Hello. My dad and I want to make our first home-brew beer. We have decided on an Irish Stout. We were thinking we should start with a recipe that involves malt extract, to keep things as simple as possible. However, most of the recipes I am finding involve making a "tea" using different grains. Is this a good place to start for a beginner? Or, does anyone have any good advice or recipes for me? We are bottling, not kegging, and we want to do something that doesn't require a large boil (we just have basic equipment)

here are some of the recipes I have been looking at. Let me know if they look good, or too complicated:
http://www.breworganic.com/recipes/Irish_extract.htm
http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_156.htm
http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_154.htm

All of those recipes look pretty decent. It's almost impossible to make a good beer with extract alone. The extra grains are there to impart flavor and character. Here's a decent primer for extract brewing. I think if you and your dad take a gander at this, it'll answer most of your questions and give you an idea of what you're trying to accomplish.
http://www.beerdude.com/howto_brew_first_extract.shtml
You'll need a pot big enough to boil all of your malt extract and at least a modicum of water. You don't want your boiling wort to be too thick, otherwise you'll likely experience a lot of boil over. However, you don't need to boil the entire batch. Just top off your fermenter with pre-boiled and cooled water to whatever amount you want to end up with.

Fische,

Hope you have decided to take the leap into home brewing at this point. I just wanted to offer my 2 cents. Your first few batches can be a little intimidating, but it becomes second nature eventually. I support Guitar Lord's comment regarding steeping grains. They are essential to making a better extract beer. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot make outstanding, award winning beer going the extract w/ steeping grains route. Good luck and let us know how everything turns out.

Miguelito