New to home brewing

Im relatively new to this but the kit I recovered which got me started was essentially an all grain kit. After getting into it I started reading books and they all stated that, that is the advanced method for brewing. Is the things I could learn from going back to do some extract brewing that can't be figured out from the grain method.

In extract brewing half the job is already done for you, instead in all grain brewing you can deal with other things that will make you have a more accurate control on your procedures as well as a much more personalized beer. Mashing is the basis with all its details you have read in books and although you`ll have to manage a lot of detail (temp. control, enzymes, pH, sparging) and some extra hardware don`t let these things drive you mad, it is all a matter of brewing batches, reading and asking for advice. Here almost nobody brews with extract (they are expensive and hard to find) so we all started all grain and believe me  There are great beers.

I have been brewing or 20+ years off and on and I still do extract brews on a regular basis. Someone told me over 75% of the homebrewers were extract brewers, and I would not doubt that.
You can learn a lot of basic techniques doing extract brews. I first went to full batch boils from kits, then started using the palest malt I could find and starting playing with speciality grains for color and body.
From there I went to partial mash. I still prefer partial mash because of the time and ease on brewing day, but that is just my preferences.
Bottom line, have fun and do what YOU want, not what everyone on every forum thinks you should want.

Ed

I brewed extract for years, did a couple partial mash brews, then went all-grain. I never looked back.

I've been brewing for over 7 yrs.  I started out with brewing extract recipes and made some great tasting beer.  Extract brewing kept things simple at first which allowed me to concentrate on certain techniques; like maintaining a mash temp by steeping specialty grains, sanitation, and full-boils.  After about 9 months of extract brewing, I made the move to AG.  This time also allowed me to acquire the necessary equipment to move to all-grain.  I personally haven't run into too many homebrewers who started out brewing AG.  I'm not sure I would have had the success I had early on if I would have started with AG. 

  I prefer All Grain brewing but got a great deal last Fall on extract kits via a Target closeout sale.  I bought 50+ MrBeer Octoberfest kits @ $4.00 each!  Do some research here on the forum, ask lots of questions and brew that kit!!