Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I figured the gear swap wasn't either. I have 2 tickets for the Saturday Boulder Strong ale fest at Avery I need to sell (face value) since I can't...

I've always had good luck just shaking the carboy really good...then again I always make a really healthy starter and see activity within 5-6 hours.

I'm going to start using that once my starsan runs out, plus you don't have to deal with any annoying foam with idophor, cheap as hell too.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/deluxe-beer-starter-kit.html
Northern Brewer has a really nice starter kit.

In addition to this I bought starsan (better sanitizer). Also if you want to do a...

I think you should use closer to 1lb of pellet hops (this is what i used for my IIPA), add a lot of them toward the end of the boil...keep in mind with a big beer/high abv it will need to condition...

I just brewed an imperial IPA, about to rack it to the secondary. 1.090 OG and finished at 1.018...smells amazing. Used a big wyeast 1056 starter. Keeping those fermentation temps under control is...