New to Brew(ing)

[T-Black]

Hey guys,

I am so excited to start this chapter of my life. I love craft beer and decided to give home brewing a shot. I really want to make Ambers and Porters prominently with the occasional pilsner, wheat, and nut browns. Any pointers of where to begin would be great. Where did yall begin? and where is the best spot to order the stuff I need (like a one stop shop)? I already have the supplies just need the ingredients. Locally we have a VERY limited "brew supply store" so online is more than likely my best option. I look forward to reading all the replies and getting this train rolling!!!

 

[WayFrae]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new hobby! Any of the major online retailers sell high quality ingredients like MoreBeer, Midwest Supplies, and Northern Brewer. All three of these are great companies to work with. I know there are others out there but these are the three that I have experience with. I am lucky enough to have an awesome local brew shop so I don't order online very often.

 

[McKnuckle]

Reading material:
http://howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[unionrdr]

I also deal with Midwest, Morebeer & Northern Brewer. High turnover so ingredients are fresher.
http://www.morebeer.com/
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
http://www.northernbrewer.com/

 

[Gavin C]

Welcome to the site. This is a great place to learn

BrewTV is also a good resource.

Northern Brewer

Adventures in Homebrweing

Both great companies I have bought from. No complaints with either

After doing some reading you will decide how you want to start

Extract
Partial Mash
All Grain
All grain with BIAB

or some combination.

I have gravitated to BIAB. (see below)

 

[unionrdr]

Chop & Brew is pretty good too. I do pb/pm biab in the same 5 gallon SS kettle I started with. Better beers on a minimal investment. Besides the fact that as Gavin C says, you'll find a lot of helpful folks on here...

 

[Tinpanharry]

I also deal with Midwest, Morebeer & Northern Brewer. High turnover so ingredients are fresher.
http://www.morebeer.com/
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
http://www.northernbrewer.com/

What he said. +1. If you sign up for Northern Brewer email alerts, they let you in on some good savings and occasional free stuff. I also had good luck with both Midwest and Morebeer as well as Williams Brewing.

Cheers!

 

[RobInOre]

Welcome!
There is no bad way to get started, here's what I did though;
Read a book. Joy of Homebrewing or How to Brew (preferably both). These put a ton of information at my fingertips.
Brew a simple extract kit with a short brew-to-drink time. Gave me confidence that I could make drinkable beer without learning brew science.
Lurk through these forums and read, read, read. Every question has already been asked and answered. Of course sometimes it easier to ask again instead of searching.
Enjoy this hobby for yourself. Don't let others tell you what you have to do. Don't be afraid to experiment. Don't be afraid to fail.

 

[McKnuckle]

BrewingTV was mentioned. Epic video blog; went on for 3 years or so but is now sadly defunct... Nevertheless, you must watch and be inspired:

http://brewingtv.com/episodes/

 

[unionrdr]

I think Gary of Home Brewer TV is still a member here as well. You can find his videos on youtube. As mentioned, there are a lot of books on home brewing out there, as well as mine. Old beers, new, crazy beers, yeasts, water, malts. Lots to read up on on amazon & other places, like supply sites.

 

[b-boy]

Welcome.

I want to throw my favorite online retailer into the mix - rebelbrewer.com. Very fast delivery. I'm in Buffalo, NY and I generally get my stuff in 2days. Seeing that you're in Florida, they should probably be able to deliver to you very quickly.

For hops, I like labelpeelers.com or hopsshack.com. I generally buy by the pound.

 

[dlester]

Don't skip any steps of the process. McKnuckle has it right, I'll also guide you in the same direction with a good quick start lesson on brewing. These articles are from a book published by the well respected home brewer, John Palmer:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1.html

Whey you buy your kit, include bottles, bottle caps and sterilizing solution for your equipment and bottles. Those aren't always included. Don't buy the Mr. Beer brewing kit.

Good Luck

 

[mcbar]

My first foray into brewing was with a Brew House kit. It's basically a bag of concentrated (slightly acidified) wort. Dump it into a bucket, add included pH satabilizer, add some water, pitch your yeast. Great way to learn the basics of sanitization and see what fermentation looks/smells/sounds like. Also you get a bit of practice taking hydrometer readings, using a siphon and taking notes. Fundamental brewing skills - but certainly not rocket science

From there I did a couple extract batches, then a couple with steeped grains. Now I'm doing BIAB. I probably could have gone straight to BIAB but I wanted to get my process ironed out before adding another variable (mashing efficiency).

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Randomnoob]

As much as I like Northern Brewer and other nationally established home brew stores please be sure to look for a home brew store in your area. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/find-a-homebrew-supply-shop/

I believe in helping to support locally owned and operated businesses, I think they help make better communities. The one I go to, the owner runs the local homebrew club and has helped to get the community involved in craft brewing and home wine making as well.

As for myself, I didn't read any books or anything like that, I saw some videos on YouTube of guys homebrewing and got excited about it. I went out and got a homebrewing starter kit, a four gallon pot, a Hefeweizen extract kit and made beer the next day. The next week, I bought several 12 packs of New Glarus beer and had everyone drinking it so that I could clean out the bottles and use them for my home brew. Two weeks after brewing, I bottled it and cleaned out my fermenter and made an Amber Ale. I just made batch number 35 on Thursday. In the two years since I started, I made, what I think are some pretty good beers. And I've made some that taste like they could double as rocket fuel.

Before I started doing all grain, I read some books and learned more about what was going on and what ingredients did what. Homebrewing got me interested in cooking. After I started growing hops, I got interested in gardening. Building a hop trellis got me interested in wood working. I think it can really expand your horizons in so many different ways.

 

[T-Black]

Before I started doing all grain, I read some books and learned more about what was going on and what ingredients did what. Homebrewing got me interested in cooking. After I started growing hops, I got interested in gardening. Building a hop trellis got me interested in wood working. I think it can really expand your horizons in so many different ways.

Thats awesome that it expanded your know how and interest for other things.

 

[unionrdr]

It just sorta happened max, ya know? A piece from here, a piece from there...:rockin: