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^ This. I lose zero temp that way (my oven goes down to 170* and I turn it off just as I'm getting ready to mash in). I tried a small cooler first but prefer mashing in the kettle for simplicity. Is your beer cloudy or just the wort? I get clear beer with BIAB same as with my 3 vessel system.

Actually you did quite well then. You got 60 gravity pts out of 2 lb of grain, and the recipe was aiming for 61. Looks like that's over 80% efficiency. If you had used just a little less water you would have been right on. So now you know for next time.

whoa, necromancer :p

Your gravity pts would be 15 x the volume in gallons preboil. Do you know what volume you ended with? You must have boiled off a lot if both those readings are correct. At any rate, 1.040 is not bad it will just be a little lower alcohol. The thing to do is record your actual numbers like...

Yeah that to me is a lot of water for a batch that size. Given that they are counting on 1.3 gal post boil, and if you take the typical grain absorption for BIAB, it looks like they are counting on 1.25 gals of boil off (which is about what I used to get in a 12 gallon pot). It's an extremely...

I'm not sure I see what you are calling black and fuzzy. To me it looks like tan colored trub whose surface is a little funny because the marbles are keeping it from compacting down. The only really dark looking spots appear to be the marbles themselves. Otherwise the mead looks nice and clear...

What green flavors are you getting? What is your fermentation temp schedule? 4 wks is a long time in primary for a pale ale, so you shouldn't need to let it sit even longer warm in the keg. I'd look at your yeast/fermentation practices as mentioned by folks above - pitch rate, temp control, etc.

Edit - as I was typing RM-MN asked the same thing I was going to. Unless the recipe specifically calls for it or you've brewed this beer before and it came out too thin I wouldn't add any. If you are making a recipe from scratch post that to get feedback. I would think an amber likely already...

I've had success with an amber and a brown base, as mentioned not too hoppy - you don't really need any finishing hops at all.

Once in a while you just get some really thick yeast cake that won't come out. Sounds like you've done the tricks - if the rubber mallet one didn't work then I would just quit. You must have a racking port as you already took a sample, so you should be able to just rack off off the cake after...

Just a thought with the medicinal description. I am particularly sensitive to phenols, and while I think 530 may produce less than other Belgian yeasts I do often pick up some. I just brewed a patersbier myself with 3787 and it's definitely got a slight phenolic taste.

Are we sure these aren't phenols from the yeast? I get some with 530 typically. Water treatment sounds fine if the pH was in range.

Yep, you got it. The oven works well. I usually preheat to 170, turn it off while I'm stirring the mash, then put it in the oven. For lower mash temps 148-150 I turn it off a little earlier while the mash water is heating.

I do similar batches and your numbers sound about right. It will be cutting it close to get a good stir, you may want to hold back 1-2 qts of water, add the grains, then top off after stirring. Or you could always do a small sparge.

We need lots more info to help you out. What was your grainbill and volumes (mash water, sparge water if applicable, boil volume, final volume). What OG measurements did you take at what times. Did you calibrate everything like hydrometer, thermometer and did you take your OG measurement at...

I'm just finding this odd, provided you have a decent quality regulator including Taprite. Sure you may have a leak when you first replace a gauge but once things are tightened and checked once there shouldn't be ongoing problems. Are you banging your tank and regulator around or something...

Nope you can sparge with room temp water if you want, though it will take longer to get your boil going. For beer wort we are way under the saturation point so you don't need higher temps to extract more sugars.

I'm also a fan of adding just the fresh juice (I use a strainer and potato masher). I've made a lot of batches this way. For me the sweet spot is about 1 cup per gallon, if the watermelon is nice and ripe (brix of juice about 10). I add it directly to the keg.

Sparging isn't necessary, but as RM-MN mentioned you can do it with BIAB and it will increase your efficiency a bit. Maxing out your kettle room because you are aiming for a big beer is a perfect reason for adding a sparge step. Personally I find dunk sparging easier than trying to pour over...

I used a homemade one similar in principle to the one you already have with 5 gal pain strainer bags for years. With mine it was easy to slip the chiller in with the spider still in place, not sure if that stainless one would get in the way.