Customer Reviews

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (null)

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This truly is an excellent guide for starting the hobby. It certainly was my first brew book. Although my first homebrew store gave me simpler instructions with my first purchase, this book gave me the understanding of what those instructions meant.

The author is very laid back and is a knowledgeable guy that does not want you to quit the hobby because of petty details. Good brewing comes with time. After 11 years of brewing, I realize that this is a hobby, not a job. This is why the author repeats the phrase "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew."

Being pretty savvy with both biology and chemistry, I was the typical case of a worry wort (no pun intended to all grain guys).

My first two brews, when I was too clueless to know what to worry about, came out better than the next 5!

Take this from a decent brewer: You will always want this book in your home. Although I normally use a bit more advanced guides (Designing Great Beers, and New Brewing Lager Beer), there is still some good stuff in this book. I would hardly call it only for beginners. I would say since almost every home brewer bought this book first, it is perceived to be a beginner's book. He has excellent all grain and whole hop data. He has excellent dilution data in case your wort is too concentrated. He hits on some topics that even the more advanced books don't.

This book is for beginning and experienced brewers. After all, after brewing for 11 years I picked up the third edition and found some new stuff I never saw before (hop growing and such)

You will like this book. Trust me, and relax don't worry.......


Hint: If you don't understand the terminology of your new hobby at first, use the glossary in the back of the book or an online site such as www,beertown,org or www,howtobrew,com

~As a typical homebrewer I enjoy reading as many books about the art as I can find. I was a big fan of the 2nd E of this book. That book got me started. Unfortunately it did go out of date... I am now happy to report that C.P. has done a great job updating his book. It has new information on extracts, hops, yeast, the works. Yet, the basic brewing technique is relatively unchanged. Papazian's writing is easy to read and I enjoy the laid-back style. The tables make more sense now (some~~ minor changes) and the recipes are also nicely revamped. I recommend this book to anyone interested in getting started with homebrewing.~

There is a wealth of information in this book...as there was in the 2nd Edition. Some of the recipes, ingredients and beer style information are updated. But I just cannot get past a feeling that Charlie isn't *really* up on the homebrewing gear that's out there and in common use.

One prime example: the standard immersion wort chiller. The book's discussion on wort chillers is amazingly devoid of this particular device that probably 75% of homebrewers either use now or have used in the past. He uses a copper coil chiller to run the *wort* through (surrounded by an ice bath), rather than running cold water through the chiller that is immersed in wort. Sure, people can use them that way, and doing so is no doubt effedtive. But it is a distinctly uncommon use, and extremely odd that there isn't any mention of how most people use them.

And wort-handling. All commonly-accepted information suggests that aerating hot wort is the prime cause of oxidation and off-flavors. Yet, Charlie has novice brewers dumping their hot wort through a strainer and into a fermenting bucket, with no discussion of chilling the wort first. This is in the introductory "newbie" section of the book.

The new charts, and information on cleaners and sanitizers is good and was long overdue. But for a 3rd Edition, there isn't much here that experienced brewers won't already get out of the 2nd Ed. As for novice brewers, go ahead and buy it realizing that this isn't the "bible" that sooo many people used to say about the 2nd Edition.

There's no question but that this book has been the Bible for many homebrewers. My own copy is quite well-worn. However, beginners should know that the instructions for extract brewing can quite adequately be set out in about 2 or 3 pages. Extract brewing is barely more difficult than baking a cake, so producing a whole book on the topic requires somewhat the same type of padding as occurs in diet books. The short instruction sheets my homebrew store supplied were plenty adequate to teach the topic, in the sense of getting started. The detailed discussions of biochemistry may be of interest to some, but are certainly not needed for basic brewing. Only a few recipes are included, so this book really doesn't suffice as a recipe guide.

Homebrewers ready for all-grain brewing will of course need more information and instruction, for which Mr. Papazian's "Homebrewer's Companion" is a good start; it repeats enough from this first volume that my advice would be to buy "Companion" instead, when you're ready to go all-grain. A single volume that combined both books, taking beginners from their first batch of extract brew into all-grain brewing, would be a perfect thing.

I've been homebrewing for a year now, and I have used this book extensively during that time. In fact, I still use this book. It is full of all sorts of helpful information and techniques. Also, it provides good background information. This can be used as a sort of manual for homebrewing but it can also simply be read; some of the stuff in the book is fascinating even if you're not ready to start brewing yet. This book can easily get you through your first couple years of homebrewing without the need for additional sources. For those of you who are jsut starting, best of luck!

I am new to home brewing, and while I found this book useful and fun, I found the book, "How to Brew" by John Palmer, much more helpful. Make no mistake, it belongs in your collection if you are a brewer, but if you are new to it all, I definitely recommend, John Palmer's book.

There are probably three books that are genuinely helpful for the beginning homebrewer. Which one is right for you depends on how you approach techniques of dealing with things in the physical world.
If the idea of doing anything physical scares the bejabbers out of you, you have to begin withThe Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book).
This is a very simple, slow and reassuring book. The author sounds like the friendliest, least intimidating guy in the world. The style is very chummy in a post-frathouse kind of way that some people find very difficult to read and that others find relaxing. In this book you may see the ancestor of the Complete Dummies series. I believe that Papazian, who has made a carreer of coaching homebrewers, has been published on the topic for thirty years or so.
If you're the sort of person who likes the idea of baking his own bread or wiring her own lamp, then probably The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing is right for you. The information is straightforward and well-organized and he allows for the fact that sometimes you want to make it fast and simple and other times you may want to linger over the details. There's a separate book of recipes ordered by beer style and also by degree of difficulty.
If you love worrying, then How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time is the book for you. There are dozens of complications lurking in Palmer's world of brewing and a host of precautions and gadgets gadgets for avoiding them. Palmer is also the book for those who are curious about fundamentals: the hard science of brewing is to be found here.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and bang BANG

I own the paperback of this great reference tool, so I thought a kindle version, that I could put notes in would be great.
But once again publishers have an electronic book costing more than the physical product. This is a fail for me.
Wake up Amazon and publishers. Lower the electronic prices or I'll just go to used book stores and scan them myself, cutting you out of the loop.

On the review side this is a great reference book. I often find myself referring back to it. If you brew at home get it!

This is the first book I've bought on home brewing. It's excellent! Within about a week I bought my kit and brewed my first batch of beer. I can't tell you how it tastes as it is still aging. This book is very well put together and easy to read. When I went to my local Home Brew Supply Store I was well prepared. I would definatelty recommend it to another first-time brewer. It's a great starter book.

I bought this along with The Homebrewer's Companion, also by Papazian. I think both books are a must-have for any homebrewer. _Companion_ is more of a reference text, while _Joy_ is more introductory. Both books have indispensable information about the basic ingredients and processes of brewing.

When formulating a recipe, I refer back and forth to both books. Each has a variety of recipes in myriad styles that provide a good jumping-off point. For customizing the recipes, I refer to the table in _Companion_ that summarizes the various malts and their contribution to specific gravity, then I go to the table in _Joy_ that catalogs the different varieties of hops and their contribution to bitterness and flavor.