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Hells yeah. Hook a brother up, please.

To elaborate and possibly clarify, first wort hopping refers to adding hops to the first runnings you collect from the mash tun. It's an older German brewing technique that has become popular again recently. First wort hopping results in about 10% more IBUs compared to a 60-minute addition, but...

Totally. Around 1/3 of the beers I have judged in competitions are oxidized. Since active yeast can counteract and even reverse oxidation to some extent, the OP may be okay if they bottle condition. I do not know the ratio, but I would guess that the majority of oxidized competition beers...

I am not a big fan of under-the-sink systems for brewing since the tanks tend to be very small and the back pressure makes them slow to fill. A much better option (in my opinion) is to equip your RO system with an auto shut-off valve and use a large food-grade plastic container with a spigot and...

Pitching some WLP099 would have more than likely fixed it - it takes care of 95%+ of all stuck ferments. "Bad extract" is almost unheard of. But if that were the reason (i.e. too many dextrins and not enough fermentable sugars), adding some powdered amylase to the fermentor may have done the...

No.

With 300, I get bubblegum, not banana at higher temperatures. I ferment it in the low 60s and get plenty of banana.

Very interested!

Particulates can skew the reading. Try to minimize picking up grain particles, hop particles, and protein scum.

Purchase a vial or pouch of WLP099 Super High Gravity Yeast and pitch it in there. It will dry it right out. 099 will fix 90% of underattenuated beers with minimal flavor impact.

It's pretty much the standard configuration for the gas-fired Tower of Power. It takes the temperature in the recirculation loop and then turns on the burner as needed to stay close to the desired mash temperature. The alternate configuration would be to run it as a HERMS.

You could look into getting a Grainfather or build your own electric brewing system.

Alcohol tolerance refers to how high a yeast can go under ideal conditions (although US-05/001 can ferment higher than 12% if you treat it right), not when being pitched into an environment with no O2, high CO2, high EtOH, and most of the labile nutrients consumed. It may work with a...

US-05 and 001 will have a really hard time to gain a foothold in that kind of high-alcohol environment. Pitch a vial of WLP099 in there. As long as you didn't screw up the mash, that will fix any stuck fermentation.

It's cheap insurance to use yeast nutrients - it makes life a little bit less stressful for the yeast. By the way, if you are making a 5-gallon batch, you are grossly underpitching with a 2L starter.

I brewed on it twice now. It's a neat little system, but of course I won't know how the beers taste for another couple of weeks. It is a little slow to come up to temperature (it's about a six hour brewday from setup to being done with cleanup), the mash temp fluctuation is quite a big bigger...

I will do my initial brew on a Grainfather unit tomorrow. I was actually very pleased to see that the boil isn't as intense as in the 240V version, which looked too strong for my preference (my ideal boil looks similar to a first magnitude spring boil - those of you in karst country will be able...

Hibiscus is a pretty popular ingredient around these parts (Florida). It provides a refreshing tartness.

Many brewers have moved on from sour mashing to kettle souring/sour worting with isolated cultures instead of grain because of more predicable results. A kettle sour with Omega Lactobacillus Blend or White Labs Lactobacillus brevis should, after making an appropriate starter and keeping it at an...

I have been using the Tower of Power (module only) in propane-fired RIMS configuration for over a year now, and I love mine. I have not noticed any temperature deviations between the Brewmometer and the unit, but I will verify with a digital thermometer next time I brew. I usually do...