Reddit mentions: The best beer books

Okay, you've caught me; there's beer and wine books, too. Here's what you're looking at:

I run a cocktail bar, and I've been meaning to share my library for some time, but I have a knack for lending my books out to friends and colleagues so I keep waiting for it to be complete. Then I realized my collection keeps growing and will never be complete, so I may as well just share a snapshot of it.

Top row:

Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... and the People Behind Them by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh

The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft by Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

The World Encyclopedia of Beer by Brian Glover

How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time by John J. Palmer

Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker, Jr. (aka The Gentleman's Companion Volume II)

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch by Michael Jackson

The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails by Andre Domine

New Classic Cocktails by Mardee Haidin Regan and Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Book of Garnishes by June Budgen

World's Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World's Best Bars and Bartenders by Tom Sandham

The Complete Book of Spirits: A Guide to Their History, Production, and Enjoyment by Anthony Dias Blue

Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches for Her & For Him by Daniel Boulud and Xavier Herit

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar by David Wondrich

Middle Row:

Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

The New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders' Manual; or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style by Harry Johnson (Espresso Book Machine Reprint)

Michael Jackson's Bar & Cocktail Companion: The Connoisseur's Handbook by Michael Jackson

The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner & Randy Clemens

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas by Brad Thomas Parsons

A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails by R. Winston Guthrie & James F. Thompson

The Bartender's Guide to IBA Official Cocktails by Jenny Reese (Espresso Book Machine Printing)

Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich

The Home Distiller's Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials by Matt Teacher

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Difinitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page

The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes that Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast by The Editors of Imbibe Magazine

The ABC of Cocktails by Peter Pauper Press

How to Make Your Own Drinks: Create Your Own Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drinks from Fruit Cordials to After-Dinner Liqueurs by Susy Atkins

How to Make a World of Liqueurs by Heather Kibbey & Cheryl Long

If there are red flags I'm doing in these pictures, please let me know.

edit:

1st batch: Craft-A-Brew APA Kit

2nd batch: Northern Brewer's 1 Gallon Bavarian Hefe Kit

3rd batch: DrinkinSurfer's Milk Oatmeal Stout Recipe @HBT

If I could start over I would go straight to the 3-gallon batches. I hovered around them but I think it's the perfect batch size for beginners -- 1) Most people have a stockpot lying around the kitchen big enough to hold three gallons, 2) The batches are small enough so you don't have to drink two cases of bad brew, but big enough so if you enjoy it [which I'm thoroughly enjoying my first APA], you'll have plenty to taste and rate the evolution of the flavors over various weeks of priming and give out to family friends who are interested to try out what you made, 3) I ordered 3 Gallon Better Bottles for several reasons including worrying about shattering a glass carboy as a newbie. They also qualify for free shipping on MoreBeer's website with purchases above a certain price. 4) Even though I brewed a 5 gallon batch, and since I'm brewing solo, I'm already not looking forward to bottling the whole batch at once so I plan on breaking up bottling between two days.

For resources, I lurk this sub like a crazy stalker. The Daily Q&A is full of information both crucial and minute. I listen to James Spencer's Basic Brewing Radio podcast and practically substituted it for all music recently. It's family friendly and entertaining [I heard the other podcasts aren't so much]. I read Charles Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing, 2nd ed. and For the Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus to get a better understanding of the hops varieties and characteristics. I plan on reading John Palmer's How to Brew and Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers in the future, as well as Brew Like a Monk. Also, the HomeBrewTalk stickies in the forums provide good picture tutorials for several different styles of brewing.

I got into homebrewing so I can brew the, then, only beer style I liked: Imperial Stouts. But as I learned more about the balance and flavors of beer I surprised myself by branching out to enjoying other beers [even the odd IPA every so often]. My narrow scope of beer has broadened more vast that I ever would've imagined it. My brother got me this beer tasting tool kit used for blind taste tests so I try to keep good records and actively taste and appreciate craft beers. I even keep a couple in my wallet for tasting beers on draft.

I really wish I had an immersion wort chiller, a bigger boil kettle, a mash tun, and a propane burner. Those few equipment pieces hinder me from exploring more advanced style of homebrew. I intend to upgrade to all-grain but making the switch is really expensive. I'm still in the look-to-see-what-I-have-lying-around-the-house phase equipment-wise.

Which leads me to: don't be scared to spend money while DIY-ing. Many of you have probably seen my (and many others', most likely) shitty stir plate. DIY should be a balance of doing things on the cheap, but still making it work and function well. There's no point in DIYing if you're not going to be happy with it and just end up buying the commercial equivalent anyway. That's where I am right now.. I'm currently trying to salvage a cooler [no-spigot] I found in my garage and turn it into a mash tun instead of just buying a new cooler with a plastic, removable spigot. I'm certain it would make DIY easier but slightly more expensive.

But the suckiest thing for me about homebrewing is that I don't have a car so getting local, fresh ingredients and supporting my LHBSs is a piece of PITA bread.

>what do I need to know before I start on my journey?

Aside from this forum and the FAQ, there are two books to choose from that are both fantastic but are from different points of view. For more engineering minded people I suggest How To Brew by John Palmer. For more art minded people Mastering Homebrew by Randy Mosher is fantastic. Either way you'll get a wonderful introduction introduction to brewing your own beer.

>What kit should I get?

There are many beer kits out there by you can also start with a simple cider instead. This will teach you about the basics of fermentation and help you find out if this type of activity is for you before you spend more than you need to on a kit. When you do go for a kit you will probably start with an extract kit. Just look for a style that you like to drink and go for it.

>What types of beer are best for learning?

To me a classic SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) is a perfect way to learn all grain brewing. For extract just any kit that you want to drink should be fine. Be sure to use a good online retailer if you don't have a local homebrew shop. MoreBeer is a popular, independently owned online retailer that I've had good experiences with.

>Anything else that you think may help.

RDWHAHB - Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew. This line from the great Charlie Papazian is probably the most often repeated line of advice in homebrewing. It's important to not freak out about anything. Brewing beer has some weirdness when you're new to it. There's a lot of vocabulary, acronyms, techniques, style guidelines, etc. Don't let it overwhelm you. Take it easy, follow basic good practices, and you will make beer.

Also, don't be afraid to look for local homebrew clubs. I didn't join one for many years and kinda regret that now. Some clubs are competition focused, some are social, some are event-centric. Look around for one that fits your interests and make some friends!

Finally, do not get tied down to styles or what beer is "supposed" to be. Brew what you want to drink and kick the haters to the curb.

Welcome to the obsession and cheers!

Hey there! I'm a beer-lover myself . . . and I've been enjoying homebrewing, which is very rewarding!

If you're interested in a more formal approach to beer tasting, you may want to add _Tasting Beer_ to your wishlist! I just finished reading it myself. It goes into much greater depth than I'll ever really experience, but it gives you a deep perspective on what the most serious beer-geeks and beer-snobs are doing when they take a sip, and it has seriously improved my own appreciation of the ancient beverage.

Also, if you're genuinely interested in homebrewing, in addition to the relatively affordable Mr. Beer (I haven't brewed with it, but I've tasted several people's results with it, and they've been consistently good) you may want to watch for the Groupon deal from Midwest Supplies. It's inactive now, but they do seem to keep bringing it back, and it's a very good deal for getting starting homebrew equipment.

Finally, I saw your discussion with AllOfTimeAndSpace about IPAs, and although I see it's not your favorite style, I thought I might recommend an IPA I tried recently that I thought was spectacularly good: Lawson's Double Sunshine IPA. I imagine it's hard to get outside of Vermont (though I'd be thrilled if I'm wrong, since I don't live there and just had it during a vacation), but it is one of the most delicious beers I've ever tried!

There's definitely more snobbery among wine lovers, but beer is easily as complex, varied, and interesting! Good beer goes great with all sorts of good food, and it's just as rewarding. Glad you're finding so much pleasure in it!

---

Haha! I see (having now actually looked at your wish list) that you have my two suggestions on it already. Good show!

Water has a huge effect on how beer tastes/smells/feels/etc. However, a company like Diageo can absolutely purify and treat the water at one location to be just like another.

In addition, all Guinness draught in the the UK and the US is made at the St. James Gate brewery in Ireland, though some other Guinness products may be made elsewhere.

A couple years ago, I was at the St. James Gate brewery the day before I flew home to the US. I bought a can of draught at both the brewery and then another at my local grocery store, and the day after I got home myself and about 20 other big nerds double-blind tasted them. The consensus was that they were different, though only just. Had I not had them side by side, I don't think I could have distinguished them. There was a slight preference among us for the one from Ireland, but it was not universal, as the beers were extremely similar.

We also all felt that what differences we could detect could be easily explained by the slightly different ages and markedly different shipping conditions experienced by the two cans.

I pretty firmly believe the differences between how we experience Guinness in the US vs. in Ireland are almost entirely due to psychological factors. We're excited to try it in Ireland, and we're relaxed and on vacation, priming us to enjoy the experience far more than we would having it at our local faux-Irish bar here in the states.

Whenever I think back to when I first discovered something I now love, I find that it was a time I was happy, relaxed and open to new experiences. Usually out with friends or family and having a good time well before I tried whatever thing I now love. I think drinking Guinness in Ireland has the same effect. It's not that the beer is different in Ireland, it's that we are different in Ireland!

Freshness, presentation, clean lines, correct gas pressures/mixtures, etc. certainly all play some role, but a good bar should have those pretty well dialed in in either country, minimizing the effect.

I have to agree the BBS method isn't exactly the most traditional, but if it's all the equipment you have then go for it.

As for starting with all grain - I'm completely against that. It's pretty complicated (especially with trying to get sanitation and other skills right the first time) and most people aren't willing or able to drop $400 on equipment on a hobby they just started out with.

Now, to OP's questions:

>does anybody have any experience with the Brooklyn Brew Shop's kits?

Unfortunately, no. But they seem simple enough, and if you've read the book like you said, you should have no problem with their kit.

>Was the information in the B.B.S.'s book sufficient to get brewing with their kits?

Yes, should be. But keep in mind they're probably glossing over some details (I'm just guessing here since their method is a bit nontraditional and it's a one gallon kit)

>Is there something else I should read in addition to my book before I get brewing?

You don't have to read anything before brewing. It sounds like you've got a good handle on this kit, but if you're looking for more detailed books about brewing definitely check out The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - more than likely it will encourage you to switch to 5gal brewing. It'll be easier and more fun than your 1 gal batches.

>Is there anything else I should get to make the whole process easier or more efficient?

Honestly, I think you'll find the 1gal equipment kit is not going to be enough. It's a fantastic starter/learning system, but once you brew and read The Complete Joy of Homebrewing you'll probably want a lot more equipment. Come talk to us then :)

In the meantime, welcome to the hobby, and happy brewing!!

I don't think the truth of my claim and /u/Mutand1s post are not mutually exclusive. I wasn't referring to whether the beer had this mythic provenance so much as the taste of that beer you call IPA is one that will hold up to heat and I think there is a difference. The story about developing this special formula for the voyage sounds a little too clever by half considering that climate and other conditions were the reasoning behind every style of beer.

Brewing, like baking is science as much as art. Humidity, heat and altitude will effect your bread and your beer. This whole thing about inventing a beer is probably a bit overstating things because if your making beer that will go in the hull of a ship sailing for months through the tropics you know that heat will be a factor and you would choose a traditional style off the shelf to meet your needs. Since you are a brewer; you might even add your own twist but that's just it right, you start off with something that has been refined for years and years and you might tweak it a bit with more fermentable sugars but it's mostly still the style someone has been drinking for years.

If you think about it a little bit though this is a question that can seem more obvious as you drill down. The history of brewing, like baking is one of refinement and an effort to bring consistency. There is a reason we arrive at Wonder Bread and Budweiser in the 20th century. These are two very refined and difficult to realize pinnacles of their craft that reflect the eras obsession with science and industrialization to create millions of items that are exactly the same and transparent enough to reveal flaws, remember this is the era that brings us Six Sigma. Try and brew a Bud/Miller/Coors beer or bake a loaf of Wonder at home and you will see how incredibly hard it is. Make fun of them all you want but these two foods were the subject of thousands of years of intellectual evolution.

Which brings us to why an IPA is hoppy and a little stronger than its counterparts. Someone mentions in this conversation that the beer was simply adapted from an existing traditional style, which makes sense. You take into consideration what the characteristics of the voyage will be and you come to the conclusion that a beer that holds up to summer is your recipe.

If you look at German and English styles that are brewed to stand up to summer heat and they tend to be stronger and hoppier than the beers made for other seasons. This is because hops, in general, was added to do a few important things for beer, stabilize flavor and mask off flavors (go to the end of page 262 in the link). High heat is no friend to beer that is sitting in a barrel and higher alcohol and hops is there to help counter and mask the effects. As a historical matter this is what hops is introduced for, make beer taste better under various conditions, help the brewer to attain a level of consistent quality.

Certain yeasts can help too, ale is better for warmer temps than lager. So you pick a hoppy beer brewed to stand up to summer heat for an ocean voyage. Whether or not that was some intricate formula or just an off the shelf solution is an interesting debate, but not the whole story. As you can see from just about any book on brewing history and styles, From Michael Jackson's World Guide to Beer to Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Home Brewing you will see that styles came about as a result of the conditions for which they were brewed. Bud/Miller/Coors are brewed the way they are because of the technology that allows for strict and precise measurement throughout the manufacturing/brewing process. Ale is more forgiving and IPA is probably the most forgiving style for a new brewer to make because you can screw a lot of stuff up and still get it right. That's also the reason why that kind of beer is ideal to sit in the hull of a ship until you get to India.

My advice is to start simple.

I know it sounds like I'm being a buzzkill, but hear me out. A great beer isn't defined by the number of ingredients, but rather the harmony of those ingredients and the skill of the brewer. Look at Deschutes' homebrew recipes. Most of their non-specialty beers only have 3-4 items on their grain bill.

Also, if you only have a few ingredients (2-row, a specialty grain or two, carapils if necessary, and one hop variety) it will be easier for you to identify the character of those ingredients in the final beer. This is the first step in knowing your grains and hops. A malt/hop chart can only tell you so much. I agree that it's overwhelming at first, which is why my advice is to constrain your first few recipes to just a few ingredients.

Once you understand the character of the more common malts and hops, it will be much easier for you to start experimenting and adding more complexity to your recipes. You will also have more confidence that the recipe you put together will actually taste like what you want.

My method was to first start brewing recipes aimed at a very specific style. I picked up Designing Great Beers and brewed a few different styles out of that book. Since I knew what the styles were supposed to taste like and I only used a small set of ingredients, I learned how those ingredients contributed to the end result. Once I built up a baseline I felt much more comfortable experimenting. For example, I brewed a very good IPA and tweaked the recipe slightly to make a ginger pale ale that also turned out really great.

