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Cherry or apple wood both are good choices. Stay away from alder, mesquite, and cedar in my opinion.

Water bath... I've seen other people post that with decent results. Locally I typically have the opposite problem so I can't attest to it personally.

Made my own chiller and pre-chiller set up - love it. Each has its pro/cons. I am not familiar with the others but can not complain about the job performance of my homemade chilling set-up.

I agree... termites.

Small as you can... 20qt will get you a good partial boil - probably 3 gal easy and then top off with water, etc etc. If you could manage a 28 qt pot then you could at least sneak in a 5 gallon boil and just keep a good eye on it.

I agree... just roll with it. Was it ideal? No Will you create beer? Yup Will it be good beer? To Be Determined. You learned something in the process - that makes it all worth it.

I've yet to melt the bottom out of my aluminum pot. LOL As long it holds water you're good to go in my opinion.

Good point... if you can afford it I'd suggest going at least a 10 gallon brew pot, if not 15. Might be overkill at first but you will grow into it. Also, you will stand far less chance of boiling over with at least a 10 gallon. Just my opinion.

Looks and sounds great. Well done.

+1 - the just try one idea. If this is your first batch it will also give you a better understanding of how the beer evolves over time. I still give some of my beers a try after only a week in the bottle just to see where they are. I've yet to have Beer PD show up an issue a citation. LOL...

That intermediate kit is a good kit, it would do you well. All the gear I have from mine has held up well and helps create some great beers. As far as kegging vs bottling - it all depends on what you want to do in the long run. I still bottle and it is, in some regards, more work than...

Agreed... as long as they are not damaged, torn, moldy, or something else that would raise questions, I switch them out maybe once a year. Some compression will remain but it shouldn't bother the end result. Once empty I leave them open so the ring itself is not compressed. Another thing I do...

My digital scale... beer was great... ended up 86'in the scale... it was never the same.

+1 on waiting... that bad boy will need 2-3 weeks in primary and even a good couple of weeks to a month in a secondary. As usually it is all a matter of opinion but bottom line is RDWHAHB.

I say you're fine. If you had that much pressures then chances of enough making it in to mess up the beer is minimal.

Assuming you are going to bottle the beer, yes, all beers will need priming sugar added if they have been allowed to ferment out. It is pretty straight forward as the previous post said. You can force carbonate when you get into kegging which is a different process.

When I first got into brewing it was all extract and city water - nothing I made was compared to the better commercial brews. It was a small community so the chlorine wasn't nearly as noticeable as some of the "pool water" you get in some areas. But... it makes a difference. Then I moved to...

...nice... hadn't thought about that....

This is WAY out there but using a metal spoon to stir and/or aluminum brew kettle? If either is of cheap metal you could get some leaching but you'd likely notice that in both kegged and bottled.

The only reason I wouldn't bottle now is if it isn't done fermenting out. You'd raise the risk of getting gushers or bottle bombs. If you are reasonable sure that it is done then bottle it and let it develop in the bottle. Either way you'll still end up with a very drinkable beer.