Yes, you can get to layering temps if your collar is well made. Use some weatherstripping on the top and bottom of the collar and insulate the collar. Wood only has an r-value around 1 per inch of wood.
Can't answer that last question for you, but I ferment (lagers) and lager in the same...
Fermentation temp control can be done with pretty inexpensive/no cost methods. I put a blanket/sleeping bag on my carboys if it gets too cold and use a wet cloth with water bath if they get hot. May not be exact, but you can avoid extremes with some planning and monitoring.
If you are set on...
The only hurry I feel is when I'm trying to keep the pipeline full-- when I need a carboy of a certain size or I'm trying to keg in time for an event. Otherwise the beer isn't what rushes me. The beer will be fine.
RDWHAHB
Nice find. I'll give this a try before I go for the stainless steel mesh container from Arbor Fabricating.
They even have beer listed in the chemical chart for reactivity! Ordered 3 of them for $20 shipped.
I use a piece of material (voile, ~$15) for my grain containment in the cooler I already had ($)0. Add a valve and some tubing and you're ready. The equipment looks like BIAB, but the method is infusion mashing with batch sparging. Pretty simple.
The nice things about voile is you can use it...
So you have your first ever kegged batch or your first ever batch? If it's your first ever batch, I'd recommend installing fewer and design it with room to expand. Homebrewing is a lot like buffets - our eyes are typically bigger than our appetites. I'd never be able to keep up with 8 taps, on...
If you put the fermenter outside for lagering, you need to protect it against temperature variation. Snow itself would help, but it would need to be mostly covered, and then you'd have the worry of freezing.
Putting your fermenter in a cooler or something with more insulation or mass outside...
Made a maple wheat from one of the clone recipe books last fall. Did some good research (or so I thought) on how much maple to use, type, and when to add it.
Nearly made me vomit. Nasty, nasty nasty. Extremely sweet, next to no maple flavor, and that's as much as I could get out of it before...
Yeah, I split a bottle of that with 3 others, and none of us could even finish the few ounces we poured to simply taste it. We tried about 12 Stone beers that night, and it was the only one all of us said was downright nasty.
Did extract for about 18 years then stumbled across DeathBrewer's stovetop tutorial. Been all-grain since then (1 year). I actually get compliments on my beer now.
Dry yeasts are limited in their variety. They however don't typically need a starter, which makes them easier to use. Dry yeast also tends to be less expensive.
There are a wider variety of liquid yeasts to make a wider variety of styles of beer. However, to get the best results, making a...