Disclaimer - this is how I do it.  You may think I’m idiot, but that’s ok.  If you feel obliged to tell me that I’m idiot, get a life.

I think about my brewing in three phases:

Phase 1

1. I use a normal stainless steel pot for this part.  I heat up a gallon (more or less - I don’t worry about being exact) to 150-160 degrees.  Then I add my grains and steep for at least 30 minutes.
2. While my grains are steeping a mix up 5 gallons of sanitizing solution and start sanitizing all of my equipment that will touch the wort after the boil.
3. I also separate out my hop additions into zip-lock baggies while my grains are steeping.
4. I start another gallon of water in my main brewpot and get it to boiling.
5. Depending on the time, I’ll soak my bucket of malt extract in hot water.  It really isn’t necessary, but it makes getting it out of the bucket easier.
6. After it has steeped, I pour the grain water into my brewpot.  I sparge the grains with a quart (or two) of warm water.  Then I bring all of it to a boil.
7. After it starts boiling, I add my malt extract.  Then I bring it back to a boil.  On to Phase 2.

Phase 2

1. I boil for 60 minutes and add the hops, irish moss, and anything else according to the recipe.
2. While the boil is going, I make sure my primary fermenter (and all other equipment) is sanitized and ready to go.

Phase 3

1. I use two different cooling techniques depending on the fermenter I’m using.  If I’m using plastic, I freeze a gallon of spring water the day before.  I buy the spring water from the store, so it is already sanitized.  I cut the bottom off and add it to the fermenter.  Then I strain out the hops and add the hot wort to the ice and then top off with cold water.  It works really well and gets the wort cool very quickly.

   If I’m using my large glass carboy, the ice trick doesn’t work.  Then I put my brewpot in an ice bath.  That gets it cool, but not cool enough to pitch yeast.  Our tap water is pretty cool, so by the time I top off the fermenter, it is usually down to 72-75 degrees.

2. Once it is cool, I take my first hydrometer reading.  I’ve had some trouble getting accurate readings, so I try to be sure to mix the wort well before use my beer thief to get a sample for the reading.
3. After I take the reading, I pitch the yeast.
4. Then I stick the airlock on and start the cleanup.

I use idophore for sanitizing and Straight-A for cleaning.  Both work well and are relatively simple to use.