As for things like amount of malts and hops, boil time, etc. Get yourself some brewing software like beersmith. That will help you calculate IBUs and whatnot. Beersmith also comes with an inventory that has some info about the max percentage you should use for a particular grain in a batch.

To conclude, keep in mind that it won't all fall together right away. You'll research a ton and then you'll research some more. Just keep making recipes and keep brewing and eventually it will start to click.

/u/eightwebs is in the ballpark, but dropped the ball on a couple things. Let's start from the top.

Brewing your own beer is an amazing, fun, rewarding hobby. I've been doing it for 4 years. To start out, you'll need to get a beginners kit (like this one) which will give you all the specialty equipment you need to make 5 gallons of beer (about 2 cases). You'll also need ingredients which can be found on the same website.

Your first batch will be simple. You will more than likely be brewing extract (which is similar to making a cake from a boxed cake mix -- the finer details are taken care of for you, you just have to follow some easy directions). It will take about 4-5 weeks to be ready. It needs to spend 1-2 weeks fermenting, and then 2 weeks in the bottle.

It probably won't be the best beer you've ever had, but it will have alcohol, it will be carbonated, and I guarantee it will be satisfying. Then you can work on getting better and better.

Brewing is one of those hobbies where book knowledge is good, but you won't actually get good at it unless you do it a lot. Here's where you start: buy this book and read the sections about getting started, fermentation, ingredients, and the extract batch walkthrough. Read them twice. Read the whole book if you feel so inclined. That book is considered by many to be the brewers bible. There are some other good books out there, but none as comprehensive as Palmer's. Then buy the kit I linked above (or a similar one), some ingredients, and get started.

Also, come check out /r/homebrewing. I very active, very helpful place for all your brewing questions.

Feel free to ask any more specific questions you have.

I like Lambic and if you make beer, any kind, you have to respect the effort it takes - no matter the style. Let them snicker, just enjoy your Lambic.

Since you are in So-Cal, there are many good places for unusual beer here are just two:

The Wine House
The Beverage Warehouse

Charlie Papazian is the godfather of homebrewing, his books and efforts helped create the current landscape. Michael Jackson was very influential in his own right as well. So, reading up on him is a very good idea. Compared to the previous two, John Palmer is relatively new to the scene but has done some excellent work to make homebrewing more easily understood. His book, How To Brew is really, really good. Read it online or grab it at Amazon for <$14. Worth having.

I have to compliment many of the posters here, they are offering a lot of good information. I had no idea there were so many brewers on Reddit! Read, read, read and the jump in. There's a lot to know and nothing substitutes for doing. PM me if I can help.

Making beer together can be a very fun and rewarding thing to do. I have progressed into making wine and champagne (ok, sparkling wine). I am just about to start to make vodka. But that's a different post.

Watch out for the strong ales! 8-9% ABV will get you ripped. They are twice the alcohol content of your average beer.

Edit:

Almost forgot, try Hoegaarden. It's a good beer and appeals to many. Another that is worth trying is La Chouffe. <drool>

I wouldn't start with a site, but rather a book, How to Brew by John Palmer. Go ahead and spend the 10 bucks on it right now, this isn't an option. You can't just skate by without this book and annoy everyone on /r/homebrewing, homebrewtalk, or IRC channels with questions answered beautifully and organically in this book.

This book answers the basics, from what beer is, what is fermenting, to the process, to the advanced, including building advanced all-grain setups. This will answer nearly all the questions you have, from now to three years of experience on down the road, and it's here in one handy book you can doodle and highlight all over. This is your first investment. Equipment is not your first investment. A gallon of cider and a pack of baker's yeast is not your first investment. A craigslist posting of someone giving away their old equipment is not your first investment. Paying the money right now for this book is your first investment.

While the book is in the mail, you can start reading the first edition online, which gives you an opportunity to reread it all over again in print when your copy arrives. Write stuff down. Highlight stuff. Go to google and bing something if you aren't fully clear. No questions yet, understand what the whole process is, and be committed to a few very important core rules: cleaning is the most important, timeliest part of brew day. Quality goes into the work you do, quality comes out as the finish product. And finally, it's necessary to have a beer while you make beer -- respect the craft you've taken up as a hobby by respecting those who have done so before you.

Finally you can begin to ask the question you are asking now. Where do I go before I brew? First, Midwest Supplies has a coupon about thrice a year that is a big savings and comes with mostly everything -- if you want to wait around for that, in the between time is a good time to invest in the other things, like a large pot, star-san, empty bottles, and so on. If not, do research and don't go buying the cheapest kit -- buy the kit that comes with everything that you want; don't feel short-handed or inundated with extras.

Lastly, that book is your new bible. It has all the answers. Now the bible is a historical recording, and new evidence disproves things in the bible. Some things you'll learn like quick tips and such you'll find just browsing the web, but what's in the bible makes for a correct and complete brewday. But the bibles of the world would be great if it came with the empirical evidence of video recordings. This episode of brewingTV is pretty good at showing what your first brewday should look like. But again, this religion will be lost on you if you don't buy and read the bible first.

And remember, "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew".

Sure, tons! In no particular order:

1. Pick up a book. The two best intros are How to Brew and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. My girlfriend and I started with How to Brew. It can be a little science-y, but it was a great beginner's book that starts with the basics and gets more complicated as it goes. Basically the first chapter is enough to brew a beer, but the next few chapters help you learn how brewing works, and so on. I've never read The Joy of Homebrewing, but I've heard it's just as good, only a little less science based and more "fun and accessible." Really, either one is probably great.
   
   Also, How to Brew is based off a blog, and a lot of the book is on there. If you don't know which book you'd prefer start with A Crash Course in Brewing and decide if it's for you or if you'd like something a little more readable.
   
   
2. Google around and see if you have a local homebrew shop. Lots of them offer classes, and sometimes local breweries will have homebrew classes on groupon or living social. Often times the beer you drink is work the price of the class, and it's super helpful to see brewing done first hand. This is actually how I got into it: I used buy beer at my LHBS in Ft Lauterdale, and saw that classes were only $30 and came with beer and food. I signed up with my girlfriend - no intention to start brewing, just thought it'd be a fun Saturday - and wound up totally hooked.
   
   
3. Use the community, people love talking about brewing. If you're not sure how to make something work for you, someone's probably been there. Ask folks in your LHBS if you have one, post in /r/homebrewing, heck even just come back some time and reply to this post and I'll be more than happy to tell you what I know. I was worried because when I moved to DC I lost the outdoor space I used to brew in Florida, and couldn't get 5 gallons of beer boiling on a regular stove. I mentioned it casually to another brewer and he walked me through adapting recipes for smaller, more concentrated boils to be topped up to 5 gallons afterwards. Now I can brew on my electric apartment stove and haven't seen any loss of quality.
   
   Sorry if that's a total data dump, I just love chatting about and getting new people into brewing. If you ever give it a try, let me know how it goes!

It's a big topic, so I'd suggest starting small and easy. One route is to find a good brewpub (a bar/restaurant where they serve beer brewed on the premises) in your area, using this directory on Beeradvocate. If that's unclear, just say where you're from and I (or someone else around here) will help you figure it out. Brewpubs often serve sampler trays, where you get a small serving of all of their beers on tap. This will usually give you a quick baseline for some popular styles and hopefully introduce you to some good local beers.

Another tried and true route is to find a beer store or a grocery store with a good selection (again, use the Beeradvocate directory) and ask their beer buyer for help. If no one is around or he/she seems like an idiot, you can always just grab some random bottles - look for single bottles or mix-a-six deals (some stores let you buy 12 oz bottles that would normally be sold in six packs).

Beeradvocate and Ratebeer are the two biggest beer websites and both have good intro articles on beer - BA's Beer 101, RB's Beer Reference. That might seem a bit boring at this point, but some people prefer that kind of thing (me). If you're really into it, there's also a fantastic intro to beer book - link - that is both fun to read and chock full of information.

As for examples and recommendations, it depends on your location to a large extent. Beer distribution is very regional because there are costs and legal barriers associated with expanding into a new state. There are some good breweries that distribute to most/all of the country (North Coast, Anchor, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, Rogue, etc.), but with >1600 breweries currently operating in the US, they're just a small portion and even some of the biggest breweries skip over a lot of states. If you want to give us your state (city would also help for more beer bar/brewpub recommendations), it would be much easier to recommend some beers for you.

Finally, you might want to try searching around /r/beer a bit, as there have been many past threads on this and similar topics.

Here's one more piece of advice: try new beers as much as possible. Be adventurous and open to new styles and unfamiliar flavors. You'll find lots of delicious beer even if you strike out a few times along the way.

Cheers and welcome to good beer.

My fiance started brewing with a 1 gallon kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. He liked their kits since they're all-grain and don't use extracts. The instructions are easy to follow, and there are some free videos available online as well. The beers he's made with the kits (I believe he's used four so far) have been pretty good, despite a few "user errors." (Trouble with filtration for one, accidental over-carbonation for another.) Mind you, the kit DOES NOT include bottles, caps, a capper, or the various pots/strainers/funnels you tend to need for brewing. You can purchase these items separately from Brooklyn Brew Shop's site, or poke around on Amazon.

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/beer-making-kits

Northern Brewer also sells a nice 1-gallon starter kit (it includes a capper, caps, and an auto-siphon for bottling, but doesn't have a thermometer like Brooklyn Brew Shop's kits). Their mixes use extracts, which some homebrewers aren't as fond of, but they are much higher quality than Mr. Beer. I've never used a Northern Brewer kit or tried a Northern Brewer beer, but I've heard good things. I've ordered supplies from the company twice before (big orders and bulky/awkward items) and they are an absolute pleasure to do business with. If nothing else, they're a great source for ordering additional supplies if you don't have a local homebrew shop.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/beer-equipment-starter-kits/1-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit.html

If your boyfriend is really interested in homebrewing, you might want to consider getting him the book How to Brew by John J. Palmer. It's generally considered to be the most comprehensive book for new homebrewers. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009DH2PP4?btkr=1)

If he is NOT interested in homebrewing (he hasn't expressed a specific interest in brewing his own beer, and you simply think a homebrew kit would be an awesome present for a beer lover), you might want to rethink your gift. Enjoying craft beer and enjoying brewing beer are two separate things. While one does sometimes bleed into the other (you'd best like craft beer if you plan to make it in your kitchen), not all craft lovers enjoy brewing.

Not sure what country you’re in, but I’ve used Northern Brewer and Brewer’s Best for most of my recipes. I started the same way you did with a 1 gal kit APA and was hooked instantly.

I upgraded by buying a kit for ~$100 that came with an IPA extract kit, a primary fermenter bucket, a bottling bucket, airlock, etc that I’m still using 9 batches later. I’ve expanded now to three separate 6 gallon fermenters (they’re only like $20 for the bucket, lid, and airlock!). You’ll definitely want a large kettle as well and I’d recommend getting a hydrometer to test OG and FG so you know the ABV of your beer. All said and done, $200 should get you a really really solid base set!!!!

The biggest thing I can recommend is buying a copy of [The complete Joy of Homebrewing] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Third/dp/0060531053) by Charlie Papazian, you won’t regret it!

There’s tons of great advice for starters, midrange, and advanced brewers with a lot of good basic recipes. Good luck, and enjoy!

A good profile for WLP 001 California Ale (Wyeast 1056 / Safale US-05) is to pitch around 67F-68F, then monitor the heat and keep the beer temperature (not just the ambient air) around 68F-69F for the first 80% of fermentation. It can help to bump a couple degrees to 70F-71F for that last 20% to ensure you finish fermentation completely and don't get stuck with a few extra gravity points to go.

General Fermentation Temperature tips:

There are some great shows by the Brewing Network on this (itunes podcast or get it from their website) - Jamil does a great breakdown of WLP-001 fermentation profile on the "Jamil Show" about Robust Porters (towards the end of the episode, maybe 3/4 of the way through). They also have a fantastic episode of "Brew Strong" all about fermentation temperature control and why it matters.

Enough about them... First off you want to keep in mind that during the first couple days of a fermentation the temperature will be elevated by a few degrees by the heat generated by the yeast themselves, so if you're fermenting a beer with ambient air at 64F, the beer may be around 67F or 68F. Problems can arise on day 3 or 4, once you're 75% done with the fermentation and that heat source begins to fade; the beer will drop back down to ambient temperature at that point and the yeast may decide to go to sleep early. This is a major cause of incomplete fermentations and can result in a beer that's too sweet at best or create bottle bombs at worst (as that extra sugar slowwwly ferments later)

On the other hand, if you go warmer than around 72F-73F (the temperature of the BEER, not the AIR) then you can start to generate unwanted esters and fusel alcohols. This is particularly impactful on stronger than normal beers (watch out when doing anything over 1.070)

The biggest impact investment i've made to increase my beer's quality and consistency (on par with going all grain) was without a doubt my fermentation fridge. I have a basic dorm fridge that fits a carboy, with a temperature controller hooked up to the fridge's power supply. It allows me to control fermentation at all steps to within about 1/2 a degree, keeping it cool during the initial activity and warming it up at the end to help it finish. There are plenty of resources around the internet if you're interested in doing something like this; i would HIGHLY recommend it.

Edit for some really good knowledge on yeast and fermentation, i'd highly recommend the book "Yeast" by Jamil Zainasheff and Chris White (White Labs)

Sure thing, my current "basic" grisette is (5-gallon measurements for my system at 75% efficiency are parenthetical):

Estimates: 9ºP (1.036) SG, 2ºP (1.008) FG, 3.6% ABV, 2.8 SRM

• 75% Belgian Pilsen Malt (5.25 lb, or any Pils malt on hand)
  
  
• 20% Wheat Malt (1.4 lb, Belgian if you have it, White Wheat if you don't)
  
  
• 5% Acid Malt (0.35 lb, you may or may not need to adjust this for pH)
  
  
• 24 IBU Magnum or Nugget at 60 (0.5 oz, whichever I have on hand)
  
  
• 8 IBU Liberty, Saaz, or Tetnang (1.0 oz, again, whichever I have on hand, usually Liberty)
  
  BIAB mash for 60 min at 158 and drain, boil for 90 min with hop charges above, cool to 80ºF and pitch WLP590 French Saison.
  
  Place in a 60ºF chamber for 7 days, free rise to 70º-80º for 2 days, hard crash (no lager) to 35ºF for 2-7 days and keg
  
  You can also cool the wort to 60º or so and do the warmer period after primary is complete (the warmer period is for esters, phenols, and character) but I've found that warm pitching that yeast and letting it slowly drop to ale temps works pretty well. Also, this is the most basic version I have for grisette and I have a bunch more in my plan for this year to try like amber, Vienna malt-focused, extra hoppy, a witte style one, etc. I think I stole the above recipe from Farmhouse Ales pretty much verbatim. Great book if your into Saisons, Biere du Garde, Grisette, etc.
  
