I want to start home brewing. Where do I start? What should I get and what should I stay away from? Thanks!
Get How to Brew by John Palmer and read it a few times before you start. Then just go to your local homebrew supply store and get the starter kit. That should give you everything you need to get started.
Everything he said above. And kudos for not thinking you know enough to get started before you knew enough to get started. This is a great hobby. Welcome.
Right! And you don't have to spend a lot of money on equipment. The simplest setup will make beer just as great as a $3000 über system, if you know what you're doing. And if you stick with it and graduate to all grain after some overall experience with the brewing process, you'll save quite a bit of money over buying commercial beer. I hardly ever even buy commercial beer anymore.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/best-home-brewing-equipment.261793/ Some really good advice on this thread as well. I just brewed my first beer yesterday. My suggestion would be to write down everything you plan to do from cleaning/sanitizing all the way to putting in your airlock. Then have someone who is experienced take a look at it and tell you how to fill in the gaps. "How to Brew" is a good start, but actually doing it is a little harder. For example I had no idea who quickly my ice bath would melt while trying to cool more wort. Luckily we still have about 6 inches of snow on the ground in Chicago. I used no less than 20 bowls of snow to help cool down my kettle in the sink.
The first thing you need to buy is a Morebeer single tier automated brew sculpture Then you need to buy a Morebeer heated and cooled conical fermenter Then you will need to convert a room in your house to propagate yeast Don't forget to buy some StarSan
OP, if you didn't have a chance to get to your favorite good bookstore, you can read Palmer's book at howtobrew.com which is an earlier edition, but not significantly different from the currently available book. But having a hard copy of the book is recommended because you can mark it up with notes, highlighter, etc. Palmer also discusses the brewing equipment that you need. Happy reading, and welcome to this insane (but fun and satisfying) hobby.
homebrewtalk.com is a great site dedicated to the home brewer. You can learn anything there. I learned pretty much everything I know there (other than by experience). Of course one of the first things I learned was to read Palmer's book. You can access an older version on line. http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html
My problem with the website to read the book is that it can be difficult to find what you are looking for once you start the process. Once you get to the hot break it is hard to refer to, while the paper copy is much easier to get to what you need quickly.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. My recommendation for the online version was to allow the OP to start reading right away if there is any anxiousness or impatience to get going. Noobies typically don't like to wait until tomorrow to get rolling.
