Hello From St. Pete FL

Hello all, just wanted to stop in an introduce myself. I'm a complete home brew newbie and I'm thinking this is a great place to get started. I'm always amazed at the help one can receive from others on the internet, a complete "play book" if you will.

I live in St Pete, program software in my day life and at night I play poker for small stakes. I don't drink a ton of beer, but I love good beer. What better skill set to have as a modern day man?

You're never gonna beat the taste of a good homebrew. I have tried every microbrew that I could lay my hands on and a couple came close but no cigars. They still make cigars in Ybor city don't they? We get up to St Pete once in a while from Naples, last time was to go to Janus Landing but that was a while back.

Lived in Tampa for about a year after the Army, lived at "the Way" between Fowler and Fletcher - never saw so many cocroaches in my life.

Anyway, good luck on the homebrewing - if you have Papazian's book, try the Barkshack Sparkling Ginger Mead, but not while gambling as it will get you there quick. Women love that stuff; my wife can't wait for my first batch in ten years to be ready to drink.

Hi and welcome to HBT. I'm still a noob myself but I think you found the right place to get good information and help with your brewing.

Have you started getting your equipment together yet and have you decided on what you want to brew first? Seems like once you brew your first batch your hooked and there is no stopping.

Thanks for the welcome guys - Yes the do still roll cigars in Ybor.

I think my first batch will be an extract based ale. Seems to be the easiest but I'm still in the early research phase. Starting from scratch I need everything pretty much. I'd like to do a typical dark ale for my first batch then go from there. But if I find something easier I may take a shot at it. I'm gonna stick with the "Keep It Simple Stupid" at first so I don't get overwhelmed.

Welcome to the forum, I am a dispalced floridian myself. I grew up in Ft. Myers and the surounding area. I love the St Pete/Tampa area, i spent a lot of time up there when I was working for Outback Steak House.

Take a look at the Homenrew Wiki, it has a ton of info in there, also check out howtobrew.com it's a really good book by John Palmer.

Cheers