BeerBorg

Hello and Welcome to The Borg
Starting with 2.5 is a good idea, you can try smaller amounts of differernt styles and perfect your brewing.
Ask questions as needed and keep good notes on everything you do along the way.
Good Luck and Happy Brewing

Welcome, koontz (and I love your books, BTW)!

Toss me in the same camp as the other "2.5 gallon batches are great!" folks. I do brew fivers as well, but I still have two 2.5 gallon carboys, and two out of every three batches are that size. I just like a lot of variety in my pipeline, and I also like to experiment with recipes and ingredients, and the smaller batches are perfect for that; I can always scale them up to five gallons if I like them (and I've done this quite often).

I also echo the others who exhort you to ask questions. This is a group of people who love to help out their fellow brewers, whether new to the obsession, or with years of brewing experience behind them. Nobody knows everything, so we just help out when we're able, and we always check our egos at the door. A lot of this hobby is Brewer's Choice, so some advice won't be practical for your situation, and that's okay, too. There's no single right way to brew beer, which has led me to formulate The Hat's Number One Rule of Homebrewing: If you like the beer you brewed, you did it right.

Good luck, and welcome again!

I'm also firmly in the "most of my batches are 2.5 gallon" camp. So welcome to the Borg - your in good company here nomatter how you brew.

Welcome, and remember we all started small. We all had questions. I feel that there is no stupid question when it comes to beer brewing no matter how mundane you might feel it it. Nobody here is going to ridicule you for asking newb questions. I like the brew demon fermentor, it can be a little awkward, but it is all new to you so you will develop a system that works for you. My question for you is what are you doing for temperature control? I found that to be the first big step to my beer evolution, and oxygenation of the wort.

Welcome to the Borg! Brew what ever size you want. Most of us started with 2 gal batches and worked up. I still do small batches to perfect recipes or try new ones. Keep us informed on your batches!