Books

[Staboblade]

OK guys, this is my first topic post on here and i'd like to know your experiences on some of the books out there with brewing recipes and how good or bad they are.

My books include:-

David Lines'- 'Brewing beers like those you buy' and 'The big book of brewing' and brewed several of the clone beers from him.

Tess and Mark Szamatulski's 'Clone brews' an American book that i've not done anything from yet.

And I've just purchased Graham Wheelers- 'Home brewing' and 'Brew your own British real ale at home' which i'm planning to try 'Marsdon's Pedigree as a starting point from this book.

I have other books that give technical help but these are my main recipe books!

[seymour]

Toss out your other books, this should be all you need:

Home Brewing Without Failures by H. E. Bravery


Just kidding It is a humerously out-dated read, though!

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I've done quite a few out of Graham Wheelers book and been quite impressed. There are so many other variables beyond just the grains and hops you use that you will never really get a true match as the brewery will never divulge everything about their recipe.

I like Clone brews as it has a lot of things apart from British Real Ale, and I like the variation. Sometimes I follow the recipe exact, but normally I just use it as a base to develop my own recipe from. I do brew the Grolsch recipe exact as it is in the book and the missus loves it.

Real Ales for the Home Brewer has an excellent reputation, it is out of print now but you can buy a pdf of it from the authour for £3.49 here http://www.realalerecipes.talktalk.net/

[Staboblade]

Thanks guys appreciate the response.

Ye you can never totally achieve a perfect clone as some of the processes are not possible at home, but it's fun trying to get something near.
I'm glad to hear the Graham Wheeler books are pretty good so i'll enjoy trying some of them out.
You can get 'Real ale for the home brewer' from Amazon & Play, but at a price but it might be worth a punt at some stage. I love 'Brewing beers like those you buy' by David Line, which i've had for years, because to try to brew something similar by breweries that no longer exist for me is brilliant.

I'll certainly be checking out your suggestions as you can never have enough beer ideas.

[Dennis King]

Graham also posts on here now and then.

[seymour]

Last week, jimp2003 turned me on to this great free resource: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6vbW ... rs&f=false

The Homebrewer's Recipe Database by Les Hogwarth is available in print format too. I like how it also summarizes dozens of rough recipe guidelines by Roger Protz and Graham Wheeler as well. Pretty handy.