A few Christmases ago, Beth got me a kit to brew beer from Midwest Supplies. We also bought some stuff at Maryland Homebrew. Shopping on the internet is fun, but sometimes it is nice to go to a store (and not wait for UPS all damned day).
Now that we are back in NYC, Brooklyn Homebrew seems to be the place to get supplies and advice.
I've got some pictures and details below.
Our first batch was a maple flavored beer. Considering that we poured an entire bottle of syrup into it, the maple flavor was pretty subtle. It tasted fairly close to normal beer with a hint of maple. I will definitely try something different next time.
Here are notes that I kept about specific gravities and temperatures while brewing.
We currently have a batch of nut brown ale fermenting. So far, it smells a lot less hoppy than any other beer we've made.
Here are the notes on specific gravity, temperature, and eventually taste.
Here are the notes I took.
Unfortunately, this beer did not come out good (or properly carbonated).
This is mostly based on a recipe from Brooklyn Homebrew although we did go our own way for some parts. Our thermometer seems to have died partway through so we had to wing it a little it in terms of temperature.
Once again starting from a recipe from Brooklyn Homebrew.
Actually doing a recipe we used before again since it was such a nice, summery beer.
We loosely based this on a recipe we found on www.hopville.com.
This one was based on a bunch of different recipes.
DuClaw, one of my favorite restaurants in Maryland and a great Brewery posted some of their recipes online. This beer very loosly follows their Misfit Red recipe.
A little late in the season, but oh well.