Beer update 11/17/11
I was going to bottle tonight because Thanksgiving is next week. I even picked up the last element of my brewing kit today at the 5th Season gardening store–the Thief. But I didn’t get my bottles into the oxyclean bath yesterday, and looking at them today they were sufficiently funky that caution is advisable. (It’ll help with getting those pesky labels off, too.) So they’re soaking in my spare storage container overnight, and tomorrow I’ll steal my gravity sample and get these puppies carbonating. The beer looks good, clearer than I had expected given the lack of Irish moss. Obviously only bottling it will prove anything, but I’m excited to find out!
I picked up a mesh bag today as well. I’m thinking toward using specialty grains with my next couple batches now that I have the extract process sufficiently down on my stovetop setup. It will add complexity to the body, and, I hope, a few points of gravity. My next step beyond that is using a 2-quart enameled cast-iron pot to try a mini-mash, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Update 11/18/11: Bottled a case plus three singletons, and a bomber for the table. I hit my final gravity, and I’m looking forward to the result after the maple carbonates it. The clarity is abysmal, so that’s that. 
Tasting the sample, the molasses comes through strong as expected. But it should quiet down after a month or so in the closet.