On some brew rigs you indeed have to climb a (short) ladder to open the valve on the HLT and stir the mash tun. It gives you a wonderful sense of possessing a higher power, standing there on top of the brew, above a wonderful beer in the making with total control. Larger batches, longer ladder, more beer. That's a sensation that's hard to beat, I bet you. You'd be missing out on something so valuable in life, you should try it, at least once... so you can talk about that one of a kind experience with other brewers. Otherwise, you don't know what you're talking about.I'm not slamming AG brewing, but if you have to climb a ladder to brew AG, count me out.