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When going by the Scientific Method, only change one variable at a time to test your hypothesis. If you change more than one variable, you won't really know which one (or both) caused the change that you observed. So in a straight up comparison of the two yeasts, the only change should be the...

Another vote for Cereal Killer and a cheap drill from Harbor Freight

If you are going BIAB, I'd skip the hole for a temperature probe. The probe could snag the bag and cause it to rip or just get in the way when you are stirring in your grains.

Bottling one of my batches, I heated up my priming sugar in the amount of water needed. Got everything ready to bottle, did the whole bottling process, started cleaning up and noticed the priming sugar solution still sitting on the stove. Went to the LHBS and picked up some carb drops, opened...

Practical? Probably not, but as chemist and a science nut, I find it interesting. Thanks for sharing it. I'll take a look at your link. Especially since my GC/MS is down today due to exhaust issues in the lab and I don't have sh!t to do except plan my next few brews.

I finally organized my "beer binder" and typed up a table of contents. Last year, I brewed 21 batches of beer. Of those, only 3 were 5 gallon batches. The rest were a mix of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 gallon batches. No way would I have been able to brew and drink 21 5G batches in a year. Have you...

I got mine at Tom Thumb for free. I also stick my grain in one if I am not brewing immediately.

I'll chime in along with the others and say brew smaller batches. What size is up to you. I've got 1G glass carboys and while it generally only nets about 9 bottles, its great for experimental beers. I just brewed a pale ale using my normal grain bill for pale ales and tossed in a bunch of...

That's a very good question. I was thinking the same thing on a brewday awhile back and was even going to ask it. I've always started with a blowoff. Usually, I've switched to an airlock, but there have been times I've either gotten lazy or life has gotten too busy and I never switched. I...

Do I need to cold crash this batch before bottling or does it really matter since its so dark?

x3 on the Cereal Killer. I've got mine adjusted as tight as it will go (can't remember the number) and hit high 70 to low 80s. Had the same problem mentioned above with Ed Wort's Pale Ale. Came in around 7.5% ABV. To comment on Morrey's post, Brewers Friend also allows you to scale your recipe...

I ran into the same issue when I did mine last year. I ended up pulling all the foam out and replaced it with the pink foam insulation sheets. Picked them up at Home Depot. Works pretty well along with an Inkbird. I keep saying I'm going to pull the door off the fridge and spray some foam...

Can't help you with the water additions, but have you thought of doing a full volume mash and skipping the sparge step? You've got easily got enough room in your kettle. Hell, I did a full mash last weekend with 14.5 lbs of grain in a 10 gallon kettle. One less step and a way to simplify your...

Very cool set up. Are you from Corpus or did you move there?

I used one of the stopper I already had on hand. Traced a circle on the lid, then drilled a hole to get it started. Then used a dremmel to cut out the rest of the circle I had traced. They are not perfectly air tight so you may or not see activity in your airlock, but they seal well enough to...

When doing 2.5G batches, I generally pitch half the packet of dry yeast, then vacuum seal the remainder and toss into the fridge. No starter but I do rehydrate. I ferment in 3G glass carboys. For smaller batches than 2.5G, I've found used buckets at the bakery at my grocery store. Just ask if...

Ended up brewing this on Saturday. I was worried about a blow out but I had already bought the grains, so I just scaled the water down to a 5.25 gallon batch. I know that will change the ABV and IBU, it'll just be a stronger and more bitter beer. Plugged my numbers into Brewer's Friend and used...

2 gallons Cream Ale 5.25 gallons Darth Vader Black IPA =1593.75

If you do use bottled water, don't use distilled or RO. Those have been stripped of everything. I have not gone down the rabbit hole of water chemistry yet (even though I'm a chemist in a lab at a wastewater treatment plant) and I use spring water and its worked well for me so far. What are...

Why did you dump the first batch? I get it that it wasn't the color you wanted, but you had already gone through all that work. Why not just ferment it out and see how it ended up? Might have been a great beer even if it wasn't what you were shooting for. x2 on milling your own grain. I do BIAB...