Home brew beer by Greg Hughes

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I have to admit that this was a complete impulse buy! I was browsing through the book section of a discount department store when I came across it, and after a quick flick-through, I decided 'I need this book!'

If you're a very experienced brewer, this might not be the purchase for you; chances are that there isn't much news in there for you. However, if you are a complete novice, or just fairly new to home-brewing, this is a great book. It starts out with a brief over-view of the history of brewing - more fascinating trivia than anything that is going to help you make great beer, but then gets on with it. There's a concise discussion of the brewing process "from grain to glass" followed by short sections on malts, adjuncts and sugars, hops, yeast and brewing liquor. Without going into too much detail, you get a clear idea of the purpose of each ingredient. There are "At a glance" tables - one describing malts and adjuncts with their respective colour rating and maximum usage percentage, another describing hops with country of origin, alpha acid range and flavour intensity rating from 1 to 10, and a third one listing several beer styles with recipe examples from the book and suggestions as to which yeasts to use for each, giving a dried yeast option as well as two liquid yeast options (one from Wyeast and one from Whitelabs). Finally there is a short section of various common flavourings used in beer making, including fruit, herbs and spices.

The next portion of the book describes the brewing process in more detail, explaining how to brew beer, whether by using a kit, extract brewing or all-grain brewing, and brew-in-a-bag is also discussed briefly. Sanitation, and the importance of it, is discussed thoroughly along with all required (and optional) equipment. There are loads of great photographic illustrations throughout. There is good information on how and when to make a starter and the whole fermentation process (though no-where near the level found in Yeast by White and Zainasheff!), using finings, dry hopping, priming and racking. Finally, there's a discussion of different storage methods (bottles, pressure barrels and kegs/casks) with pros and cons of each.

The last portion of the book, about two-thirds of the entire book, is recipes. There is pretty much examples of any style you could wish to brew - okay, maybe not every style, but a good few, including some more unusual styles such as Roggenbier, Pumpkin Ale and Nettle Beer. The recipes are all all-grain recipes, but quite a few of them also have an extract version, though not all of them. The recipes are presented clearly and in an easy to grasp format, which should help come brew day. I know that the recipes to some extend favour all-grain brewers; however, as all-grain brewing really isn't that difficult, beginners should not be put off! Many brewers on this forum - myself included - have gone straight to all-grain with great results. If you really don't fancy it, there are a good few extract recipes as well, and if one is missing, you could always ask a friendly fellow home-brewer to help you work out the extract/partial mash version!

Finally, the book ends with a short Useful Information section, including conversion charts, brewing related websites and forums (although this one isn't included... :roll: *sigh* so close to perfection...), and a glossary.

Overall a well illustrated book with a good level of detail for anyone new to brewing - not so much that it puts you off, but still a decent amount of information. There are lots of tips along the way, and lots of interesting looking recipes, though these still remain to be tested! One of my favourite parts of the book are the "At a glance" charts - a good way to start getting to grips with all the ingredients for brewing and learn about how to make substitutions or experiment with recipes.

Perhaps not a definite brewing book, but a great way to get started! I give it 4.5 stars out of 5! :thumb:

Dennis
 
got this book other day i like it better than g :thumb: :clap: graham wheeler book some cracking recipys in there i can not wait to get some on the go
 
Just ordered a copy via mm707's link. Cheaper than Amazon even with added 1st class delivery :cheers:
 
mm707 said:
I got mine here, only £4.99 + £1.50 delivery unless you can collect

http://www.bookcaselondon.co.uk//book-d ... px?id=4048

My copy got delivered yesterday. Had a quick flick through and for a beginner it seems very useful.

Explains in detail ingredients, tools, techniques etc as well as a ton of recipes for all grain brewing. Very happy with the purchase.
As mentioned in the other posts, more suited to newbies
 
Mine arrived today but disappeared even quicker, SWMBO says I've got At least 30 sleeps until I can have it.

Anyway in the box was a voucher for free delivery, quote code LUCkY 13 When ordering, it looked like we got 10% off also so it was only £4.50.

Hurry up Santa I want to read my new book.
 
bob-the-dog said:
Mine arrived today but disappeared even quicker, SWMBO says I've got At least 30 sleeps until I can have it.

Anyway in the box was a voucher for free delivery, quote code LUCkY 13 When ordering, it looked like we got 10% off also so it was only £4.50.

Hurry up Santa I want to read my new book.

Nice find.

Do you know anywhere that lists the recipies in the book?

Cheers Tom

P.S. Not to worry, I'll find out in a few days. Just ordered a copy with free delivery ( thanks for the code ) :thumb:
 
soupdragon said:
bob-the-dog said:
Mine arrived today but disappeared even quicker, SWMBO says I've got At least 30 sleeps until I can have it.

Anyway in the box was a voucher for free delivery, quote code LUCkY 13 When ordering, it looked like we got 10% off also so it was only £4.50.

Hurry up Santa I want to read my new book.

Nice find.

Do you know anywhere that lists the recipies in the book?

Cheers Tom

P.S. Not to worry, I'll find out in a few days. Just ordered a copy with free delivery ( thanks for the code ) :thumb:

£4.99 by the way :D

Cheers Tom
 
I got this book as a Christmas gift. It is really well presented and informative. As I am getting back into home brewing after a very long break, I believe that it will inspire me to attempt the more involved raw ingredient brewing. :thumb:

I will need to get some more sophisticated equipment together, especially something that can boil 40+ pints or so.

The pictures in the book show an FV with a really wide neck, are these easy to source?
 

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