First Partial Mash: Follow The Directions, or our Sticky?

Hi Folks!

Upon reading DeathBrewer's awesome sticky, I decided that my third batch ever would be a partial mash kit from morebeer.com. I received their Irish Stout kit in the mail yesterday, and I'll be brewing on Saturday.

Now, morebeer has some instructions online that differ from DeathBrewer's sticky. DB uses two pots of heated water, one to mash, and one to sparge, and morebeer suggests using a bottling bucket with a mesh insert as a sort of makeshift lauter tun by slowly pourning the hot sparge water over the grain, and letting it drain out the bottling tap.

I've got the equipment to do either, but I'm looking for some advice on which I ought to try. DeathBrewer's looks easier, but morebeer's seems a bit more traditional, and looks like it might get a more complete rinse, especially considering that I could always recirculate the wort back through the "lauter tun".

Should I go whole-hog and use morebeer's method, or go quick 'n' easy with DB's method?

Oh, and if you're curious, the morebeer kit details are in my Brewing Blog! I always appreciate clicks 'n' comments.

I've used both methods with great results from both methods.

Both work well. DeathBrewer's is easier and just as good.

So, for purely aesthetic reasons (And due to the lack of a second bigass pot), I went with the morebeer directions, and used my bottling bucket with a mesh bag as a lauter tun.

Everything went pretty well for a first shot at a partial mash, I think. The sweet wort came out at 1.034 (is that good? I've no idea), and black as night. This being a stout, that's definitely good.

I managed to miss my target OG by only 2 points, hitting 1.062, out of a target range of 1.064-1.068.

I just read on another thread that you ought to hang the bag and let it drip, and/or squeeze it to get the last bits of good stuff out. That could explain the bit of discrepancy. I just wrote off the gallon of water that had soaked in, and topped up with chilled, boiled tap water.

I've posted pictures and a pretty thorough writeup of my process over at my brewing blog. As always, I appreciate feedback and critique! Thanks for the tips, guys.