I have browsed the forum here for awhile and have been curious about home brewing. I work for a beer and wine distributor and am always trying to learn more. I have been a pure craft beer drinker for about 2 years now. I have decided to embark on the home brew journey...but where or how do I begin? Trial and error? Any books you guys recommend? I guess I just need a starting point.
How to Brew by John Palmer considered by most to be "the" book for homebrewers. Homebrewing will definitely improve your knowledge and understanding of beer. It’s also a fantastic hobby/pastime/way of life. I would also recommend that you purchase a starter kit from your LHBS that should contain all the essential basics. The kit should include things like a large food grade bucket with sealable lid and bung hole for an airlock, a 5-6 gallon glass carboy, racking cane, hose for the cane, hydrometer, thermometer and basic recipe kit. Other useful items might be a bottle capper, Star San, Idophor, and PBW. As you become more confident as a homebrewer, you’ll still be able to use many of the aforementioned items if/when you decide to move to all grain brewing.
Just my opinion, but I would probably just buy the hard copy (3rd ed.) because I just listened to an interview with JP where he stated flatly that he either needs to remove the free online version (1st ed.), or update it to reflect several changes. I see he’s done neither nor however, so it might not be as big a deal as he seemed to make of it in the interview.
Welcome to this Homebrew forum. Look at the previous threads in this forum because your question is a very frequent one, and there are sometimes different replies in them about books, equipment to purchase, newbie hints, etc. Keep reading the forum too because it is a good source to learn answers to frequent questions about brewing problems too.
My first book was by Dog Fish head owner Sam. C called extreme brewing. It was a good introduction to brewing and has easy to follow recipes. I made several good extract beers from that book. Good read.
My advice is to read the How to Brew online addition, brew an extract batch, and then ask a lot of questions. A lot of things for me didn't make sense until I did it for the first time. After I brewed my first batch, I understood enough to realize what questions I needed to ask. There is a lot of good advice posted on this forum.
