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Sorry if this is a silly question, but have you taken a gravity reading to ensue there is no activity, or are you just relying on visual clues like airlock activity or kräusen? Unless you are sure the yeast was dead, I'd suggest being a little patient, if the starter took off at all, it means...

One of the most common reasons (that has not been mentioned yet) for inaccurate OG readings is due to the gravity changing as temperature changes. If you did not take the OG reading at the correct temperature it would most likely be inaccurate.

If left to grow 'naturally' hops will grow very tall and most of the crop will be in the top 1/3 (or so) of the plant, so I think if you clipped them they'd produce more runners but you'd still have a smaller crop. Rather than clip them, train them along horizontally, in a zig-zag, or up/down...

Sugar/dex is not a good option for a starter. Could you save some of the wort from your next batch of beer and use that?

I increased the temp by about 1/2 a degree every 12 hours last time I tried something like that. That does match your requirement to increase 6 degrees over 7 days, however I'm not sure there was anything scientific about it

If the active ingredient in 'Easy Clean' is sodium percarbonate (which I suspect it probably is, but can't find the product with a google search), then its mostly a cleaning product with some sanitising properties, and I'd always suggest using a dedicated no-rinse sanitiser like StarSan.

I cut mine with a hacksaw and then cleaned it up with a hand-file, simple and easy, but probably not quite as neat as some of the methods described above.

I can't imagine how you'll protect them, so - if it was me - I'd pick all the cones that are close to being ready, and at least some of the ones in your pictures are pretty close.

There are two main reasons for building a starter and two main ways to pitch it into your beer, what works best for you and your procedures is up to you to decide. If you make a starter and pitch quickly (within about 24h) what you are really doing is trying to enhance the health and viability...

From memory any method (shaking, fish-tank-air-pump, pouring from height etc) that uses air, has a limit of about 8ppm dissolved O2 - which is adequate for most beer. However, pure oxygen and a diffuser stone allows you to get up to about 23ppm, which is actually most likely too much, but some...

If he does not brew and you intend to 'borrow' the flowers each year, tell him to grow the varieties that you like.

How big is the difference? As others have said, using a refractometer for finished beer has a fair margin for error, so it's possible that the difference you are seeing is within that margin and caused as much by the conversion and calculations than anything else.

'Pure' yeast depends mostly on your sanitation procedures and not when or how you crop it. The only time (in a home brew situation) it's really 'pure' is when it's in the unopened package. If you were top cropping in an open fermenter you'd usually skim off the top layer of brown 'gunk' and...

IMHO saving 'virgin' yeast directly from the pack is a better option than harvesting from the fermenter, since (with standard sanitation practices) there is virtually no chance of infection or mutations that may occur if you take the yeast from the fermenter. There are several ways to do it...

Brewlab 1508 Thames Valley 2, you'll need to order it from the UK and it comes on a slant/slope, but it's a wonderfully fruity English ale yeast (think Brakspear or Harveys).

Using a CFC/Plate chiller and not needing to wait to pitch your yeast ... and getting on with whatever you enjoy in your life instead. ;)

In general you expect a bit of yeast character in wheat beers. However to answer your question 'did you pitch too much' - that depends on the volume and the OG of your wort. Throw the numbers into a pitching calculator like MrMalty and see what it says. Most likely you'll be fine, over...

If you taste/smell your starter before pitching it into your beer (and have some dry yeast in the fridge as a backup) there is no reason to worry about an infected starter, it should be obvious before you use it.

True, I've never heard them complain once. But you know what's better still .... if I give them some food and somewhere suitable to live, they'll leave me a stack of beer in return ... most 'friends' tend to drink all the beer and leave only empty bottles.

Checking the gravity is really the only way you'll know if the yeast have done their job. It seems that visible activity and kräusen are not really a good measure of starter viability. But if you have a nice layer of yeast at the bottom, most likely it's good to use.