Yeah, it's not like you're spending $16 for a pack of White Labs. It's less than half that much for a dry yeast like S-23.

One pack is plenty fermented cool. You could even use less, 1/2 pack, if fermenting warmer at like 18C as you originally stated. But most people would just use the whole pack, because, most people love to overpitch.

In general, use: Gypsum for dryness/bitterness, Chloride for fullness, maltiness, juiciness, Both if you want both, and Don't use baking soda except for stouts, or maybe black IPAs or other black beers, because dark roasted grains are acidic. Also it pays to keep in mind that even if you used...

Pitching more yeast only starts the beginning of the fermentation faster, not the end of fermentation. For your batch, fermening at 18C, one pack will be adequate. Don't use 2 packs, that is a huge overpitch and waste of money. You will see fermentation start within 8-16 hours with just one...

The trouble is: evaporative effects. Regardless of what many idiots will tell you about Automatic Temperature Correction (ATC) and the like, the fact is, a refractometer does not read accurately with a steaming hot sample. Even when you leave a hot sample to cool off a little bit, it is...

I figured I would get a little flak for that statement. Oh well. Could be refractometer. Could be the poor fermentability of some extracts (that's my going theory). Hey @matijadamis, can you give us any more details??

I would not assume that a beginner mashed...

We can help you better if you tell us: 1) Are you measuring with a hydrometer or a refractometer? 2) What yeast did you use? 3) What's your recipe? In approximately that order of significance. Refractometers don't read accurately when alcohol is present. Fortunately there is a good...

The latest Brulosophy exbeeriment about gelatin (there have been several) actually DID find gelatin to have some impact on beer flavor. Whether it was a help or a hinderance is of course in the eye of the beerholder...

That link is entirely irrelevant. Liquid yeast is a different matter from dry yeast, and... they couldn't tell the difference between a normal pitch (NOT an "underpitch") and an overpitch... surprise surprise. And 20 tasters isn't enough to prove anything one way or the other anyway. Shall I...

I don't adjust mine. Just add or subtract points as necessary, always checking it in plain water before taking a reading. Works great for me.

^^ This. I calculated it a different way but came up with the same answer. My way: You know you need 10 more gravity points. You know your extract adds 35 points per pound per gallon. You need to add 10/35 = 0.2857 pounds per gallon. Multiply that by 5 and you get = 1.429 pounds.

Don't ever add more yeast when you've seen active fermentation. Total waste if you do.

Yeast eats diacetyl. You should perform a diacetyl rest before racking. If you do it after racking, there is still yeast present so it will still work, but might (at least in theory) take longer.

Don't scrub your aluminum, just allow it to look a little ugly, and everything will be just fine either way. I mean... it's all boiled, so who cares.

You might have killed the yeast. Also, liquid malt extract is notorious for staling quickly. You are probably tasting oxidized malt. To me, oxidized malt tastes like caramel, banana, paper, and metal. Or actually not exactly like any of these, but someplace in between all of them.

Victory is great stuff, should go great with an ESB. Cheers.

I have a nice weather station on my living room wall, battery powered so we don't route the cord to it. But then I'm sad every time the batteries die and I lose the records from the past 12+ months. I should probably route that cord up the wall I guess. Yep I'm a nerd. I look at this thing...

WOW, that is an awful LOT of Special B and caramel/crystal malt. I'm not saying it will be bad, necessarily, but whatever it is, it's not an ESB.