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You do not need to worry about DMS or off flavors with corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is made by enzymatically converting corn starch into (primarily) glucose (aka Dextrose), and then much of that glucose into fructose. There isn't any "corn" left to impart that DMS / cooked corn flavor...

I use a heating pads (Sunbeam 756-500) stretch-wrapped to the sides of the fermentors. Works like a charm and very inexpensive.

Yes, it will show different. Although the refractometer has a SG scale on it, the only thing it measures is the way the light is refracted as it passes through the sample. (It doesn't actually measure density (as a hydrometer does), despite the presence of the SG scale.) The refractometer...

The discrepancy is due to the use of a refractometer. To calculate final gravity with a refractometer you need to know the original brix and the final brix and apply a formula (or use an online calculator). The final gravity will be lower than a straight brix-to-gravity conversion due to the...

The 15 gallon kettle should provide enough room for the larger batch. (I brew in keggles and frequently make batches that yield 11 or so gallons into the fermentor with no issues. Starting volumes between 12 and 13 gallons) If you are worried about a boil-over, you can use some FermCap. It...

It sounds like you have a lot of batches under your belt and have a process that is dialed-in. I'd suggest obtaining the tools that would allow you to better understand what's going on in the mash, because if your beers are coming out good now, and you have your fermentation conditions under...

If you decide to use cloves, a little goes a loooooong way. It's easy to ruin a batch with a (seemingly) small amount of cloves. (I ruined an imperial spiced pumpkin ale with cloves last year (about 1/2 tsp total). I'm hoping the flavor has faded with age . . . should re-tap the keg to try it...

Ideally, you want your mash pH to be stable as soon as possible. (Conversion can be substantially complete at the 15 minute mark.) To do this, the salt / acid additions need to be made to the strike water, so that once you are mashed-in, you are done. Water calculators help with this and...

IMO it doesn't matter that much for a couple of reasons. If you want to be very accurate with your measurement, you would need to determine the refractometer's correction factor, even if it was dual scale, because there is always a blend of sugars in the wort, which would throw the reading off...

This is similar to the method I use when transferring from a carboy. Only differences are that I start/maintain the flow with very low pressure (needle just off the stop / just enough to get the flow started), I attach a gas disconnect to the gas post, rather than hold the PRV open, and I purge...

Another option, and what I use, is a 2 tier setup. I have my HLT and BK on the ground on burners. The MT (cooler) is between them on a wooden stand. I gravity drain from the MT to the BK, and pump to the MT from the HLT. This simplifies things a bit, because it only requires one pump, and...

Bottles, for the many reasons that everyone else already mentioned, but also because part of the fun of homebrewing is planning the next big thing for your brewery. If you don't start with bottles, you'll never be able to drink a homebrew while designing/building your kegging setup.

I transfer from my Sankes with a spear (the Sanke dip tube) that I shortened by about 1". Instead of replacing the retaining ring, I just put some weights on the coupling to hold it all in place during the transfer. One thing I've noticed about this method is that the large diameter of the...

One other thing to consider with regard to the similarity in taste between the Idophor solution and the wort is whether the Idophor solution was made with water taken from the same source (hose / hose & filter) that supplied the water for the wort. I say this because I've never had an...

Just another thing to consider with the CO2 tank is that if your CO2 supplier swaps tanks (rather than filling yours) you will end up trading your shiny new tank for a used one immediately anyhow.

I use one of these: http://www.homebrewing.org/Stainless-Hop-Filter-6-x-14--300-micron-mesh-_p_3181.html It works great.

You don't need a HERMS or RIMS to hit your strike temp perfectly. I do this: (1) Fill HLT with about 3 or 4 gallons more than your strike volume; (2) Heat HLT to a few degrees above desired strike temp; (3) Fill MT to about 1 gallon more than strike volume; (4) Keeping this fill level...

Second on the paintball CO2 tank, regulator, and swapping the posts to ball lock. If you go with the round 10 gallon drink cooler, the tank will need to be external. FYI: A 3 gallon pin lock will fit in a 5 gallon cooler, but the lid wont fit without modification, and there is no room for...

For ball lock functionality at the lowest price, I would recommend purchasing a four-pack of used pin lock kegs from AIH ($140) with ball lock conversion posts ($40 for four sets). This works out to $45 per keg. The only downside is that there is no PRV, but you can just use a gas disconnect...

I use Homer buckets with regular lids for base malts and flaked grains. For specialty grains I use 1 gallon Sterilite pitchers. If you're lucky, these can be purchased from Walmart for $2.49, which makes them the cheapest option (by volume (other than Homer Buckets)) by a long-shot. They are...