Hey everyone. Very new, very un-experienced soon-to-be brewer here. I’m soon going to buy an all-out set-up for myself to start down my prospective brewing career and I’ve heard the best way to learn the machinations of the trade is to go for a sort of “ride-along”. Where might be the best place in these forums to ask around for a volunteer to chill and drink beers and learn a few things from on one of their brew days? Thanks in advance.
Look into local clubs
Join a club. Don’t know if there’s a club? Ask a worker at your local homebrew shop. Don’t have one of those? Um… read some books and watch YouTube?!
Cheers and good luck!
Where you from?
Try the Nextdoor app and post your interest. Usually someone within several miles is my guess.
I’m in Grosse Pointe, MI. Pretty much bordering Detroit.
Sorry, not close. Beaverton, Oregon. We could Skype 
Welcome to the AHA forums. I was very much just in the same place as you recently. Luckily, I had some good friends who I knew did some homebrewing and convinced them to have a brew day and include me. However, I did a lot of other things on my own, much have already been mentioned. I spent a lot of time reading these forums and doing other research. Spent a lot of time watching videos on YouTube as well. Once I had what I thought was a decent foundation to get started, I dropped by my local HBS, asked them some questions, then purchased some equipment and my first ingredient kit.
Many people told me the best way to learn was to actually brew something. Once you feel somewhat comfortable with the brew day process, get started! If you don’t have any local resources there are plenty of people here that will help you along the way.
We actually implemented a “find me a mentor” and “find me a judge” service on the WA Homebrewers website. You typed in your location, and it would find the folks near you who were willing to bring you in on their brewday, or BJCP judges who would be willing to help you troubleshoot a problematic beer.
I heard it was used a few times, but not many. Too bad. We (and by that I mean Peter Twigg) put a lot of effort into that.
[edit] and my offer to do either still stands. Even if you want to mail me some beers, I’ll give you an honest evaluation. For free.
[edit2] Also, the BJCP web site has 3 lists of Proctors right on the web site (Beer, Mead, & Written). Those folks tend to be the “volunteeriest” of the BJCP volunteers, ie, the written proctor list is made up of folks that are such gluttons for punishment in the name of beer, they are even willing to GRADE exams.
Use this to find a club near you.
CRAFT and KGB will have Big Brew events.
Your request is very timely. The AHA Big Brew day is May 6th and there are local sites all over the world that will be demonstrating brewing. Visit the AHA site and click on the Events tab and go to Big Brew Day. I believe they list sites there.