Can't help you much on the beer other than there should be lots of good info on the net and books too. I' make wine, in particular muscadine wine and have used EC Krauss for some of my supplies. They have a website and I believe they offer some but probably limited beer making supplies because they mostly carry the winemaking stuff. I would think there should be some beermaking specific websites out there but don't know for sure. I think you'll really like this hobby. I once worked with a school administrator who brewed beer and you should have heard some of the brews he came up with, lots of room to expeirment. Oh and the biggest perk, much better than the store bought stuff......