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Calcium Chloride?

I've found the best method is just to pick up the wort chiller itself and use that to stir with. You can feel the return side instantly get hotter when you do this and I get down to pitching temps within 10 minutes.

Yeah, sure why not? Cucumber is a light flavor though, so you might consider juicing some of them to make up a portion of your water. Let us know how it turns out! :mug:

Well you could always do a decoction mash with the MO. That would bring more of those melanoidins back in.

So much light on that beer! :(

Look up SMaSH recipes - Single Malt and Single Hop. Lots of people do this and make great beers.

Not really. My first AG took that long and was full of similar complications. It's just about getting the new process down. Even now it takes me 6 hours because I take my time and enjoy the process. Have fun with AG, it's a great way to hone in on the exact characteristics you want in your beer!

Yeast produce different esters at certain fermentation temps. These esters usually have a fruity characteristic. Hefeweizen yeast often produce esters of banana and clove. You were most likely drinking hefes or beer made with hefe yeast. There's only one hefe I've found that has way too much...

I had luck with a stucky after transfering to secondary. Probably because it roused the yeast. Try that if nothing else, but don't drain it. Bottle it up after the appropriate time, drink that shiz and see how it tastes! Then start formulating your own recipes and get your process down...

You could definitely take DannPM's suggestion! But you'd also be less 2 liters of good beer later. Did you ferment in a bucket? Sometimes the seals are crap, so please remember, airlock activity is NOT a good sign of fermentation! Do like lumpher says and take your gravity readings like a...

Well, looks sound. You may try raising the temp a bit if possible. Hopefully it's just sloooow and you'll see more attenuation over time, but if it's been at the same gravity for more than a few days, you may want to pitch a fresh pack of yeast on there. If the bottle you got was sitting in...

If they ship without a cold pack they will swell. It doesn't mean the activator was popped. If you read on wyeast's website, it says it doesn't matter if they're already swelled and you can still use it as long as it's within 6 months from the mfr date. RDWHAHB. Refrigerate, do a starter as...

What was your starting gravity? What yeast did you use? Did you add table sugar or candi sugar? Did you account for the additional rise in gravity from your new additions? Temp. of fermentation? I made one with 1388, same vigorous start, began at 1.090 and I transferred at 1.024. Finished...

The difference between using candi sugar and regular sucrose (table sugar) is that candi sugar has been inverted creating glucose and fructose which yeast eat through much better than sucrose. If you're going to save money by using table sugar, you should spend a little extra time to invert it...

Holy crap ReverseApacheMaster I didn't extrapolate it out that far but you're right. That would call for a bigger fridge, but the savings per vial/smack-pack would be worth a new fridge alone! Thank you!:mug:

I thought you could only wash your yeast up to five times before they start mutating, possibly contributing to off flavors and becoming less flocculent. How would a homebrewer be able to control that and consistently use the same strain each time?

Yup love the sours! I'm trying to take a cue from Petrus for this one. I know they get their flavor and sourness from oak barrel aging, so maybe I'll throw in some bourbon soaked chips while I wait. I'm excited to see what kind of blends come out of this and I'll post results when I'm done.

Do you speak from experience and have some more worthwhile input on the situation? Do you like sour beer?

I had the same thing happen to a robust porter. I've been sitting on it since September trying to decide what to do with it. I've decided to let it ride in the secondary for 3 more months, then make three new batches to mix in with it. When the time comes I'll brew a dunkelweizen, a Munich...

Recently brewed a Belgian dark strong ale. From 1.092 I had steady fermentation for a week, then it dropped off and took another week to get to 1.024. I wanted it to end around 1.022 so I racked it over. It took another week to get down to 1.022 but has since kept going. Now, 45 days later...