Totally agree about the bottles, but honestly I still use the bottle filler and capper from the original northern brewer kit I got 5 years ago or something. Am I missing out on some magic filling method? It always seemed to work really well for me, but perhaps there's a better way!

Yeah, just one of those under counter fridges. Check you can remove all the shelves and fit the bucket first is my top tip, not all of them fit. Then a heat belt and a couple of temperature triggered plugs (they've got a proper name, but dammed if I can remember it), and every brew is fermented to within a degree or so of perfect!

Congratulations, looks great! That's exactly how I started out. It makes a good first beer.

Best thing I ever upgraded was to get a fridge in freecycle and use it to control the temperature for fermenting. Made everything better :)

Enjoy!

I'm sure someone with better skills and knowledge will answer, but to me I'm afraid that looks like the veneer has gotten wet and come away from the substrate (and split into the bargain) You could try glue and pressure to get it back down, but otherwise I think you'd have to put on a whole new veneer. I don't believe it really 'fixes' very well.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :(

I totally get that an AI1 system would be faster and easier, but for me it just defeats the fun of the hobby! I like the random variation because my temperatures are a bit off, or I forgot to add the hops at the right time. Don't get me wrong, I'm always trying to get it 'right' but I like the manual bits. I also do a lot of woodwork by hand for the same reasons, so I think it's very much a personal preference thing.