  About a year ago I fell in love with this style and saison. So much so that my friends are now grabbing bottles of saison for me out in the wild =) I think it's to shut me up about them but hey... If you try the above recipe (or if you tweak it) be sure to post your results in the sub!
  
  Cheers.

I'm assuming you are talking about these kits.

Mr. Beer seems to have a love/hate relationship in the homebrew community. I would bet that company has gotten more people into homebrew than any other factor.

Probably the best way to do this is Pro/Con

Pro

Nearly Fool Proof

Easy, which is very nice for a first batch

Good beer

Everything comes with it

Con

If you stay with the hobby, you'll likely only use the equipment once or twice.

Not very cheap, considering you'll only use it once or twice

You only learn the bare minimum of the process

While good, it's not great beer by homebrew standards

You don't learn squat about beer recipes

Most homebrew recipes are based around the 5-5.5 gallon standard making the fermenters nearly useless in the future

Really only useful for Mr. Beer recipe kits


Using a "real" kit like I linked to gets you nearly everything you need to fully pursue a homebrew hobby. It allows you to experiment with the complete process - creating recipes, working through the whole brew/fermentation process, racking to secondary, bottling in real glass bottles.

I would definitely recommend going with a 5 gallon equipment kit.

If you didn't notice, the kit I linked to doesn't come with the ingredients, unlike Mr. Beer. Those are bought separately. I believe Mr. Beer recipe kits only come with Prehopped Malt Extract and yeast, which means everything is boiled together and put in a can. When you buy a recipe from a store you will use some Malt Extract, but you also add your own specialty grains and your own hops. This gets you more intense flavor - and again, many more opportunities to learn and experiment. If you have a Local Homebrew Shop (from here on out referred to as your LHBS) that is the best place to buy ingredients as they are somewhat more likely to be fresh. I still order from Midwest Homebrew Supply. I happened to live about 100 feet from them a couple years ago and they take very good care of me -both then and now. Northern Brewer seems to have the strongest following though.

Some tips for when you get into it:

[John Palmer's How to Brew*](http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252989771&sr=8-1).
Read it once. Twice. Five times. I still read it front to back every few months. Basically, this is the Brewer's Bible. The most complete reference I've ever seen. Other books are more specialized but this is everything you'll need to know for a long time.

Alton Brown's "Amber Waves" from his show "Good Eats"

Part 1 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

Part 2 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7jQ6Wwnqk

Some very good information and you wouldn't believe how much it helps to watch the process instead of just reading about it. Some of his methodology isn't perfect (using ice to cool is questionable, jamming a lid into the bucket can be damaging, can't remember if he racks to secondary or not).

Homebrew Talk - forums dedicated to homebrew. If you need quick answers or advice they are more than happy to help beginners. They can also point you to a reputable LHBS
in your area.

Sanitize Sanitize SANITIZE. If you have any doubts about how clean you got something, do everything again. Bacteria will kill beer.

The biggest thing to remember: have fun and don't worry when things go wrong, because they will. I still make mistakes during the process - both new ones and mistakes I've done many times in the past. I haven't killed a batch yet though. Beer is pretty resilient.

In this post, I'm going to link to examples. They are examples: I'm not necessarily recommending that specific item. (I'm pretty much doing a search on Amazon and linking to the first thing in the search results that is actually what you need.) It's just an example to let you know what you're looking for.

Yes, you will need a metal stockpot. Five gallons should be sufficient.

You will need some type of stirring apparatus. Some would recommend a large metal spoon, but I recommend using a plastic mash paddle.

I would recommend getting some type of thermometer to put on your stock pot. A candy thermometer is where I'd start, but, if this is a hobby that you'll stick with, it's probably worth investing in something better.

Also, I see that they put a hydrometer in your kit. If you want to take measurements with the hydrometer, you'll need either a turkey baster or a wine thief. I'd start with the baster.

If you need a book on homebrewing, Palmer's How to Brew is pretty much the standard, but Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing is well regarded. Palmer's book is in its third edition, but you can get the first edition of the book online for free.

Depending on the ingredients that you use, you may need common kitchen items like scissors or can openers.

You'll also need bottles. If you brew a five gallon batch (which is pretty typical… at least in the United States), you'll need about fifty-four twelve-ounce bottles. However, you can't use twist-off bottles; they're no good.

Lastly, you'll need ingredients. Different recipes call for different ingredients. My advice is to buy a kit from a local homebrew store (LHBS) or one online. Some kits make you buy the yeast separately. If so, make sure that you purchase the right strain of yeast.

Cool gift idea!

I'd say, first and foremost, that you aren't going to be able to kit out your boyfriend for homebrewing. There are too many styles for different types of equipment, and it gets very expensive... But a basic kit is good enough to brew just about anything, and it gives him the option to buy new items piece-by-piece as he outgrows the starter ones.

If you want to give him a good start in the hobby, get him 3 things:

1. A brewing starter kit
   
2. A good brewing book
   
3. A good beer kit
   
   For a starter kit, it looks something like one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Share-Enjoy-Homebrew-Brewing-Starter/dp/B0179ZH89Y/ref=sr_1_3
   
   You get a plastic bucket to ferment the beer, cleaning chemicals, hydrometer, bottles, bottle capper, siphon, etc. This should be perfectly adequate for him to brew beer dozens of times before he might want to start tweaking his equipment. The best part is you can replace individual parts of the kit any time you want - it makes it a very flexible upgrade path.
   
   
   For a starter book, it's How to Brew all the way. I'm pretty sure everyone in here owns a copy.
   
   
   For a starter kit, you can pick kits off Amazon. You should know there's 3 major types of beer recipe:
   
   
4. Pre-hopped extract kits. These are the beer kits you can buy in every grocery store. They're "fine", but my biggest complaint is that 90% of the work is already done for you, so brew day is almost boring.
   
   
5. Extract kits. (Get one of these). They include barley extract (usually in jars of thick syrup, but sometimes in dry powder form), hops to boil, and sometimes some extra things like specialty grains, spices, etc. Here's an example: https://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Blonde-Homebrew-Beer-Ingredient/dp/B00AC7Q4JW
   
   
6. All grain recipes. All grain brewing is the most hands-on you can get homebrewing, but it also requires some extra brewing equipment. The How to Brew book goes over it in great detail, and your boyfriend can decide if all grain brewing interests him.
   
   
   So, for all of these things, I gave Amazon links, but you don't have to buy them online at all. I'd strongly recommend looking up local homebrewing stores and just walking in. Most of my local shops are cheaper than shopping online, the staff are fun to talk to (because they really care about brewing), and it's nice to be able to examine some of the things before you buy them.
   
   Whether you shop locally of online, everything I listed above should come in at less than $150.

Since I see this topic is posted twice, I'm posting my thoughts here as well:

You're missing How to Brew, and Extreme Brewing (while it has a few decent recipes and has lovely photos) isn't that great a book IMO. Designing Great Beers is good, but a bit outdated and IMO is a lot better after you've gotten a few batches done. Haven't read Jamil's yeast book, so I can't comment on it. Brew Like a Monk is a great volume, but doesn't have the general information you want when you're starting out.

I recommend:

How to Brew - The best single reference on brewing I've seen

Radical Brewing - Great for creative recipes and information on different ingredients

Also, just go and brew something. I brewed my first batch without reading any books and it turned out fine. Brewing will help make the texts make more sense, and the texts will then make the brewing make more sense.

Huh!

That's really interesting!

A close friend's father introduced me to brewing when I was, like, 16 (after sneaking no small amount of his home brew) and we spent several afternoons brewing together and he told me a lot about how the different ingredients and brewing methods work to create different flavors and styles of beer, so I have an (admittedly basic and ineloquent) understanding of hops and grains and malts.

I also cook a lot, so flavors and ingredients are really important to me and I'm keenly aware of what a big difference something like fresh basil can make over a dried ground powder in a freshly prepared meal. That's not snobbery, it's just a fact. Good quality ingredients are important to crafting excellent food.

I got curious about wine a couple years back and read Drink This, which is an amazingly easy to read and unpretentious guide to learning what exactly the difference between Syrah and Merlot is. (And all the other varietals.) The book recommends a lot of tasting, and I can't drink 5 bottles in one go by myself so I decided to make a game out of it and gave a powerpoint lecture on each chapter to my friends and we did all the tastings together. Super educational and a great experience. Would definitely recommend.

For the record, I didn't know anything about anything regarding wine when I started out on that little adventure. No shame, full curiosity.

Anyway.

I don't know of any great books about beers off the top of my head but this is the book I was given to learn about brewing. It will give you a huge amount of insight into the process and ingredients (and history!) of brewing if you're interested.

I totally understand why you made the analogy you did now. Thanks for clearing that up!

And yeah, while I totally agree that people can use beer knowledge as a way to feel superior to those around them, and that habit is stupid and annoying, there really is a lot to learn about beer (and pretty much everything else in the world, duh) and a whole lot of great stuff out there to taste! So don't let those jerkbags ruin that experience for you. Go check it out!

They don't get a lot of love around here (though they don't get much hate either I suppose, lol) but I started with a Mr. Beer from the hobby shop. I quickly out grew it, but it was ~$60 and came with two batches worth of extract and yeast and allowed me to figure out that despite the beer not being as great as I'd hoped, I enjoyed the process. So it was definitely worth the money and effort even though I don't use the Mr. Beer anymore.

As far as DIY equipment, most individual parts of the process are relatively inexpensive. You can save money by using Aluminum instead of stainless steel for boiling your wort (unfermented beer), and you can do without things like immersion chillers to cool your wort and use ice-baths instead. But the beautiful thing is you can upgrade different pieces of equipment as you see necessary. You can start out cheap but decide it's worth the $60 to get an immersion chiller. Or if you are handy with metal and such you can make your own! Again, a lot of answers can be gained from books (and here of course!). Like I said earlier, this book is great. I too was afraid of the cost of the hobby and worried I wouldn't like homebrewing and be out a bunch of money. Turns out I enjoy it enough to warrant the cost!

I just got into real brewing (started with a Mr. Beer 4 years ago and it has taken me this many years to start up again after that nightmare).

The basic equipment is cheap. I spent $89 for a proper starter + add-on kit.

I made a wort chiller for $7 and bought an additional carboy so I can have multiple batches going.

I spent $20 on hops rhizomes (Cascades) and those went crazy this summer.

10 days ago I did a honey wheat (having a friend walk me through the process - and he did most of the work).

He set it up for a 2nd fermentation on Saturday ( since it was so nasty out I wasn't able to get to his place) and I'll bottle it next weekend.

This past Saturday I made a Stout and a Nut Brown Ale. And that is the problem with brewing. I like dark beers that usually take weeks before bottling (looking at 4 weeks to bottling for the last 2 and then another 2 weeks in the bottles).

I really need to start drinking Pilsners. That way I can drink them 7-10 days later.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's cheap and it really is easy but the waiting game sucks.

If you want someone to help you with your first batch just let me know and you can come over and we'll make a couple. I'm going to try to brew 5 gallons a week for a while so I can always have some homebrew ready to drink.

I'd recommend getting a copy of The Complete Joy of Home Brewing

It has everything in it that you need to know and has a bunch of recipes from beginner to advanced.

I also just picked up Clone Brews which has a lot of popular beers in it and how to make them yourself.

And as they say at Midwest Supplies , you really should do 5 or 10 batches from their brew kits to learn the full process and how different ingredients affect the flavor of your beer.

Just my two-cents.

I also started r/TCBrewers but no one has used it yet.

There was some talk of a Brew Party (As Midwest_Product pointed out) that was going to be Nov. 20th but I haven't heard anything about it in quite a while.

Anyhow, it seems there is a lot of interest in a Brew Party so if no one else steps up I could always have it at my place but it would probably have to be outside in turkey fryers. I have a nice bonfire pit so that would be our source of warmth.

Here's a list of some good General Books on beer.

I'm fond of Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher. It does a great job of introducing the history of beer, the different styles, and other great info. I recommend it to everybody who wants to learn about beer. http://www.amazon.com/Tasting-Beer-Insiders-Worlds-Greatest/dp/1603420894

If you're interested in the history of American beer, Ambitious Brew is a great read. It's limited in scope to just the history of American beer, but that proves to be a rich subject. http://www.amazon.com/Ambitious-Brew-Story-American-Beer/dp/0156033593

Beer is Proof That God Loves Us, It's not the greatest book, but for free on Kindle, it's worth checking out. The guy knows his beer, he just is a big time Macro brewing apologist, and his constant praise for the big brewers, and his disdain for hops make it not my favorite book. There are some good anecdotes, and history of beer. http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Is-Proof-God-Loves/dp/0137065078

And I've heard good things about the Oxford Companion to Beer, though I haven't read it myself. http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Beer-Garrett-Oliver/dp/0195367138/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

We are short on dedicated homebrew supply shops by me as well. Major city but had none for about a month. Some of the larger liquor stores (Party Mart, Liquor Barn... I know they're chains but not sure if it's just local) have supplies and ingredients. Pretty good selection too. Just don't count on anyone there knowing anything about it. Not sure where you live but there's several in WV according to google.

In the past I've always had good luck with NorthernBrewer.com, but I haven't ordered from them since a LHBS opened near me. And I probably won't since the AB-InBev buyout. But if you don't care about the politics they do a good job.

Stick to extract with at least your first few batches. Do yourself a favor and read a book before you brew. This one was good for me. Opinions vary though. Welcome to the club. Happy brewing.

pretty much any kit from any online or local homebrew shop. Will do. Most of them come with a fermentation bucket, a bottling bucket, a capper, caps, a hydrometer, some hoses, a bottling wand, and your first recipe kit Some come with carboys or better bottles (plastic carboys) but that isn't necessary for the types of beer you posted. If you are purchasing for Christmas (IE you don't need it within a week) be on the look out for a Midwest starter kit Groupon. 127 dollar value for 64 bucks plus IIRC 25 dollars shipping.

If you purchase from your LHBS you could ask for an upgraded recipe usually for the difference of what you need (say it comes with a 25 dollar recipe and you want a 30 dollar recipe they will only charge you the kit plus 5 dollars.) at least that is what my LHBS did. Also they will be able to help you with what you need.

As for how to brew advice. on top of your kit get him John Palmer's How To Brew It is the best beginners book in my opinion.

Good places to shop for kits

• Midwest Supplies
  
  
• Northern Brewer
  
  
• Austin Homebrew
  
  As a bonus also try and learn the craft and help him brew. Brewing and bottling are much more fun if you have someone to work with.

IMO you can make pretty decent beer with bottled spring water. Depending on the chemistry of that spring water, it'll make some beers better than others, but spring water generally has a mixture of minerals that tastes pretty good and this often translates to good-tasting beer.

I'd say that the differences you get from water treatment are subtle but effective in making the difference between a pretty good beer and a very good beer.

