OK here's my brewing log doohicky. I used the extract version. My LHBS was kind enough to have all the ingredients, so no waiting for shipping. woohoo!
I start a starter of 1 lb LME for the yeast at 2 PM, and start impatiently waiting for the evening. Once dinner was over and I could have the kitchen for a few hours, I steeped all the grains in two gallons of water and one cup DME at 130º for about 15 minutes, then moved it up to 150º for about 30. While that was steeping, I started bagging up the Chinook, Northern Brewer, and Willamette hops.. *whistling merrily* hmmm.... now where did those Northern hops go? hmmm... *rummage* I know they're around here somewhere... oh crap! They're dry hopping in my Imperial Pilsner! Aw F#$(*&!!!!
OK, where'd that hops substitution chart go? ..... hmm... says I can substitute Chinook, which I just happen to have.
OK that'll have to do.
I put the grain bag in a huge bowl once I was done steeping it, letting the water drain out of it and occasionally dumping the rest of the wort in to the rest of the wort. LME is MUCH cheaper than DME ($1.60/lb LME vs $3.65/lb DME) so I added 6 lbs of LME and 1.5 lb of honey. Added my hop bags according to recipe.
Once the boil was done, I added 1 gal of very cold previously-boiled water sparged over the grainbag into the wort to extract a few more bits out of the grain, then let cool in an ice bath.
I topped out the water, and I took a hydrometer reading at 60º, says my OG is at 1.066. Tasting the wort I can taste the smoke, a lot of sweet and probably not enough hops. Definitely looks like blood. mmmmmm
Once the furious fermentation stops and it's bubbling slowly I'm going to rack it for two weeks with my oak cubes and dryhops, then send it to bottles until June. I know my starter wasn't long enough, but it did have some activity going to it.