Texas greetings!

[sleepygo]

Hi guys, I'm glad I found this place. I've been wanting to brew for a while now but haven't found anything useful until I came to this forum. Any suggestions on first brews? I read the beginners brew topic and was wondering what alcoholic beverage is the easiest to make. I have also heard that the fermenting process smells pretty bad. The reason I bring that up is that I live in an apartment and it would have to be right in my home. I guess if there is no way around the smell I may have to borrow a friend's garage or something. Anyway, thanks for helping out a virgin brewer. Oh, any other helpful suggestions/tips would be most appreciated.

 

[Orfy]

Try a kit to start, brewing normally smells no worse than a good beer mixed with bread making.

Most standard kits a really easy to do.
Go for a standard good quality kit of a style of beer you like. N experimenting.
Lagers take a bit more to do than Ales.

Good luck.

If you are thinking of sticking with it then don't go for the budget kit, you'll soon find you'r self upgrading form plastic to glass etc.

 

[runhard]

Welcome and orfy has a good suggestion in following a kit for at least your first brew. Go and taste many different styles of beer and decide what you like and go from there. Austin Homebrew Supply has quite a large number of kits and recipes that are very respectable. I'm still impressed with their hefeweizen; no wonder it's their most popular recipe.

 

[disaffected]

Check out the beer ingredient kits at Austin Home Brew Supply. They have a lot of great kits, and it's hard to go wrong. Since you are in Texas (I'm assuming from your greeting) UPS ground delivery should be fast.

If you need equipment too, read this recent thread.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[sleepygo]

Thanks for the help. I'm not sure how committed to brewing I'll be, but I'd like to try it a couple of times. So you'll understand if I'm alittle hesitate in getting anything too expensive. I'll definetly look at some kits online... unless you guys know of an easy way for me to figure out if I'm gonna like it. ^_^ orfy thats reassuring about the smell, but I've had friends that have been to a brewery and say it smells aweful. I hope they are wrong, or maybe it depends on the brew?

 

[runhard]

sleepygo, depending on where you are located there are groups who meet regularly to share latest brews, information, ideas, group-brew, etc. If you find a group near you I'd recommend that you visit with them and more than likely someone will offer to lend you some old, unused equipment. If you're around the Austin, Tx area (not Austin Minnesota) I'd be happy to lend you some equipment,......granted if you share a 6-er of you first brew.

 

[sleepygo]

Thanks runhard. I live in Nacogdoches right now, but I do go down to austin for various holidays(family). If I get the opportunity I may take you up on that offer. ^_^

 

[g0dolphins]

<q>I have also heard that the fermenting process smells pretty bad.</q>

That was the major concern my wife had. To me, it brought back memories of my days stationed at Bitburg AB in Germany: yes, it smelled like a brewery, but my wife described it as more like making bread

 

[RichBrewer]

The boiling process causes the most odors. The malt extract and hops are boiled for about an hour. Some people love the smell others hate it.
The fermentation of ales actually smells good to me. Kinda like juicy fruit gum and it is in no way very strong. You have to put your nose right up to the air lock to smell it.