I think it took me about 3 hours. No problems for me. I made test cyp and EQ. I made 100ml of each. I didnt have any troubles until i made TNE. The raw i got had some impurities (probably cut), that made it difficult to filter.
Bottle top filters are the way to go.
For you first batch, keep it simple. Make something with a long ester. Its pretty hard to screw up long esters and raws with low melting points.