New dont know anything

Basically what the title says. I've got a Mr. Beer kit and that got me started and I understand the concept now but I want to brew the real way now. I guess I basically need to know what you need to brew with out the kit that gives you all the extracts I wanna know how to do it from the very beginning. I understand that's probably a lot so feel free to direct me to another thread that may have what I'm looking for. I'm in the marines and am in the field for the past month and don't have good enough internet to do a lot of searching. Thanks, I hope to be brewing by the time I get home.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charles Papazian is an excellent read for the beginner.

Start with this online, book, http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html and also read the stickies in the beginner's section and that should give you a good base to start. Welcome to your new obsession.

HutSutRaw said:

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charles Papazian is an excellent read for the beginner.

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this is what got me!

read those 2 books but realize this forum has proven some of the methods outdated.

read the first two sections of papazian's complete joy of homebrewing first, but don't worry about the 3rd section on advanced brewing. and then this site frequently.

irregular pulse is right. papazian does an excellent job describing procedures for new and intermediate brewers for basic malt extract-based brewing, which is what you are doing. once you get a few extract brews under your belt, you'll start using this site more than the books, because you can find best practices and info on actual brand names that are better than others that he can't provide in the book. for example his book covers wort chillers briefly in the advanced section, but there is much better info on here on how to build or buy one, the pros and cons of different chiller types, etc.

i say get the fundamentals from papazian, take notes on what you had problems with on your first batches, then use these forums to perfect and develop your own brewing process.

Thurst said:

... I wanna know how to do it from the very beginning. I understand that's probably a lot so feel free to direct me to another thread that may have what I'm looking for. I'm in the marines and am in the field for the past month and don't have good enough internet to do a lot of searching. Thanks, I hope to be brewing by the time I get home.

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Welcome new brewer and THANX FOR YOUR SERVICE!! The two books already mentioned are great, also know that the deeper you get to "the very beginning" you'll need more equipment and more time/labor is needed. Some people think the very beginning is growing your own everything.

Brew on my friends

damn didn't see you're in the marines until now. right on man. come home safe and thanks for your service. hope you're back home and brewing soon!

Funny how most people start with kits, Mr. Beer or Coopers (myself included, so blame me too) and then realize this could be fun if more control to the process was given and start looking for other sources and alternatives. It's the wrong start, since the books should be the first step to understand it before buying anything but it is the most common start.

Anyway, I guess you can't go wrong with Palmer or Papazian, but I went for Palmer because a lot of home brewers told me his book is more contemporary, less reluctant to new concepts.