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I have always scooped water by the pyrex quart pitcher out of my HLT (a big pot of water on the stove) onto the dry grain in my mash tun (a Gott cooler), stirring with each addition (to avoid having too much grain in contact with HLT temps), until I hit my mash temp. The first gallon or so is...

Old malt gives metallic flavors. Crystal gets made in large batches, then used in small amounts. Likely the stuff you used has been sitting somewhere for a long time between malt day and brew day. Just a thought. High proportions of crystal/caramel tends to give me a sickly sweet malt...

No one seems to have mentioned saving a jar of wort in the freezer for next batch, in place of buying DME for starters. I usually dump the cold break from the bottom of the boil pot into a cone filter into a jar on brew day, save maybe 3/4 qt, freeze it, and save the expense of DME every time I...

I'm thinking the hops got distributed funny, maybe you'll get more flavor in a different bottle. I would scale up to 5 gals, and use 4 oz Chinook. Plan to drink it in the first month, the hop aroma does die back after a while. This clone is a real crowd pleaser, just the way you had it.

+1 on the roasted barley. It's not really stout without it. Also, make sure to keep the mash and lauter temps low, astringency jumps out of this if you are not careful.

Could be poorly stored grain. Palmer mentions lipid hydrolysis, whatever that might be. I'd give it time, choke it down, and go with fresh grain in the future. I made an IPA once with some ancient citra hops a buddy found cleaning out his freezer. Never again. Thank goodness it was only 3...

I use pH paper, it isn't very precise, but it does give you an indication if you are out of range. Cheaper than a probe, may help you decide if a probe is a good investment.

Let an iodine test be your guide. Just don't put the iodine back in your mash. And per Denny, take the results with a grain of salt. There's another thread nearby here where they are talking about 90 minute mashes to get drier beer and lower FG. I would think that would be more than enough...

Mine winds up being around 75 - 80 ibus of chinook, plus a generous handful at flameout (1/2 oz in a 3 gallon batch). The hops die down over time in the bottle, peak about a week or two in the bottle (after 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary).

Are you sure the wheat was malted, not plain?

Maybe you drove your pH too far down, it is a stumper, though.

Fresh grain, if well modified, should resume the work, no problem. Higher temps should actually make remaining starches more convertible, in theory. A true scientist would do the experiment. How did it work out?

Add the c150 at 9% or so. That will eliminate the watery flavor you are worried about, but will make it slightly darker than the original. It's not a smash. The recipe is based on a single hop, single specialty grain (added to a base), but they tweak it from there. The brewery has sacks of...

A long protein rest at 122 will pretty much eliminate your head. 130 for 15 mins does not have that effect, in my experience. It changes the character of the head a little, makes it less cumbersome, more professional and even looking. It improves my mash efficiency by around 5 percent. If it...

Yes, you can denature enzymes by raising the temp too high, and there's no bringing them back. They are not like yeast where more time is always a good option.

Did you add water that was 150, or did you hold the temp in the mash tun at 150? The idea is to hold that temp for an hour, so you need to add hotter water, then stir it every 15 mins and add hot water as needed to stay near 150. For sparging, the most efficient method is fly sparging with...

I can't imagine its all crystal, or all base malt. A blend of 120-150 crystal/caramel/special b and base is as close as you'll get. I also think they roast the base a tad. I did a side by side with a bomber of the original, it certainly seemed like all Chinook to me. I think so much hops...

Graham crackers go virtually unnoticed in beer. I would think you'd need too many cookies to get the flavor to come through without adding too much shortening via the cookies. Good ginger snaps have plenty of shortening.

Grain mill will definitely have a big impact. I gained 10% efficiency switching from my corona to my kitchenaid.

How long are you holding 153? 1 hr minimum, i hope. Are you stirring that every 15 mins or so? Then letting it rest? You could be stirring too much. Another thing is try a mash-in, I do 15 mins at 130 for most beers, cleans up head a bit, and really improves efficiency.