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Holy bump! You would use less pellets than whole hops, but dang if I remember the conversion. Maybe 90% of the whole hop #. Although, for this recipe, it probably wouldn't make that much difference.

Wow, no idea, but report back with results! Also, we're all between brew day disasters for as long as we're brewing.

No offense, but I can't even drink the water from the tap New Bern and east :D I doubt I'd use it for brewing...probably just spring for bottled water.

I've done it a couple of times. It helps getting the grains hydrated and I saw a marginal increase in efficiency, but most people wouldn't consider that worth their time. I was using a "less" modified malt (the Breiss), but not undermodified. However, I do see a benefit to an acid rest, and...

That's a pretty neat calculator! The most I was ever able to do in a 5g igloo was right at 14lbs of grain, also.

Yep, that's the one I was referring to. Thanks. I bought 12# or so of it and did the Pilsner, but haven't gone back to it. With my current time constraints I'm just happy to be able brew and hang out here a bit, so fully modified (and batch sparging, naturally!) do the trick for me at the moment.

Kai, did you ever try the Breiss "undermodified" malt? At least I think it was Breiss. And it was really just less modified, as opposed to undermodified. I did a Pilsner with it, using a step mash, and was less than impressed. Of course, it was the one and only Pilsner I've done which is...

In a perfect world, I prefer a round cooler. It's easier to stir things really well, and I feel there are less temperature variations in a round cooler. Having said that, I have a rectangular cooler. It was cheaper (and makes fine beer). Seems like once you get past the 5g size the round...

I concur that letting the sparge water rest is basically unnecessary. I usually let mine rest ~5 minutes just to let the grains restratify and resettle into a good filter bed. But I believe once the water hits the mash the sugars are pretty much in the hot liquor and anyway you can get it into...

My 0.2 pesos after several years of step & decoction mashes: Step: definitely makes a difference on certain beers / grists. I will incorporate an acid rest into all of my Hefeweizens if at all possible, for instance. I use a coolertun, so direct heat is not an option. My two methods of...

If indeed it is fusels your getting, I think boo boo and Fly Guy have it. What is your wort temp post chilling? If you are pitching and then cooling to 68-70F you could see fusels since fermentation starts before you see actual activity, i.e., bubbling/kraeusen. OTOH, as careful as you are...

Malted wheat has been malted (naturally ;) ) and some of the proteins and whatnot in the kernel have been broken down and altered. Flaked wheat starts with a raw wheat kernel that is basically 'cooked' and gelatinized by being passed through high pressure rollers. So two different products...

If you boiled down to 5.5g or so you should have ~1.045 OG which would probably be ~60% efficiency. Not bad for your first try with a lot of wheat in the grist. Start reading threads in this (the AG) forum and you'll find lots of ideas for bumping up your efficiency. Also, if your volume...

I can't tell the difference in a blind taste test (skill of the brewer and quality of the ingredients being equal), but I'm the first to admit I don't necessarily have the most discerning palate in the world. I mostly brew AG because I'm techie and gadgety and you do get a ton more of control...

That decoction looks delicious.

I would pitch both yeasts and call it a day. As far as pitching temp that's almost as contentious of an issue as bleach vs sanitizer, plastic vs glass, or stainless vs aluminum. Everybody has their procedure that works for them, I think the key is just to understand why you're doing what...

I'm having trouble following the sequence of events and temperatures, but what I do for a lager starter is mostly the same as an ale starter...smack the pack at room temp, cool the starter wort to room temp, pitch & ferment at room temp. The only difference is that after starter fermentation I...

Sorry, bud. And that's 5 batches for me!

In a decoction scenario I stir them in when I'm mashing out. I'm not sure it matters either way, though.

Rice hulls will definitely help. It's not so much the manifold design (although that is a factor) as the fact that wheat malt can setup like glue in the grainbed itself and prevent good sparging/runoff. The rice hulls just break it up a bit and let the wort flow. I've noticed with high %'s of...