Brewing Made Easy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Beer at Home

by Joe Fisher, Dennis Fisher

Get brewing! This foolproof beginner's guide to brewing great beer at home includes everything you need to know to make your very first batch. With step-by-step instructions, insightful advice, and simple recipes for a variety of beer styles, you'll be proudly sipping your own homemade beer in no time. This revised edition covers additional techniques and equipment, as well as new varieties of hops and other ingredients. Ground yourself in the basics of homebrewing and experiment with new tastes and combinations. It's fun, easy, and oh-so-rewarding!

Genres: Beer, Brewing, Nonfiction

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 12, 1996

About the author

Joe Fisher, 53, author of The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, died on Wednesday, May 9, 2001, by jumping off a limestone cliff at Elora Gorge, near his hometown of Fergus, Ontario, Canada. A variety of personal problems, including a growing list of unpaid bills for the writer, appeared to have pushed him over the edge. In one of his last communications with his editor-in-chief, Patrick Huyghe at Paraview Books, Fisher noted that the spirits were still after him for having written his final book.

Joe Fisher was an investigative writer specializing in metaphysical topics. His books had sold more than one million copies in 22 languages.

Andrew Joseph Fisher was born and educated in England; he held dual citizenship with Canada, his home base since 1971. He regularly gave workshops and seminars based on his explorations into the supernatural.

A veteran broadcaster who gave more than 200 radio and television interviews on his work, Fisher started his career as a junior reporter on The Staffordshire Advertiser where he became, at 22 years of age, the youngest news editor in England. After emigrating to Canada, he worked as an investigative reporter and feature writer for both The Toronto Sun and The Toronto Star. His journalistic stints were interspersed with excursions to Greece, Ireland, Ecuador, Morocco and Peru where he pursued personal writing projects. At Ecuador's Colegio Americano in Quito, he taught English and composed journals which were later edited for the book Cotopaxi Visions: Travels in Ecuador.

In 1981, Joe Fisher left daily journalism to concentrate on writing books and freelance articles. Since then, he has traveled widely (Australia and Antarctica are recent destinations) and contributed to periodicals ranging from Canada's national dailies, The National Post and The Globe & Mail, to magazines including Outpost, Equinox, Ocean Drive and Life & Soul.

Joe Fisher's books included the contemporary metaphysical classics The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, Life Between Life, The Case For Reincarnation and Predictions. While His Holiness The Dalai Lama wrote the preface to The Case For Reincarnation, film rights to Hungry Ghosts have been optioned to a Los Angeles film company which is moving towards production.

For five years, Fisher painstakingly investigated the claims of channelers and the mysterious voices that speak through them. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, his last book, is his gripping journey into a realm of darkness and deception. The revised edition includes a new foreword by Colin Wilson, and an epilogue that updates events since the book was first published in the U.K. a decade ago.

In 1987, Fisher was presented with The Leask Award by The Spiritual Science Institute of Canada for "making an outstanding contribution to the field of spiritual awareness."

Many in the publishing community, as well as friends of Fisher's, are expressing shock at his death. A Fergus-area friend, writer Sheila O'Hearn said: "He believed in giving of himself for other people. He felt, for him, that's what life was all about." Her husband, Ray Krzyzanowski remarked: "He's going to be really missed. He was my only real friend here. I'm going to miss him.'

Fisher's family have decided there will be no services.

--Loren Coleman



http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/f...

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great brewing book for beginners like me.

[sidewalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again a book I got from the publishers to review. My husband and I have long thought about brewing a little beer our selves. Being from Bavaria, I am rather picky about what I drink and the most commercially available ones just don't cut it for me.

So along came this book (shortly after I got the Brew like a pro).
The title really says it all! This book makes brewing easy! It is definitely something everybody interested in brewing a few liters at home should read (and then move up to Brew like a pro).

The book breaks it down very nicely. The setup suggested in this book is nice an easy (ok, so some of the things needed WILL cost you a few bucks. It's not the most expensive set up out there though, but it will get you started nicely and keep you going for a while, before you want to "upgrade")

As mentioned earlier, I am from Bavaria and picky about beer, but: I loved the recipes in this book! They have three really nice German recipes we WILL DEFINITELY try out! :)

This book is a wonderful basic starter guide for anybody interested in home brewing. It's a nice size. Not a novel size, but all the information you need to start this successfully and safe!!!!

This book is easy to read and understand, even if you have never so much as brewed coffee before.

I give it 4 stars out of five, because I would love a few more recipes. When you start out, it's nice to have a recipe to follow before you go experimenting! The price is not bad as well. For $12.95 you really get a goo idea of what you need and how it's done.
Other then that this book really hit the spot and this summer we will have back yard BBQ's with home brew! WOHOOOO! :)

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact that it's such a short book is both its best quality and its main short-coming. This book gives just enough practical advice to help get someone oriented to the art of home-brewing so that they can confidently brew their first couple batches. But there isn't much in there about some of the finer, more technical points -- the particulars about different hop varieties or yeast strains, for example. As someone who has a bit of brewing under his belt now, this book felt like "not enough" -- but at the same time, I think if someone had handed me this book a year ago when I was just getting started[^1] I think it would have been just the right amount of detail for those first couple batches.

Recommendation? If you want to try homebrewing, and you're not the kind of person who goes "all in" all at once, then this is the perfect book to get you started. But it won't be long before you graduate to Papazian's or Palmer's book.[^2]

Nice set of recipes in the back, though.

---

[^1]: And let's be frank here -- even after a year, I'd still say that I'm "just getting started".

[^2]: But if you are the kind to go all in, all at once, then just skip straight to Palmer's How to Brew or Papazian's The Joy of Homebrewing . Since that's where you're likely to end up anyway.

[EdibleNotesReviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is enough beer-knurdness contained in Brewing Made Easy to satisfy even the most hard-core enthusiast, let alone first-time fermenters. From noble ales to the farthest you can fall down the rabbit hole flavored brews, the Fisher brothers lead the way to a foamy satisfaction. Everything for a beginner is outlined clearly, with just a little assumption that the reader has already scratched the beer-making underbelly of jargon.

A great, frothy first-timers entry into the dark, but noble, world of home fermenting.

Edible Notes received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and no other compensation for this review.
(c) EdibleNotes, 2013 This review is not be used without prior consent of Edible Notes for any commercial purpose.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very detailed book, so if you're looking for a brewer's manual check elsewhere. However, I appreciated the authors no-nonsense honesty and realism. For example, the supply list in minimal but efficient. There were a few tips I appreciated, even as an already all-grain brewer. The recipes are mostly extract and do not include anything particularly interesting or special.

This is a pretty fun intro book. Everything is approachable and, more importantly, manageable. The authors are realistic about what new brewers need to know and present it well.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As warm weather approaches, so does full-on home brewing season. I picked up this book to brush up on the fundamentals and get some recipe ideas, and it did not disappoint. It's meant for the novice brewer, but that's implied by the title.

Highly recommended as a quick and easy primer on home brewing.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, there's not much that's memorable in this little book. It's nicely designed, but none if the tips or recipes are things I haven't seen in a million other brewing books. It wouldn't be a terrible one to check out if you want a simple beginner book, though.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very concise read that emphasized recipes. Not a ton of technical detail and very sparse prose. A few explanations here and there, but that was just about it. Worth a read and some of the recipes look solid.

[Michelle's Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This book cover is on my Pinterest board and my blog, Michelle Dragalin’s Journey.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good beginning how to on home brewing beer. Easy to follow and some recipes to try. Good glossary

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a thin book, it has a lot of information.