Brew Better Beer: Learn (and Break) the Rules for Making IPAs, Sours, Pilsners, Stouts, and More

I had never brewed beer before I bought this book, but I'd made some nice mead and thought it was time to try my hand at making my true love. Beer is my absolute favorite.First of all, this book is just fun to read. I pick it up and thumb through it just because I enjoy it -- I re-read passages again and again because there's always a piece of information I missed on first pass. Re-reading this is fun, not tedious, because it's very low-jargon and written from a human voice, not too technical in its style.It's also really beautiful and makes a really great coffee table book because of that. I'm glad to have this book in its hardcover form rather than Kindle because it looks and feels so nice. Also it is very lightweight!Most importantly, the book is PERFECT for an ambitious beginner like myself who wants a completely straightforward how-to guide while also providing enough info that I understand why each step is done as it is, and what I could do differently if I wanted to alter a recipe. I had no problem jumping straight to the IPA recipes (I brewed my first beer! The "Very Good IPA" recipe) and brewing a great all-grain 1-gallon batch of beer which actually tastes like something I would buy commercially! Because that went so well, I bought the goods to make a 5-gallon batch which is fermenting right now, beautifully (the Affogato milk stout). This book provided me every single bit of information I needed to successfully brew both 1-gallon and 5-gallon batches of beer, from the equipment to buy, to the ingredients, to step-by-step instructions with photos to help. It has so many recipes I'm excited to try -- I've already bought ingredients for my next 1-gallon batch. Thanks for helping me get hooked on homebrewing!One thing, though, a small little critique. It'd be awesome if the authors could proofread this book again, thoroughly, and print other copies. I'd love copies of the book without typos/repeated items on lists, etc. I want to keep and use this book for a long time, and the English freak in me gets a little anxious with the typos, which are fairly abundant for a book with this production value. It does not take away from the information presented, though, which is amazing -- I'd just love to buy another copy without the errors!

For about a year a friend of mine and I have been using this book to learn how to brew beer. I love it! We started with dry malt extracts, and now we’re doing all-grain brews. This book is packed full of recipes with examples for several different styles, and each chapter is designed to reinforce concepts developed along the way. You’ll learn more about the different kinds of brews, and you’ll learn all kinds of techniques for customizing the recipes to your liking. The book structure and format are very well designed, repeating lessons over and over again. Use this book, read internet blogs, and watch YouTube videos, and you will eventually become an expert brewer. Best of all, you will brew delicious beers as the fruit of your hard work and study.

I believe this is the first item I have ever reviewed on Amazon, that is how good this book is! I absolutely love it. I've been brewing about three years or so, I started brewing when I lived in a tiny studio apartment, how I wish this book would have been around then! I never once thought about brewing a 1 gallon batch instead of 5 gallons. Now I brew all grain on a three tier system. It's a lot of work, and I like to experiment a lot so 5 gallon batches are sometimes tiresome. This book is perfect, I've learned a couple new things, and it's brought the joy of brewing back for me. I feel like I am having a great time in the kitchen, rediscovering something I love. If you're new to brewing or a seasoned brewer I think you'll like the book!

The book is a nice introduction into brewing for someone who has no knowledge about brewing. For someone that have some knowledge, then this book is too basic. I did like the 1 gallon recipes, but the amount of crystal caramel malts in sone recipes are insanely high. I tried to break the rules by following the Pecan Pie Brown Ale recipe (the crystal amount was over 26%) and the beer came out soooo sweet that is undrinkable. Don't break the rules if you want a drinkable beer.

I thought that this was an excellent book for new home-brewers. I particularly liked the way that key ideas were repeated for each recipe and so enabling the reader to stay focused on the page without any need to constantly flip back and forwards to find important ideas discussed. I also particularly liked the emphasis in the book on the idea of reducing (by boiling) the first run from the mash to increase the gravity of certain styles. In short a clearly written well presented book.

Excellent book if you want to brew beer and get better at doing it. Lots of recipes for small and regular 5 gallon batches, with some technical information mixed in at strategic points.I borrowed this book from the library several times, before i decided to buy it. It's an excellence reference, well written and appropriate for someone who wants to have a basic understanding of beer styles and have recipes to try to match the styles.

Brewing instructions and explanations very thorough for an intermediate home brewer. Would have really appreciated how to convert partial extract recipes to all-grain.

I'm brewing my first gallon tomorrow. I love this book!! Great step by step for the first time brewer or for the seasoned brewer. Steps for 1 gallon and 5 gallon batches and lots of great recipes.Thank you for this book Emma Christensen!! Although when I went to the brewery supply store for my ingredients, the guy at the store gave me a bit of a hard time for wanting to brew 1 gallon batch. I just told him that I jus wanted to get used to the process of brewing before jumping into 5 gallon batch.

Having already done a small amount of experimenting with home-brewing I one day did an internet search regarding a query that arose from the experience. One of the hits that came up was for the author's web-site. I was very impressed by the extremely clear way her article answered my question, so when I noticed the advert for her book I knew I had to have it. I wasn't disappointed. She has a real knack of making everything accessible and easy to grasp. The book has plenty of pictures, useful explanations of different types of ales and lagers and their ingredients, as many recipes as you'll ever need, and the author's enthusiasm is engaging. As a speaker of British English I was very pleased to find that the American language very rarely got in the way, though in a section discussing the aroma of things I confess that the comparison to the smell of a skunk was completely lost on me!

This is my go-to home brewing book. I first read Emma's step-by-step how to brew on her blog and just took it from there. This is a great book, crammed with exciting recipes (even the more traditional ones have me itching to give them a whirl) and we've only done 3 or 4 so far out of the whole book but all have been exceptional. I too was caught out by the US measurements (a UK gallon is more than a US one) and ended up with slightly lower (but nonetheless still drinkable and very nice) ABV beers.

Humm great book great recipes really does say what it does on the tin "brew better beer"

Written in an easy to follow way and very informative. Just remember if you're UK based, the volumes are US not imperial (ie US gallon is not the same as Imperial gallon)

this is the go to book I am using for my first brews