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Free buckets from the grocery store, $3 airlock & grommet, $12 for hydrometer and thermometer, $4 for a spigot, $5 for paint strainer bags, $3 in tubing, $14 capper, $3 caps. I'd say I'm in at about $40 plus ingredients, and I've certainly said "good enough." I have no desire to have a 3-tier...

Sparge for efficiency, no sparge for simplicity. The bump in efficiency means every nth brew is free vs. not sparging. Weather that's worth the time and effort is entirely up to you.

Different strokes...

Yes, a TOTAL boil time of 1 hour, not an hour for just the hops. Meaning start a 60 minute timer when you add the hops. The timer doesn't stop when you add extract or adjuncts, unless the boil stops, but a couple of minutes here or there won't matter. If you read around a bit here, you'll...

Good plan, but you're actually going to want to add closer to 3.5 gallons to account for boiloff.

2 batches. First was a Mr. Beer kit. It ended up mildly alcoholic Sprite. Second was Deception Cream Stout from the forums. Freaking. Amazing. I'd order it over just about every stout I've ever been served. Just re-brewed it all-grain. There've been a few brews in between that weren't...

That would be from somewhere dark and moist on one Private Baker.

Ouch! Pretty nice second degrees! Keep it clean and don't pop the blisters if you can avoid it. Your hand is extremely vulnerable to infection until it's healed, and infections are no joke. Sorry, nurse rant.

Steep small, boil big. You want around 2 quarts per pound of steeping grains. After the steep, feel free to step up to a full volume boil.

15975 + 3 gal Deception Cream Stout (AG this time) = 15978

I switched from steeping grains with extract to AG BIAB a few batches ago, and there is literally zero change in time or effort. Have you looked into BIAB for your quick batches?

Even in Michigan, you're probably facing the opposite problem than you think. I'm not much further out of the frozen lands beyond the wall, but I generally have to put in a little effort to keep my temps low enough to not throw off flavors. Remember, fermentation generates heat. Get a...

I have to agree with your findings, even with a sample size of 1. The science just doesn't agree with the idea of yeast ADH doing anything for you.

Seems like a logical place to end a story.

$4 for a Hamms?! Pretty sure the case is only $3.50!

Here's my list: Boil kettle Large Spoon Strainer Bag Thermometer Hydrometer Scale Fermentor Bottling or Kegging crap.

For future reference, check out the recipe section here. A TON of recipes have extract versions listed. You can brew any of these just as easily as a MR. B refill, at less cost and with better results. Careful though, it's a slippery slope toward steeping specialty grains, then skipping the...

So I'm digging some of the cool bottle art that's out there. I happen to have an old bar that's beat to heck. Rather than clean it up and fill in digs and scratches, I thought maybe I'd cover the thing with brewery art, then clear coat over it. If anybody's feeling generous with some cool...

Loving BIAB. My first few batches were extract with specialty grains. I found that switching to BIAB takes the same amount of time, costs about a third of an extract batch, and all you need is a $5 paint strainer bag.

Hipsters, *****ebags, and hipster-*****ebags rarely considers themselves such. Kidding, of course. You can call yourself and your beer whatever you want. I might steal... er, "co-opt" that 'dedicated brew shop' thing for my garage, to keep out those pesky cars.