you got it. I have an old fridge and an external temp controller. some folks make great beer with a big tub of water with ice packs to control the temps or a bodged together evaporative cooler with the fermenter in a shallow tub of water and a cotton cloth draped over it. a fan can be used to increase the efficiency.
I have dealt with complexity all of my adult life. Trust me and the other forum members who have chimed in on this thread, there’s more to brewing than making extract. Most of the longtime brewers on this forum started out brewing kit and/or extract beer. Learning how to mash is easy compared to mastering brewery hygiene and yeast management. Brewery hygiene and yeast management are more critical to making good beer than the source of one’s extract. Fermentation is little more than controlled spoilage.
I was merely pointing out the fact that it is not necessary to ferment ale in the low 60s in order to produce off-flavor free beer. I have brewed several hundred batches of ale without the aid of forced attemperation (I do use forced attemperation with lager). Granted, I have always been fortunate enough to have a space in my home that rarely exceeds 70F.
The buyers and sellers on the CBOT trade in bulk. You probably can’t buy just one bushel.
As someone mentioned malting and delivery add cost. The relative low quantity homebrewers use also adds cost. I am sure Bud can get much cheaper malt in bulk.
I would find out if I enjoyed fishing before I bought the lake. I would follow Denny’s advice, learn everything along the way.
And I was merely pointing out that through trial every homebrewer can discover what fermentation process they prefer. My beers have improved immensely since I have been able to maintain a constant 63 F (for ales) fermentation temp. Obviously, that’s gonna depend on the yeast I use, the beer style and my own taste preferences.
^^ THIS ^^
It seems like temp should be ester profile driven. I can’t imagine brewing a saison and saying to myself “dang it, I forgot to sanitize my fermentor. Oh well, I’ll just set the controler at 45º”. Or brewing a german pils and saying “wow, that bucket is really clean. I’ll just set the temp at 90”.
I think its totally true that its not necessary to ferment ales at 60-65. One might want to think about why its not necessary though.
To the OP - also realize that with the kit you order you will want your grains crushed - otherwise you may get whole malted grains that you will need to crush or “mill”. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Keep things relatively cool for the fermentation by using a laundry tub with cool water and frozen water bottles or check out the term “swamp cooler” and consider a cotton towel and fan for evaporative cooling.
It’s not rocket science - but it can be science.
I have a grain mill and it will mill from coarse to fine. It might work. I know I don’t want it too fine. Hopefully the coarse will be coarse enough. Thanks for the advice, though.
Good on ya! Adjusting crush can be acutely impact full on your efficiency, so check around on settings used. I have a Barley crusher set at .039 IIRC and a Schmidling mill that is set around .042, I believe. Whenever either slips a tad, my efficiency drop is noticeable (just add some DME to correct or live with the lower ABV).
You sound like a natural for this! Good luck.
Is it one of those that goes on a stand mixer? If so, you should consider getting the grain precrushed.
Nope. Those are worthless. It’s about a $300 mill. Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll order some milled for my first batch and then take some wheat I use for bread and mill it in my mill and see if I can replicate the texture. Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, well with all due respect a couple hundred on equip flies under my radar. It’s chumpchange. If it doesn’t work out I’ll give it to some brewers I know.
Grains are soaked and allowed to sprout, turned often so they don’t mold. Once the sprouts reach a certain length they are tumbled to knock the sprouts off. Then dried and kilned. They look like the grain going in, only darker if kilned longer than a pils or brewers malt.
That is my local homebrew shop’s link you posted.
By the way, this forum is incredible. I’ve gotten a whole bunch of replies and a big thanks to all. I’m gonna figure this thing out quick like with all this help. This is incredible.
Some forums take days to get an answer. You guys are fanatics. I love it!
If you do Brew in a Bag (BIAB), you can grind it as much as you want. Otherwise .039 or even a tad lower would be ok. I’ve had mine set at .030 for years with no problem.
Good luck with jumping to all grain…many people have done it.
Techtalk would have been at least 1 day for a reply…sorry I couldn’t resist (old joke)
Bill, I recommend you take a look at this…http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/How-To-Batch-Sparge.pdf
Can I be your friend? 
Right on. The money never bugged me either but I took it one step at a time. If I were starting out again I would first get dual stage temp control for my fermentation