Good article. I normally do all-grain brewing but here in the mid-south, summer temps and humidity can be brutal. I am going to try extract brewing for the summer months and have purchased an extract kit for an American Lager. The kit consists of .5 lbs grains, 3+ lbs, pilsen light LME and 1 lb. pilsen light DME, plus 2 lbs. rice syrup solids. The instructions want you to add all the extracts and boil for an hour. I am thinking here that I would steep the grains in 2.5 gallons of RO water and remove. Bring to a boil and add about a third of the LME plus the bittering hops for 30 minutes, then add the late hops and boil for 5-10 minutes. Pre-mix the DME and rice syrup solids in a gallon of cool RO water to make a slurry and add that to the kettle and mix well. Then, top up with enough cool RO water to make 5 gallons. Chill as much as ground water can do, then refrigerate the wort to pitching temperature of low 50's F, pitch yeast and wait for the magic to happen.
If anyone sees anything wrong with this or has a brilliant suggestion, it would be greatly appreciated. I haven't made beer from extract since the days of can-and-a-kilo so I am hoping this turns out to resemble a lager.