I am a homebrewer, and I have made more mistakes than I care to think about. I appreciate Chris's approach to the equipment issue, but I feel the need to speak up. If you are homebrewing because of this forum, then Chris's advice is spot on. If you are homebrewing because you always wanted to, you like beer, and you think you will starting it as a hobby, then look long and hard at your choices. Over the last 15 years I have replaced 4 brew pots, because I went Aluminum to porcelined Iron, and had to keep replacing them. With what I spent of TWO of them, I could have bought my next brewing gadget, a Stainless steel Turkey fryer. Multi tasking is good, particulary when we are buying large, heavy, expensive pots to boil our wort in. Most Mashers (all grain brewers) don't use Al, for several reasons. A good wort pot can also make stock. The other reason I replaced so many was when I went from extract to all grain, after about 6 batches, and need a much larger pot. Next Brewing is fun, and easy, and there are more gadgets than you can shake a stick at. Weigh your needs, wants and thoughts of the future heavily before taking the plunge. I also need to agree with everyone that has championed Wyeast. The sheer volume of the pitch helps the fermentation take off more quickly with less chance of contamination, so new brewers can have a greater chance of success. I started out with dry yeast, and for 5-10 the money (depending on type, size and vender of wyeast) I have found liquid yeast cultures to be 100 times better. pat
