Welcome - Yes, it will seem like a college course plan for a while, but the concepts are solid and you can do it easily once enough study is done.

May I recommend some new distiller reading? I prefer Brewhaus and artisan over HD, but they've some excellent information here worth reading: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

And http://homedistiller.org - This is where I started before I became a member at distilling forums. There's enough to study to keep a fella busy for a month or more!

Good crew here, thou - These boys here will help ya with jes about any thing, or tell ya where to find it

Good Luck, and happy Stillin'

That's a great approach. Make several batches, following the recipe exactly. Once you understand what you're making, and you know you're making it correctly, you can start tweaking.

You can download recipes (pdf format) here:

http://www.northernbrewe...cipe-kits/all-grain-kits

Select a recipe, click on the "Additional Information" tab, then click the link for "Recipe and Instructions."

If you know what style you're after, you might also want to look at "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. Along with some great technical information in the front matter, he breaks down various styles based on actual commercial and NHC Second-Round recipes. It's a good way to know what is going into the recipes that are considered the best.

--JB

Edit: If you haven't done much brewing, you might want to first get the book "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It's really a very good book and it'll get you through your first brewday with a minimum amount of surprises.