I didn't change the recipe but I grind grains very fine. I also did not sparge. Missed my Wort volume and had to boil two hours to get down to 5.5 gallons. Starting to think I should get some brew software that would figure it all out for me.
I have been there and personally picked out my own kegs. Fred was a really great guy and cut me a deal on 20 of them. It was about a 3 hour drive for me.
I just planted mine with the eyes up about an inch under the soil. I just used a potting mix soil that's heavy in mulch content. I was going to wait till it was about a foot tall to add fertilizer so I wont burn them.