HI, new member with no idea what I'm doing

[JerryMc]

Good to be here. Hopefully I'll learn a lot. I'm in Rock Hill, SC and am new to the brew. Wanted new hobby, this seemed like a great one considering I can drink up my efforts when done.

 

[Chorgey]

Welcome to HBT! There are lots of knowledgeable brewers here. Feel free to ask for help

 

[Drewch]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Sammy86]

Welcome to the community!

 

[jcav]

Welcome to the family!

John

 

[toxdoc49]

Welcome! This is a great forum and community with very helpful members!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Welcome "No idea what I'm doing" !!! So said we all, most of us , in the beginning . I still feel that way from time to time even after 16 years !

 

[bracconiere]

I can drink up my efforts when done.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Good to be here. Hopefully I'll learn a lot. I'm in Rock Hill, SC and am new to the brew. Wanted new hobby, this seemed like a great one considering I can drink up my efforts when done.

Welcome!
As a relative newbie myself, I will offer a little advice.
1. Don't lead with your wallet. Keep it simple and cheap in the beginning. It is hard to beat a complete basic kit, for simplicity and cost effectiveness. Which leads me to,
2. Start with a kit, either a complete kit or just an ingredients kit. Think of it as doing a paint by numbers painting of dogs playing poker before you go to art school. The kit holds your hand a lot through your first batch. I will say this, though. You would probably find it worthwhile to upgrade to a better fermenter than a bucket. The Big Mouth Bubbler is good and I have four of them. The Fermonster looks good, too, I just don't have an excuse to buy another fermenter so I haven't tried one.
3. Keep everything that your beer touches absolutely clean during the process, at least from the boil to capping the bottles or kegging. If you use a clear fermenter you should keep it covered to protect from UV.
4. After your first kit, you could play around with a few extract batches but I would skip to the chase and get started with BIAB, Brew In A Bag brewing. Again, keep it simple. You will want at least a 10 gallon brew kettle, and a spigot is a very useful feature. A crawfish or turkey burner that runs off a propane tank works great as a heat sourse.
5. Stick with ales for at least the first year. Preferably recipes you can do at normal room temperature. That pale yellow pilsner that is so easy to get at the grocery, takes a lot more technical mastery and equipment to do correctly, than a simple ale or stout.
6. Don't toss out that old fridge! If it still works, it may be a prime candidate for conversion to a kegerator. Kegging is actually less work and less mess than bottling, so keep in mind that you might want to get a couple of kegs and the associated paraphernalia at some point.