What’s Brewin’

I’m interested in becoming a home brewer. Is the cost of equipment and time spent brewing worth the cost savings in the long run?

My setup cost me less than $80.

My pot was less than $20, my fermenter was $20, and then various tubes, hydrometer etc. I was lucky and got some equipment from a thrift store (hello $4 capper)

It’s paid for itself at this point.

To start, all I had was a bucket, a pot, some tubing for syphoning, and a hydrometer, and I"ve been adding since then. over time.

just want good varieties of barley malt, hops, grains, etc for home brewing…
Ok, I should have (obviously) been more specific: I’ve been to a home brew supply (in the yellow pages) in the Cooper Young area, but it wasn’t the greatest. Anyone know of others?

Note: I’ve tried yellow pages, yp.yahoo.com, google.com etc. I’ve done the obvious.

Look in the yellow pages or google home brewing

I would like to move past home brewing with pre-made kits, but easy recipes seem hard to find. I’m also looking to learn how to brew with actual malts, instead of just malt extracts, but I have no idea how to do this.

My favorite for beginners (and more advanced brewers, too) is Papazian’s book The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing. It gives you technique, theory and recipes. Don’t jump to all-grain brewing just yet. Try a few batches of extract plus specialty grains first.