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Yep, one advantage of BIAB is very easy step mashing. So you can just heat it on whatever heat source you have. Don't worry about scorching unless you've got a strong propane burner, just don't turn it all the way up. Make sure to start your starter now to ensure you've got good cell count in a...

It's fully dependent on your equipment and your procedures to determine your strike temp. My mash tun, I add boiling water to it to pre-heat to about 100 deg, and I use BeerSmith to give me the temps to heat to. Typically, it's about 15 deg above my desired mash temp. If I didn't pre-heat, I'd...

Your tap water should be pH 7 or so, EPA rules. :) Soft due to a traditional ion exchange water softener or an RO system or just a natural water source that's soft? An ion exchange system will give you lots of sodium ions and can adversely affect your beer. If you're starting with a very...

I've got 5' lines with an ID of 3/16" and no problems up to 12 psi, or so. I leave mine at 8-10 psi after carbing at 30 psi at room temp and don't get any foaming issues. My brother's LHBS doesn't sell 3/16" ID tubing and he's had lots of problems with the same KegConnection kit we got when he...

If you order it online, you'll get it in vacuum sealed packs and they're good for a decent amount of time. I've used upwards of 6 month old sealed grains and they've been fine, and I've seen many posts here where there weren't any big issues. For milled grains in Ziploc, I'd estimate that you...

Well, just order your grains from Midwest Brewing Supplies down in Minneapolis and have them crush it. I bet if you order by Monday evening you'd get the stuff Friday. It's nice to support local businesses, but if they can't crush it then go elsewhere. Plus, Midwest is still local enough. :) If...

I use a JSP Malt Mill and it's just fine. I get consistent crushes and efficiencies with it. My brother has a Barley Crusher and gets the same overall performance. The Monster Mill is another good choice. The mill you linked to will work, however I suggest spending the cash to get one you can...

Yep. Or skip the secondary and add during the last week of primary, your choice. You can drop them in as is or use a sanitized muslin bag. Any hop can be used, but go ahead and use Willamette.

Yeah, I meant to say that too, YeastHerder. Definitely let it go to bottling/kegging and at least one month past that. Yes, age (to a point, style dependent) will help. You're only 10 days in. Leave it in the primary for at least 10 more days, maybe the yeast will take care of the rocket fuel...

Three times this has happened to me. Amazingly it didn't happen on one where the airlock was overwhelmed three times in the first 3 days. I thought it was done after the second and ignored it for a weekend and came home to a very clogged airlock which I replaced again and moved from the basement...

What was the OG? An FG within a couple points is fine. For any recipe, it's an estimate and is dependent on the amount of fermentables and yeast health and many other factors, but you'll usually come very close. That it tastes like rocket fuel is probably a bad sign. You mean it's got a...

So you haven't doubled your IBU. With Willamette, it's only around 5% and thus the impact is smaller than it could have been. You had an expected IBU of about 27. Your approximate IBU is 40. (This is assuming 5% AA, 6 gallon boil, BG of 1.040, full hop efficiency, and using BeerSmith) It looks...

And by that, I mean that BeerSmith calculates both an estimated mash efficiency and a brewhouse efficiency. Your mash efficiency will be whatever BS says, within a couple % points. The total efficiency is also what you stated, roughly 68%. BeerSmith uses your inputted efficiency to calculate...

Unless you specifically told BeerSmith you weren't adding the sugar until the end, it assumes it's part of the pre-boil gravity. That's why your BG was so low. Consequently, if you didn't adjust your hops your beer will be more bitter than BS says. Your mash efficiency was whatever BS said it...

Not sure which version you downloaded, but generally the commands I'm about to give should work... To change your equipment, you go to profiles and then click on equipment. From there, there are various built-in standardish HB equipment profiles that you can choose from. Select one that's...

Generally 24 hrs should be sufficient. If you use a piece of styrofoam on your temp probe and tape that to the side of the fermenter, you can get a better read on what's going on in your fermenter. Or go even further and put a thermowell on your fermenter...not sure that's really worth it...

Shouldn't, but you may want to add a little more gelatin to compensate for the extra particulates that will come from the fruit. Either way, I think you'll be fine, especially if you cold crash.

Only if your pH is too high as well. So long you treat your water to proper pH, you're good. But you don't really need to be much higher than 168. I have to heat my sparge water up to 180 to 190 as I lose a lot of heat while pouring and increasing the bed temp.

Overnight should be good, but the speed depends on how you've got your temperature probe. If it's not measuring the temp of the beer, then it will take longer, but overnight should be sufficient in either case. For the yeast cake, you don't want a large temperature difference or you'll shock...

I've heard it's fully dependent on the year. I'm not sure why it changes so much year to year, but it apparently does. I loved 2011, still got one bottle aging. It was chocolatey, a little sweet, a bit of coffee notes. Very good. I opened a bottle of 2012 shortly after I got it and it was...