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Yeah, I use pilsner DME for my starters and its been great!

Thanks so much for this. Its fascinating stuff!

Me too, plus it makes it even easier. I just make a bit extra starter (usu. 0.5L) and decant as much as I can into a clean and Starsan'd 8 ounce mason jar and keep that in the fridge until next time.

I stand corrected! I had read that it was potentially a blend or mixed from 1318 and others such as Fuller’s but never had clarification. As I’m just starting out in really trying to understand yeast (and having no scientific background whatsoever) these things can get a bit “above my pay...

You should have no problems with 1318 with no starter pitching into a 1G batch. The only reason you’d want to make a starter would be if you have a 5G (or really 10G) or greater batch. Either dry or liquid, they are designed for 5 gallon batches so a 1 gallon is certainly fine. In fact if you...

Malt grain is acidic and will buffer the pH down. Paler malt will lower it less than darker malt (if I’m not mistaken). Brunwater has inputs for your malt; don’t just go off of the water pH. 8.4 is pretty normal.

Yeah I tried 5.2 and the results were not good - it tasted almost salty. I downloaded Brunwater and was able to get my local water report, made the appropriate additions (our water is very soft so I actually needed to harden it) and got great results with subsequent batches.

I had that happen once, but with an airlock. I think it got clogged because that lid blew completely off. It turned out fine. I think if it happens in the very active phase of fermentation, the yeasts are expelling enough co2 to keep a lot of oxygen from getting in. I didn’t have any...

Yeah I’ve gone totally to blowoff tubes.

I love this method. It makes it so much easier and removes all the processes of sparging and vorlaufing, at least in my case. I do a “full volume” mash and it simplifies things tremendously. And after having a stuck mash where the grains got under the false bottom, there are no issues with a...

I agree with the "lagering = rest" in my limited experience. I made a lager a few years ago and I just let it sit in our garage during the winter (where its around 45-50) for maybe a month or so and then cold-crashed it in our fridge in the garage and it tasted just fine. I keep reminding...

I've never had an issue with stressing the yeast, and I'll have it on the stir plate for 3-4 days, sometimes all week, if I'm lazy. I just wait until the wort is milkshake consistency, where it looks almost sludgy and very opaque. Usually takes a day or two, depending on the conditions (I set...

You probably could but it seems like you'd have to build a stir plate huge enough and study enough that you might as well get an oxygenation set up. To be honest, I have never had an issue with aerating the wort just by sloshing it around while I carry it down to the basement to ferment.

I do #3 and have no "grassy" flavors or aroma. Its the process that gets me closest to beers like Heady Topper.

Yeah, if it works go with it! For me the only "brew day" smell that rivals adding hops to the boil is the smell of doughing in the grains. If you're going to be steeping grains, you're already 75% of the way there to BIAB in my mind.

Yeah, not to complicate matters, but I found that water and any adjustments you might need to make affect the flavor and aroma in a big way. I live in eastern Massachusetts and we get our water from the Boston-area municipal source. Its actually really soft and adding hardening agents really...

That's what I thought but didn't know how much of a "hole" in the flavor it would cause. That answers that. I've had good results with bittering, late-boil/flameout, whirlpool, and dry hop so if it ain't broke...

Makes sense. I do prefer a drier NEIPA like Heady or Lunch not the "orange juice" types. I guess I needed to do more research; I mainly thought that that Crystal was in there to add some color since it was only a low percentage of the grain bill. But maybe next time I'll just drop it.

Why? For what its worth, Trillium Fort Point and their Street series have C-15 in them.

Excellent choice! I've loved my Hydra. I had a cheap stainless steel chiller prior to this and it would take 20-25 minutes to get the temps down. Now I can get from boiling to my target whirlpool (really hopstand because my whirlpool techniques are terrible) temp of around 140-150 in a matter...