Hello to everyone. I am a new. I have been reading some good stuff on brewing here. I know nothing about brewing. Please send me in the right direction to learn how to brew and what equipment to buy. My favorite Ale is Gulden Draak. Thanks ahead blackau.
Howtobrew.com, or get the latest book. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing book. Two good places to start. NB has starter kits. Buy one after reading the two previous books. You can also look up a local homebrew club on the American Homebrewers Association website. Good luck!
Thanks
Doing is the best teacher, get an extract kit with dry yeast. NBs equipment kit includes a DVD too.
Yep, most people will begin with an extract kit and an equipment kit. This will help you understand the steps needed to make beer. NB kits are tried-and-true recipes and all you would have to do is choose which recipe you think sounds good for your first batch. Many brewers then go from there… picking up more equipment, possibly experimenting with their own recipes, turning their entire house into a brewery and eventually buying $78,000 worth of stuff. But whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m getting ahead of myself. :lol: This is a good place for advice so you’re on a good track. Good luck and cheers.
+1 to all above. When I got my standard equipment kit I added the Gravity Testing Kit and have been very happy that I had it from the get-go. Here’s the link to NB’s kit.
If you can make a boxed cake or follow an equivalent basic recipe you will make good beer on your first try. If you can make them well and carefully read directions, you should make very good beer.
Read the directions once, do it twice. Wait. Other way around. :mrgreen:
Read the free version of “How to Brew” by John Palmer. There’s an OLD version available free at howtobrew.com Later editions include more and better info, but you have to actually pay for them; it’s a good investment. Before you go all-grain, read dennybrew.com.
Measure once, cuss twice. Measure twice cut once.
Gulden Draak! Oh yeah! Love the stuff too, also delirium Tremens. I would love to brew those. Anyone have an all grain recipe for those?
Two books I found helpful are How To Brew by John Palmer and Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. Only speaking for myself, even after reading through them I still have lots of questions and a lot of learning to do. That’s why I love this forum. Tons of amazing people here willing to give advice.
As far as equipment goes, besides your basic kettle and plastic bucket fermenter I would recommend a hydrometer, wort chiller and Starsan for sanitizing anything that touches your wort after the boil. An Auto siphon is a good tool, if you didn’t get one with your basic equipment I would get one. It makes transferring your beer from one vessel to another easy.
Curious - are there any home brew supply stores around you? I have a few within 20 min or so drive, with at least two of them staffed/owned by pretty knowledable brewers themselves. They both have classes etc PLUS even if you don;t want to do a class I have found if you go in to talk to them they LOVE talking about brewing.
Home brewers across the board seem to be a proud bunch of folks that LOVE to see others come into the hobby. if you have a smaller mom and pop home brew supply place you might find someone in there to at least bounce ideas off. Although at times their stuff is more expensive, I try to make sure I at least buy a few things from them if I bent their eye for 20 minutes about something.
just maybe another idea.
