Best HB Book for All Grain Debutant

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Hi all,

I was wondering what book the wife could get me for Christmas as an AG Newbie.
I'm looking to concentrate more on English ales as I live in Belgium and have easy access to Belgian beers .
Thanks for your advice...oh and I'd prefer the book to be in metric rather than imperial (if there are still books like that around) .

Cheers...

Paul

[DarloDave]

I was thinking about buying a book, but this forum is 10 times better than I imagine any book being, so thanks for saving me some money!

[oblivious]

How To Brew by John Palmer is very good


http://www.howtobrew.com/

[flything]

No sure How to Brew is a good book for the beginner, bit daunting.

First book I read was The Joy of Homebrewing, ok so a lot of people don't like it but you can't deny the enthusiasm that Papazian has which is pretty infectious.

I learnt more from lurking and reading everything on this forum and listening to Basic Brewing Radio Podcasts though.

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Does "The Joy of Homebrewing" have photos of naked 70's beardy men like the book I found with my mate in his parents bedroom when I was a kid?

[boingy]

...photos of naked 70's beardy men...-[

Wow! Photos! That's posh! In my day that weirdy beardy bloke was just a pencil drawing. Erm, not that I ever looked at the book. Obviously not. Why would I? Nothing wrong with me. Defo need no lessons. Um.... <shuffles off>

[farmhousekeg]

No sure How to Brew is a good book for the beginner, bit daunting.

I've asked my financial director to get me "How to Brew" by John Palmer for Christmas. Having looked at the website where you can see the first edition, I can't wait to read the latest version of the book. I don't think its too daunting for a new AG brewer, as long as you realise that you can't understand and put every single detail into practice straight away. It also deals with using kits and partial mashing so a lot of the stuff will be familiar already to a lot of people. It then moves onto AG in detail. To me it looks like a great reference guide which I can go back to again and again.

I also agree that you can learn a LOT on this Forum (and I am!!). Helpful, experienced members very willing to share their expertise, which is fantastic.

On the other hand "The Joy of Homebrewing" sounds intriguing. Having been a "teen" in the 70's I can imagine that it might be full of images of bearded men and Bu**y barmaids enjoying the pleasures of "pulling" pints ......

[Horden Hillbilly]

Graham Wheeler's new book is available to pre-order at Amazon now.

[pantsmachine]

Can't advise on a book as i have not bought any but i can say this site, John Palmers E book shortcutted already on this topic and the American homebrew talk are all excellent sources of knowledge although i must admit i can suffer from a bit of availability envy when i look at the gear available easily in the States.

[haz66]

I started with David Lines - Big book of Brewing but since then have learnt a far lot more off this web site, but i wouldn`t have got started without first reading his book, the thing that i was always hung up on was Sparging, but now i look back and think "what was all the fuss about", i fly sparge by the way, but only because thats the way i learnt and dont feel the need to change.

[flything]

On the other hand "The Joy of Homebrewing" sounds intriguing. Having been a "teen" in the 70's I can imagine that it might be full of images of bearded men and Bu**y barmaids enjoying the pleasures of "pulling" pints ......

Very nearly! It is full of cheesy pictures which kind of adds to the charm, found this one by googling, not the same as the ones in my version but very similar.



I reckon it's worth having if you like to read about brewing, it's got some nice recipes too. Microbrewed Adventures is also pretty good.