I'm a lazy engineer. Whatever aspect of engineering I inherited from my Dad, it wasn't the bit that involves hacksaws and grease. Home brewing done properly seems to involve an amount of cutting pipe that I couldn't honestly face, so, despite thinking long and hard about making a hop filter and even looking at the ins and outs of making a mash tun, I've ended up buying the goods ready made from The Malt Miller (again) and the Home Brew Shop - a stovetop boiler with a hop filter and a mash tun and sparge arm so I can start making all grain brews with a lot less swearing, blood and incorrect lengths of pipe.

I'm waiting on the mash tun, which should be here tomorrow or Thursday, after which I'll start brew no 2.