SMASH3R wrote:I am trying to get hold of Mr Wheeler's Brew Your Own British Real Ale - I take it this is the book we are referring to. I have ordered it from WHSmith but they claim they are having difficulty getting hold of it because it is currently out of print and they are hoping for more copies to be printed soon.
There has been one initial print-run and two reprints of Brew Your Own during the first year of publication, there has probably been another reprint since. Unfortunately CAMRA reprint in such ridiculously small quantities that the new stock, when it arrives, hardly covers the back orders, so they are almost permanently out of stock. The reprints are produced in China too, so there are long lead-times for a reprint to come about. This amateurishness is pissing off the distributors too. Amazon.co.uk seem to have dropped the book, apparently because of supplies being erratic, even though it has hovered at number two or three in the Amazon "beer books popularity list" for most of last year.
SMASH3R wrote:
A bit off topic, but the other book I have had trouble getting is Mr Wheeler's Home Brewing. You will pay £20 for an often dog-eared copy of the most recent edition from Amazon or ebay, and over £100 for a "new" copy. Camra should really think about printing more. The prices surely indicate that the demand is there - just not the supply. I settled for an older edition in the end at about £8 delivered.
I have seen £360 being asked by those muggers for "Home Brewing". Fortunately the republication of "Brew Your Own" had the side-effect of causing the silly prices being asked for "Home Brewing" to crash. I would not touch a first edition with a barge-pole and even the second edition is about twenty years out of date, so you would not want that one reprinted.
I have just (as good as) refused to re-write "Home Brewing" due to ongoing issues with CAMRA; in fact, I did not even bother to answer their latest e-mail because I am so pissed off with them, so I have not actually refused, I am just ignoring them, which amounts to much the same thing as refusing.
They have had about eighteen months since I finished "Brew Your Own" to determine whether or not they wish to publish "Home Brewing", but all I got from my frequent requests was a load of unnecessary bureaucratic posturing. Then, earlier this year, they suddenly decided they wanted to publish it and expected me to re-write a 150,000+ word book by June (or thereabouts), so that it could be on the shelves later this year. Not only that, they wanted me to write a chapter list, chapter description, proposal, outline and similar bureaucratic crap, before starting the book, which is totally unnecessary because they are fully aware of the track-record of the books and they know they sell, or would do if they could maintain uninterrupted supply. They treat me as some sort of third-rate skivvy at their beck and call. I am not playing their silly power games; either they want the book or they don't. Had they stated their intention in the middle of last year the book would have been more or less ready by now, but I am not going to burst an artery trying to meet their ridiculous time scale. You would think that it was a 30-page children's nursery-rhyme book the way they behave. There are other contractual issues that need to be resolved before I do anything too, and the chances of those being resolved to my satisfaction are fairly remote; too many power games being played. It's a shame.
as anyone brewed got close to Theakston Old perculiar, as I do like this ale and thinking if any has mastered it, and can pass me the recipe I brew this next, I no I can get this from a brew book but for some of you brew daddy's out there must have got it almost right, any help will be appreciated.
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Roll on the weekend 
