Hey all, I'm new to the homebrewing scene. I just finished my first back which was a 9% dipa and am ready for round two. The first batch I did was extract using my buddies equip. Im looking into getting my own gear and want to know whether I should do extract or bite the bullet and go all grain? Also I am looking for a couple solid books to get the details sorted out, almost like a field guide if you will.. All responses, comments, help is appreciated. Thanks and cheers
Read: How to Brew, by John Palmer http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html If you are still interested, then buy the book. Usually it is the other way around, but the book is more up to date than the site. Also check out The Joy of Homebrewing. Equipment: do a litte research then decide on what you will need. It will depend on what you already have that you can repurpose and also how deep you want to get into it. You can also do a beer advocate forum search for: Absolute noob Absolute beginner Essential homebrewer's library (this one is a gold mine of links and directions to good information) Best kit or best homebrew kit Beer advocate also has a decent search feature for whatever else you are looking for, and there are other Homebrewing forums online. Or you can just post a question on the forum. Then when you are ready for recipe info: Listen for free to The Brewing Network's Jamil Show podcasts on iTunes. They are broken down by style, but they all have good information in them. Some of the shows are much more than just style guidelines and recipe information. Then if you need more in depth information there is also: Brew Strong podcasts for free on iTunes A subscription to Zymurgy and/or Brew Your Own magazine And tons of good information online, just understand that not all of it is good, and some of it is really bad. There are other sites, but bad advice is shot down pretty quickly on this forum AND backed up with solid information and/or experience. Also Vikeman has posted Homebrew42's extract brewing information (awesome) before. I originally included it in this post, but edited it out since I didn't have his permission to post it.
Also check out: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/what-would-be-in-your-essential-homebrewers-library.55709/ There is lots of good texts, links, and information. Also: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/
John Palmer's How to Brew is a great resource for beginners. Another great book is Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles. It will help you by giving you a basic recipe for every BJCP style of beer, and will give you guidelines and things to pay attention to for each particular style. Furthermore, as you gain experience and start to formulate your own recipes, it will be a great tool for referencing specific aspects of ingredients in each style category. Those two books are my first recommendations to new brewers. Good luck!
If I could only choose one it would be Palmer's book. I bought that with the Papazian book when I was first starting. Papazian's was a good encouraging book (think training wheels) - but now the Palmer book is the one I go to when I have questions.
