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Brew Better Beer: Learn (and Break) the Rules for Making IPAs, Sours, Pilsners, Stouts, and More
In this colorful homebrewing guide, The Kitchn’s Emma Christensen gives you the keys to the brewery. Start out by mastering the basic styles, like A Very Good IPA and A Very Good Porter, then move on to inspired variations such as Centennial Dry-Hopped Double IPA, Campari IPA, and Smokey Chipotle Porter to discover which flavors, infusions, hops, and yeasts work best with each ale and lager. Want to brew a signature beer with your own personal stamp? Go wild with the “Make It Yours” suggestions and try tossing anything from cherries to chai spices into your brew.
This handy manual also dives deep into the mechanics of brewing all-extract, partial-extract, and all-grain brews, and includes a big, beautiful photographic guide to brewing beer so you can see exactly how each step is done. You can brew small 1-gallon batches, perfect for apartment brewers and low-risk experimentation, or brew 5 gallons and have enough to share with all your friends. You’ll also be introduced to up-and-coming beer trends like rye malts, barrel-aging at home, sour beers, gluten-free beers, and Old World beer styles.
Filled with inspiring recipes like Riding Lawn Mower Pale Ale, Maple Cider Dubbel, Finnish Juniper Rye Sahti Ale, Figgy Pudding British Barleywine, and Farmers’ Market Gruit, Christensen’s accessible approach will have you brewing better beer in no time.
This handy manual also dives deep into the mechanics of brewing all-extract, partial-extract, and all-grain brews, and includes a big, beautiful photographic guide to brewing beer so you can see exactly how each step is done. You can brew small 1-gallon batches, perfect for apartment brewers and low-risk experimentation, or brew 5 gallons and have enough to share with all your friends. You’ll also be introduced to up-and-coming beer trends like rye malts, barrel-aging at home, sour beers, gluten-free beers, and Old World beer styles.
Filled with inspiring recipes like Riding Lawn Mower Pale Ale, Maple Cider Dubbel, Finnish Juniper Rye Sahti Ale, Figgy Pudding British Barleywine, and Farmers’ Market Gruit, Christensen’s accessible approach will have you brewing better beer in no time.
- GenresBrewingBeerNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2015
26 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 30, 2020
Halfway through the book I was already anticipating a 3 star review, but that changed later on. I was definitely enjoying it, but the book promises to provide insights for both new and experienced brewers and I found it lacking in the latter case.
However, I soon noticed that I got really inspired by the many interesting recipes that the author shares in the remaining sections. Beer brewing books with lots of recipes can be quite unoriginal and dry, but Christensen managed to deviate from the usual paths and this resulted in many new ideas for my upcoming brews.
Therefore I have to say that this is indeed a recommendation for both newcomers in the world of homebrewing and people that have already made a lot of batches. It clearly explains the process in a logical order, while also providing some interesting twists.
However, I soon noticed that I got really inspired by the many interesting recipes that the author shares in the remaining sections. Beer brewing books with lots of recipes can be quite unoriginal and dry, but Christensen managed to deviate from the usual paths and this resulted in many new ideas for my upcoming brews.
Therefore I have to say that this is indeed a recommendation for both newcomers in the world of homebrewing and people that have already made a lot of batches. It clearly explains the process in a logical order, while also providing some interesting twists.
August 5, 2017
Great photography and huge knowledge base for recipes, history, and advice. An easy read for beginner home brewers.
July 5, 2020
Straight forward beginner to intermediate book on home brewing. The author's passion for home brewing comes through to make you excited about brewing beer. Loaded with recipes and suggestions to get you brewing many styles of beer. Cheers!
July 25, 2015
When learning something new, it only makes sense to learn from someone who's an expert. Having been there and done that in the realm of home brewing, Emma Christensen's new book, Brew Better Beer is the expert advise you need to walk you through getting started making your own beer. (Or, if you've made a few batches and aren't quite sure why it's not tasting how you'd like or imagined, the book will steer you in the right direction!)
Christensen does a super job at laying out the basics for everyone who has wanted to try making beer but found themselves overwhelmed in the beginning. I appreciate that she does a bit of hand-holding (and lets experienced brew masters know when to skip ahead unless they want to review the basics with us newbs). In addition to in-depth narrative, the book includes easy to read and follow charts on all the basics from equipment needed to the rich variety of ingredients needed. She even has a chart to help beginners figure out if they are more likely to enjoy and find success with brewing smaller 1-gallon batches or larger 5-gallon quantities. (I suspect I'm more your 1-gallon sized brewer as I'm the type who doesn't want to have to drink through a whole lot before I get to try something else.)
