www.howtobrew.com is a great starting point. You probably want to start with extract to learn the basics, then you'll be hooked and can make the natural progression to all grain. To start, I'd pick up an equipment kit which should get you everything you need to brew pretty quickly.

Here is a basic one: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewi...pment-kit.html

You'll need a pot also to get going on the stove. You can spend as little or as much as you want on pots, but this will be one of the first things that you should upgrade imo.

That should get you started. As you strive for better brew, you'll need a fermentation chamber, mash tun, bigger, better pot, propane burner. It can be as expensive or as cheap a hobby as you want!

nothing wrong with kits! while you can certainly mess around early with recipe formulation, you'll probably benefit from following some proven recipes. these will ensure you not only make a decent beer, but get the hang of the process.

a lot of homebrew stores have periodic classes where they teach new brewers how to begin. i went to one of these and also had the benefit of a friend who had brewed with his dad growing up in CT.

like PTE said, you can quickly amass a ton of stuff in pursuit of brewing. it's hard to know how deep into it you will get, but the best thing you can buy that will survive all of your upgrades is a really ****ing big, high quality kettle. i got mine, a 15gal morebeer tank, on craigslist for $100 in perfect shape. a valve is nice (i added one), but mainly you just want something huge. the 5gal intro ones homebrew stores sell with kits are fine, but you'll outgrow it quickly if you do all-grain or even just want to do some bigger beers. i still get use from mine, but i'd be fine w/o it.

Wraths,

Quick question about your peanut butter brown. You added brown sugar in the boil and during primary? And when did you add the peanuts?

I'm going to brew this up soon and I found this stuff, so I'm going to give it a go.

I don't remember adding brown sugar, but I lost my computer with all the recipes on it. I used 1lb of dry roasted peanuts in the mash. I bought them dry roasted, then roasted them at home on low temp and towel patted them.

Ok cool. I think I'm going to add peanuts in the mash, powdered peanut butter at flameout and "dry hop" with more powdered peanut butter to really get a lot of PB flavor and aroma.

Hi guys,

Looking for something to brew, don't really know what. Here's what I have on tap/in the pipeline:

American Brown (may kick soon)
O'fest
Mild
DIPA (Pliney clone)
BoPils

Since I can't decide what I want up next, I thought I'd crowd source it a bit and see what ideas you all have. No hefs or wits, please, open to just about anything other than those specific styles.

I'm really digging low abv, big flavor beers lately. What about a low abv pale ale/IPA? I've never done one but want to do a hoppy red. Last suggestion is a stout for the winter coming up.

Go with the mild I'd say

I've been thinking about Session IPA a lot lately. If anyone gives that a go I'd certainly like to hear about your process.

I also concur with stout on hand for winter. Do you have winter where you live lol? I haven't brewed a stout yet and am debating whether to do oatmeal or RIS first.

Ooh how about a black IPA?

I would consider an Altbier, but I love them so I might be biased.

I brewed a peanut butter stout with the PB2 and it worked well, added two jars to an empty secondary carboy and transferred on top about a week into fermentation (on phone don't have my notes; may have been 10 days). Also added some cocoa nibs at the same time.

And fyi, you can buy the stuff at whole foods if that is more convenient

Some type of thick high alcohol beer is what I'm craving right now. An imperial stout/porter, a smoked or baltic porter sound really good right now... And it's 8am here...

A Belgian Dubbel imo...

Surly's 2012 Darkness was available for a short time yesterday. The store implemented a 3 bottle limit so a friend and I each bought the max. I have a picture of all 6 bottles in an autumn like setting but it's not in a format I could upload. Here is the label for 2012, I haven't tried one yet. I may hold out until Thanksgiving.

at one of my package stores this week i found timothy taylors landlord pale ale. a very nice english pale that stands out as i dont find too many british offerings that wow me.

So the store that I had calling me whenever founders wet hop came in never got theirs. Sad panda. I did get a hold of both of Sierra's wet hopped, New Holland's Hoppivore, Great divide's, and one that was new to me from New Zealand's 8 wired brewing co. called Fresh Hopwired. The hopwired is the only one I've opened so far is the Hopwired and it was Deeeelicious.

Picked up Narwhal and Celebration today. WOOOHOOOO

I'm almost through my first 6er of Celebration. I might get through 48 this season. Something apparently happened to the full production of Narwhal and apparently my market isn't getting anynthisngo around

Oh and just got Darkness, Furious and SurlyFest in a trade. Can't wait to crack these

Does anyone want to trade for Founders Centennial?

Making my first batch of cider. Was a kid friendly endevor. My son learned about germs in pre-school, so he was ready to stay sanitized. Also bought grain today to brew a flanders red and the new White Labs WLP665 Flanders Ale blend. Will toss that with a bottle of my sour mix. Will try to brew the Flanders Red tomorrow and an old bruin in a week or two. Going to try the 8 weeks at 80* Flanders red from WIld Brews aging it on Cherries and Cranberries. The brett from my house sour blend is pretty aggressive, so it will be interesting to see how the 8 weeks at 80 turns out.

Random Saturday night turning into beer nerd happiness:

1. Having my first Surly Abrasive of the season. This might be the best batch yet. Although I think that every year. Could just be a function of my favorite beer only being produced seasonally.
2. Cracking a bottle of 2012 Surly Darkness later.

Brewed my first ever batch of homebrew this past weekend, we bought that starter kit from Midwest Brewing. In the fermenter now, time for weeks of suspense before i know if it's terrible or not. Haha.

Anyone else try the 2012 Abyss (from Deschutes) yet? Seems a little hoppier than previous versions. It's got a "best after" label on it, and this is certainly well before that date, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Other years have been fantastic fresh, but this one might need a little age.

Totally agree; although they're different beers, I think the fresh Black Butte XXIV blew the fresh Abyss out of the water this year. I don't think I could say that in the past when comparing those two.