Just add water, boil, add yeast, and ferment. Intermediate brewers use unhopped extract and add hops on their own at different times during the boil. Intermediate brewers can also add what are called specialty grains to the extract. These are whole grains that have been malted. This adds a more complex, full-bodied character to the malt in your beer.
Advanced brewers start from whole grains instead of extract.
Much more work, but you can taste the difference. Hops Hops come in three forms. Whole, plug, or pellets are all available at your local shop. Whole hops are the dried flowers of the hop vine. Plugs are hops compressed into a hockey puck shape, and generally weigh 1 ounce.