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Yes, clove flavors come from 4-vinyl guiacol, a phenol. Assuming you have an OG of 1.050 and a stir plate, Mr Malty suggests a 1 liter starter with one smack pack. Maybe increase that by 50% with a 1.5L starter? I've never intentionally overpitched - other than reusing yeast cakes, which I...

Cold is good. Wyeast's description of 3068 also says you can minimize esters by overpitching, if you can make a big enough starter.

It's generally not a good idea to repitch onto cakes from hoppy and/or strong beers. You'll get off-flavors at the least. You could however wash the yeast and then measure the appropriate amount like GT says above.

Never brewed apfelwine. Drinking it once in Sachsenhausen was quite enough, thank you - that's a hangover I'll never forget. As long as you haven't lagered it for a long time, you should be fine, unless there's something about apfelwines that's different from beer. The dry yeast won't hurt...

You probably won't need it. The viability of the lager yeast has taken a hit from the chilling, but it's enough to carb. Still, if you're sure your sanitation is good, there's no harm in adding some yeast at packaging. I'd recommend a small starter with about 100 mL thick slurry.

I don't have experience with the Danstar strain, but other German wheat strains are beasts in terms of fermentation. Significant temperature rise, huge krausen, lots of blowoff. I ferment Dunkels and Hefes at lower temps than recommended to get nice clove flavors without overwhelming banana...

I brew 20-25 gallons a month as well, force carbing all of it to 2.4 volumes. I also pressurize and dispense sanitizer from a corny, and I've been told that I'm liberal with CO2 purging. My 20 pound tank lasts about six months, so I get carb and serve for 27 batches give or take. That is...

If you want to get serious about Belgians (or if you already are), you should read Brew Like A Monk. I was leafing through my stained, dogeared copy last night and found a good discussion of how to increase attenuation. Basically, yeast companies publish conservative attenuation ranges for...

O God I hated my stirstarter for this exact reason. You can find used lab stirplates for less than $100 if you dig around ebay and investment recovery companies. For example...

Also make sure the feet are level. If that's not it you'll need to take it apart and make sure everything's tight and the rotor is balanced.

Yeah, pacman is uber-flocculant - more so than cali. I keg and force-carb exclusively, so I hadn't run across bottle conditioning problems. Combined with whirlfloc this stuff makes a spectacularly clear brew. I buy pacman smack packs whenever they're available and hoard them. I use a lot...

Higher attenuation is always possible to some extent. I took a 1.090 Dark Strong to 1.012 with Ardennes (87% attenuation) earlier this year. Now I've got some brettanomyces chewing it down to 1.006. Things that help - healthy starters, pure oxygen, and temperature control. You have two of...

Definitely step it up. Pour the fluid off, add more boiled DME/water and let it chew that up. Then chill overnight and repeat. Ideally you want to get about a cup of yeast slurry from the starter - maybe a 1/3-1/2 inch layer on the bottom of a standard growler. Usually you need more than two...

Avoid prolonged exposure. I regularly soak my stainless kettle in oxyclean overnight, haven't noticed any pitting yet.

Palmer's article is interesting. If I have a style where I want to emphasize fruitiness - something Belgian maybe - then I should let the krausen fall back into the wort so the yeast can convert the fusels to esters. With my American ales, though, my typical goal is to ferment cold and clean...

I hadn't thought of hop oil loss. I always blow off about one or two quarts or krausen to reduce fusel alcohols and thus hangovers.

I'm not crazy. In fact, my professional background is in surface chemistry and photolithography. I etch glass all the time. Oxyclean is sodium percarbonate. Percarbonates dissolve into a mildly acidic solution of carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. Acidic peroxide solutions are used...

I'm unconvinced that copper coils are bad. Exposure to carbonated liquids produces insoluble copper carbonate, which forms a thin layer of patina on the surface that prevents further oxidation. I've been careful to flush and dry the coils after use to prevent copper sulfate formation, which...

Store versions work great, as long as you get the unperfumed variety. You can avoid residue by using really hot water and relatively short contact times - less than two hours. I use two scoops per 5 gallons. Sometimes, though, I'll get a nasty carboy with dried, caked-on crap that has to...

Bumping with price drop - I'll take $225 OBO. Did I mention that the faucets and shanks are worth $140 alone?