FYI while I would not recommend the canned kits although, there are some who make good beer from them. You don't have to go all grain to make good beer. You can make excellent (award winning) beer with extract. The key is ingredient selection i.e. making sure they are fresh. If you have a local home brew shop I would go there first. If you don't I would try an major online retailer as there stock should move pretty fast. It has been my experience that the things most likely to be stale are liquid male extract and hops. I would use Dry Malt extract and when you buy hops store them directly in the freezer. Technically you don't have to do a 1 hr boil when using Malt extract. It's already been done at the malting facility.
Remember when people mash grains they are trying to accomplish the same thing that a maltster does when they make extract. When we boil wort to make beer it needs to go through the 5 'ions' thats:
Carmalizat
ion - To add colors and flavor (done by maltster)
Volutizat
ion - so the unwanted flavors are boiled off (done by maltster)
Sanitizat
ion - so all the unwanted organisms are killed and we don't have infections
Concentrat
ion - so that we concentrate the wort and hit are desired Original Gravity very important in high gravity brews like barley wine
Isomerizat
ion - So that the alpha acids from the hops are delivered to the beer for taste and preservative function
I personally use austinhomebrew.com but that is because it is one day shipping for me. Try northern brewer, more beer, rebel brewer to name a few.
Sorry if I clubbed you over the head with too much info. There can be an almost overwhelming amount of information on this hobby. Might I suggest, Relax Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew. Also if you're a podcast fan there is a great show called
Basic Brewing Radio It's on weekly and has past shows from 2005 archived all for free.
You might want to try this recipe for your first:
Title
15-Minute Late-Hopped Simcoe Ale* (you could sub simcoe with almost any 'C' hop (Chinook, cascade, centennial, columbus), amarillo, citra or maybe a 50/50 combo of amarillo/citra.)
Description
This is a perfect beer for a quick brew day. There's no need to boil extract for more than 15 minutes, and adding lots of hops near the end of the boil give bitterness and loads of flavor and aroma. Hopheads rejoice! (Five gallon volume)
Ingredients to add as water is heated and removed when temperature reaches 170°F
1 lb. 60L Crystal
Ingredients to add at the start of the boil (malt extract, bittering hops, etc.)
6 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract (total boil time = 15 minutes!)
Ingredients to add fifteen minutes before the end of the boil (flavoring hops, etc.)
2.5 oz. Simcoe Pellet Hops
Ingredients to add five minutes before the end of the boil (aroma hops, etc.)
1.0 oz. Simcoe Pellet Hops (5 min)
.5 oz. Simcoe Pellet Hops (Flameout)
Add after wort has been cooled to pitching temperature
Safale 05, White Labs California Ale Yeast, or Wyeast 1056
Instructions
Dry hop with 1.0 oz. Simcoe Pellets in secondary
OG 1.055 FG 1.014
ABV 5.4%
(Your mileage may vary)
Submitter
James Spencer
Rating