This book is generally regarded as the classic source for water treatment in homebrewing.

You do not need a pH reader if you use a calculation like that in Bru 'n' Water. I don't have a pH reader, but I definitely want one now.

Wow you're really lucky, I wish I'd got that much to spend on brewing for a grant!

Feel free to ask this subreddit any question at any type of course, and I'm sure we'd also love it if you posted your findings as you study the chemistry too.

Are you completely new to brewing? Do you want to make beer or mead or what?

Some good sources:

Designing Great Beers - Great book full of hard data and numbers on tons of brew related topics. This would be good to use as a reference for experiments.

Brew Judge Certification Program website - This is the official certification site for beer judges and it outlines a large variety brew styles from various types of beer, to styles of mead, and explains what is used to make them, how it should taste, etc.

drmischief links below - but you REALLY ought to buy and read How to Brew by John Palmer.

It's pretty much indispensable for the noob brewer. It's a great blend of easy to understand process, as well as a good helping of science if you really want to understand what's going on.

Make it through that book, and complement it with Brewing Classic Styles and Brewing Better Beer.

You may not be a book learner, but those books have great references that you can look up mid-brew.

Other than that - find someone to mentor you through a local homebrew club if at all possible. I started with a mentor, and have since passed the torch to other all grain noobs.

Id ask r/Homebrewing about mead and whatnot, i brew beers ciders and wines myself and one thing i can tell you is that there are inumerable ways to screw it up, super easy to ruin a batch, afaik mead takes months and months, ale idk but i can brew a decent batch of beer in 2 weeks. Best guess assuming 5e id start with a general intelligence check and a nature check for portions and whatnot then maybe a survival check on behalf of the yeast, it is possibke to give it so much sugar it just says fuck it and dies (not actually what happens but you get the gist) then either a history, insight or medicine check for proper storage, i doybt your going to have them bottle it but you still gotta rack it off/ditch the trub before you let it sit as that can drastically alter the flavor, as well as skunking beer with too much light, though some people (weird people) like it. That's just what i could think of off the top of my head though, theres plenty of ways to brew

Edit i can't personally vouch for the book as i'm still waiting for payday to buy it, but the reviews seem promising on not only numerous varieties of beer but also more ancient methods of brewing, so on reviews alone i'd recommend taking a look at this book
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0937381667/ref=ox_sc_act_image_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Editedit forgot to mention that while its super easy to screw up, if you don't screw up than it's super easy to make homebrew, sounds weird but that's how it is.

Edit^3* as for how much it can produce i'm not sure on portions for mead but when i do countrywines 3lbs of fruit/veggies/roots/whatever makes roughly one gallon of wine finished product

End ramble.

I would always recommend people start with 'The Compleat Meadmaker, by Ken Schramm'. This has been the meadmaking bible for a very long time. You can find supplementary information about staggered nutrient additions, pH buffering compounds, new sanitizers, etc online in various articles and forum sites. Of course, understanding your ingredients can also be very good for any brewer, and water is a huge ingredient. So besides the other element series book 'Yeast' by Christ White and Jamil Zainasheff I highly recommend 'Water' by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski. For those of us making mead in Ferndale, our water is a very key ingredient which comes to us from an underground aquifer treated by the city of Ferndale, and is of very high quality (even compared with the high quality water from the City of Detroit). Understanding honey is a huge area of study. There are many classic textbooks on honey and honey-hunting by Eva Crane that are considered primary sources (but these can be prohibitively expensive for most mazers, and honestly, Ken's book does an awesome job of summarizing her contributions, as well as other historical information about meadmaking, honey, etc). I feel a basic understanding of beekeeping can be highly instructive for meadmakers, and so I recommend that you get your hands on some beginner beekeeping books, e.g. 'Beesentials' by L.J. Connor and Robert Muir and/or the 'Beekeeper's Handbook'. A solid background in wine or beer-making doesn't hurt, either, and there are multitudes of books I can recommend to you on the subject of beer specifically (this is my homebrewing background). My two absolute must-haves for beer brewing are 'Designing Great Beers' by Ray Daniels and 'Brewing Classic Styles' by John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff. Learning to brew beer can help you if you decide you want to try your hand at braggots.

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, get one and learn how to use it. It is the most important tool for troubleshooting fermenting beer. There is no other accurate way to tell if a beer is finished.

Most yeast strains have a documented alcohol level that they can handle. Google is your friend. With a precursory search, I'm finding 9% for English ale, but I've gotten higher. 9/10 times the beer finishes, unless you're pushing your sugar to some crazy heights.

I highly recommend picking up some books if you haven't yet. I cut my teeth on The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. It contains a huge amount of information for the beginner up to all grain. Simply laid out techniques, recipes to try, and the origin of RDWHAHB. Designing Great Beers is a great book to get guidelines on a lot of the major styles, it is the one I am using most often these days. Online forums like r/homebrewing and HomeBrewTalk are also great sources of information.

I would love this as well because I'm geeky like that. Books that I found interesting that you might as well:

-The Comic Book Story of Beer: A fun way to learn more about the history of beer as beverage. It goes into I'd say a medium amount of detail, enough that if you wanted to go deeper you'd have the right search terms. Plus it's a comic book...bonus! Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-Story-Beer-Revolution/dp/1607746352

-National Geographic Atlas of Beer: Another medium level detail book about beer all over the world for a more global perspective plus it's National Geographic so the photography is gorgeous. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Atlas-Beer-Globe-Trotting/dp/1426218338/

-Radical Brewing: Even if you don't homebrew I feel like this book is worth picking up, especially early on in your beer journey because it gives you an idea of what wide range of styles and ingredients can make up a "Beer" (with a capital B). Also, it's a good introduction to Randy Mosher who is a Beer Geek (with a capital B and a capital G). Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Brewing-Recipes-World-Altering-Meditations/dp/0937381837

If anyone has any other books along the same lines they enjoy, feel free to share them.

Cheers!

Little bit of a different issue, but I would also suggest having a homebrew session with the staff before you open one day. Nothing will teach you about the process of making beer better than doing it yourself, and it really isn't hard. If you still want to accompany that lesson with literature, two great books on brewing are How to Brew by John Palmer (aka the home brewer's bible, full text is also available for free online) and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian

As far as general history and beer tasting knowledge, I'll back up those who have recommended Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher, and pretty much anything written by Michael Jackson. Many of Jackson's books are separated by regions, so it would be helpful to find which one applies to the area your pub/the beers your serve are from

It's up to you. I used to brew with my brother-in-law. He never read a book or had much knowledge in the why's and hows and we didn't have any issues brewing together. If you only get 1 book, How to brew is it.

See my other list of essentials/optionals in this thread. Any kit is going to contain most everything you need except for a pot. I'd also pick up an autosiphon if the kit doesn't include one.

Lagers definitely need specific temperatures. Well, ales do too, but they are more forgiving. See the guide to fermentation temperature control in the sidebar. I'd suggest starting out with temperature control right away even something simple/cheap like a swamp cooler can do wonders for the quality of your beer. Yeast health (pitching rate, O2, sufficient nutrients, and temperature control) is easily the #1 most important part of brewing great beer once you have the basics down. You're really going to need a fermentation chamber before you can make lagers effectively unless your climate is ideally suited.

IPA/APA/Amber/Brown/Dry stout/Porter are all fairly forgiving styles to start out with.

A reply you've made makes it sound like they don't yet have a lab. So you are setting up a lab? Fun times!

First, micro is a fraction (large time consuming fraction) of what you'll need to know. Chemical/analytical testing will make up another, say, 1/4. Someone has linked the ASBC methods. This is a great place to start. Brush up on GLP if it's been a while since you've practiced other science streams.


Specifically regarding lab start up, ASBC also has a guide for what you should be testing at different production volumes: http://www.asbcnet.org/membership/getstarted/Pages/growyourown.aspx

Take this as a minimum. More is better, but depending if they are kegging/bottling/whatever not all of it will be relevant.

Expect paperwork review and filing. Shouldn't be too much of a shock coming from a lab. It's not glamorous but it is what it is.

Are they also looking at QA? This will include things like verification, validation, calibration, preventative maintenance, FDA/other food authorities, food safety, cleaning review, auditing, SOP generation and update, training, labelling, acrobatics etc.

Sensory! Can you taste beer? Can you detect faults? Check you ego; you probably don't. But that's okay. Get a sensory training program up and running. This should include training and review of their beers as well as basic defect training using flavour standards. If you haven't accepted you know nothing; these at 1x threshold will get you there. There's also great resources on setting up blind/triangular/etc training on their site: http://www.aroxa.com/beer


Speaking of egos; you mentioned home brewing. We have all met home Brewers that like to tell us about how they know more than us about our jobs. Don't be that guy/gal. Yes it is helpful that you understand the basics and we know you like beer, but that's about as useful as it gets. It's unlikely you'll be writing recipes or making beer.


Some good reading;

https://www.amazon.com/Quality-Management-Essential-Planning-Breweries/dp/1938469151

https://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381969

I got started using this book Complete Joy Of Homebrewing I felt this book was super friendly as introductory material.

There is also this book How To Brew I think most people will tell you John Palmer's book is better but honestly both will contain all the information you need to get started. I am sure someone more resourceful than me will be able to direct you to some great (and free) internet resources to take a look at as well.

Edit: A quick Google search yielded This Have fun and welcome!

I'm not sure my approach to recipe formulation is really going to help here, but one of the things you can do to start learning is to taste a commercial beer and try to devise a recipe that you think would clone it. Then, look up clone recipes online and see how close you came. It really helps you understand some of the different flavors that go into beer.

Anyway, I think I can most contribute by sharing some resources I consult when making a brand new recipe. Firstly, I cannot speak highly enough about [Designing Great Beers](http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Great-Beers-Ultimate-Brewing/dp/0937381500 "Not a referral link, so click away"). It gives you a good understanding of the ingredients found most in styles, and a nice history of why they're brewed the way they are.

Next, I spend a lot of time looking at the Homebrew Wiki Malts Chart. It gives you a really good idea of what flavors and properties different malts iwll bring your beers.

Lastly, I experiment. Try stuff out. Re-brew the same recipe with minor tweaks to improve it.

Sounds good!

In terms of learning more about beer styles, I'd recommend buying and tasting a bunch of different beers - when you find something you like, make a note of it and do some searching to get a general sense of why it tastes the way it does (usually you'll want to look into the basic types of malts, yeast, and hops used, along with any other ingredients that may be of interest). Sites like Beer Advocate are great resources for learning about new styles and figuring out what you might want to try next, and there are tons of local microbreweries with employees/brewers that are happy to talk with you about what goes into making their beers.

Once you actually take the leap into homebrewing, I'd recommend going to a local homebrew store (like Stomp Them Grapes), chatting with the employees, and picking up equipment and ingredients to do a basic extract-based recipe with steeped grains. My personal preference at that point would just be to jump right in - it's not really that difficult, and you'll learn a lot as you progress. From there, you might check into some local homebrew clubs, get some books like The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, How to Brew, or Designing Great Beers, and start creating your own recipes by tweaking existing ones.

Really, the biggest thing is just to have fun. Beer is surprisingly hard to screw up as long as you follow the basic steps and sanitize everything well enough.

If you have any other questions, or want to chat at some point, feel free to send me a PM. I'm in Boulder, but would be happy to help out if possible!

I posted this a week or so ago when somebody asked the same thing. There's the link, I only copied my reply.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IWantToLearn/comments/eef8y/iwtl_how_to_brew_beer/

"also, http://www.howtobrew.com/ by John Palmer is a pretty good starting point. He has a book, but here's the free online version. Also, Charlie Papazian released a book in the early 80's called The Joy of Homebrewing, which should also be checked out. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Harperresource-Book/dp/0060531053, only $10.

To probably figure out if you want to go balls-out and if this is a hobby you will enjoy, probably starting with extract is a good start. The beers might not be quite as good as all-grain, but you'll get an idea of what the hell you're doing and if you'll like it.

You could also look and see if there are any local homebrew clubs, as more are popping up as craft beer gets bigger and bigger.

fredman has a good point, as a lot of homebrew shops have kits and whatnot to help "clone" some of the more popular craft beers.

Also, as a side note and a cheap as hell way to brew, there is always Mr. Beer--but it's pretty meh."

As for books on yeast, the first one I read was First Steps in Yeast Culture by Pierre Rajotte and Chris White's Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation

Rajotte's book is a quick read and will give you a great overview of the process of propagating yeast for brewing. Chris White's book (of White Labs) is, IMHO, way more in depth into yeast selection, management and testing. But both offer something that the other does not, so I highly recommend the both of them.

As for books on brewing, I started off with what is basically the bible of homebrewing which is The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian. But don't stop there. There are plenty of great books on brewing. Papazian's book will cover the foundations of brewing, but other books that deal with specific styles of brewing will give you a lot more information about how intricate the brewing process is. A lot of this information you can also get from perusing online how-to's and articles about specific practices. There are so many you will continuously learn about ways of making bear you never thought were "standard" or possible.

I read Sibel Institute's Technology Brewing and Malting by Wolfgang Kunze cover to cover. It's really informative, but I would focus on the books above and online resources before tackling Kunze's book.

As far as getting a setup like mine, if what you want is to be able to propagate yeast, you don't need most of what I have. Just start picking up pieces when you can. Start out with getting good at managing and making starters for your brews. That's basically what I do, but I'm starting on a much smaller scale. One vial or package of yeast in 1 litre of wort fermenting for 24 hours will give you great yeast growth (as long as you pay attention to temperature). Get acquainted with that process and you'll be able to jump into more advanced yeast management principles much easier.

Heya, I'm two secondaries away from this stage myself. I bought a book that goes into pretty good detail about where to start and the different styles. Personally, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for so I'll save you what I learned:

I started off making an excel sheet that calculates pretty much everything but SRM (or color). While this is great for me (I have it tell me what each grain/hop/yeast contributes) there's better options. I use qBrew for now. Why these softwares are nice is because they allow you to figure out your style. This leads to OG, color, IBU, etc.

You've certainly got some OG ready in there (qBrew claims around 1.085). And you've definitely got some hops. IMO, I would put some more into the boil. I've only done DH once and haven't tasted it yet, but it seems like you're headed for a very aromatic beer with a mild bitterness. That's a lot of grain (around doppelbock levels IIRC) so you might want to consider upping your boils to match and then overcome that maltiness. Not smart enough to comment on your yeast yet. I'm sure its fine :D

If your hops are providing some earthy tones, I could see some orange bitters being a really cool addition.