My eyes were certainly opened to the plethora of possibilities home brewers have when it comes to ingredients that will affect the beer you make. Varieties of hops, types of grains, different yeasts, even the mineral content of the water used will provide different flavors in the final product. Christensen takes each ingredient in hand, explains what its purpose in the brew is, and then lists the options available for each ingredient and what it will do to your beer. I was amazed and thankful for a concise "play-by-play" scorecard that will provide handy reference in the future.
With the opening elementary chapters behind, the rest of the book is divided up according to styles of beer to brew: Pale Ales, India Pale Ales (IPAs), Brown Ales, Porters & Stouts, British Ales, Belgian Ales, Scottish & Irish Red Ales, Wheat Beers, Rye Ales, Session Ales, Gluten-Free Beers, and Lagers. Interspersed between chapters are great tips and talks on things like "How To Pour and Taste Beer" and "Ten Small Habits That Will Make You a Better Brewer". (Especially helpful, the section labeled "Common Problems, Easy Solutions"!)
Each chapter on a style of beer includes several tried and true recipes for brewers. What I love is that each recipe offers readers several beers that are already out there on the shelves to try which are similar in nature to the one in the recipe. Don't know if you're up for a whole batch of "Bitter Brit English-Style Pale Ale"? Well, run out and grab Whale's Tale Pale Ale by Cisco Brewers, Inc. or Schlafly Pale Ale from The Saint Louis Brewery to find out!
Each recipe also includes "Brew Notes" to help ensure optimal success with your batch of brew and "Make It Yours" ideas on ways to switch up the ingredients to tweak your flavor results in a way that might be more to your own liking.
If you've ever thought of making your own home brew, Brew Better Beer is the book you will want to get! Thanks to Blogging For Books for the review copy I received in exchange for this review.
From the Publisher . . .
In this colorful homebrewing guide, The Kitchn’s Emma Christensen gives you the keys to the brewery. Start out by mastering the basic styles, like A Very Good IPA and A Very Good Porter, then move on to inspired variations such as Centennial Dry-Hopped Double IPA, Campari IPA, and Smokey Chipotle Porter to discover which flavors, infusions, hops, and yeasts work best with each ale and lager. Want to brew a signature beer with your own personal stamp? Go wild with the “Make It Yours” suggestions and try tossing anything from cherries to chai spices into your brew.
This handy manual also dives deep into the mechanics of brewing all-extract, partial-extract, and all-grain brews, and includes a big, beautiful photographic guide to brewing beer so you can see exactly how each step is done. You can brew small 1-gallon batches, perfect for apartment brewers and low-risk experimentation, or brew 5 gallons and have enough to share with all your friends. You’ll also be introduced to up-and-coming beer trends like rye malts, barrel-aging at home, sour beers, gluten-free beers, and Old World beer styles.
Filled with inspiring recipes like Riding Lawn Mower Pale Ale, Maple Cider Dubbel, Finnish Juniper Rye Sahti Ale, Figgy Pudding British Barleywine, and Farmers’ Market Gruit, Christensen’s accessible approach will have you brewing better beer in no time.
About the Author . . .
EMMA CHRISTENSEN is the recipe editor for the popular homecooking website The Kitchn (www.TheKitchn.com), and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A former beer reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch, she is a dedicated home-brewer always eager for the chance to nerd out about fermentation. Emma lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Christensen does a super job at laying out the basics for everyone who has wanted to try making beer but found themselves overwhelmed in the beginning. I appreciate that she does a bit of hand-holding (and lets experienced brew masters know when to skip ahead unless they want to review the basics with us newbs). In addition to in-depth narrative, the book includes easy to read and follow charts on all the basics from equipment needed to the rich variety of ingredients needed. She even has a chart to help beginners figure out if they are more likely to enjoy and find success with brewing smaller 1-gallon batches or larger 5-gallon quantities. (I suspect I'm more your 1-gallon sized brewer as I'm the type who doesn't want to have to drink through a whole lot before I get to try something else.)
My eyes were certainly opened to the plethora of possibilities home brewers have when it comes to ingredients that will affect the beer you make. Varieties of hops, types of grains, different yeasts, even the mineral content of the water used will provide different flavors in the final product. Christensen takes each ingredient in hand, explains what its purpose in the brew is, and then lists the options available for each ingredient and what it will do to your beer. I was amazed and thankful for a concise "play-by-play" scorecard that will provide handy reference in the future.
With the opening elementary chapters behind, the rest of the book is divided up according to styles of beer to brew: Pale Ales, India Pale Ales (IPAs), Brown Ales, Porters & Stouts, British Ales, Belgian Ales, Scottish & Irish Red Ales, Wheat Beers, Rye Ales, Session Ales, Gluten-Free Beers, and Lagers. Interspersed between chapters are great tips and talks on things like "How To Pour and Taste Beer" and "Ten Small Habits That Will Make You a Better Brewer". (Especially helpful, the section labeled "Common Problems, Easy Solutions"!)
