Homebrewing For Dummies

by Marty Nachel

Get hoppin’ with this guide to microbrewing your own beer

Thinking of brewing your own beer or want to know how it’s done? Homebrewing For Dummies is for you. If you’re ready to take a crack at making your own brew, you’ll need this guide to the supplies, ingredients, and process of crafting the perfect beer. Follow our recipes for lager, porter, stout, and other brew types—or invent your own. When you’ve tasted your perfect creation (and after the hangover wears off), we’ve got you covered with ideas for entering your beer into homebrewing competitions and selling your beer.

This new edition keeps pace with the exciting world of small-batch beer, introducing you to new flavors and varieties that are popular on the microbrew circuit. We’ve also got the details on the latest at-home brewing equipment, software and apps, and resources you can tap (get it?) to make a better beer. Not an IPA person? Not to worry! You can also make your own hard seltzers, flavored malt beverages, and juice drinks with this handy how-to.

Get recipes and instructions for brewing lagers, porters, and other beers at home Enhance the quality of your small-batch brews and make your operations more eco friendly Enter homebrewing competitions with your beer, hard seltzer, and malt beverages Discover new gadgets, apps, and resources that can make home brewing even easierHomebrewing For Dummies is for anyone looking for a fun and easy-to-use guide to the exciting, rewarding, and refreshing hobby of beer brewing.

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

416 pages, Kindle Edition

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.