I love the interim tastings from the hydrometer samples. Great to taste the changes. I also don't check very often. I used to be compulsive but basically my gravity has dropped at the end of the first week. Now I do an OG and a FG at 3 weeks seems to do the trick
The variety of yeast strains is amazing. The immediate feedback verifying viability is very. Reassuring Dry yeast is probably just great for most stuff. I like to "feel" a puffy yeast bag prio4 to pitching. If I was a starving student it might not be worth it but, for the time being, it's...