A new brewer?

[kmon35]

I just got a Mr. Beer for my B-day. Ive read a lot of the posts in this arena, and learned one thing, this looks tough.

Where can I buy suplies and ingredients? I don't like to buy stuff on line, so a store would be great. Do they exist?

Can I use stuff that is not from that Mr beer product line?

And, the last question. My favorite bottled beer is New castle brown ale. Is there a recipe that comes close to that?

Thanks on advance for your info.

[denverd0n]

Mr. Beer is designed to make it very easy for a beginner to create adequately drinkable beer. It works okay in that regard. If you want beer that is anymore than adequately drinkable then you will need to progress beyond Mr. Beer.

My suggestion would be to use up whatever you got with the Mr. Beer kit. Follow the instructions and see for yourself that you can make your own beer. Then head down to the nearest homebrew store (what part of town are you in?), pick up a couple of books, and the equipment for making really GOOD beer!

Good luck.

[kmon35]

Kinda what I thought.

As far as what part of town, Its 6 blocks wide and about 10 long, so I'm kind of close to every where in this town.

About 30 min north of denver, which means all of it, Comerce city and Broomfield are closest though. Also close to Greeley, Loveland and Ft.collins.

[denverd0n]

I'm not familiar with homebrew stores up on that end of town, but I'm sure there are some.

[swest5959]

There is a really good home brew store located in Westminster - off of 120th and 3 blocks west of I25 - located northwest on the block behind the CB Potts (beer) anyway located next to a womans dance hall studio thing. - see if i can find an address for you later this week

[_CJ]

I just got a Mr. Beer for my B-day. Ive read a lot of the posts in this arena, and learned one thing, this looks tough.

It's not really that complicated. You could brew in a five gallon plastic bucket if you wanted.

There are all sorts of ways to make it more complicated than it needs to be, but it's best to keep it simple when you start.

I am by no means a seasoned expert, but I would suggest you pick up a copy of this book. It has everything you need to know.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Harperresource-Book/dp/0060531053/ref=sr_1_1/102-3109859-9424139?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176864492&sr=1-1