Newbie

[Afeit]

I'm in the process of getting all the equipment to start brewing. My boss use to brew and has to,d me to skip the bottling and go straight to kegs. Any suggestions? Also as an avid beer drinker, any recommendations of my first brew?

 

[estricklin]

I personally enjoy bottling and it's a much cheaper way to get into brewing. Spend your money on temp control and o2 equipment for now.

For your first brew, brew what style you are the most familiar with and love the most.

 

[Afeit]

Thank you. Any recommendations on that equipment?

 

[Maltrageous]

I'm interested in home brewing as well, I will be following this thread closely for tips.
I would like to brew an amber lager with a hoppy taste, that's what I like to drink. How should I begin, i.e. what are the first steps to starting a home brew system?

 

[estricklin]

A good starter kit can be purchased from your local homebrew supply store or from an online store such as midwest supplies or monster beer. Look for a kit with a couple of buckets, in my opinion you can skip the carboys. You'll need an auto siphon and a bottling wand, a good pot to start out with extract should hold at least 3 gallons. You can brew outside on a turkey fryer setup too, this is the method most guys on this forum take.

I've got the Johnson temperature controller hooked to a chest type deep freeze, and that is how I ferment and lager beer. To brew lagers your going to need a lot more time for the process, and temperature control, something capable of holding 40 F for about 4-6 weeks.

There are a lot of good sticky threads on this forum to help you get started, also get yourself a book on brewing, John Palmer's got a great one, and Homebrewing for Dummies is good too. A recipe book is nice as well, though you can find recipes all over the web.