I picked up my first extract kit today and now I just need the equipment to brew it.  

Actually, I ordered a starter brewing kit several days ago and expect it anytime in the next couple of days.  I'm not crazy about the extract kit that comes with the brewing kit, so I went to the local brew supply store and picked up something more to my liking.  

After reading the instructions, as well as spending the past couple of months doing some research on brewing, I'm thinking I might want to do a fairly lengthy secondary fermentation and maybe add some bourbon soaked oak cubes.  I can always brew the hefeweizen that comes with the kit, while I wait for my preferred beer to be ready.

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Congrats.
Its a fun and rewarding hobby.

I bottled the Heffeweizen that came with my brewing kit, on Wednesday.  The Russian Imperial Stout has about 25 minutes of boiling left.  

I LOVE strong stouts but HATE a strong hop flavor in a stout (that's for Hazy IPA's), so I only used 75% of the hops.  Hopefully it doesn't throw the balance completely off.     Oh well, my biggest motivator for home brewing (besides the chance to spend a lot of money on shiny new toys) is to experiment.

The Russian Imperial Stout is now in the fermenter.  

The hydrometer is hard to read, due to foam and it keeps spinning, but as best as I can tell, OG = 1.074 to 1.075.  The recipe specified 1.076 to 1.080, so I guess I put a little too much water in?  

I hope it tastes less hoppy than it smells.  I used about 75% of the hops the recipe called for.  

Yes, that is Bourbon in the airlock.

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Like used motor oil.  

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ETA:  Holy shit, the wort tastes good!!   It's too bitter for my tastes, but I'll see what happens as it ages.  At some point, I will add bourbon soaked oak or a vanilla tincture made with bourbon.  Going for the barrel aged flavor.

The Imperial Stout has been fermenting for one week and in one more week, I'm going to add these:

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Toasted oak cubes, soaked in Four Roses Small Batch bourbon.  The smell coming from these is incredible and it is indeed some of what I love about barrel aged stouts.  

I did my first all-grain brew last night.  A one gallon ale using the brew-in-a-bag method.  The numbers came out totally screwy and I'm not optimistic about the outcome, but I learned a lot.

The oak cubes went in today and it's sitting at 7.1% ABV.  I might bottle it in a week.

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