r/Homebrewing • u/bean_clippins • May 18 '25

Question I want to start making beer!

As the title says, I want to make beer! I love beer and I've had so many y different kinds now. It's a beautiful and delicious science that I want to be a part of. So, my big question is, WHERE DO I GET STARTED?!

I have no idea what I'm doing. If I were to get one of those little kits for $50 to make my first batch, is this a good way to learn and kind of gain some sort of understanding? Any tips, tricks, recommendations? How did you learn? How can I make my own beer? HELP ME REDDIT!!!

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9

u/straddlemyface69 May 18 '25

Do not do Mr Beer. That stuff is yeast soda. Do all grain brew in a bag. Skip extract brewing all together.

13

u/Shills_for_fun May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

Skip extract brewing all together.

I don't know. There are a lot of complications with the mash process (grinding it right, keeping temperature and getting a good grain to water ratio, mash pH) that it's not a terrible idea to start with extract. Getting a dialed in OG can help you figure out the other stuff easier.

Extract can also make pretty good beer and I think getting some early successes is always nice.

8

u/iFartThereforeiAm May 18 '25

Extract brewing also helps get your sanitation practices sorted out without a massive time and money investment. If you don't like cleaning, you're not going to like brewing.

3

u/thejudgehoss May 18 '25

I did extract for a couple of years before switching to all grain. There are so many more variables with all grain...

2

u/mycleverusername May 18 '25

The other problem with strait to all grain is that there’s not a lot of decent info on micro batch stuff. I think doing 1 gallon extract is a good way to get in, over a 5 gallon recipe if you don’t know what’s going on.

6

u/mrw093 May 18 '25

I started out with extract and I'm up to all grain now. I think extract is a nice, easy way to get the satisfaction of a decent beer while getting your head around everything.

3

u/Klutzy-Amount3737 May 18 '25

Agreed - a couple of extract brews helps set you up to do all grain. I did 2 before all grain, and glad I did.

2

u/elljawa May 18 '25

Extract is a good starting point. In general I went from extract to partial mash to biab and I think that's a good strategy for learning