kit suggestion for my goals

[decafdave]

Hey all,

I've been wanting to get into brewing for quite some time and want to finally start.

I know different styles have various learning curves and difficulties, and will be starting with an easy brew. But, I want to eventually brew English bitter, and central European style lagers (dunkel, helles lager, Schwartzbier, etc.). Any kit suggestions? Or by the time I'm ready for these maybe I'll have outgrown a kit?

Thanks for your help!

 

[kev211]

I started with a red ale. Pretty straight forward brew (as far as the kit was concerned). I'm fairly new to brewing and I really enjoyed the kit. Unless you have a method of keeping your fermentation cold for lagering I'd suggest starting with the ales

 

[wtfDean]

I think a brown or an amber would be good starter beers. My first was an English brown and it was very straight forward.

 

[wtfDean]

To answer your question about particular kits, I don't recommend any one over another. If there is a brew supply store near you, they probably have a list of kits to pick from. If not and you're on the west coast, I like Williams Brewing. Northern Brewer is another trusted name. I suggest you get something as local as possible.

 

[yeahfairly]

My first Kit was a Hoppy Pale Ale. It was a very easy kit to start out with. It turned out great (my standards were much lower back then). The higher IBUs probably went a long ways in hiding my mistakes. I stuck with that kit for 4 or 5 brew sessions and improved my processes. I could tell the difference between my first and last batch. Big improvement!

 

[HB_in_Subic]

I agree on the Ales for starters and cold storage space required for Lagers. My first was a DME kit from Austin Home brew, AHS Dry Stout. It came out great and darker than oil. My second was an AHS DME Irish Red Ale.

I would pick a type of Ale that you like and go with that in DME until you get your processes down.

 

[RM-MN]

By kit do you mean equipment kit or beer ingredient kit?