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My advice: resist the urge to tinker with finished beer. With rare exceptions for me, my tinkering has made things worse not better. Take notes on what you wanted, and make adjustments on the next batch. Homebrewing is fun, and it's natural to want to "do something". More often than not "via...

I like the idea, good thinking

One of the biggest advantages of kegging is being able to drink IPAs sooner, at the peak of freshness. Waiting longer kinda defeats the purpose, IMO. If I get grassy/vegetal, it's usually because of old hops. Never gotten it from long contact time or low temps (I love dry hopping cold). Just...

The honey flavor is subtle when using 100% honey (mead)...so it takes a pretty mellow beer for it to come through when using 10-20%. Honey malt doesn't taste much like honey to me, more like a grainy sweetness. You'll notice 4oz in a lighter beer for sure.

Who suggested to use Carapils instead of flaked barley? They do the exact same thing except flaked barley is cheaper. I actually like more crystal/flaked barley as the gravity drops. The added character & body in session beers is nice. I like your recipe as is! 5lbs 2-row American 4oz Amber...

If it's not sweet enough you can always add lactose. Why no black patent? I'm loving it in my cherry stout.

The boil is also useful for 1) cleaning your mash tun 2) prepping your fermenter(s) 3) relaxing with a homebrew

What if you added dry hops on day 4-5 then bottled on day 7-8?

This thread has thoroughly confused me.

Bob, I'm still not following why you don't just add the hops directly. Is it because you can't filter it out? If so, 2 simple solutions that don't involve oxidation: 1) gelatin + cold crash 2) Nylon paint strainer bag over your wracking cane My dry hopped beers are (usually) crystal clear and...

Well sure, so why not add when fermentation is done?

What's the rationale for not just adding directly to the beer?

Yeah, that's what I thought too. My variables aren't controlled enough for it to be anything more than anecdotal/experiential, but tannins are gone and that's good enough for me.

Yup, exactly. I even did all the adjustments for the mash, and figured I was fine for sparge. Then got tannins on some super pale beers and was confused. 1mL phosphoric acid to sparge water and no more tannins. And I have only moderately alkaline water.

I'd always read not to worry about tannins when batch sparging. Then I had tannins. Turns out that water alkalinity does matter. Since adjusting pH, no more tannins, even at very high temps.

It's a distinct taste, for sure. Rub fresh-picked hops between your hands - that's exactly how it smells and tastes. Like normal hops, plus a little more fresh-greenish character. 5:1 works; I just start tossing them in by the handful for the last 10 mins of the boil and during chilling. I also...

There are lots of areas to be precise when homebrewing; this isn't one of them for me. Just use hot water. Temp doesn't matter all that much. The increase in efficiency between 120F and 170F is trivial and well within the margin of error for most homebrewers. The only exception would be if you...

Well if you paid for the the extra 8 oz I might be a little frustrated. But at under $1 it's not worth the trip back. Won't make a huge difference in your recipe, just a commensurate reduction in gravity. Maybe 5% or so.

You did good. I probably would've just rolled with it (pun intended) and not heated it back up. But I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't notice a difference from the extra 5-10 mins. Time to think of a screwdriver-pun name.

Well that's no fun. It's more fun to try to start a fight on the internet about the merits of cold crashing.