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Cut them to the ground in late September, cover with mulch.

I'll echo the home depot posts. I watched craigslist for a while and the sales and never found one for as good a deal as the orange Home Depot stamped model. It's worked great, and I wanted the flexibility of a cylinder so I could change the volume of the brew and not worry about grain bed depth.

I use a loose SS braid as the manifold in my mash tun. It works well unless you disturb it enough while stirring. Sometimes the tail can wind up near the top and needs a good poking to get it back near the bottom. I agree - slipping one of these over your copper manifold might solve the issue...

I replumbed with Wirsbo PEX, which is rated to 170F (some only to 150). I'd love to use it too, but it shouldn't be used for anything other than putting water in to the HLT. It is a joy to work with though. I was really sad when I finished plumbing.

You've been watching Craigslist too, apparently. :)

Will a 120v/2000w heat 10 gallons to 170F in a reasonable amount of time? I don't have convenient access to a 220v outlet but would like to try this option. I don't mind waiting 40 minutes.

There's no specific research that links aluminum kettles and alzheimers or other dimensia, and several tests of aluminium and stainless supposedly show the same levels of residual aluminum (from water). Its really a matter of preference, I suppose.

I've never tried priming with DME, but I've had some luck with the Cooper's carbonation drops. Nothing spectacular, but they work well for the few bottles that I draw off of a batch when i'm kegging it. I've never really found out how to sanitize them though, so I usually immerse them in...

My house is 62F and the wort during krausen is probably closer to 68F. It seems to keep itself warm enough, but during the cold snap we had back in early January I put my lizard heater on the size for some additional heat.

You don't need a shank for a tower. If you'd like some ideas for making a kegerator with towers, try this freezer chest kegerator guide. My friend did the conversion and I bugged him about writing up instructions :)

You can get a Two-Hearted clone from here: HomeBrewerSupply.com

You'll want to buy some from a brew supply shop, mill it there, then steep in your brew kettle for ~ 30-45 minutes at 150F before bringing the water to boil. this will give the beer some color (depending on the type of crystal malt), and give it a nice body. Crystal malt comes in very...

If you're already at 1.011, you're good to go! Now the choice is to bottle or move to a glass carboy for secondary fermentation. You probably don't need secondary if you're already at 1.011 though, and the more yeast you get into the bottles, the better the resulting carbonation. As far as...

Adding yeast to secondary is often used to unstick a stuck fermentation, but the best way to brew higher gravity brews is to use a high-gravity yeast. Both yeast manufacturers make a high-gravity strain, or you can use champagne to do the trick. I did meet another brewer who consistently...

Most local breweries seem to leave their grain in 55 gal barrels outside for farmers to pick up. You might be able to check with your local and see if you can add a few pounds to their farmer pile. Last winter I left some of the grain out for the animals. It was a horrible idea. It attracted...

You don't want the yeast to get access to any oxygen in secondary. Secondary should be a chance for the more yeast to settle out and to ferment that last .010 gravity point. Plus, you're keeping the beer off the old trub (dead yeast, protein, and hops) which can significantly affect the flavor...

I'd definitely use the 5 gal carboy for secondary so you have the 6.5 gal carboy available for primary. In primary you want the extra room for high krausen so the crusty foam doesn't fill the airlock.

I'm not sure if this will work for you or not, but when I was brewing partial wort beers and the rolling got a little to much I'd just turn down the heat a tad (like from High to 9) and It would keep a low roll and wouldn't boil over. Luckily my wife fully supports my brewing endeavors and...

That's the way I've always understood it. You get slightly different utilization of course, but you can compare the relative differences on this IBU calculator I make using Jackie Rager's formula.

I've got one of those too. Its always after having cleaned the floors too.