The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing
by Charlie Papazian

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Book Reviews of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing

Book Review: Enlightenment or Insanity, depending on your viewpoint.
Summary: 5 Stars

Enter my curiosity. I want to know everything. I visited the local homebrew supplier and bought a copy of this book. When I started reading, I realized one of two things would happen: I would become enlightened beyond my years, or I would go insane trying to get there.

The knowledge and enlightenment from this book is like learning how division and addition combine to calculate "averages". Now you understand the "secrets" to things like "batting averages" and "free throw percentages". You can now read trading cards with confidence.

Charlie explains how the different parts of the brew process (ingredient selection, boiling, fermenting, bottling, priming, etc.) combine to make beer. Now you understand the "secrets" to how the individual steps combine to make beer. You know the secrets of "good beer" and "cheap beer", opting to buy premium brands instead of the usual "mass-produced" beers.

(You're not buying premium beer because you know why they taste better, you're buying premium beer because you need bottles that can be re-capped for your homebrew!)

My friends are divided on whether I've become enlightened or gone totally insane, but they all agree the end result is worth it: my first 5-gallon batch of all-extract brew.

Thanks Charlie!

Summary of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing

Stouts, ales, lagers, porters, bitters, pilseners, specialtybeers, and meads. . .they're all remarkably easy to make! WithThe New Complete Joy of Home Brewing -- acclaimed by criticsand amateur brewmeisters alike as the best and most authoritative guide on the market -- you can learn to make beer just the way you like it! And it's fun! Whether you prefer a richer, creamier head, a more flavorsome, full-bodied brew, or a sparkling, sweeter ale -- from the lightest lager to the darkest stout -- as a home brewer you can make them all and even keg your own like the beer masters of old!

Simple, Easy-to-Follow Sections on:

• Getting your home brewery together: the basics -- malt, hops, yeast and water
• 10 easy lessons to making your first bubbling batch of beer
• Brewing exciting world-class styles of beer that will impress and delight your friends
• Using fruit, honey and herbs for a spicier, feistier brew
• Brewing with malt extracts for an unlimited range of strengths and flavors. . .and much, much more!

Plus: A complete home brewer's glossary; a fascinating look at the history of beer; details about the advanced world of all-grain and mash extract brewing; growing your own hops; more than 50 fantastic recipes-from Cherry Fever Stout to Monkey's Paw Brown Ale.

Often touted as the home-brewer's bible, The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing charts a beginning brewer's course, keeping the focus on enjoying the process as well as the results of home-brewing. An easy-to-use table of ingredients helps the newly initiated design their own recipes, although many home-brewers happily spend years sampling those Papazian provides. Dozens of recipes for all levels of experience are here, christened with the most improbable (and irresistible?) names in home-brewing literature ("Toad Spit Stout," "Cheeks to the Wind Mild," and "Goat Scrotum Ale" among them).

While Papazian's classic does cover a broad sweep of home-brewing techniques (including more advanced procedures like grain mashing and yeast culturing), it's more than just a home-brewer's guidebook. Papazian's personal take on the history of American brewing is an entertaining read for any beer enthusiast, and his laid-back, humor-driven style engages readers whether or not they've ever boiled up a brew. This book makes home-brewers almost as often as it helps them. If enthusiastic friends haven't convinced you to start home-brewing, The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing undoubtedly will. --Todd Gehman

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