Took The plunge

Happy Fermentations! One piece of advice, get away from the kit recipes as soon as you feel ready. A recipes not hard to make, and its oh so rewarding.

 

Not sure whats included in your "full blown" set up, but 2 of the best investments that are almost never included in the set that shops sell are a wort chiller and a large (10 gallon or larger) brew pot.

Happy Brewing!

 

One of these.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12739

They can be bought cheaper if you find the right deal at the right time and can be way cheaper if you make your own (which I did).

It is to cool the wort as quickly as possible to get it to yeast pitching temperature.

Trust me it makes a huge difference in your brew day!

 

Welcome to the addiction - this is a great board for advice and opinions.

 

Ditto. Read the homebrewing forum as much as you can, there are a lot of guys with a lot of knowledge to share.

 

You didn't really ask for advice, but I recommend you read this before brewing your first batch...

http://www.howtobrew.com/

It's free on line for this old edition. Later, if you found it useful, consider buying the latest edition. But the online version is great for beginners.

Edit: While I'm dispensing unsolicited advice, I'll throw in a copy and paste (from the old forum) on brewing great extract beers from HomeBrew42, one of the most knowledgeable people you'll find around here.

----------------------------------------------------------------
EXTRACT BREWING TIPS
First of all it's important to realize that good quality, fresh extract alone can brew fantastic beer as long as your recipe formulation and brewing technique are good. One of the best beers I've ever brewed, extract, all grain, or otherwise, was an abbey singel that was nothing but pilsen DME, a little table sugar, a touch of hallertauer, and wyeast 1214. I've brewed show stopping English bitters with nothing but Muntons extra light DME, a touch of crystal, some goldings, and wyeast 1968. And nothing is more popular than my simple extract hefe, which is nothing but 6 lbs of wheat DME, an oz of noble hops, and wyeast 3068 (it doesn't get any easier than that, and it's a great beer).

if you want to brew great extract beers, the following guidelines are imperative:

1) FULL WORT BOIL.

I can't stress this enough. If you're doing concentrated boils, you're never going to produce flawless beers, no matter what else you do. If you're brewing 5 gallons of beer, you MUST start with at least 6-6.5 gallons of wort, and this is ESPECIALLY true for very pale colored or very hoppy beers. Late extract additions are helpful for those who do concentrated boils, but they're not a sub for a real FULL wort boil.

2) Use only high quality, extra light, light, or pilsen extracts, and I much prefer dry extracts over liquid, as they tend to be fresher and lighter in color.

Every extract beer that you brew should be based on either extra light DME, or pilsen DME. When an all grain brewer builds a recipe, they start with a pale base malt and work from there, even for the darkest beers, and a great extract brewer should do the same. Extra light extract is nothing but basic good quality 2-row, and a touch of carapils, while pilsen extract is 100% pilsner malt, and either of these are a fantastic slate on which to build any amazing beer. If you want to brew beer like an all grain brewer, then you need to think like an all grain brewer and build your recipes from the ground up.

3) Use only FRESH extract!

Don't buy extract kits that have been sitting on a store shelf for who knows how many millennia. This is especially true with liquid extract, which has a much shorter shelf life than dry and tends to darken and taste stale over time. This alone is a good reason to completely avoid liquid as far as I'm concerned. And try to find a retailer that moves their product and always has fresh inventory. For example a larger online homebrew supply may be better at providing fresh products than your stagnant local shop.

4) Do NOT scorch your extract.

This is yet another reason why I prefer DME over LME, as DME floats while LME sinks to the bottom of the kettle. If you decide to use LME however, remove the kettle from the burner and FULLY dissolve your extract before putting it back on the heat.

5) Know which grains can be steeped and which can't.

The only grains that can be steeped are crystal/caramel/cara malts, and roasted grains like chocolate malt, roasted barley, and black patent malt. EVERYTHING else really needs to be mashed. Doing things like trying to steep oatmeal or munich does nothing but load up your beer with unconverted starch, which is not doing your beer any favors. If you want to include other grains in your extract beers, then do a mini mash, NO exceptions.

5) DO A FULL WORT BOIL! Partial boils kill beer. Seriously.

6) Keep your yeast happy at all times.

It's very important to pitch healthy yeast in adequate numbers, and use yeast that's appropriate for the style. Many extract kits come with a packet of generic "ale yeast" that is typically of low quality. You're never going to brew a fantastic English bitter with an old, stale packet of characterless "ale yeast". Get familiar with handling liquid yeast strains and making starters, and pay attention to proper pitching rates and proper fermentation temperatures, as both are extremely important for producing high quality beers devoid of off flavors.

7) Never ever rush your beer.

Great beer takes time, and most beers will benefit from spending some extra time in the fermenter and in the bottle. This means at least 2-3 weeks in primary before either bottling or moving to secondary, and if you're bottle conditioning give your beers at least 6-8 weeks in the bottle and you're sure to see a great improvement.

And for shit sake, get yourself a bigger kettle! That, along with getting some decent ingredients, are the best things that you can do for your extract beers.

And don't let anyone tell you that you can't brew great beer with extract, because that's BS. Some of the best beers that I've ever brewed were extract beers, no question.
---------------------------------------------

 

My advice is to go easy on yourself. Fifteen years of craft advocacy has probably left you with some very high expectations and dreams of some very special replications. You will not meet those expectations right out of the gate but don't let that bring you down. Learn all you can, brew as often as you are able, keep good notes on process, and every once in a while you will hit one very close to what you expected and it becomes magic.

 

One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to find a brewing partner with experience. You can read all you want, but there really is no learning experience like watching someone who knows what they are doing brew a batch. Then , you can take the reigns on your first brew and have them assist, providing helpful insight along the way. The first time I did this, I felt I acquired as much in a 5 hour brew session as I had in hours of reading on my own.

 

I can't disagree with any of the above advice. Only thing I can add is search for a local brew club. They are a wealth of information and you can also get feed back on your beer. I can only speak about the brew club I'm in but we are very laid back and welcome new brewers and try to help them in anyway we can. We also do a once a year club buy so it help in saving money. We also do special tours of the local breweries and also help with a local homebrew and wine fest. Good luck with your future brews. Cheers, Ken

 

Me and my friend brew together, but neither had any experience. I have found that youtube has alot of videos that can be helpful, especially clarifying and giving visuals of the stuff I have read.

 

where are you located? Check out AHA for a local club (and discounts too!).