Yes, I already have the kits. I agree I should wait on the Pilsner since I dont have a way to cold ferment it yet.Plus im not confident enough yet with the procedure. I ordered Wyeast 2001 Pilsner Urquell for the pilsner which has an optimal temp of 45 to 54. So I will put the lager on the back burner for a while. I will start with the Caribou Slobber and the Beire De Garde. I have a batch of Mild ale fermenting as we speak!
For the beginning brewer the most important thing is sanitation. Next thing is fermentation temperature (don’t go crazy on this one but it helps to get it anywhere in the temp range). When you have those baked into your technique then you can go to those next layers of details.
The kits that are probably the most straightforward to make and are really good for a beginning brewer are: The Innkeeper (late malt addition keeps the color light), just about any Wheat beer (it is supposed to be cloudy and drunk fresh!), and the brown ales (Caribou Slobber is a good one but it does take a couple of months for the flavors to meld.) Those all have low enough OG’s that won’t demand a yeast starter to keep things simple (but as you can see opinions vary.)
Oh yeah and skip the secondary, leave the beer in primary for an extra week, and your beer will be great. Good luck. No matter what happens, you will make beer and you’ll learn something from it.
