You only need to sanitise the thief - as before, check it before adding the yeast next time will give reduce the chance of infection, but given how thorough you have been you will be fine.
Sooo next you need the beer smith app, which you can plug your recipes into.
The following link will come in handy post ferment.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
Should get a nice mid strength 4.5% to 4.8% if your starting temps were not too high and it ferments through. So now we wait
RocketMan said:
Glass is nice and pretty but acrylic doesn't break as easy.
It seems that 1046 is kind of magical around FGs, at least I've had several come out to that when Input them into BeerSmith
Your not going to see much bubbling in the carboy itself. What you might see is a bit of a Brownian motion kind of a thing going on. I use Ale pales so not much to see there but I. See it in my pepper ferments.
So far as over thinking things to me that tends to happen when I get an idea for a new beer. Like when I put together my Fig Pudding Porter, oh it came out good but I think it would have been better with less in it. So far as the actual brewing though, I trust the process that has been used longer than I care to think about, no over thinking to it and as far as your wort getting down to 57, my Tudor ale has been fermenting at 64, so no worries mate.
Cheers Brother!
Spot on on the over thinking. I went through a phase of making all sorts of complex and out there brews, now I aim for consistent beers that fit the profile and let the individual ingredients shine through.
Interesting, my sweet spot for beers always seems to be 1066, giving me a about a 6.5% brew or a little higher. I have done some nice mid strength, but I drink less with a higher ABV, and the alcohol at this level seems to add support to the other flavours without dominating.
The fermenter freezer, if I am interpreting your request correctly, is a fridge or freeze run with a temp control box with 2 inputs that allows you to set a temperature - the fridge goes into the cool, and the heat belt goes into the heat around the fermenter. The temp control box has a thermometer that you tape to the fermenter. Once you have reached final gravity and given the yeast a couple of days to clean up after itself, you set it down to a little above freezing, to drop the yeast out of suspension, which will help greatly with clarity. I let mine sit for 4-5 days chilling, before kegging.
This is my weapon of choice
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/stc-1000
Easy to wire up a box in an afternoon, or you can find a few about with the box made up for you. It transformed the quality and finish of my beers, and enables you to make a greater range of beers, from saison (high temp) to lager (not that I make lager, life is too short for the return lol).