Edit: if you get a brewing software: http://www.2shared.com/document/0wxR6IAU/soulfrequencies.html

A great book that would answer all your questions is:http://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462387187&sr=8-1&keywords=Yeast+book

But I'll give a couple quick responses that hit some highlights:

What is the difference between yeasts? Each yeast strain is a different organism. Each one is going to impart its own flavor profile. Some yeasts leave a lot of flavor behind in the form of esters, phenols, etc (like a saison or belgian yeast). Others will leave little behind and allow the hops or malt to shine (cal ale, us-05). Along with the flavor profile they add, some are more voracious eaters than others so certain strains will give you a lower finishing gravity (san diego). Others may end up more sweet (some english yeasts). Some like to ferment warmer and others cooler. Many times, the yeast determines your beer style more than the grain bill. You LHBS or the yeast manufacturer has literature telling you the yeast profile. Like what temperatures it likes, gravities it may ferment to, flocculation characteristics, and more.

difference between dry yeasts (Safale US-05, Nottingham, etc) and liquid yeasts: Dry yeasts are cheaper to manufacture, ship, and store. They are not recommended for propogating/reusing but they are cheap enough and easy enough to handle that it doesn't matter. Liquid yeasts are better fresh. They can be propogated. THere are more liquid yeasts available than dry. I suggest you go with the yeast that best suits the style you are brewing and not worry about the form it comes in (unless the reasons above impact you).


is low flocculation ever a good thing? Sure. Think about what kind of flavor and appearance you are going for. If you are looking for a beer like a heff, low flocculation may be desired because you want the yeast flavor to be perceived in a beer and it is not supposed to be a clear beer. High flocculating yeasts may also drop out to quickly resulting in incomplete fermentation. For example: if you don't have a fermenation chamber and your house gets cooler at night a high flocculator may drop out and you could end up with a stalled ferment. You could also end up with more diacetyl in the finished beer since it didn't finish up.

I'd say they're solidly above average, but not anywhere near as good as they could be. Phil Markowski is genuinely one of the best brewers in the country. He was responsible for Southampton's Peconic County Reserve Ale and Black Raspberry Lambic, which are both pretty legendary beers that are among the absolute best examples of their respective styles. Also wrote one of the definitive works on the subject of farmhouse beers. He hasn't really shined at Two Roads, though; they've done some one-off sours that have been quite good, but nothing remarkable. I suppose it's a lot to do with their focus on contract brewing.

This Tetris Coffee Mug is pretty amazing, and as for the beer, how about a How to Order Beer Around the World Poster? or maybe a book about brewing beer?

And to soup up his vest and tie combo, a pack of bow ties might make him feel refreshed! <3 Hope you can cheer up your buddy! You're a wonderful friend!

I'd like this wireless camera remote if I win! Thanks for the contest!

Honestly the worst thing about the hobby is that the initial setup (equipment) is really your largest cost factor. After that it's simply a matter of buying the elements of beer (malted barley, hops, vials of yeast, etc). I'm not saying you have to drop a ton of money on stainless steel mash/lauter tuns, HLT, infusion chillers, fermentation vessels, etc or start doing all grain mash brewing (versus simpler brewing techniques such as extract brewing or partial mash) -- although you certainly can -- but it is a hobby that does require some special preparation on the front end before starting.

My best advice to you is to find a local brewing club and attend a meeting. Join them during a buddy brew session and they can help you get started.

As a primer for brewing I recommend reading The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.

Also, great reading (online) is John Palmer's How To Brew

Good luck! Just a heads up, there is a more active community for beer and wine making over at /r/homebrewing, but n2deep gave a pretty perfect list of items. I started out with Charlie Papazian's book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing," and I've heard people recommend John Palmer's "How to Brew." It made my life easier, but is by no means a requirement.

Have fun with it!

Awesome! Welcome to the greatest hobby there is. If you are really interested in creating your own recipes, Designing Great Beers and Radical Brewing are two of my favorite resources. The former is very technical and contains detailed information on ingredients and how the play with other ingredients to affect the flavor of your beer. The latter is a great, well-rounded brewing book that focuses a lot on brewing with non-conventional ingredients, and how to use them in your recipes.

Stick with your Mr. Beer kit for a few more sessions. Refills are $20 for two gallons which seems reasonable. Just stick with ales and don't brew lagers. The more flavorful the beer is supposed to be the easier flaws are turned into tasty features. I'd go with this porter: https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Beer-Churchills-Homebrewing-Sanitizer/dp/B01D5J7ZIW/ref=bdl_pop_ttl_B01D5J7ZIW

The amber ale and stout would be on my list too. If you like IPA's try that.

If you want a piece of equipment I'd buy a hydrometer or a bottle capper. https://www.amazon.com/Homebrew-Guys-Hydrometer-Specific-Potential/dp/B012YLS62G/ref=sr_1_21?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1524334825&sr=1-21&keywords=brewing+hydrometer

Make sure you do a good job sanitizing everything and you'll be 90% there. Star-san is an excellent sanitizer. I don't know what Mr. Beer uses. Bleach or iodine can also be used if done correctly.

If I were to suggest one thing to buy, it would be a good book. The John Palmer How to Brew is an excellent choice. What you learn will apply to Mr. Beer kits and as advanced as you want to go. https://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Great-Every/dp/1938469356/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1524335575&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=palmer+how+to+brew

Lastly, I'll double down on my advice to stick with flavorful ales and stay away from lagers and pilsner. Best of luck.

Okay, I'm gonna give you the "you don't need lessons to home brew" lesson.

First, it's easy. It's easy as hell. All you're doing is boiling sugar, hops, and water, cooling it down, and adding yeast. You can buy the sugar (known as malt extract) in cans, so you don't even have to mess with grains. Later, you can get into creating your own extract (and recipes) with grains and a mashtun, but malt extract is step one.

Second, go buy "How To Brew" by John Palmer. It's the bible of home brewing books. You might see others, like "The Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian, but start with Palmer's book. It's more recent, and I feel like it's written to grow with you. Once you get past the extract batch and go to steeping with grains, he's got a chapter on that. Once you go from steeping with grains to "mini-mash" (where you make half a batch of extract and make up the rest with malt extract) he's got a chapter for that. When you've been brewing for 5 years and you go "man, I want to figure out what's up with my water and how I can make it better," he's got a chapter on that.

Third, listen to brewing podcasts. I would highly recommend the Brewing Network. John Palmer (the guy I just talked about) and Jamil Zainasheff (he wrote another prominent brewing guide called Brewing Classic Styles) both appear on there, and in fact have a show together called "Brew Strong." The early episodes of the Session are also great, they've gotten away from home brew in later years, but are making a return to it currently. Doctor Homebrew is great when you're ready to start competing, and Lunch Meet is fun as hell and has nothing to do with beer. Seriously, I've learned more from the BN than I have from reading How To Brew cover to cover. They've got a way of talking about things that makes it fairly easy to understand.

Fourth, some equipment advice. When you buy a kettle, you'll be tempted to save a few bucks and buy a 5 gallon kettle. Spend the extra 20-30 bucks and buy a 7 to 10 gallon aluminum kettle. The biggest problem you're going to have in the beginning is sanitation. If you're boiling your beer in a concentrated boil, where you boil 3 gallons and add 2 once the boil is over, you're gonna have a bad time. Just do a "full wort" boil, where you boil everything, transfer it to your fermenter, and add your yeast. There are so many things that can go wrong in fermentation, and they're all caused by bacteria and wild yeast. Boiling the whole shebang at once decreases those chances greatly.

I would recommend finding someone who might be into brewing beer, selling them real hard on it, and at least having a buddy on brew day, if not someone you share equipment and costs with. Cleanup is easily the biggest killer for most people in the hobby, and having two people to mop, sanitize bottles, and scrub the kettle when it's all said and done can really make the difference.

Also, the homebrewing subreddit here is fantastically helpful. I'd start with /r/homebrewing and Palmer's book, and work your way up.

I started with the Williams kit and it's been great over the last year. It's for extract, but could be upgraded to all-grain pretty easily.

There are cheaper kits out there somewhere, but this was the only one I could find (at the time) that came with a pot (pre-drilled) and wort chiller.

For your first brew, I would advise to follow a kit, and then make the same kit again for your 2nd brew. It will familiarize yourself with the process, and back-to-back beers are a great way to see how process improvement affects the taste and quality of your beer. It might sound boring, but once you got the basics down, then you can really go buck wild with your own recipes. Makes for a lot less hard lessons.

Use the search bar first, but don't be afraid to post questions, this sub is pretty helpful to new guys.

Other helpful tidbits

Brulosophy

Mad Fermentationist


BrewUnited

The Bible

The other Bible

Edit: Many edits...

First I will say brewing extract isn't necessarily "cheating". Brewing with extract is the same thing as baking a cake with one of those mixes from the supermarket - at the end of the day you still have cake, you just didn't have to measure out all the ingredients.

That said, if you want to jump into all-grain first that's fine but I think you might have read way too much into it! It's not nearly as difficult as it sounds like you might have convinced yourself. You don't need to worry about water chemistry, washing yeast, or quantum physics to brew beer. Your best bet to start would be the online version of How To Brew. It is the 1st edition of the popular How To Brew. I would recommend picking up the book, however, since the print edition is the 3rd edition, and there have been some updates. You can also check out The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

For your first batch you can do something simple, you don't need to worry about water chemistry or getting crazy with your yeast. If you have any more specific questions, there is a daily Q&A on this sub as well.

I'm guessing you want some info on brewing not my quest for this redditor's kegs. There are some really good books to pick up that will help you out a ton, learn you some basics real quick and the science behind it. I picked up this one, which is also sort of the standard 101 book. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381888/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_caAWub1JT7F56
There is also the sub reddit where you can get some great tips, ideas, and also jelly of other peoples set ups.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing

Locally there is Austin Home Brew Supply up off metric and 183. Everyone there is pretty knowledgable and are really welcoming to newbies and vets alike so if you're starting off they can hook you up and get you on your way to a solid first brew.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

As for tips, really it comes down to sanitation, that shit is no joke. Keep it clean, take your time, and always have a beer in hand while brewing. You'll need a shit ton of ice to cool down your brew because water here doesn't come cold out of the tap so to chill your wort, you'll probably need more than you expect. Be adventurous when your doing it, try dumb shit, keep a journal/log on how and what you do so you will be able to avoid or repeat things depending on what you want. In general its a great way to have quality brew, that you would pay 10$ a sixer for like 1$ and some change cost to you per beer. Oh, also don't buy bottles, just stock up on empties that are non-screw off tops. Hopefully that spurred your interest to brew battle it out with your friend and pick up a great hobby/drinking habit.

I have some knowledge, my old man brews all the time, and I have done my fair share as well.
PissinChicken isnt exactly right. Once your set up, you get 5 gallons of beer for 20 or so bucks. I got all my gear, as well as ingredients at
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
Got the basic kit for 60 bucks, and off you go. The other thing you will need is bottles. You can get 22 oz bottles in 12 bottle cases at the same site. Also check craigslist frequently. I came up with grolsh style bottles from there, and now I dont use the cap-type anymore(actually, im on to Kegging now, so i dont use any bottles). I would suggest bottling you first handful of brews to make sure you like it before even thinking about kegging. This is where the cost heads up. Also, stick to prepackaged malt for your wort for your first few. Once you get the hang of it, try partial mashing grains. This is where I am now, and Im making very good beer IMO. But the cans or packages of malt work just fine. I still buy them to mix with my wort even after i partial mash.
If you have any specific questions, I may be able to help further. It is a rewarding hobby, I think. Especially if you like 5 gallons of fresh homebrews! Enjoy...

PS-I have lots of bottles Im willing to part with, depending on where you are, just FYI.
PPS- Also, get a book. I like this:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Complete-Joy-Home-Brewing/dp/0380763664/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265210375&sr=8-1

Hey, welcome to reddit, I haven't read the complete joy of home brewing yet but one book I do recommend as something every one should read is "How to Brew" by John Palmer.
He starts off with the absolute basics like sanitation then has a really well structured progression from extract brewing through nutrients, how all your temps and proteins work, water chemistry, all grain brewing even how to fabricate your own equipment! Definitely cant praise it enough, I know it certainly made me step my game up lol.

the first edition is free online http://www.howtobrew.com/
But I highly recommend getting the hard copy 3rd edition and for $5 secondhand you really cant say no lol http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0937381888/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

Since he has never brewed before I would recommend a basic kit. I'm not saying that you have to get this from NB, but this is an example what comes in a starter kit. I strongly recommend purchasing, How to Brew by John Palmer. This book will clear up a lot of brewing mysteries.

I'd also recommend going to your local homebrew store (LHBS) and ask them for help. If you have one close by, and they are any good, they can be an invaluable source of knowledge for a new brewer. Good luck, this can become a life long hobby if he chooses to pursue it.

As your husband grows into the hobby he will

Je te conseil ste livre la : https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888 sinon, son site web gratuit : http://www.howtobrew.com/ Je sais pas si il est a jour comparer au livre. Ya eu plusieurs découverte de brassage depuis quelques années. C'est un super de bon livre avec la grande majorité des choses que t'as besoin de savoir concernant le brassage de la bière et c'est super bien expliqué.

r/homebrewing peux t'aider aussi. Super belle communauté consacrer au brassage de biere et plein de gens qui veulent t'aider. Incluant John Palmer lui même (auteur de How to Brew).

Ya aussi ste gars la qui fais des cherches sur des bieres historique anglaise : http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/ Super de bon stock qui t'apprend les ancien type biere avant la révolution industriel et les guerres qui a eux qui a tout changer.

Je recommande aussi http://brulosophy.com/. Super de bon blog qui teste des mythes de brassage de façon scientifique et les prouve correcte ou non.

Tout ca c'est le brassage de biere de type Anglais. Si tu veux du stuff de biere belge (ce qu'on a beaucoup au Quebec) je te recommande la serie - Brewing Farmhouse Ales, Brew like a Monk et Brewing with Wheat. https://www.amazon.ca/Farmhouse-Ales-Craftsmanship-European-Tradition/dp/0937381845/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519234800&sr=1-1&keywords=brewing+farmhouse+ale&dpID=51oI7VkdTwL&preST=_SY264_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Si tu cherche du stuff des biere Allemande/Czech je te conseil ste livre la : Brewing Lager Beer : https://www.amazon.ca/New-Brewing-Lager-Beer-Comprehensive/dp/0937381829/ref=pd_sim_14_18?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YJKTZ5QSPD8KH7MZQ48Z

ET Si tu cherche plus des recettes qui fonctionne que son selon les styles BJCP, je te conseil ste livre la : https://www.amazon.ca/Designing-Great-Beers-Ultimate-Brewing/dp/0937381500/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S5CFF5PGSYQN6YW5HNZH

Si tu cherche du stuff concernant les biere surrette (Lambic, Brett, Lacto etc) regarde ste livre la : https://www.amazon.ca/American-Sour-Beer-Michael-Tonsmeire/dp/1938469119/ref=pd_sim_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DF5N9XVQ8FWQCNK6NKS3

Je connais malheureusement pas de literature en francais.


Sur ce bonne chance et lache pas! C'est super interessant!

