Can anyone recommend to a rookie the best way to begin brewing your own? I have wanted to get into brewing my own, but I am not sure where to begin. TIA for any & all input. :cheers:
The easiest was is to do extract and start with something like a blonde ale.
Get the extract recipe kit.
Get the biggest pot you can boil in.
Buy only a primary fermenter, cap and air lock.
Buy Sanitizer
Buy a siphon
This looks like a pretty good starter kit and it includes a recipe.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...arter-kits/essential-brewing-starter-kit.html
Boil the extract and water and for duration it says and add hops when it says.
Cool to pitching temperature around 70F. (Ice bath, adding water if you couldn't boil whole volume, heat exchanger is best, but that can be brought later.)
As it is cooling, re hydrate dried yeast or if using liquid have it out at the beginning per directions.
Transfer to fermenter via siphon. If you can shake to oxygenate it.
Pitch in yeast and let ferment for 3 weeks. (With a good fermentation, this can be scaled back to as little a 4 days).
You are now ready for bottling or kegging a pretty good beer.
Full volume boiling, quick cooling, worflock or irish mosh, controlling fermentation temperature, cold crashing, and yeast fining are all additional ways of improvement for clarity and taste. All-grain is another step as well. But just doing the basics above will still produce a good beer.