Straight into AG?

[MyQul]

Iain, that's good to know as ideally i did want a slightly weaker beer will leave this one now though :)

Rodwha, i have to admit i did rush into this recipe i hope it turns out good even though it may not be exactly what i was aiming for! I will have to give dry hopping and a proper American IPA a go in the future however i think i will have a go at another style first (this time do some more research)!

On that note does i have seen the book "brewing classic styles" recommended, what do you guys think? it sounds like it will be a good basis to get some tried and tested beers brewed before moving onto more adventurous types?

My brother has a RO setup for his fishtanks so i could quite easily get some RO water, i have seen people mention that it is quite hard to get the correct balance of minerals from pure RO water? have yo any experience in brewing from pure RO water? if so how hard is it?

Thanks Dan for the information, i have been using dry yeast but thinking about making a stir plate out of some spare PC components i have lying around and trying to make my own yeast starter for a future batch. Really like the technical side of things so i need to ensure i'm not doing too much to early... but from videos is don't seem to hard (famous last words).

The homebrew store isn't exactly "local" its in Faversham but its not too far away and seems like a nice place, link is below (i am hoping im allowed to post this):
http://www.homebrewkent.co.uk/

Also have a practically unused aquarium air pump i can use for aerating the wort once i order some new tubing and air stone, there is no real risk of over aeration unless your using O2 i believe? Do you think its worth me using this method over rocking or paddling the wort?

Sorry for the slightly rushed post :-?
and thanks again everyone! :thumb:

As others have said a stir plate isnt absolutely necessary. I just use a 5L demijon which I shake 4 times a day. But a stir plate greatly increases the yeast yield and if you enjoy the technically side of things I'd definately say go for it as they seem pretty easy to make from the youtube vids I've seen

 

[Birkin]

I haven't read all the comments on this, I just wanted to add, I went from a boil and add water can kit to full blown all grain.

I missed the extract phase completely!

I bought a Burco Cygnet 30l tea urn off of eBay for £69, which is fantastic, holds a lovely rolling boil.

For jumping in, I've never looked back, my beer has been an absolute pleasure to drink so far!

For water, I've found unless you're making lager then straight tap water seems to work just fine!

 

[rodwha]

RO water is devoid of any minerals. That would be less than ideal.

Read through this. It's said to be a bit outdated in some regards but is still a nice free reference:

http://howtobrew.com

 

[rodwha]

I, also, would just shake my starter. But I also dump the active starter instead of chilling and decanting as in my mind this just slows it down. Although I can't say I ever noticed any issues I recently began using a whisk to aerate the wort for the starter, which is what I also do for my beers. Cheap, efficient, and simple.