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-first-wort-hop-beer-brewing-techniques/

> Sources vary, but most testing indicates that first wort hopping will increase the number of International Bitterness Units (IBUs) by as much as 10%. Given the hop shortage I wrote about earlier, increased utilization is an added bonus. However, taste perception is different. In blind taste testing across a number of articles, the overall flavor of first wort hops is perceived as smoother, less sharp, and had a more pleasing aroma. Hop bitterness was perceived as harmonic and uniformly bitter. In blind taste tests, the FWH were preferred by 11 of 12 test subjects.

Which then links to http://www.brewery.org/library/1stwort.html

>Tasting panel results: the FWH beers were overwhelmingly preferred over the reference beers in triangular taste tests (i.e., each taster was given three beers, two of either the reference beer or the FWH beer, and one of the other, and had to correctly identify which two were alike before their preference results were incorporated in the database). 11 of 12 tasters of each beer preferred the FWH beer. The main reasons given for the preference: "a fine, unobtrusive hop aroma; a more harmonic beer; a more uniform bitterness."

> Analytical results -- bitterness: The FWH beers had more IBUs than did the reference beers. Brew A: Ref beer was 37.9 IBU, FWH beer was 39.6 IBU. Brew B: Ref beer was 27.2 IBU, FWH beer was 32.8 IBU. This should come as no surprise, since more hops were in the kettle for the boil in the FWH beers than in the Reference beers. Prior to fermentation, the worts from both breweries showed the following features: the FWH wort had substantially more isomerized alpha acids, but less non-isomerized alphas. This was particularly true of Brew B, which had a higher proportion of first-wort hops. Nevertheless, the bitterness of the FWH beers was described as more pleasing than the (slightly weaker) bitterness of the reference beers.

> Analytical results -- aroma: For the aroma compounds, very distinct differences were measured (gas chromatography) in both the identities and concentrations of the various aromatic compounds between the FWH beers and the reference beers. Because the precise nature of the effects of aromatic compounds on beer flavor are very complicated, it cannot be said with certainty just why the various measurements resulted in the overwhelming tasting preference, but clearly something is going on here. Even though the reference beers had higher absolute amounts of most of the aroma compounds, again the FWH beers got higher ratings for overall pleasure.

And I believe Gordon Strong covers it in Brewing Better Beer. I haven't read it, but he came to a LHBC meeting and spoke about it.

Ah, this is always tough when starting out. It's a matter of association. You just need to be able to express what you are tasting, smelling, feeling etc. The tough part is that everyone smells things a bit differently and has different sensitivities. When I started out I would get a beer and as I drank it I would read beeradvocate or ratebeer reviews and see if I agreed with any or if any gave me an Ah HA! moment in looking for a descriptor. You can also use the Beer Flavor Wheel to help you narrow down descriptors.

Another thing to do is start reading up on how beer is made and where certain flavors come from, it can help with your associations and understanding of WHY the beer tastes the way it does.

You can also get Tasting Beer, a fantastic book by Randy Mosher. It's a well informed, well written book on how to make associations, how to describe what you are tasting, how beer is made and where the various aromas and flavors come from. I had the pleasure of judging at a table with Randy this week and he is an awesome guy, extremely knowledgeable and very nice.

Don't overlook The Joy of Homebrewing. A lot can be learned. It may not be as in depth as Designing Great Beers, but it probably has all the information you need to make a good first shot.

Also, to design a beer that you love, you need to understand what are the characteristics in your favorite beers. So starting with a clone recipe of a favorite beer and tinkering with it is a great thing to do too.

Good luck! I'm still a beginner but a great book that I've been using to help me is The Joy of Homebrewing. Hope that helps.

Well before you begin, start saving your pry top brown beer bottles. You'll need them.

First, buy How to Brew and read Section I.

Next, buy one of these kits and a semi-easy recipe kit...like the Autumn Amber Ale.

Finally, have fun with it. Start small with the equipment, ingredients, and procedure until you get a feel for it. /r/Homebrewing is great resource and pretty friendly to beginners. It's a fun hobby and I always brew if I have a free weekend. Enjoy!

Beer and science you say! I have a few recommendations for you then.
The essential book to beginning homebrewing is John Palmer's How to Brew. This dives right into the science and explains things clearly for a beginner.

And what is science without some equipment! For the scientist there is a nice refractometer that can be used to measure the gravity of your beer and use that to calculate the ABV%.
Also, ever beer scientist needs to keep track of what they are working on. How about picking up a brewer's journal.

Maybe you want a more DIY project to get into it. How about a home made mash paddle? They are easy to make and it's something that you two can design and make together.

Since he most likely doesn't have a kit, stop on over to Northern Brewer and check out some of the starter kits.

There are also options for wine, mead and cider so no matter what your taste you can get something that you two can enjoy together. I love brewing and my wife helps out. We get to spend time together and create tasty drinks.

These may not be the most original choices but the clues you've given us really lend to a hobby I'm very passionate about. Hope this helps and if either of you have any questions about gear or brewing etc... feel free to drop me a line.

This is my full list of books from /r/homebrewing but it includes pro level books:

New Brewers:

• How to Brew - John Palmer
  
• Brewing classic styles- Jamil Zainasheff
  
• Designing Great Beers - Ray Daniels
  
• The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Charlie Papazian
  
  Continued Learning:
  
  
• Water - Palmer and Kaminsky
  
• Yeast - Zainicheff and White
  
• Malt - Mallet
  
• Hops - Hieronymous
  
• Experimental Brewing - Drew Beechum and Denny Conn
  
• Radical Brewing - Randy Mosher
  
• Brewing Better Beer - Gordon Strong
  
  Specialty/Advanced/Other:
  
  
• American Sour Beers - Michael Tonsmeire (/u/oldsock)
  
• Brewing with Wheat - Stan Hieronymus
  
• IPA: Brewing Techniques - Mitch Steele
  
• Farmhouse Ales - Phil Markowski
  
• Brew Like a Monk - Stan Hieronymus
  
• New Brewing Lager Beers - Gregory J. Noonan
  
• Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers- Stephen Harrod Buhner
  
• Drink: a cultural history of alcohol - Iain gately
  
• Principals of Brewing Science - George Fix
  
  Business Books:
  
  
• Brewing Up a Business - Sam Calagione
  
• Brewers association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery - Cantwell, among others
  
• SO you want to start a brewery - Tony magee
  
• Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co - Ken Grossman
  
• Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery Paperback –Steve Hindy & Tom Potter
  
  Technical Readings (Textbooks might be expensive):
  
  
• Brewery Operations Manual - Tom Hennessy
  
• Beer Packaging - Master Brewers Association
  
• Technology Brewing and Malting - W. Kunze, 5th Edition
  
• Malting and Brewing Science, Volume 1 - Many Authors
  
• Malting and Brewing Science, Volume 2 - Many Authors
  
• Brewing yeast and fermentation - Boulton and Quain

It's all about taste and palettes. If you don't like sours, that's fine. A lot of folks don't. I gather the recent shift isn't far different than the lupulin threshold shift. It's my perception that sour fan-boi's are a bit more strong in their opinions and beliefs due to the amount of time and effort that goes into creating proper, delicious sour beers. An excellent IPA can be cranked out in less than a month, while sour beers require many months, even years to make, and require some advanced techniques such as blending in order to achieve a desired flavor or for consistency. Some may come off as elitists, or beer snobs because of this extra effort required, which isn't going to help them bring more to their cause.

It also may have something to do with the recent release of /u/oldsock's book back in June, which is one of the only really well written books on sour beers. Even if you don't like them, it's a great book to read through, as it really does open your eyes to just how complex they can be, and why their is such an appreciation for them among their loyal tasters.

I'd take a look at The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver. He's the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and world renowned for his beer/food pairings and experience.

One caveat: he loves his superlatives. I remember one passage where he discusses how cheap and widely available Schneider Weiss is and how it's surprisingly a "tour de force," or something like that. Not sure why it's a surprise that one of the most highly respected/awarded breweries in the world turns out a good beer. Still, for beginners who are serious about learning beer it's a good read.

I've also really enjoyed Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. If you have any interest in brewing it's highly informative and a great historical look at all kinds of different beer. Michael Jackson (the wine critic, not that other guy) wrote the forward, which is about as much endorsement as I needed.

If you want to learn a whole lot about the subject of brewing water I found this book to be really useful (if a little dry to read).

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Comprehensive-Brewers-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381993

I think it is actually easier on some level to start with RO (for brewing purposes RO water is very close to distilled and generally way cheaper) and then just "build" your water from scratch at least for some styles. Pilsners are a good example because Plzen, Czech Republic has famously low mineral water and very few other places have such water. So the best option for an "authentic" Czech Pils is to start with water with essentially no minerals and add back tiny amounts.

Other styles of beer became what they are in order to make the best possible beer with the water the brewer historically had to deal with. So Irish stouts are obviously well suited to Dublin's water profile and English IPAs well suited to Burton water, etc. And with RO water, a good scale, and a few powdered minerals you can pretty straightforwardly replicate the water from anywhere in the world.

If you don't use RO water it gets a little bit trickier in that you have to know what you are starting with regarding minerals in your tap water. That's harder for some than others. Where I live, my municipal water is pulled from three different sources, they all have slightly different mineral profiles, and it's not as though the city tells you when they switch from one source to another. On top of that, because they are all sourced from surface water, their mineral content will change depending on time of year (winter water vs. spring runoff water for example). So unless you pretty routinely have your water tested (expensive to do often) you don't necessarily know what your starting mineral levels are... which makes getting your mineral additions right tricky. Luckily I have pretty good water for brewing IPAs and that's what I brew most often. But when I brew a pils I start with RO (and add very little), when I brew a stout I try to get a little closer to Dublin water by using filtered tap, baking soda, and chalk, and like I mentioned when I do American IPAs I only have to add a little gypsum. I don't try to replicate water from around the world exactly, but I do try to get my water closer to the recommended ranges.

You can get as deep into water profiles as you like, from trying to completely replicate the water where a style originated to just adding a couple of minerals to get somewhat closer to those "ideal" ranges. It's one of those subjects we can nerd out on as much as we like.

Yeast. Highly recommended.

Brewing With Wheat. Great book, but you'll get the most out of it if you feel comfortable taking some basic parameters and building a recipe yourself.

Radical Brewing. Lots of weird stuff, but I thought it was surprisingly strong on the basics, too.

Brewing Classic Styles. Good resource for tried and true recipes. One or two recipes for each BJCP style might be either a strength or a weakness, depending on how varied your brewing interests are.

Like most water reports, that one lacks most of the brewing-specific pertinent info. Call or email your provider and they'll give you the complete report.

Taste is FAR more important than content, IMO. Make sure you enjoy drinking the water out of the tap before you brew with it. I personally HATE my local water, so I get the filtered dispenser water at my grocery store. For hoppy beers, I add 2-4g of gypsum(/5gal), for non-hoppy beers I add the same amount of CaCl. Either way, the yeast need Calcium. I like to keep it simple, unless I know I want a specific mineral profile for a beer style.

Generally on water:

Palmer does a great job setting the foundation. http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter4.html
If you really have not read anything yet, this is an excellent place to start (you will likely be told a lot of conflicting info on this topic, which would be confusing even IF most people used a common vocabulary, which is of course not the case).

The "Water" addition to the Brewing Elements series is pretty new, so the stuff discussed in there won't be common knowledge most likely. http://www.amazon.com/Water-Comprehensive-Brewers-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383162459&sr=8-1&keywords=water+book
That one is next on my list, "Yeast" was the best brewing book I've read since "Brewing Better Beer."

Cheers!

On my bookshelf:

• How to Brew : Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time by John Palmer
  
  
• Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew by Jamil Zainasheff
  
  
• Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Zainasheff and White
  
  
• Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass by Randy Mosher
  
  
• The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charles Papazian
  
  
• Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles by Ray Daniels
  
  
• Great Beer Guide: 500 Classic Brews by Michael Jackson
  
  
• The Brewmasters Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food by Garrett Oliver
  
  
• Beer is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing by Charles Bamforth
  
  
• Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World by Christopher Mark O'Brien
  
  
• A Year of Beer: 260 Seasonal Homebrew Recipes by Amahl Turczyn
  
  
• Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers by Tess and Mark Szamatulski (outdated version)
  

Congrats! I would recommend doing some reading before you dive in. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition is a good read as well as How to Brew which is available online and free.

Edit: I read The Complete Joy of Homebrewing cover to cover before I bought any equipment. I started with extract brews bought as a recipe kit, my first few were strictly extract then I got into using specialty grains. I did around 12 batches this way before I put together a DIY mash tun and stepped into all-grain. There's a good learning curve involved, be patient and don't get too far ahead of yourself. I've had buddies try to do that and their equipment ended up on Craig's List.

If you can tell the difference between extract and all grain it's not necessarily the ingredients but the brewers level of skill. Ray Daniels lays out reasons why you can make great beer with extract.

As zebbielm12 pointed out, you'll get better tasting beer with Ferm Temp control than you will doing AG. But AG is cheaper to get into and provides another level of fun to brew day. I'd recommend using equipment you probably already have to do a partial mash. I just picked up a 2 gal cooler and some paint stainer bags for <$15.

Finally, to answer your question, I have. Sounds like we have the same beginnings. I didn't want to waste money transitioning to AG and went straight too it. I found it was annoying to have all of that equipment in a small apartment so I went to extract with steeping grains. I'm able to brew more and enjoy having less things to worry about.

If you're nervous about getting him a beer he might not like, you can always spring for something like glasswear or an experience. For example:


Glasswear - very few beer drinkers have a good set of tasting glasses or a nice Teku glass. They tend to spend their money more on the beer than the proper glasswear. Here are some to consider:


Teku Glasses
Tasting Glasses

Experience - This is completely scalable based on budget. Need to do something cheaper? Check out Yelp reviews and Beer Advocate reviews to find the best local brewery near you and take him there, followed by dinner at a great tap room or gastropub. Have more budget? Take him on a beer roadtrip or brewery tour around some of the local breweries in your area.


Beer books and merch - There are a lot of great books about the history of beer, tasting beer, etc. Here are a few to check out:


Tasting Beer
Oxford Companion

You can also get merch from his favorite brewery's online store or taproom. They'll have shirts, branded glasses, etc. All of those things should score points with any beer drinker.

The book How to Brew it's a great place to start doing some research. It's like the home brewer's Bible. There are also a lot of free resources online like discussion boards and how-to guides.

When you're ready to purchase a kit, [Northern Brewer] (http://www.northernbrewer.com/) and Midwest Supplies are both great retailers. I would recommend signing up for their mailing lists as they will often have starter kits on sale.

I would recommend staying away from the cheaper Mr. Beer kits. It can be a cheaper, easier option but it's like the easy-bake oven version of homebrewing. You'll make beer, sure, but you won't learn as much using these kits and there's little room for customization/upgrading if you decide to get more into it.

