**do any of you good people know anything about beer making **
Far, Far more than I need to (And Much MUCH more than my wife thinks I should).....
Making beer is really pretty easy, especially if you want to start with just extract kits. From there you can move into different types of specialty grains (Think of them as seasoning you add to the base malt), and then eventually there's 'all-grain' brewing, where you're making beer like the big guys do, just on a much smaller scale.
There are a couple of good books on the subject - The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing (a new edition just came out), and Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide is another good starting book.
I see you're in Ohio, there are several good homebrew stores in Ohio that you can pick from, any of which can help you on your way.
There are also scads of internet sites with tons of info (some good, some not so good), the biggest is the Hombrew Digest
Dark beers are some of the easiest to make, so you're in good shape there. Feel free to email more if you want more info (or post away on the site, maybe someone else will want to know, too!!).
John
Dearborn, MI
Head Maniac, Geneva Street Homebrewery