Hi all

[sidebung]

My kids bought me all the beer brewing equipment for christmas for me and I have made 3 batches so far and this is fun. But I have a million questions. I don't even know where to begin. I have been buying hopped malt extracts and I am happy with them. The first 2 batches are great and even though I just bottled the 3rd, I tasted it and I love it. I am so green at this I didn't even know that people brew their own beer. It's way to early for me to brew my own hopps so for now I want to stick to dme and hopped extracts. There doesn't seem to be alot of hopped extracts for sale. (as compared with unhopped). I like german beers like becks and warsteiner can anyone recomend a good hopped extract that might put me in that direction? also a dme? Thanks

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome Sidebung! I can't help you on the pre-hopped kit because I've only done one and that was several years ago.

I would encourage you to look at un-hopped for variety. It's really easy to throw a handful of hops in the pot and you'll have many more kits to choose from. Now that you found HBT, you have help at every step of the brewing process. Just ask and someone will be able to help you.

 

[bigjohnmilford]

welcome to hbt. like nurmey I can't recomend anything to you but a you've come to the right place. cheers

 

[Rick_R]

I'll third the welcome and agree with the idea that tossing a few hops in the pot is pretty darn easy. Take a look at some of the kits that provide the extract, hops, and steeping grains pre-measured. And, again, welcome aboard.

Rick

 

[Yooper]

Well, I don't know of any hopped extracts I can recommend. I can, however, recommend some great online brew stores where you can find all kinds of kits. I buy through austinhomebrew.com, nothernbrewer.com, and midwestsupplies.com.

You can buy a kit of any beer you'd like- they have clones of all the commercial beers I can think of, or you could pick a style like American Amber. All the stuff you need, and all the instructions, are included. If you've used hopped extract and made good beer, you can do this, too. The sanitation is key, and since you've got that down, you should be fine. I bet they have hopped extract kits, too, if you're more comfortable with that.

Welcome to HBT! Let us know if you have any questions!

 

[Nurmey]

One thing I forgot to say. You might want to ask your question in the Beginners Beer Brewing forum. Not everyone looks at introductions and there could be lots of others with prehopped extract advice.

Don't be one of those one post members, get out there and ask some questions!

 

[Limited Visibility]

Welcome sounds like you know a little already on what you are going!!! Enjoy those home brews

 

[sidebung]

thanks for all the welcomes.........So everyone seems to be saying scratch the hopped sypup and go with the unhopped. I have a brew shop an hour from me so if I go there will they tell me which hops to buy and what to do with them? ( I have no idea how to cook hops. Do you steep them like I do the crystal malt?)

 

[Rick_R]

I have no idea how to cook hops. Do you steep them like I do the crystal malt?

Any recipe you have will give hop type, amount, and time; the time is how long to have them in the boiling wort.

A good (great!) source of info is the online book How to Brew . Check out the hops section.

Good luck.

Rick

 

[Jared311]

Thats an awesome gift your kids got you!

 

[sidebung]

yes I agree my kids gave me an awsome gift. I live in a sw chicago suburb. I am assuming that the hops go in a nylon bag like the crystal malt because of the need to remove them after a certain time. Is this right?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Yep, that's right. Just make sure to remove the grains first. You don't want to boil grain, unless you like the mouthpuckering taste of tannins in your beer.