I'm looking into brewing what's your advice for a newbie that will start with extract? Such as kinds, equipment, tips, websites and such?
Two great sites for beginners:
homebrewtalk.com
17brewcrew.com
Also look up homebrewing videos on Youtube. There are a ton of them.
honestly though, you really don't learn anything until you just decide to brew and get after it. A lot of it is just practicing and knowing how to manage your time.
There isn't a lot to it. I'm with ripvdub though, just get the few essentials you need from a starter kit and I think you'll be happier in the end with a nice kit from say Northern Brewer or even if you know they are fresh, Brewers Best can make a decent kit as well. I'm just not a fan of pre-hopped extract kits. It really limits what you can do with them as they aren't designed to be reboiled, if you want to add more hops, etc. I've had both, pre-hopped no boil versions and regular extract beers where you boil and add the hops as you go. I've had good and bad versions of both, but you just get more variety in kits where you do the boil and add hops during that.
honestly, it's really simple, especially extract. Just plan ahead and make sure you have everything laid out and ready to go, have a nice spray bottle of sanitizer handy for your equipment after the boil. (no need to sanitize anything that will be boiled first) and a bucket full of water to do washes of stuff. Doing a partial boil is no problem on your home stove, so I would do that first. If you like it, then you can invest in better outdoor burners.
Doing partial boil, only add about half the extract at the beginning. And make sure you take it off the burner before adding the extract. You want to make sure it's mixed well before you put it back on, that stuff will scortch if you arent careful and give a funky flavor to the beer.
My big recommendation for you though, if brewing a basic ale, would be to have some sort of temperature control while your beer is fermenting. Especially in the summer. If it's 72 in your house and you just ferment at room temp, for most ales, this is going to be too warm and give you some funky flavors. The instructions will probably say that temp is OK, but what they really mean is the temp of the fermenting wort, which can climb up to 10degrees above room temp.
When I first started, I simply froze a gallong jug of water. Then set it next to my fermentor and wrapped a big towel around the whole thing. This did a nice job of keeping it in the mid 60s, which is perfect for most ales.
Now, the reason I emphasize the cooling of the fermentor, is because I believe this is really the main reason those who try brewing don't stick with it. It's still makes beer, but if fermented too warm, you'll think, Meh, it isn't worth the hassle, I can buy better beer. Now with a good kit, fermented correctly and with proper sanitization, I personally think you'll be blown away by what you can produce in your kitchen.
Oh yeah, make sure, if you have chlorine in your water supply you remove that, either by filter, buying bottled water or camden tablets. Chlorine still in the water will leave some funky flavors as well.
Good luck.
I'm actually doing a double brew tomorrow. I thought I had a good supply until friends and family came over during the holiday weekend. My supply took a huge hit. So I'm probably going to start with a Citra based IPA, then probably put together a lighter Cascade American Pale Ale. I have an Amber I just kegged because the 2 gallons I had left got killed over the weekend along with a Ginger Wheat I had. I'm scared to see how far down my IPA is that I just finally got up to carb last Thursday. It's kind of crazy how little 5 gallons really is when you get just a few people drinking it.