A frog in Cork

[Apatride]

Hi guys,

I am a French guy living in Cork and I have been victim of the nastiest scam ever: Some Belgian guy got me addicted to his homebrew and then told me: If you want more, brew it yourself!! I believe that this guy actually spends some time on this forum.
So here I am, waiting for the quarterly bonus to order all the stuff I need. My banker advised me to go extract first and wait a few month before buying a mash tun (being a strong Belgian beer aficionado, I need a big tun).
I have quite a few questions regarding all this and will try to find answers here.
My plan is to have at least 2 fermenters so I can make a batch of strong beer that needs time to mature and something faster to drink in between. I love IPAs, the Brewdog IPA as an example is something I really enjoy and I was wondering how long it takes for this kind of beer to be drinkable.

I already learnt a lot here so thanks for this.

 

[Aunt_Ester]

Welcome, Apatride! Take a look around and ask many questions!

 

[corkybstewart]

Welcome to the site. What part of Frogland are you from? I have a nephew near Chinon who has brewed with me here in the states and has wanted to homebrew, but ingredients are harder to find over there.

 

[Apatride]

Hi Corkybsteward,
I am originally from North of France (50kms away from Belgium) but now live in Cork, Ireland. I am not aware of any local HBS here but I have a few friends who brew all grain here so I guess it is possible to find some proper ingredients.
Chinon is definitely more a wine region so I am not surprised that ingredients can be difficult to get.

 

[DeafSmith]

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of good information here:

http://www.howtobrew.com/

This on-line version is the first edition of his book. He also has an updated 3rd edition in print.

 

[corkybstewart]

Hi Corkybsteward,
I am originally from North of France (50kms away from Belgium) but now live in Cork, Ireland. I am not aware of any local HBS here but I have a few friends who brew all grain here so I guess it is possible to find some proper ingredients.
Chinon is definitely more a wine region so I am not surprised that ingredients can be difficult to get.

My father in law introduced me to Belgian beer 32 years ago, and over the past 10 years I've introduced a lot of my french in-laws to the beauty of french and Belgian beer, including my 66 year old BIL and his wife who had never had a beer until 5 years ago. Now they keep an assortment of beer in their wine cave.