Being in Florida our ground water is 70-80+ so i recirculate with the groud water to around 100 then use ice water recirculating with a 2nd pump to bring it to pitching temps. The ground water i use goes to cleanup, plant watering and any other use so its not completely wasted
I agree you would find no detectable difference. My preference lies with a thermowell is another piece of equipment I would have to buy (actually multiple) and the fact I would prefer to keep as much as possible from touching the wort.
I put either a folded rag or a piece of insulation in a zip lock bag and use a bungie cord around the carboy or bucket to hold it in place and slide the temp probe between it and the fermenter
The biggest problem would be leaving the beer on the yeast cake and trub for an extended period of time. While leaving it short term 4-6 weeks is not an issue. Leaving it for an extended period of time, it would get nasty. And also pressurizing the yeast cake would cause autolysis. Nice idea but...
I take a washcloth, put it in a zip lock baggie and use a bungie cord to hold it to the side of the carboy. Then just slide the probe between the baggie and carboy
All the comps I enter are pretty specific about bottle size. Its the same reasoning as not being able to use non generic caps, or having distinguishing marks on the bottle. Your entry could be identified by the type of bottle and in theory give an advantage if a friend who judges knew you put...
Oxidation generally takes alot longer that a couple weeks to develop. I am going to make a guess that possibly its skunking thats occurring. Do you ferment with the carboy exposed to light?
special b is an equivalent to crystal/caramel 120. as far as using less to equal a crystal 20. not really. all crystal variations have unique properties
I have had success including multiple gold medals using 3068 and fermenting at 62-64. The key to getting a good balance is not over pitching. The 62-64 fermenting temp will give you a very clean phenols while a proper pitch rate at that temp will slightly stress the yeast giving you clean...
You cant go by that since the calculators are expecting at least a shaken starter which will constantly add more oxygen. With a fermenting beer, once the oxygen is depleted, the multiplication stops.