On Black Friday, both retailers that I mentioned always have starter kits on sale. I've gotten brewing equipment and 2 recipe kits for less than $100. That's enough to make roughly 100 bottles of beer for less than $1/bottle. You don't have to buy bottles, just save used ones, (no screw-offs) rinse them out, and you'll be able to fill and re-cap them.

Finally, when brewing, sanitize everything. The quickest way to ruin a batch of beer is improper sanitation.

Cheers.

Hey guys, I've been brewing Gruit for a couple of months now. Got turned onto it by my neighbor who has been doing it for years. Here is a video of his process Brewing Beer Over A Fire Pit, and we will try to upload more as we go.

The brew bible we are working from is Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, by Stephen Harrod Buhner. I've been doing research trying to find more information and recipes for gruits, and this book seems to be a major resource for almost everyone. It's also a great read, exploring the history of brewing around the world.

The main reason I love gruit, is that without the hops you don't feel tired or full when drinking it. And with the yarrow and wormwood you get a mild psychotropic effect so you feel pleasant and alert. My friend drinks it every night during the winter because these herbs are used for skin care and drinking a bottle or two a night keeps his skin from cracking when he's working outside the next day.

I'm starting to experiment with new recipes, just tried a sage ale and a ginger beer. Bottling tonight, if there is interest I will post info/pictures.

I recommend picking up Randy Mosher's 'Tasting Beer'. Here is an excerpt regarding pouring for a creamier head:

"To get the best head on a beer, pour boldly down the center of an absolutely clean glass. It will foam up, but this is good. Really. Allow it to settle and then repeat until you have a full glass. By delaying gratification and allowing a large amount of foam to build up and then shrink, you have created a dense, creamy foam, filled with tiny, long-lasting bubbles. As a side benefit, you have knocked some of the excess gas out of the beer, and the result will be more like the smooth creaminess of draft beer."

How to Brew is what I learned a lot from. Pretty cheap but teaches you a lot about how to actually brew beer.

I read A LOT of the style guidelines on BeerAdvocate to understand glassware and styles, also terminology.

I also got lucky and had an amazing beer monger at my local wine/cheese/beer shop. He taught me a ton, as did the guy I was dating. I'd try literally every beer I could get my hands on and would go from there.

Now I know exactly what styles I like, how to pick beers I'm likely to like, what glassware it should generally go in, etc.

I have also helped homebrew multiple times. It gives you a good understanding of the whole beer making process.

How to Brew is pretty widely excepted as the must have piece of reading material. There is an online version, but it is pretty outdated. Definitely spend a few bucks and buy the most recent edition. It is totally worth it. Other than that I think Brewing Classic Styles is great to have around as well regardless of skill level.

You are asking an excellent question.

Extract is good starting point; most of us started with that and made very drinkable beer. It is nice as all of the variables are taken care of for you - all you need to do is boil the extract, add the yeast, and make sure kept everything sanitary. If you follow the directions, you will have a beer at the end of it.
It is my belief that most people will encourage that route as it is a nice way to ease into homebrewing.

The downside of extract kits, especially in Canada, is that they can be pretty darn pricey. My LHBS (local home brew store) sells the Brewer's Best 5 gallon extract kits for between $80-90 a pop (probably cheaper other places - don't get me started on my LHBS...) whereas I can throw together a similar 5 gallon all-grain brew for around $20-40 depending on what I am making.

Most brewers will transition from a few extract brews to all-grain, or at least to the BIAB (Brew in a Bag style) all-grain brewing. And, most people will then need to purchase a larger kettle, somewhere in the realm of 8-10 gallons is often suggested.

I would have no qualms about someone jumping straight into all-grain brewing right away. Most of us get there anyways, and really it is not all that difficult after you get the hang of it.
Pick up a copy of John Palmer's How to Brew and Brewing Classic Styles and you will be set with a good resource on brewing and quality, tested recipes. A bit reading, this sub, and YouTube will make a good homebrewer out of you. Also, Homebrew Talk is a great resource for all things beer making.

Others want to just dabble in some beer making before spending that kind of cash on a set-up to discover that they actually don't like doing it or don't have the time/space/patience for brewing.

So, my personal recommendation is, if you are up to the task of taking on all-grain brewing sooner than later but want to do a few extract brews first, is to buy a kit that doesn't have a kettle and instead purchase an 8-10 gallon kettle separately. It will handle extract brews and all-grain. Everything else that comes with the basic kit you will use whether you are an extract brewer or an all-grain brewer so you don't lose anything, and are actually ahead if you do go all-grain.

I think one issue here is that the terms "lagering" and "cold conditioning" have become synonyms which isn't exactly right to my understanding.

Traditional lagering is the process of cooling down the wort slowly in a way that doesn't shock the yeast into dormancy, which can cause more flavor compounds (mainly esters) to express and allows lager yeast to continue to uptake compounds in the beer down to the conditioning temperature.

Cold conditioning is the same for both lager yeast and ale yeast insofar as causing some compounds to drop out. Ale yeasts by and large don't do well at cold condition temperatures so instead of doing all the extra meddling with temperatures, we just usually crash to the condition temperature. From that point on they're essentially the same.

I've played with lagering ale yeast before and it did seem to reduce esters and produce a very clean beer compared to regular crashing, but I didn't do a triangle or anything so confirmation bias is in play. If you have the ability to lager, I would strongly suggest playing with it to see what the process does for ya. Might also be a great brulosophy experiment to compare lager to crashing, hmmmm....

There's more detailed info on page 114 in Yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. A great book but not a casual read =)

> Roasted malts will lower the pH of the mash more than pale malts

The gold star answer right there! ::cheers::

You have to tailor the water to the specific grain bill of each recipe, so that you end up with both the correct mash pH as well as an appropriate mineral balance for the desired flavor.

(As an aside, this is a key factor in how different regions adopted certain beer styles way back when... they didn't understand the chemistry going on in the mash, but they learned through experience that certain types of beers came out better or worse than others, because of the water available to them.)

I cannot recommend Bru'n Water highly enough... I've been using it for years, and the quality of my beers -- which were pretty good to begin with -- skyrocketed. Some beers were substantially improved, others had an "intangible cohesiveness" that they never had before.

I also went for the paid version, more to give Martin some compensation for all of his hard work than the added features (although the added features are nice).

I will also mention that once I got a pH meter, the measured results were nearly spot-on to the calculated results in Bru'n Water.

IMO Bru'n Water is far far far far far better than the water chemistry module in any of the major brewing software.

I also recommend the Water book, although it's not for the timid. I have no chemistry background (I'm a designer and audio engineer/musician, much more right-brain than left-brain!) and it's taken me a while and multiple re-reads to wrap my head around some of it... but IMO it was well-worth the effort.

I just got in a home brewing kit for me and my gf to play with. We both are crazy about craft beer and we've been wanting to do it forever. Spent a good amount on the best one I could find, as well as some add-ons and kits. I took live five hours last night reading an awesome [book] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888) on home brewing. I'm loving the chemistry and the mixture of precision and creativity. I think we are going to really fall in love with it. It was an anniversary gift, one year coming up in a couple weeks. So weird.

Since most of your people are new to the craft brew scene you dont want to scare them with really powerful beers and a great introduction is with some smooth, sweet, and creamy dessert beers. One of my favorite beer pairings right now is to match-up porters and stouts with dessert items. I just did one for my boyfriend for his birthday. I paired a cherry/chili pepper dark chocolate with a tanilla porter, and a ginger infused dark chocolate with a double-chocolate stout. Here is a great book I like to reference for ideas: http://www.amazon.com/Brewmasters-Table-Discovering-Pleasures-Real/dp/0060005718

A lot of people are saying sanitation here but not saying how to go about it. Use StarSan (can get from any brewing supply store, Northern Brewer for me). For extract kits, it is unnecessary to take gravity readings, but still fun! I recommend this book if you haven't read it already. Take your time, relax, and have a beer. Good luck!

Edit: Someone did say StarSan, my apologies.

"Laws" as in the legality of it or like actually homebrewing procedures and principles? The former, your state probably has some info online. The latter, How to Brew is a good start. AHA is another good stop (which may also have links to your state ABC info as well if that's what you meant) - they have a tutorial section. There are a plethora of books as well; The Complete Joy of Hombrewing is one that people recommend (haven't read it myself) and on the more advanced side the Brewing Elements series are great for brewing in general.

I'd highly suggest picking up a book. It also wouldn't hurt to head on down to your local homebrew shop and ask for advice/starter kit recommendations. Most shops are very friendly. If you have any friends or co-workers that brew try and shadow them for a brew or two. Just being there to observe the process helps a ton. Also, welcome to the club! It's a great hobby that can be very rewarding. :D

Probably the best way to start is with a starter kit. Most all brewing supply stores have these kits available at various levels. As an example, here's a basic kit:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/home-brewing-kit.html

Most people start with malt extract kits and brew a few to become familiar with the basic process. This kit, along with a 5 gallon kettle and about 2 cases of 12 oz. bottles will suffice. You'll also need an ingredient kit.

This kit includes a kettle, ingredient kit and a few other handy goodies. All you need with this are the bottles. https://www.morebeer.com/products/deluxe-home-brewing-kit.html

If you drink craft beer the bottles shouldn't be a problem. They come free with the beer. Twist tops don't work well and you want brown glass. You can also purchase new bottles:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/beer-bottles-12-oz-case-24-1.html

Last, but not least, I highly recommend How to Brew by John Palmer. It starts at the beginning, with instructions for your first brew and continues on to move you into the more advanced techniques.

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Great-Every/dp/1938469356/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1GIVLHG1JENP4&keywords=how+to+brew+john+palmer&qid=1562623249&s=books&sprefix=how+to+brew%2Caps%2C488&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1

If you enjoy the hobby and move on to more advanced methods, you'll find a place for most everything in these kits.

Happy brewing.

I'm selling all my home brew equipment and books asking 300, its an all or nothing deal sorry. I will provide pictures for any one interested.

1-glass carboy and hauler

1-bottling bucket with spout

1-fermenting bucket with lid

1-1 gallon glass carboy

1-2 gallon bucket

1-Hydrometer

3-Air locks

1-Thermometer

1-wood stirring paddle

1-40 quart stock pot

1-turkey fryer with the timer removed

1-20lb empty propane tank

1-capper and about 50 -60 beer bottle caps

1-corker for wine bottles and some corks

Auto siphon, tubing, racking cane,some PBW cleaner and Star Sanitizer left over, I have I think 12 empty wine bottles and probably have about an empty case worth of beer bottles.....I mean pretty much everything you need to brew or make wine.

Books are listed below and are in great shape.

How to Brew Beer

Designing Great Beer

For The Love of Hops

Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation

Hop Variety hand book

The Homebrewer's Garden

Interestingly enough, I just started picked up Radical Brewing, which was published in 2004. The first chapter on beer history points out loud and clear how American craft brewers unencumbered by centuries of tradition are experimenting and innovating into quite a vital and amazing beer culture. As I read that I was thinking that, since American craft brewing market is getting saturated in some (many?) areas of the country, maybe it'd be interesting to start a craft brewery some place in Europe. It's good to see someone--Stone--giving it a shot.

BTW, I haven't been to Europe since the late nineties. So, I don't have any first-hand experience with beer culture there. If the original premise is inaccurate, I'd be really interested to hear about it.

(Based on the little that I've read of the book so far, Randy Mosher--the author--is probably a Stone fan.)

It's usually cheaper to buy everything you need separately than buy a kit. Or check out craigslist; lots of homebrewers will sell their equipment if they are moving or if their wife is nagging them :)

Lots of restaurants and bakeries throw out perfectly good food-grade plastic buckets, and will save one for you if you ask.

An airlock, a bottle of Star-San, crown caps, and a bottle capper from the local homebrew store will run you about $35, plus another $35 for all the ingredients necessary for a batch of beer. You'll also need a large stock pot and maybe a racking cane.

Recipes and advice are free on the internet, or you can buy a book. I suggest The Joy of Home Brewing.

The moral of the story is that for about the same cost as a Mr. Beer kit and ingredient pack, you can make twice as much beer, and at a better quality.

My top suggestion would be "How to brew" By John Palmer or "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" By Charlie Papazian and read before buying anything. You will get a strong understanding of the process and be able to make sure it's something you will want to do before dropping $100 dollars on getting started.

If you want to jump in with smaller batches (1 Gallons) I would suggest buying one of Brooklyn Brew Shops kits or another small batch kit. The process is pretty much the same just in smaller portions. If you decide from there you want to go bigger you always can and then you have a better grasp on the process and what will be needed to make better beer.

Designing Great Beers has a lot of good advice on what goes into a recipe. Books like How To Brew and Complete Joy of Homebrewing spend of lot of time on the "how", Designing Great Beers does a good job with the "why" of recipes.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing is on the front page right now, it is an excellent book and a must read. One that really helped me out as well is Designing Great Beers. YouTube also has a lot of great videos of people showing you the basics.

I would also second brendanmc6 comment to jump to Brew-in-a-Bag. Get some extract batches under your belt so you can understand the entire process but purchase equipment geared towards Brew-in-a-Bag, brewing will become so much more enjoyable!

Cheers!

Both kits will get you started. I started eight years ago with something like the $90. kit. The second bucket is not necessary but if you stick with brewing for some time you likely will purchase a second fermenter, this mostly allows for you to clear your beer of some of the sediment. I recommend going with $100.00 kit as you can brew more often as you will have a primary fermenter open on a faster basis if you move beers to the secondary after a week. I also recommend purchasing a book you can keep with you when you brew, like "The complete joy of homebrewing." http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Edition/dp/0060531053

Nobody measures the actual amounts of any brewing ion in solution in your water.

You either:

• send a sample of your tap water to a lab and have them measure the amounts of several brewing ions in your water
  
• are lucky (like me) and your water supplier periodically measures and reports those things and makes that available to the public
  
• start from distilled water (which is pure water, with no (actually very little) ions in it)
  
  Using one of the above you determine the base amounts of brewing ions in your water. Then you use something like bru'n water, brewersfriend, any of the other tools out there to determine a water profile and which salts to add to achieve that profile.
  
  After adding the salts, you just assume the desired amounts will be achieved, no need (or possibility, really) to actually measure those as a homebrewer.
  
  The tools I mentioned above also calculate mash pH and other important brewing water measures.
  
  Water is a very interesting topic to dive into, and if you really want to research this thoroughly I highly recommend Palmers "Water" book. Only part of that book is applicable to homebrewers, but it very clearly explains what water chemistry entails and what is important. It was only after reading this book that I fully understood how "residual alkalinity" works in brewing water, for example.
  
