathies on your loss.

I think you need to determine what you will be using for boiler, mash tun, and hot liquor tank, as well as your burners. Tower plans that do not account for the dimensions of these would not make much sense.

Looks like it will make a reasonably balanced ale to me - assuming a 5 gallon batch, around 1.040 and >~ 30 IBU. A Belgian Pale Ale? Maybe include a pound of Belgian Munich or CaraVienne?

Those amounts of chocolate malt & roasted barley are fine - about 3.5% of your grist each. I have a stout with 4% RB + 8% choc. malt, and it's wonderful - it's not lasting nearly as long as I'd have liked...

To make vinegar, you need a culture of the "mother of vinegar" bacteria. It will ferment the alcohol in your beer/wine/mead/cider into acetic acid. It's not very likely that you'd get this with a spontaneous infection, unless you have previously made vinegar in your fermentation area in the...

Really, cedar? Like licking the bottom of a hamster cage... As for the others + maple, birch, etc., I dunno - probably has something to do with how suitable the wood was to make barrels. Oak probably became an aquired taste. Toasted, probably because the inside of the barrels was charred.

Your procedure with gelatin is OK. The ale can carbonate, clear, and age in the keg.

As long as you know your volume, it's pretty straightforward. Sugar has an extract of 46 p/p/g. The unit is actually point-gallons/pound. So 1/2 lb of sugar in 5 gallons is 46*0.5/5.0 = 4.6 points (round it to 5). In other words, that OG that was now down to 1.045 because you added the coffee...

Wow, no wonder we homebrewers get the geek label... Seems like a useful formula, but I would have been awfully tempted to just add hops every 5 minutes and use the Tinseth formula programmed into my calculator...