The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition

let me be upfront about my main issue: this book keeps the kid gloves on for far too long. I love the "relax, dont worry, have a homebrew" mindset for sure, but any info on all grain brewing (all i really had interest in felt like an afterthought. It gives essentially the fermenting process, followed by a ton of extract based recipes, and doesn't seem to delve deep enough into more advanced terms and techniques necessary to anyone who would want to eventually make their own all grain recipes. If a fun hobby with the end goal of producing beer is your style go for it, but for anyone looking to get serious there are better options.

Charlie Papazian practically invented the homebrewing revival in the United States. He founded the American Homebrewer’s Association and taught and inspired more than a generation of homebrewers. I picked up the first edition of this book in 1983 and it took my homebrewing to a whole new level. The third edition expands upon and updates the first. Charlie provides an introduction to beer and brewing and then breaks the book up into three sections – beginner, intermediate and advanced. He writes in an easy and engaging style and promotes low stress brewing. In each section he describes what equipment the homebrewer will need, what ingredients to get and how to handle them, what important issues to address and what not to worry about. Each section provides recipes and important pointers. Charlie is interesting and easy to follow. A must book for any aspiring homebrewer.

Just a quick review. I don't know a ton about home brewing, having only made a few batches. This is a fun book to read while lying in bed, but its pretty terrible to have at your side when you are actually brewing. Way too verbose, way too hard to find the concrete info you need step by step without having to wade through pages and pages of text. And the fact that the recipes aren't indexed is maddening. You know you want to make an Irish Red Ale. You know you saw a recipe for that in the book somewhere. But was it in the Guidelines for Brewing Traditional Beers chart? Or somewhere in the Intermediate Brewing section - where the beers aren't even all grouped by type? Or somewhere else in the book. Just ordered Palmers book. Hoping for better organization.

This is the book that anyone who cares about homebrewing should read.The book is organized in 3 sections: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.The basic section is very easy to read and will put you on the right track to start brewing your first batch. The intermediate section explores how to incorporate more advanced techniques, like steeping grains, working with different yeast, etc. The advanced section explores how to go into full grain.The tone of the book is very approachable. There's a lot of science and hard facts, but the author takes the route of explaining everything very simply so it becomes fun. After all, we brew because is fun.All in all, a great book to getting started and a good reference book as you evolve in the hobby.

I had heard of this book but decided to sample a few others before I went with it. In the end though, this is the book you want to start with. It wont' give you everything, but it'll get you going in the right direction and you'll be able to patch up your knowledge in the areas that matter to you with other sources.Much of the beer brewing literature is technical and has a decidedly pessimistic tone (as in, if you do this, it's wrong; if you do that, it'll fail; you must do X and Y). Beer is not my first culinary adventure or my first into the world of things that require culturing microbes. If the procedures to make the stuff were so incredibly rigid, we never would have discovered it in the first place. So what I like about Papazian's book is his carefree attitude: just try something, and if it's not perfect, it'll be better the next time.That's basically what you need when you start brewing, and Papazian's book stays decidedly on target.

This is a wonderful book from anyone who is a new homebrewer to someone who is looking to take a step beyond basic brewing kits. The book focuses on the basics of homebrewing but can also get very technical but not overwhelming either. It includes some basic recipes too. I've read about half o the book and found it was great start. I've done two brews so far from kits but I'm glad I read the first third of the book before even starting, I felt much more prepared than if I had simply gone off the directions from the beer kit. My only complaint that I have with the digital book, is that the tables that are in the book don't look good and are very hard to follow in the amazon kindle app on the ipad and some of the illustrations seem to be out of place or on different pages than you'd expect. Maybe it's better on an actual kindle, but it's a very minor issue, the rest of the content is great, it's been very helpful and a definite recommended read for any new homebrewer or someone who may be thinking about homebrewing.

This is a MUST have for any brewer. From Novice to Advanced, this masterpiece covers all bases. The in depth coverage of fundamentals, which usually are the void for internet "professionals" attempting to brew at home who get all their information from forums. Even veteran brewers can glance back and reference the bountiful data located in this text. The tables are friendly and thorough and though I haven't tried _every_ recipe in this book yet, the half a dozen or so I have tried have been bullet proof and excellent base lines for experimentation.I highly recommend this book, regardless of skill level. If you don't already own it, click add to cart and make it happen!

I found Joy of Home Brewing somewhat disappointing, despite its being widely praised. While the book does contain a great deal of useful information, it's poorly organised, often unclear, and occasionally simply wrong - for instance, despite Papaziani's assertion to the contrary, the fact that liquids decrease in density with temperature is unrelated to the decrease in viscosity that occurs when viscous liquids are warmed. Moreover, the author often fails to make clear distinctions between various devices or process under discussion, forcing the reader to re-read a passage several times to make sense of what it is being said. Finally, Papaziani's attempts at being light-hearted or clever generally fall quite flat, contributing nothing to either the readability or the entertainment value of his book. Indeed, there were times when I felt that if I read his inane catchphrase "relax, have a home brew!" one more time, I'd surely scream and toss the volume into the nearest waste bin. All this having been said, the book is not a bad place to begin with a home-brewing hobby, and does contain sufficient information that it's worth having around, simply as a reference, even for the seasoned brewer.An Addendum....I've now had Papazian's book for about two years, and I have to confess that my regard for it and its author has grown considerably during that period of time. JHB has now become the reference I'm most likely to turn to first if a brewing question arises, and the one I'm most likely to recommend to friends considering taking up the hobby. Overall, I've found the facts, tables, and figures to be impeccably correct, and points mentioned above where I assert otherwise can probably be attributed to matters of interpretation arising from Papazian's indefatigably casual style. I should say that the overall, chapter-by-chapter organization of the manuscript is one of the best I've seen, it's only at the paragraph and sentence level that the flow of ideas occasionally becomes less than crystal-clear. I still find the flippant style not to my personal taste, however, though the concepts and facts thus presented are nonetheless well-researched, even scholarly. Were I to re-review book at this point, I would most likely now give it four, possibly even five stars.

A well written and very chilled book that doesn't take brewing too seriously. It is great for if you are wanting to pick up lots of pointers when you are just starting out and goes into a bit more detail for when you are looking to perfect your own recipes. A very good and worthwhile read for any wannabe brewer.

Starting out in the world of homebrew I jumped straight to Charlie's tome. He is after all a bit of a legend in the world of craft brewing. I agree that the style is great for beginners, treating technical subjects with the ease of a master.What really frustrated me was the constant endless refrain that I might somehow be anxious about brewing beer and that I should "Relax and have a homebrew" usually accompanied by several exclamation marks like a 14 year old's instant message conversation. The fourth time I came across that in the opening part I wanted to throw the dratted tome across the room.

Whether you just started enjoying the homebrewing art or you are a seasoned expert, this book puts a lot of live ferments in your mind on how to approach the Art. And, remember, relax and have a homebrewing session :)PS: the Michael Jackson who wrote the foreword is not the world famous singer and dancer :P

If you are thinking of home brewing you need this book in your life. Easy to follow and super informative especially for the novice and easily helps you develop quickly.