Each chapter on a style of beer includes several tried and true recipes for brewers. What I love is that each recipe offers readers several beers that are already out there on the shelves to try which are similar in nature to the one in the recipe. Don't know if you're up for a whole batch of "Bitter Brit English-Style Pale Ale"? Well, run out and grab Whale's Tale Pale Ale by Cisco Brewers, Inc. or Schlafly Pale Ale from The Saint Louis Brewery to find out!
Each recipe also includes "Brew Notes" to help ensure optimal success with your batch of brew and "Make It Yours" ideas on ways to switch up the ingredients to tweak your flavor results in a way that might be more to your own liking.
If you've ever thought of making your own home brew, Brew Better Beer is the book you will want to get! Thanks to Blogging For Books for the review copy I received in exchange for this review.
From the Publisher . . .
In this colorful homebrewing guide, The Kitchn’s Emma Christensen gives you the keys to the brewery. Start out by mastering the basic styles, like A Very Good IPA and A Very Good Porter, then move on to inspired variations such as Centennial Dry-Hopped Double IPA, Campari IPA, and Smokey Chipotle Porter to discover which flavors, infusions, hops, and yeasts work best with each ale and lager. Want to brew a signature beer with your own personal stamp? Go wild with the “Make It Yours” suggestions and try tossing anything from cherries to chai spices into your brew.
This handy manual also dives deep into the mechanics of brewing all-extract, partial-extract, and all-grain brews, and includes a big, beautiful photographic guide to brewing beer so you can see exactly how each step is done. You can brew small 1-gallon batches, perfect for apartment brewers and low-risk experimentation, or brew 5 gallons and have enough to share with all your friends. You’ll also be introduced to up-and-coming beer trends like rye malts, barrel-aging at home, sour beers, gluten-free beers, and Old World beer styles.
Filled with inspiring recipes like Riding Lawn Mower Pale Ale, Maple Cider Dubbel, Finnish Juniper Rye Sahti Ale, Figgy Pudding British Barleywine, and Farmers’ Market Gruit, Christensen’s accessible approach will have you brewing better beer in no time.
About the Author . . .
EMMA CHRISTENSEN is the recipe editor for the popular homecooking website The Kitchn (www.TheKitchn.com), and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A former beer reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch, she is a dedicated home-brewer always eager for the chance to nerd out about fermentation. Emma lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
March 3, 2016
After successfully making some cider and a variety of homebrewed sodas (as well as getting started on some mead and wine) from Emma Christensen’s first book, I checked out Brewing Better Beer from the library and, soon, had to invest in a copy myself. After checking out a variety of homebrewing how-to books, trying to get started on brewing my own beer, I felt that this one was the most user friendly, nicely organized, and comprehensive one I looked at, offering instructions for a lot of varieties of beer, including gluten-free types. Whether starting with with simple extract based kits, or going all in with all grain recipes, Christensen shares all of the equipment, ingredients, and background information you will need. Along with plenty of troubleshooting info on how to respond to questions and things going wrong along the brewing process, it really is a great place to start. Like True Brews, it focuses on gallon batches, which makes it a lot easier to just pick up and start brewing, especially in cramped quarters, but there are also recipes provided for larger batches as well once you get the procedure down.
I tried the recipes for a couple of old fashioned, historic types in the British and Session ale styles, a “braggot,” which is a mead-beer hybrid, and a “gruit,” which is an ancient Scottish style using fresh herbs rather than hops. All in all, for my first attempt, I think the braggot worked out, making an extremely alcoholic heavy beer, while the gruit, sadly, didn’t work out, but as Christiansen points out, you have to start somewhere!
I tried the recipes for a couple of old fashioned, historic types in the British and Session ale styles, a “braggot,” which is a mead-beer hybrid, and a “gruit,” which is an ancient Scottish style using fresh herbs rather than hops. All in all, for my first attempt, I think the braggot worked out, making an extremely alcoholic heavy beer, while the gruit, sadly, didn’t work out, but as Christiansen points out, you have to start somewhere!
January 1, 2017
This book is the perfect compliment for the beginning, intermediate, or even advanced home-brewer; but more-so the intermediate with a few successful homebrews under their belt. Her style is upbeat, practical, and insightful. Her methodology: 1) Define a concept. 2) Present a few recipes to validate her argument. 3) Give closing thoughts, variations, and opinions about the methodology and where theses examples can be personalized and skewed towards different tastes. In my opinion, the book is a master stroke for its designed purpose - (Brew Better Beer - And in doing so making a more finessed Brewer).
September 4, 2016
A great book for beginners and intermediate brewers. Walks the beginner through the process of extract, partial extract, and then all-grain brewing, all using the same basic recipe. Lots of easy starter recipes, as well as some very creative brews that build on the basic skills. As a bonus, the photography is exceptional.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews