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This sounds like a good excuse to start brewing in 5 or 6 gallon carboys. I triple dog dare that dog to knock over one of those. :cross:

You could always just throw the packet contents in your starter wort and see what happens. That way you can save a day in your process.

Learn what clean beer tastes like coming out of the fermenter. This takes time, but like any skill, is one that you can develop. I think if you can spot an off flavor before bottling or kegging, you can save yourself some heart ache down the line. Granted, this is easier said than done when new...

Definitely build your own 10 gallon mash tun. You can always brew bigger beers with it easier than a 5 gallon. I use a false bottom in mine and absolutely love it, never a stuck sparge. Personally, I would get another 10 gallon pot with a spigot, add a sight glass, and make it my HLT. I did...

I do an accurate count for what I know that I will use for caps, and then keep a coupe off to the side. If I need the extras, I just give them a quick shake in the Star-San for sanitation. Otherwise dry the ones you soaked really well with a soft towel.

When I used carboys....I used to store them long term with diluted bleach water. My cleaning regimen was as follows: 1. Clean with Oxyclean. 2. Store with diluted bleach water 3. Sanitize with Starsan before use. I use kegs for fermentation now...so it is Oxyclean and Satrsan exclusively.

Yeah.....this is REALLY important. Otherwise you will be waiting a LONG time.

Guess I'm more frugal then...cause I would rather save $40 and put some elbow grease into making a used keg viable again, and then taking said $40 and putting it towards ingredients to fill them used kegs. But that's just how I look at it....

Check out Craigslist 24/7 and pray that someone is selling some with absolutely no idea what they are worth. $50 is what I consider a good price right now....and don't think that they are going to be available for less any time soon. I bought some used from AHB for $45 a couple weeks ago...

Experience is a harsh teacher.....

I ferment in kegs exclusively, so up to 8 with two on tap.

Better ask that beautiful, sexy, intelligent wife of yours what you can afford to do first. She might get pissed, or have her feelings hurt, if you cast away Mr Beer so quickly. Women are funny about having their gifts appreciated. If she says go for it, thank your lucky stars that you have a...

JMO...but I have never used Mr Malty, and my beers have turned out just fine. I make 1600mL starters with liquid yeast, and just rehydrate my dry yeast. As far as your beer is concerned, pack it in cartons marked fragile, and ship them.

Diacetyl leaves a buttery or butterscotch type flavor. When you mentioned to old ice cream it was the first thing I thought of. The yeast can usually clean it up in fermentation. Look up diacetyl rest for some idea of the process.

Diacetyl maybe.....???

You are in the right neighborhood temp wise for WLP830....so your primary will be fine. Give the yeast at least 48 hours to work and even then don't expect irruptions of activity. Do you have a garage or space where you can get it colder, say down to 30-40? If not...you will still make beer...

I get so frustrated looking for kegs for sale on CL and having to weed through dozens of D-bags with their kegs wanted ads willing to pay $20 for a half-barrel. Every day...same D-bags...same worthless ads. They should have a separate Want to Buy section.

Oxy....plus a Carboy Cleaner brush system might work well. I used them on carboys that sat in long storage with good results.

A bottling bucket sure is a lot easier than a bottling bag.... :drunk:

First....don't flip them. Second....what kind of glass/cup are you using? I ask because I had a batch that I thought had no head. I kept pouring into a glass and it had nothing. Turns out it was my dishwasher detergent that was killing the head. I poured into a red SOLO cup and the head was...