Well, the results of my experiment with steel wool pads are in:  DO NOT USE THEM!
I am an idiot, that is for sure.  I had a feeling while I was using them that it may not be a good idea, but I stuck with it and the results are conclusive.  I now have a beer that tastes like metal.  Not palatable at all.
Apparently, steel wool is just nasty.  It has all sorts of machined oil on it and it is not treated at all, like stainless steel is.  Do not confuse plain ole steel wool with anything stainless.  There are vast differences.  Someone on the forums also mentioned that the process of transferring the beer from the fermenter to the keg through the steel wool would cause oxidation which is also not good.  Good to know.
So, this will be my first batch to dump.  I knew one was gonna be bad for some reason, I'm glad it turned out to be because of my stupidity, and not a bacteria or something (which, I guess would be my fault also...)
I was finally in a position to roll from one batch right into the other, with another batch in the works, but that is out of the question now.  I got another 4 weeks until the Porter is ready, so I'll have to figure something out in the meantime...
Lesson learned.  It's evolution baby!

Title says it all.  Happy Birthday little brother!!

Salute.

I spoke in my other post about the changes I made in the recent brew, and here is a recap...
Temperature:
On all of my prior batches, I have been hard pressed to actually hit a mash temp of 154 (give or take a couple degrees).  This time I used some tips and heated my strike water to about 190 degrees.  The water went into the cooler (mash tun) and I let it sit and heat the cooler up a bit.  After dumping the grains, I took some temp readings and noticed it was still a little high.  Incidentally, there seemed to be a little light on the water (I had poured 4 gallons of strike water) -  the mash seemed a little too doughy.  So, I put another ~1 gallon of tap water in the mash and it brought the temp down to 154.
Volume:
In time past, I would use the brew program (which wasn't set up right for my system) or just winged it.  Well, I read some great advice (probably from "Denny") that said to basically do 1 mash and 1 sparge of close to equal volumes.  So, I put between 4 and 5 gallons of water in initially, and followed that up with another 4.5 gallons for the sparge.  I actually was a bit short on the boil volume still, so I put another gallon of water into the mash and let it sit for about 8 minutes.  I took temperatures at the time, and the mash was at ~144 degrees - which was fine for me because there are brews that i have made that mashed at that temp. 
Anyway, with that I was able to get 7 gallons into the boiler and 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.

This ones going to be good, I can feel it!  I say that with every batch, but honestly, that is one of the great things with this "hobby" - each time you have a chance to apply new knowledge or try something different.  
This time, for the first time, I was able to actually hit my target temperatures AND my target volume.  I took it a little slow, and used some of the info I recently gathered and bingo - a good brew.   Now, only time will tell of course - but I am hopeful.
I brewed a Porter, which is a darker stronger and fuller bodied brown ale.  I had previously brewed a Porter from an extract kit.  For that brew, I had a stroke of creativity, and made it a coffee bourbon Porter, by adding french-pressed, cold brewed coffee, and about a pint of Knob Creek bourbon.  It was only my 6th brew ever, and it came out great.  For the present Porter, I think I am going to leave it straight up as is.  I used some "coffee" grains (not actual coffee grains, but grains that have a coffee smell and color to them), so it should have a hint of coffee to it.  
Also, I used an English yeast (S-04) which fits the style, and should work well with my basement temperatures (around 60 degrees).  I'll post the recipe when I can.  In the meantime, I'm going to check on the bubbling, and hopefully get a nice sniff from the airlock...

We went to the great Madison Square Garden to see the even greater Neil Young the other night.  As usual, I was pretty thirsty when we got there, having traveled an hour and a half through some terrible snow/sleet/ice road conditions.  So, I was ready to pay what was necessary for a brew.  Well, it turns out that the beers are $9.25!  At first glance, that is a complete outrage - but there are 2 points that make it hurt not as much.  First, the beers are actually 22ozs, which is close to 2 actual beers.  Second, the beer selection was great.  They had Anchor Steam, Smithwick's, Guinness, Harp, etc.  A truly great selection, and a price on par for NYC.  So, it made it not that bad.  I guess we can rationalize anything when thirsty.

I recently did a calculation for how much I have spent for the year on ingredients and equipment.  The straight up price for one of my own 12oz homebrews come in around $1.10, and that includes all the equipment start-up costs.  For just the ingredients, the cost is about $0.62 pre 12 ozs.  A bargain really, and delicious.

