Customer Reviews

Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I liked this book very much and learned a lot from it, but I think it could use some editing and revision. The book seems to hop from one thing to the next with no clear structure and even repeats itself a few times. It also lacks all of the great illustrations that good brew books are usually filled with. Granted, this is not really a beginners brew book, but nonetheless, I wish it had been edited more clearly. However, I will not criticize the information that dave offers the homebrewer. He is certainly an expert and gives the reader much detail in each aspect of brewing. This is a great book for the partial mash or extract brewer out there who wants to move into all grain brewing... or if you're the kind of guy that needs to add another brew book to your shelves, go ahead and get this one. You'll learn a thing or two no matter how long you've been brewing.

This book contains a lot of good info, which I've found to be both interesting and useful as I get back into brewing after a break of a few years. I have Papazian also, and of the two books, I pick this one up more often, and find what I'm looking for more easily.

Despite the comments of some other reviewers, one doesn't need to be an all-grain brewer to find this book useful. I'm creating my own recipes using extracts and specialty grains, and find this book to be very helpful.

However, Miller is pretty repetitive. It is only a slight exaggeration that there are 3 chapters on each topic: on each on theory, equipment and method. I find that there is a moderate degree of repetition of material across these chapters. A consolidation of each topic into 1 chapter could well result in a 1/3 reduction in pages for the book.

I'll echo another reviewer, who commented negatively on the recipes towards the back. They are really just lists of ingredients, without discussion on method (eg. mash temperatures) or variables.

Having made these mild complaints, I'll go on picking this book up every day or so as I think about what to do for my next brew.

This book is for the homebrewer that doesn't just accept that brewing works because it does. David Miller gets into some pretty heavy theory in this book and if you can keep up him you'll learn a hell of a lot.

There are many pages dedicated to the organic chemistry surrounding the brewing process. There are plenty of other pages that explain things a bit simpler.

Good book overall.

I am buying this book for the second time... I lost my old one and HAVE to replace it in my book collection..

There is allot of great information in this book. This was one of my first books that I got whe I started homebrewing. If the information seems heavy. Have faith and go back to it periodically as you become more familiar with brewing it self. I still find myself reading sections over and finally "getting them" (especially the chemistry part).

But, the homebrewing practices are solid and many of the reference sheets I use all of the time. My only beef are the recipes in the back... They are accurate if you use the percentages/ratios of ingridients but, are not accurate if you use them for 5 or 10 gallon recipes.... Other than that no complaints.

After reading this book, I got the feeling that Dave was aiming to please the intermediate to advanced all grain brewing crowd. This is definitely not a book for the beginner to novice extract brewers.

I tried to read this book from the prospective of a non-all grain brewer and felt that if I hadn't been familiar with the process already (through Papazian, local home brew club, personal experience, etc.), then I may not have been able to follow this book very well. There are very few pictures to reference and some very important areas are vague and could use more detail, such as yeast propagation and culturing.

I think Papazian, although sometimes recommending bad habits to beginners, does the best job of explaining the process of brewing to a beginning home brewer. Papazian will later correct some of the bad habits he suggested in earlier chapters in his book, but at least he'll get a beginner going. I also think Papazian is much more entertaining to read and also includes a lot more detail in various areas, along with pictures to help you understand what he's talking about a little more.

At any rate, I would recommend this book to anyone that's an intermediate to advanced brewer who is either looking into or already brewing all-grain beer. Dave is a pretty dry writer, but his views sometimes provide a different way of looking at the brewing process. I also like the fact that Dave preaches sanitation the way he does (although, again, not really going into much detail on the many types of sanitizers that can be used), as this is the most important aspect in brewing, in my opinion.

Miller offers a comprehensive account on the art of brewing. His language is indeed somewhat dry, but information is always ready at hand. For beginners with a daring and careless attitude towards brewing, Miller definently manages to get across the message of all the things that can go wrong. Whereas Papazian offers a soothing remark, Millers warns of imminent disaster.

