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I was only trying to be constructive, not harsh at all. Sorry if it came across that way...I would like to to help, but without more information it is really just a guess game. My best guess if it isn't the glassware is yeast health. This is the culprit in most homebrewed beers IMO...

Ideally it is best when posting these questions to research the topic first and then provide some details about your process and why you think it may/may not be that part of your process. Glassware, yeast health, excessive foaming during transfer/oxygenation effecting the protein...

Download Bru'n Water and you can figure it out pretty easily. Off the cuff I would say you need a few grams of gypsum and a gram or two of calcium chloride (add to the mash only). Also you'll need approx 3 oz of acid malt in your mash to drop the pH and acidify your sparge with ~5mL of 88%...

For a judge, they care what it tastes like, not what it is supposed to taste like or what atypical ingredient is in it. You can make a cleanly fermented IPA with Brett as the primary strain and still enter it as an IPA and score well even though you didn't use an Ale yeast.

Maybe you could ramp up your brewing in the fall to have a supply available to drink during the winter. I know that is easier said than done, but just seems so sad to have a kegerator without beer.

Also along the lines of extract brewing.....if you used liquid extract there is a possibility the extract was not fresh and had oxidized leading to a much darker color.

use an airlock, it will off gas if nothing else. also keep in mind that all wood has the potential of having brett in it, even if you didn't pitch it so there is also the chance of having brett working on your wort.

Awesome thanks Jay, really appreciate this info. I still have one or two uses left before I need to do this, but it is great to hear it is possible to do on your own.

Jay, how do you recooper the barrel? I was just doing a little google searching and couldn't find anything on it and I don't really want to disassemble my barrel and not be able to put it back together again. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Any reason you are not using a classic saison strain like 565/566? I am not familiar with the types of phenolics you will get from 550 so I can't say how that will compare.

I sure hope that is the case because I turned 35 this year and everything aches a lot more.

Good luck but dry hopping any significant amount will cause a haze from the hop oils that takes a very extended lagering time to improve (mine has been cold conditioning for 4 weeks now and is still hazy and most if my other beers after this much time are crystal clear) so don't be disappointed...

No problem....also I make Saison pretty frequently and you should try it without those spices as well sometime. If you are using liquid yeast, most saison strains produce lots of fruity and spicy notes similar to what those spices and orange peel will contribute.

No, just by around that generation it will tend take ferment the batch faster (few days or so), attenuate fully, drop clear and bright and just overall perform as well as you hope your yeast will. Keep harvesting as long as the yeast performs well and stays infection free, this is just around...

I agree that your mash Ph is too high. The salts are for flavor enhancement, you still need some acid malt or lactic acid in the mash to lower your Ph. I don't think there is a batch I make that doesn't either have 2-3 oz of acid malt for a few mL of lactic acid 88% added to lower the mash.

I just use a stainless steel scrubbie and put it under the inlet where my false bottom pulls the liquid from so that way it acts as a filter and won't clog or let hardly any grain through.

Do you adjust your sparge water as well? I found my sparge water was the culprit in astringent flavors in some of my beers and now that I adjust the Ph of it to be between 5.7 and 6.0 it fixed the issue.

I would strain them out, prolonged contact time could lead to undesirable flavors. Ever leave a tea bag in a cup of tea for a really long time? The high temp at flameout and time it takes to cool the wort will get all the flavors you need/want from the spices.

Another approach is to boil in the flask with the stir bar and foil on top of the flask. Just make sure to add some no-foam or the flask will boil over and be a huge mess. I love using this method as it eliminates multiple places that you could pick up bacteria. I boil for at least 5 minutes...

Definitely make the starter at room temp to maximize your growth. After that chill it and decant. I like to then add another 500 mL of wort on brewday at my planned fermentation temp and put it on the stir plate while I brew. I find this gives a nice active starter when you pitch and your beer...