Brew Your Own Big Book of Homebrewing, Updated Edition

Brew Your Own Big Book of Homebrewing is a re-formatted and updated 2nd edition of the classic homebrew encyclopedia (with recipes) from the editors of Brew Your Own magazine. Originally published in 2017, this edition was released 10th May 2022 by Quarto on their Harvard Common Press imprint. It's 240 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a very good, comprehensive, accessible, plainly written guide with recipes for the homebrewer. It covers everything from beginning information through equipment gathering. Using only this guide, a beginning brewer could successfully gather the necessary tools, equipment, and ingredients to make a safe, drinkable, and potable beer. The introductory sections contain a thorough overview on the process including a necessary emphasis on cleaning and sanitation. The authors do a good job of explaining safety procedures, ingredients, and the basic general procedure. Tutorial photos are abundant, in color, and clear, without hands or tools blocking the action.

The second section contains a good cross section of recipes and clones (some very famous brews to copy here) as well as enough information and instruction that adventurous readers will be encouraged to spread their wings and develop their own brews. Recipes include an introduction, ingredients in bullet lists with measurements in both imperial (American) and metric measurements, and step-by-step instructions. The book also includes a resource/links list and abbreviate bibliography for further reading.

This is a very good basic guide which has enough scope and information to satisfy both beginners and advanced zymurgists, and which will become a staple reference in the homebrewer's library. Highly recommended to hobby brewers, smallholders, general DIYers, and beer lovers. Note that this is a *beer* brewing book and does a good job of different profile beers, but doesn't include hard ciders, meads, metheglins, or anything but beer. The clone recipes include lots of ales, porters, pilsners, a few stouts, IPA, red-ales, and more or less all the beer types I could imagine. There are craft beer recipes here to keep even the most dedicated hobbyist going for a long while.

Five stars. I didn't have the first edition for comparison, but this is a comprehensive guide.

If you want to get started in homebrewing, this book is a fantastic place to start. It has everything you need from the chemistry (broken down for us non-chemists in an understandable way) to the brewing and bottling. And, of course, plenty of recipes to try your hand at. I am a beer drinker, not a brewer, so I can't speak on how technically helpful it may be in practice, but it does seem to be laid out and presented in a way that is both logical and organized.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group — Harvard Common Press for the digital ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A comprehensive account on how to brew your own beer, backed up with pictures to help along the way.

Recommend reading for anyone interested in branching into this area.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.