  Also, in my experience, getting the mash and boil pH right is way more important to the final product than the amounts of ions in your wort (as long as they are not exceedingly low, or high). When I brew with tap water without adjustments, my mash pH will be too high (especially for pale beers) which in turn means my boil pH will be to high. Invariably, those beers will take way longer to become clear, and the bitterness will be "weird". When I adjust my water to a (calculated) mash pH of ~5.4, the beer is already clear when I move it from the fermenter into bottles, and the bitterness is way more pleasant.

Brewing a sour can be only slightly more difficult (if kettle sour) or painfully tedious (if cold side sour) from a normal beer.

Assuming you know the standard process, kettle souring is throwing a bug into the sweet wort after you collect from the mash but before you boil (and depending on the bug, you might need to chill this first). You then get to sit on your pot and wait overnight to 2 days for the bacteria to get a foot hold and drop your pH to a respectable low 3 or high 2. Then you boil it and continue like normal.

Cold side sours are just like making a normal beer. The only major difference is you can't put a lot of hops in the boil since most sour cultures don't like them. Where it becomes tedious is after everything is done you need to super clean all of your gear or every beer you make from now on will be a sour.

Some great reading on how to make sour beer in your own home is the book American Sour Beers by u/oldsock

Learn about brewing. Even if you can't pick up the hobby right now, nothing will help you to improve your understanding of beer more than learning how the product and the flavors you end up with are created. Even on a homebrewing scale, the science is the same, so as an introduction, "How to Brew" by John Palmer is a good star for this, and "New Brewing Lager Beer" by Gregory Noonan is an appropriate next step. This kind of background knowledge is a critical foundation to understanding what you are tasting.

It is important to try to cultivate your palate as well. "Evaluating Beer" by Brewers Publications is a great starting point for understanding the basic philosophy and techniques of judging. I'd also recommend looking at the BJCP website and going through their resources, particularly the study guide. And of course, taste lots of beer! A good way to work through this terrible burden is to look at the BJCP Style Guidelines and see what is listed as classic examples. Pick out the styles that you are not as familiar with and try to find some of them. Grab a few examples of one of your weak styles all at once and organize a flight, using a score sheet (warning: PDF) to organize your thoughts on each. If you can find other judges or people interested in judging to do this with you and discuss, even better.

Thanks! Well, it would be easier to answer specific questions (and I am no means a master), but making beer is pretty easy and not terribly expensive (but more expensive than just buying beer, sadly). The most important thing to remember if you do decide to head down this path is to properly sanitize your equipment to prevent stray bacteria or yeast from ruining your brew.

This book is amazing but also goes into a lot of detail, so be prepared: http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310938085&sr=8-1

My first bit of advice would be to check out the side bar to the right for an extensive collection of links with excellent advice.

If you're interested in extract brewing then I'd recommend you start with these bare minimum items:

• A ~5 gallon kettle (bigger can definitely help and is more accommodating)
  
  
• A reliable temperature probe
  
  
• A big plastic or metal stir stick
  
  
• Strong cleaner (e.g. [powdered brewery wash]
  (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/powdered-brewery-wash.html))
  
  
• No-rinse sanitiser (e.g. star san)
  
  
• 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket with hole in lid
  
  
• Bung and airlock to fit in lid hole
  
  
• Auto-siphon & siphon tubing
  
  
• Hydrometer
  
  
• Nylon bag (or similar) for steeping grains
  
  
• How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time
  
  If you're doing all-grain then things change up quite a bit and equipment costs jump a bit.

/r/homebrewing and a forum called homebrew talk are great places to start. The brewing community is incredibly nice and helpful.

After you do a batch of mead and see if you like it, try some beers. Extract brewing is also incredibly easy and can have very fine results. Recommend reading How to Brew for beer.

www.northernbrewer.com is a great source for brewing equipment and ingredients. They only charge a flat shipping fee and a lot of the equipment is bulky, so it might be a good idea to get everything at once from them.

Here's a basic starter set for brewing beer. It has all the tools you need to get started (minus bottles, but I think he can find his own). It also comes with an instructional DVD, as well as 3 different starting recipe kits. If he likes porters, I'd recommend the Caribou Slobber.

You can also browse for ingredient kits and recipes for different beers. Make sure you look for "extract recipe kits." You can browse this list for a beer he might like.. Remember, each batch will give you 5 gallons of beer (usually).

Also, for books, definitely check this one out. Essential literature for a homebrewer.

I do a little. It's not too difficult, it's pretty much like cooking anything - follow the recipe at first until you figure out what to change on your own to make different flavors. I'd recommend starting out with How To Brew by John Palmer. It has a good blend of technical plus practical advice.

Get yourself a simple kit, some grolsch style bottles and an ingredients kit. The most important part of brewing beer is sanitation - clean and sanitize everything! You don't want any stray bacteria getting into your batch and ruining it. If you've got a basement, that's a pretty good place for fermentation, otherwise a closet works just fine. The biggest problem I have is finding people to drink 5 gallons worth of beer.

Head over to /r/homebrewing for even more advice.

If you are still pretty new, you'll want to be comfortable making clean beers before trying your hand at sour and wild beers. There are so many factors that go into sour/wild ales, that you'll definitely want to have your brewing process down because one small variable can have a huge impact on the final product more so than a clean beer.

That out of the way, nothing says you can't start reading up on it. A good resource on sours is American Sour Beers by Michael Tonsmeire and his website The Mad Fermentationist, which has a bunch of recipes. I also highly recommend the Milk the Funk website, wiki, and Facebook group.

As a lot of people have said, I think flights are a great idea. I would add that going somewhere that has a good selection of traditional styles would be a good place to start, and if you like American lager-style beer, try some craft versions of that so you can have something to compare to what you're used to (might I suggest Oskar Blues Mama's Yella Pils or Victory Prima Pils).

I'm in academia, so I found that some light reading on the subject helped a lot - ingredients and their respective characteristics, the brewing process, history and characteristics of all the different styles, etc. Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher is a great place to start.

A lot of people have recommended How to Brew, and I cannot recommend that enough. Click this link to start reading the free version of the book. This was my single best resource when I started last year. Here is a link to the book on Amazon. The book is less than $17 and worth MORE than every penny if this is a passion for you. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to message with any questions at all that you may have.

Yeah, that midwest kit looks great... You also definitely need the wort chiller, cleaner and sanitizer. Also, get The Complete Joy of Homebrewing if you don't already have it. It will explain everything you need to get started and is also a really good jumping off point if you decide you all want to move into all-grain brewing. Good luck!

they used herbs like mugwort and wormwood in everything, read this book

some ale spoiled

some ale was exquisite

Belgian Lambic is a great study in natural fermentations

I don't have any problems with bacterial infections, but I use all glass or stainless steel and any hose or air lock or cork I use gets rinsed in Starsan so that the surfactant and phosphoric acid form a no rinse layer of acid that is uninhabitable for the spoiling bugs.

Just start some good brewing habits, brewing GREAT beer is easy, when you know how

Honestly, find a reliable source for the White Labs vials or Wyeast smack packs. They're $5 or $6 a piece, but a fresh, healthy, properly pitched culture is one of the most important things you can do for your beer. Harvesting and reusing is good if you're brewing at least every two weeks, but if you're letting it sit longer than that without some serious lab procedures you're probably better off culturing a starter from a commercial culture.

(Read Yeast by Jamil Zainasheff and Chris White for a far more detailed explanation by two experts.

I recently brewed an India Red Ale from the Radical Brewing book (http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Brewing-Recipes-World-Altering-Meditations/dp/0937381837):
6.5 Lb 2 row
5 lb Munich 10L
.75Lb Crystal 40
.5Lb Crystal 80
.12 Lb Black Patent
2 oz Cascade (60 min)
2 oz Cascade (30 min)
2 oz Kent Goldings (5 min)
WLP001

I made a starter for the yeast and fermented at 65 degrees & let it rise to 70 degrees during fermentation.

The issue is that the beer has a nice body & malty profile on the front end, but that dissipates very quickly and the beer becomes thin. I mashed at around 151 degrees.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I've experienced some of the same issues in some other homebrews, and would like to know how I can correct it. I lost about a degree off the mash temp over the hour. Could this be a hop schedule issue, a mash issue, a recipe issue, or even a water profile issue? I used tap water treated with campden, and the water here in Cincinnati is great for brewing. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1. tl/dr.
   
2. http://www.northernbrewer.com has really nice kits.
   
3. RTFM. Palmer: dead tree / electrons
   
   Read Palmer's first chapter (free online at that link), then come back with questions.
   
   Make sure you have a good craft brew on hand, because you won't have any homebrew yet. It's an integral part of the process - when you're stressing, just sit back, relax, have a homebrew. Repeat that mantra, and you'll be just fine.
   
   Good luck!

There are two pretty much bibles of home brewing: The Joy of Home brewing is the first, I have never read it but I hear good things. The author is pretty famous in home brewing circles and this book is credited with jump starting home brewing.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Complete-Joy-Home-Brewing/dp/0380763664/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259699032&sr=8-1

The second (and the one I own because of the vast amounts of knowledge) is How to Brew. It has information on the ingredients, basic process for beginners and advanced techniques.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259699116&sr=1-1

You can't go wrong with two books, both of which are readily available on Amazon.

I'd start out with the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and then move on to Designing Great Beers.

After that, I would recommend joining a local homebrew club, and there will be a big community to support you. And if you need yeast, come on down to Sixpoint with a clean mason jar and we can hook you up.

Let us know how it goes!

Wow! V pleased at the interest! I've got plans this weekend, but might be able to set something up initially around the 16th. I am not a homebrewer (yet) but my husband just built us a canning/homebrewing station in our basement that I hope to get started with sometime later this summer.

I can totally recommend reading the Complete Beer Course by Joshua Bernstein as a way to get familiar with beer styles. It's pretty accessible in terms of talking about beer.

https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Beer-Course-Tasting-Classes/dp/1402797672

Read How to Brew by Palmer or The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian. Palmer is a bit more technical, but either will give you a basic understanding of homebrewing, including the equipment needed.

Probably the best single piece of advice I can give, however, is to not blindly believe everything you believe on the internet from homebrewers. For some reason, homebrewing has a lot of hot button issues (glass versus Better Bottle versus plastic bucket, primary versus secondary, stainless steel versus aluminum) and a lot of people who tend to believe the only right way to do something is the way they do it. The problem is, they only do it that way because that is the way they were taught and a lot of homebrewing myths are perpetuated this way. Read, study, decide for yourself what makes sense and find out what works for you. There are lots of ways to make good beer and for a lot of issues there really is no right or wrong way to do something. Except fermentation temperatures. Listen to the people who tell you to control your fermentation temperatures. They are correct.

Take Charlie Papazian's advice to "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew" (RDWHAHB) to heart. It is harder to screw up beer than you think and even when you do screw up you usually end up with beer. Brewing when you are relaxed is much more enjoyable than when you are stressing about every little thing. You are not going to taste the difference if your hop addition is at 19 minutes instead of twenty.

Here's my advice to a beginner from a recent beginner.
A lot of people start with a small batch kit like Mr. Beer or Brooklyn Brew Shop that they got as a gift or bought on a whim. However, if I were going to recommend a 1-gal starter kit, I'd probably go with something like the one from Northern Brewer. Or you can get a 5-gal setup for just a little bit more and you get a lot more beer for you money, and it's really not that much more work. However, it was nice learning the process on a 1-gal batch, because it's a lot more manageable and you can easily do it on your stove with a pot you already have. Also, if you stick with it, and upgrade to bigger batches, you will still be able to find good uses for your old 1-gal equipment.

Whether you decide to test the waters with a small batch or jump right into a 5-gal batch, I would do an extract w/ specialty grain kit for your first brew. All grain is not that much harder, especially with small batches, but for your first few brews it's nice to just learn the process without having too many variables to worry about.

Also, buy a copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing or How to Brew or both and read the first chapter or so and you will have a good idea of what you're in for.

Best guess for you would be a Porter. Full-flavored, dark roasted malts with chocolate notes but not as dry as a Stout. Hard to tell though if you have no prior experience. Dark ales are otherwise often seen as good starter batches since off-flavors will be less noticeable.

There's three websites that people here seem to favor if you don't have a local homebrew supply store (LHBS) nearby (in no particular order):

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

http://www.northernbrewer.com/

They all offer good starter equipment kits and ingredient kits. This starter would be my personal pick:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/starter-kits/basic-starter-kit.html

Pretty much all you would need to add to that is a large brew pot (4-5 gallon min.)


Check out all the sidebar links ->


And definitely read this book at some point:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Your-British-Real-Camra/dp/1852492589 is excellent - gives clear simple advice, as well as having a good selection of British ales, milds, porters and stouts - if that's your thing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Herbal-Healing-Beers-Fermentation/dp/0937381667/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368899642&sr=1-1&keywords=sacred+herbal+beers is also a really interesting book - an anthropological of the history and mythology of brewing, complete with recipes! A lot of the recipes are a bit simple, or sugar-based, but it (like Radical Brewing) is a really good source of inspiration and historical knowledge.

Advice? Get a bottling wand and a vinator and bottle draining rack and shave tons of time off your bottling day.

The complete joy of home brewing is a good book.

Start simple. Buy an extract based kit. Tell your friends to collect bottles (preferably pry-offs). I usually give one bottle of beer for every 3 bottles they give me.

Make sure you have a 10 or so liter stainless steel pot (you'd never want to cook with aluminum anyways.)

I think when I first started, I had the advantage of taking biology lab where aseptic and sterile techniques were key. This is very important for brewing beer. You must be careful not to introduce bacteria into your ferment. Also temperature is important. 72 degrees should be fine.

I'm just started reading "Designing Great Beers" so I can learn how to make my own recipes. The book comes highly recommended from several respectable sources. I also read Brewing Classic Styles, which, besides great recipes, it has great descriptions and guide lines for each style.

I did my first brew this summer, a simple American pale ale, and it turned out great! I would have done another batch or two but it's been so hot in SoCal and I have no A/C, so I don't have a very good temperature environment to ferment in (and haven't felt like spending hours over the stove).

I started by reading the beginner chapter of The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, which I highly recommend, and went from there. I'm lucky enough to have a pretty solid homebrew store nearby and the staff there helped me pick a recipe and buy everything I'd need too.

Here's the book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Edition/dp/0060531053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348267170&sr=8-1&keywords=the+complete+joy+of+homebrewing

This book could help:
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Great-Beers-Ultimate-Brewing/dp/0937381500

it's a bit old, but it's still a very nice book and in the second part of the book it goes through various styles and tells you about them.

It has tables with what commercial breweries put into beer and NHC second round entries did. It goes over the amounts of malt (the types and variation), hops, yeast, covers water chemistry for each style.
There is also cool historical info about styles and how they evolved.

It's pretty good in showing you what options you have and the ranges of each addition. If you mostly brew hoppy beers I would get a different book since this one is old and hops for IPAs changed a lot since the book was published.