Homebrewing For Dummies

by Marty Nachel

Have you ever had a microbrew beer and wondered how it was made? Ever think you could do better? Like homemade apple, homebrewed beer is a personal, distinctive treat that is delightfully gratifying to make, consume, and share with friends and family! Homebrewing is a hobby shared by approximately 1.5 million people in the United States alone. A tradition originating in ancient civilizations, modern technology has made the process easier than ever before. Homebrewing For Dummies is for everyone who has ever considered homebrewing, but thought it might be too hard or complicated. Or if you've tried homebrewing without great success, you'll find guidelines, recipes, and equipment advice to help you improve your brew. Even if you're already a successful homebrewer, you'll find useful tips for making your beer competition quality. Find authoritative material to answer such questions about:


Beeraphernalia Malts, hops, and grains Additives and preservatives Finings and clarifiers Sanitizing and bottling Troubleshooting Go ahead and feel confident about buying the equipment, setting up shop, cooking the right mix of ingredients, and bottling your brew with personalized labels! You can choose from dozens of ale, lager, and mixed-style recipes (all with standard pounds, gallons, and ounce measurements) or craft your own recipe. Homebrewing For Dummies helps you get your first batch underway in just two hours with accessible information on:


Equipment for beginning, intermediate, and advanced brewers The four primary ingredients in beer The nuts-and-bolts of beer Beer evaluation Getting involved in competitions Gadgets, gizmos, and must-haves No other guide can offer the same convenient cheat sheets, friendly, hands-on advice, and step-by-step directions for making award-winning recipes. Whether a serious, future member of the American Homebrewers Association or a curious hobbyist, you'll find everything you need to be drinking homemade beer in about three weeks.

Genres: Nonfiction, Brewing, Beer, Cooking, Reference, Cookbooks, Technology

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1997

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to homebrewing that gives the novice everything one needs to know to get started (requisite equipment, ingredients, and step-by-step procedures) with room to grow once one's confidence and success grows. Everything is laid out in a clear and concise manner. Includes beginner, intermediate, and advanced recipes for 47 styles of beer. Offers troubleshooting advice to decipher where that weird aroma came from or if you should worry about how your fermentation is proceeding. Provides information on the characteristics of the various varieties of malt grains, hops, and yeast known at the time of publication.

Although most of the contents are committed to memory, I still refer back to this book periodically. It's my #2 homebrewing resource.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice edition that helped me answer several question as I prepared for my first batch. I especially liked the troubleshooting section.

[Harish Kabilan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise book on homebrewing. Must read for all brewing enthusiasts.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read, not technical, lots of recipes... it was a pretty decent intro to homebrewing for someone who doesn't really know anything about it. The bits of humour were forced and mostly eye-rollers, though.
I was a bit disappointed after making my first few batches that the book doesn't really address how to solve the problems after they happen... e.g. it mentions why beer could get overcarbonated, but doesn't really tell you what to do about it. But that's what the internet is for.
I was also disappointed that it really doesn't address small batch brewing. The underlying concepts are the same though. It does tell you how to scale down recipes for smaller batches, which is helpful.
And I really liked the section about making your own equipment... I'll be making a trip to the hardware store for some copper tubing to make my own wort immersion cooler this weekend!

[Eric Moote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall: it's a well balanced instructional book about 60% basic and mandatory information, 25% intermediate knowledge and 15% advanced information for when you are a master of home brewing.

I have read a couple "... for Dummies" books and I have found them all well-written, balanced and helpful, so when I found this book at the library I figured I would give it a read through even though I already have the basics of home brewing down. This book has the essential need-to-know information and step-by-step how to brew beer/mead/cider as well as intermediate and advanced steps and two home brew recipes for almost every style of beer under the sun.

I would recommend this book to: aspiring home brewers or people wanting to step up their game.

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

terrible title, but i'm not above reading beginner texts in the quest to challenge, correct, confirm, and augment my knowledge (of brewing). this is actually often cited as one of the best homebrewing books out there. having brewed a few batches myself, i'm not sure i would go that far! but it's a decent, accessible, fun-to-read book.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible first text on home brewing. The book presents brewing as achievable, fun, and handles step by step instructions well.

As with many books on brewing, there is no need to read the book cover to cover but instead flip to the section that you need at the time. I will be keeping this book around for reference for a long time.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good enough to get you started on homebrewing, but not much more. You'll get an overview, but that's about. Read it quickly and then move on to a better, more in depth, book.

I still recommend it for a first book, though.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, lots of recipes, very dry, and almost too general. Definitely a necessity for any enthusiastic home brewer.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good informative guide for begginers of the brewing arts.

[Jason]

Good read, seems to be a little outdated but the recipes seem to be decent. Although after seeing the prices at the closest brewing store brewing will have to wait for another pay day

[Michael Crimmins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to making beer at home.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light hearted book on brewing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful overview of the process of making beer.

[Ben Pushka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, this was the second of 3 books I am reading about the subject. It had a little different take on starting to make beer than the other. Overall, not a bad read, and it was pretty interesting.

[Gino Filicetti]

False

[Britt · Rating 2 out of 5]

good practical guide. lacks a lot of the chemical understanding of why things are done.