The book is well organised, and it is no problem using the book while brewing.

The main problem with the book is its unappealing design. The paper quality is not reference grade and the illustrations are not good.

But these remain minor things. Miller is in my opinion the best start for a homebrewer.

This is a solid read for any interested homebrewer, but I would personally recommend the Papazian book as a first read for the new brewer. This book deals in some highly technical aspects of water chemistry and various chemical reactions that take place in your beer during different phases of brewing. Personally, much of that was more than I wanted to handle so I skimmed and moved on to the more approachable sections on the 'how to' and 'why' of making beer. It is a good book in that it breaks each step of brewing into a short chapter and discusses only that portion for a few pages, making it an easy reference book to refer back to when trying to see something specific. I recommend this book, but caution that it is not a breezy read as Papazian sometimes is.

While this books starts with the basics for beginners, it also covers advanced topics, and in my opinion the best all-around homebrew guide.

Miller's explinations of the mashing process is one of the best I've seen, and even non-chemist readers will understand what's happening in the mash tun. He also clearly explains what happens during the fermentation process, as well as covering the types of yeasts and how they work. Most homebrewers don't need to understand brewing science to mix yeast with wort, but Miller makes it easy to understand the big picture, helping turn recipe mixers into homebrewers.

On that note, this book is NOT filled with hundreds of pages of monkey see monkey do recipes. Miller teaches readers how to brew, and then gives recipe guidelines for popular styles (giving parameters, but leaving the brewing up to the homebrewer).

I think this book is best read from beginning to end, but it's also an excellent reference with charts and tables.

Regarding brew books in general, all homebrewers should have one of Charlie Papazian's books, since he's the pioneer that started it all. However, I find Dave Miller's book the best up-to-date guide on homebrewing.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was the one book I read before I started homebrewing. One reviewer said that this book has "too much information at once" for the beginner. I would agree if you try to implement the entire book first time out.

The thing I really liked about this book is that if you were so inclined you could read just the first three chapters and brew your first bacth. The early chapters describe the brewing process in its simplest form and can enable the most novice brewer to make some darn good beer.

It's the remaining chapters which dive into the details of the topics outlined at the beginning of the book. If your intimidated about homebrewing I suggest you buy this book, read only the first three chapters, brew a batch and then start reading the rest. With one batch under your belt the subsequent chapters will read much easier and be more helpful.

Books on homebrewing aren't as common as they were in the late 90s, sadly, but there's still enough good basic literature available in bookstores to get someone to a pretty high level of proficiency. The traditional introduction for most American homebrewers has been Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book), which is a time-tested and generally pretty good introduction on the subject. But Papazian has issues -- his hyperenthusiasm and loopy whimsicality often seem more appropriate to a book on beer lore than an introductory text to what is, after all, quite a technical hobby. Enter this book.

Dave Miller is also a respected author in the brewing instruction field, and is known for producing works that are more technical and less informal than Papazian's work. This book definitely falls into that category, by and large being a combination of basic instructional technique and enough brewing science to help the novice understand many of the chemical changes in the brewing process, making troubleshooting easier for both novice and expert. If you want a book that will tell you almost everything and can't afford much more than that one book, this is an excellent choice; in fact, there's even enough information on professional brewing techniques that as a simple explanation of what goes on in a brewery, it's actually a pretty good choice for a beer nerd who doesn't actually want to try making their own.

That's kind of a problem, though -- it really is a nerd's book. I don't think that's a liability per se, as everyone has a different approach to learning. But it's more of a reference than a tutorial, so if your learning style requires more structure, it may not be the choice. It is also rather dry, using tremendous amounts of brewing, chemistry, and biology jargon, and could really use more pictures (especially of fermenter designs). But it's good to have around as an adjunct to Papazian, and if you're a fairly nonstructured learner, it's a good replacement if you find Papazian to be too informal, corny, or just unapproachably weird.