In case anyone is wondering, Neil Young put on a great show.  I've been trying to see him live for over 10 years now.  It was worth the wait.  I've been to many live concerts before, and I must say - Neil's "Cortez the Killer" was unreal.  Probably the best single song performance I have ever heard.  Thanks Neil!

Primary fermentation is done.  The FG (final gravity) for the LeftoverIPA ended up at 1.008.  Looks like another solid alcohol content beer.  Oh, and it tasted good, too!

I experimented with using a stainless steal pad as a filter, but I don't know if it was worth the effort.  We shall see.

I'm going to let the brew sit in the corny for a couple of days, and then toss it in the fridge to carbonate.  It will be nice to have 2 beers on tap - that's if the Pale Ale makes it through this weekend.  Ha!

I declare my Progressive Pale Ale fit for consumption!  Brewed on Election Day, 2008.

I tried something a little different this time and let it "secondary ferment" in the keg for over 2 weeks.  All told, it spent about 10 days in primary fermentation, over 2 weeks in secondary and a little over a week in the fridge, carbonating.  A total of about 5 weeks, which is longer than I have been able to let other brews sit for!

It has a nice head on it, but is a bit on the dark side and also a little cloudy.  I think the creamy head and cloudiness is due to the use of flaked oats.  While the flaked oats give a nice smooth mouthfeel - I think I am going to use the oats on future Stouts/Porters and maybe some brown ales and leave it out of these others.

I have had a few pints of it already, and it is damn good.  Another success!  I fear it wont last too long, though, so come and get it while you can.

Salute!

I use "StarSan" to sanitize my equipment.  Works great.  Like a lot of people I started out using bleach and lots of water.  After I listened to this podcast: (link) - i ordered some StarSan and haven't looked back.  [the podcast can be opened in your browser, or you can right-click and save as to have for later listening.  The good part of the interview starts about a quarter of the way in, lots of great information regarding sanitizing in general and Bleach and StarSan also.]

Anyway, I usually make between 2.5 and 5 gallons of StarSan solution and keep it covered for many weeks of usage.  I check the ph with a strip every so often, and change it out when the ph is off or when the solution gets funky looking/smelling.

Another positive is that it is no-rinse.  So I use less water - a definite bonus. 

Many people get worried about the no-rinse, but fear not.  As the saying goes... "don't fear the foam."  Think of the foam as peace of mind.

Not quite!  I came across an article that said that brewers in Japan had made a "Space Beer".  As this combines 2 of my favorite things (beer and space) I was very interested.  It turns out not to be that sexy of a thing for a number of reasons....
1.  It is 100% Barley (which makes me assume it has no hops or anything else)
2.  The beer was brewed on earth with the barley seeds that were in space for 5 months a couple of years ago.  The seeds were planted on earth and harvested here.  (See: article)
3.  Further research led me to the understanding that beer in low gravity and especially no gravity, just doesn't work.  Without gravity, the bubbles don't rise, so there is no head.  Also, apparently the drinking of 'fuzzy' beverages leads to what is referred to as 'wet burps' ie: throwing up in your mouth a little with each burp.  Yuck.

It is disappointing on another level as well, cause how the heck are humans going to colonize other planets and/or the moon without BEER?  This is important stuff!  We humans must tackle this if there is any hope of colonizing space.  We are definitely going to need the ability to grow hops and barley - AND, we are going to need to be able to enjoy these beverages for relaxation and good times.  Otherwise there is no hope - as I am convinced that we would not have made it this far without precious beer...!  What would an Earthrise be without a nice cold glass of moonbrew to enjoy it with?

Further Reading:  here

I love my iPhone - it is one of the single greatest inventions ever.  I'd love to see one of the brewing applications ported over to the iPhone, but I wont hold my breath.In the meantime, the iPhone is great to use for conversion calculations and to use as a timer.  There is also an app called beermath, or something like that, but it is 5 bucks and I am not willing to spend my money on an app where I can get the info for free on any number of websites (which I can easily access with the iPhone).One great app that is free that I downloaded is the "Beer Judge Certification" (BJCP) program.  It is laid out nicely and provides all the information one needs for almost all beer types.  I recommend it for brewers and non-brewers alike, as it has a bunch of interesting information related to the various beer styles.For those without an iPhone, you can still get this information at the BJCP website.For those with an iPhone here is a link to the app in the appstore.On a related note - there are a bunch of great podcasts that are available for free that relate to beer, craft brewing, and homebrewing.  There is one out there on sanitation that was great.  I'll try and locate it to post in the future.