jasebrooker

Recipes 

Hi everyone.

I'm completely new to brewing and I really don't know where to start. Ive had a go at brewing mead but only the very very simple stuff. I have brewed a ready mixed 5 gallon real ale canned starter kit thingy but I would love to have a go at making my own real ale from scratch but I just don't know where to start. I've looked at the recipes on the forums but I don't even know what most of it means let alone how to follow it! Could anyone point me in the right direction?

Many thanks

J

gloatbrewing

Recipes 

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Third/dp/0060531053

Just a link to amazon you can probably find this at your favorite bookstore. Great resource. I would also recommend locating and visiting your local home brew shop. Get the book first: you can save yourself some money by building your own starter kit rather than by buying a premade kit.

moffatt163

Recipes 

I second gloatbrewing on that...if you find a local supply shop and/or a club you will find a lot of support and some of them teach classes for extract and all-grain brewing. Don't worry about what you don't understand now, homebrewers love to share their passion!

duboman

Recipes 

After reading I would suggest you look at pre-made recipe kits from places like northern Brewer, Midwest supplies or Austin homebrew and start with those.

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hoppyhoppyhippo

Recipes 

I would recommend 2 things.

1 Buy How to Brew. It's not quite as accessible as The Complete Joy of Homebrewing but I found overall the information slightly better.

2 go talk to your LHBS. My awesome LHBS when you buy their beer making kits includes a 4 page how to brew instruction guide which tells you the steps. Books like How to Brew tell you the steps and why they work.

ncbrewer

Recipes 

You can also read the on-line version of How to Brew by John Palmer:
http://www.howtobrew.com/
It's not the latest revision, but it has lots of good info.

DonLiguori

Recipes 

Once you're done reading the Complete Joy of Homebrewing (or at least done with the basics and beginner's section), check out the recipes here again. Don't be afraid to ask questions about them, and it's nice to get immediate feedback from forum users as well as from the original recipe creator him/herself.

Welcome to homebrewing!

hoppyhoppyhippo

Recipes 

Also if you want a good start, I'd say bang out some premade kits. There's tons of sources but I'd recommend your local home brew shop. Get fresh ingredients, if you get steeping grains it's best to have them crushed right before you brew.

Frankiesurf

Recipes 

You will find all the terms you need in the HBT Wikihttp://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/

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"Where there is a will, there's a beer" - my Wife

Sheldon

Recipes 

If you are truly seeking a mentor, tell us where you are located. Maybe one of us "more experienced" addicts will offer to show you the ropes on a brew day and patiently answer your questions. After all, we were all beginners at one time.