Head down to the Vineyard south store and get a beer kit make by Brewhouse (most people say they are the best). The kit instructions will explain the equipment you need to make it, which you can find at the Vineyard or you can hunt around the online classified ads.

Just follow the instructions and you should make a good beer.

A few points to highlight would be: Do a really good job of cleaning and sanitizing, during fermentation try to keep the temperature of the "soon to be beer" at approx 18 degrees C, have patients, never dump your beer down the drain after a week - your beer will improve with time so let it sit for a few months before deciding if it is good or bad.

Come to the next yeast wrangler meeting and ask some questions, and also check out www.homebrewtalk.com.

I have had great results with the Brewhouse Stout and IPA kits.

I find that they make a better beer if you use about 2 litres less water than their instructions call for.

For the IPA I would also recommend adding an ounce of hops (Cascade or Centennial both work good) when you transfer to your secondary.

I'll chime in for another vote for the Brewhouse kits. You can make an excellent IPA by dry-hopping their IPA kit (especially if you use a clean American yeast, like the Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast -- see The Vineyard to get some). The Brewhouse Munich Dark Lager also makes an EXCELLENT brown ale. You can hop it up, as well, with dry hops and make a great American Brown Ale.

There was a good article about a year and a half ago by club member David Gummer on using and improving The Brewhouse kits if you hunt through our newsletters. He also attached some recipes and instructions on the forums here somewhere, if memory serves me correctly. I think you would find that very helpful.

Cheers!