Beginning the quest (to brew good ale)

[AlexCricket]

Pleased to see that you are taking the plunge. I think that the choices you have made are sensible. When I started I had a little more cash so spent out on the bench capper but I certainly think that going for the two-handled is better than one you smack with a hammer - hammer + glass + man desperate for beer = disaster.

Just one other tip - if you can be selective with what bottles you collect. Fuller's, Old Specled Hen, Badger Brewery, Theakstons, and Wychwoods labels soak off very easily - Plastic ones used on Thwaites and Hook Norton are nearly impossible. Also you may find that with the two handled capper it is more sensitive to the shape of the top of the bottle. Irritatingly I believe Wychwoods and Batemans cause difficulties. Be sure to use proper strong beer bottles particularly if you are going to do anything with a high carbonation.

[TheMumbler]

TheMumbler - I'm very interested in that ginger beer as both me and my gf love the stuff. I'm thinking that should be my third brew. Is it the coopers kit you are doing?

Yeah it is the Coopers kit. All bottled yesterday so now I just need to let the yeast convert the priming sugar to CO2 so it is nice and fizzy and then fall out of suspension a bit which I guess will take a week or two. I've already had some though because lancssteve who posts made a batch in the summer and I got a drink or two of it while helping him with a bit of DIY. It was good enough for me to make up a batch... Mine looks to have turned out pretty weak (around 2.5%) and I used 1kg brewing sugar as advised on the kit so you might want to up the sugar if you prefer a stronger drink. I'm thinking I might put a splash of crabbies in it if I feel like something a little stronger. I'm going to try the old fashioned way in a demijohn soon so I'll post how that turns out, might work out cheaper if you are on a budget.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A634664
also a fair bit of discussion here
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20529&st=0&sk=t&sd ... inger+beer

Good luck