jhegende

Recipes 

I know that but you need certain amounts of each ingredient and that seems like the difficult part to figure out. Its gotta be much harder than the mr beer its I am doing now and I have even screwed that up twice out of 4 times I have brewed.

501irishred

Recipes 

None of it's "hard" necessarily, just more involved. There is nothing wrong however getting a good start with extracts before moving on to all grain (nothing wrong with staying with extracts for that matter if thats what you want to do). The basics you are talking about buying now, translate directly to all grain (large kettle, wort chiller, etc). If you decide later to move to all grain, you will just be adding some equipment, not "replacing" it. Mr. Beer gave many of us the bug, but it's pretty limiting on the imagination. Even a full extract brew, or better yet partial mash (no additional equipment needed other than a bag), will allow you to make beer to YOUR specifications and not some else's.

BTW - Welcome to the hobby / obsession!!

501irishred

Recipes 

Just out of (morbid?) curiosity, what do you feel you messed up on the two batches? I know my first few MB's, I was so intent on reading, that I had a tendency to "lose track" of what was happening on the stove top. I'm sure it's different with everyone, but for me things started getting "easier" once I knew "why" I was doing each step and not just doing it because it was on the next line on the instructions. Only comes with time, reading, and patience......

jhegende

Recipes 

One batch I didn't use a sugar solution and it was not carbonated right then the second one was with a friend and his was used and we must not have cleaned it well enough because it got a nasty infection. You live and you learn!

jhegende

Recipes 

I want to slowly start buying all grain equipment. I have my neighbor hooked on this now too. We have been helping each other but we really need to figure out how to do all grain.... Step by step.
I have a brewmasters bible book maybe that will help me.

Easterbrook

Recipes 

Your next purchase should be "How to Brew" by John Palmer. http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360732588&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+brew

It explains, step by step, how to brew all grain.

Evonnida

Recipes 

+1. As a new brewer, I've read about 10 books on Homebrewing. His is by far the best, and I'm not even to all grain brewing yet.

__________________
Drinking: Odell 90 Shilling
Primary: Autumn Amber Ale, Boundary Waters Wheat, and American Light
On Deck: Chocolate Milk Stout

501irishred

Recipes 

You're right, live and learn! As you found out the hard way, cleaning and sanitizing are not to be taken lightly.

Make sure to keep brewing while your saving up and gathering for the all grain setup. All the really important steps (IMO) can be learned while extract brewing, without muddying the waters by adding a full mash to the equation. Cleaning, sanitizing, boil control, hops schedules, wort aeration, proper fermentation etc, will all become second nature in time. Once you feel good with all that, it'll be time to fire up the strike water!

Hackwood

Recipes 

Get your basic/mediocre/top shelf kit and add a cooler with a home made false bottom. Couple feet of copper and some elbows and tees, a ball valve and you are set. Save a little money per brew but costs and extra hour+ for brew time.

__________________
Fermenting - Summer Ale.
Lagering - Amber Bock Clone.
Secondary - Empty.
Bottle-aging - Lazy Day Super Bowl Amber, 2 English Bitters, Creme Ale and Chimay Grand Reserve.
In the Fridge - Xingu Black Lager, Saccharomyces - Irish Red, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Belgian Strong Ale.
Kegged - Milk Stout, Lazy Day Super Bowl Amber, Pale Ale and Chimay Grand Reserve.

Favorite Yooper quote: "The beer is done. It's not going to get "doner" by you messing with it." . . . . HAHAHA . . I LOVE IT!