Customer Reviews

Secrets from the Master Brewers: America's Top Professional Brewers Share Recipes and Tips for Great Homebrewing

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

 

 

The authors of this book had a great idea: interview some legendary brewers and record their insights in a book. Unfortunately, these authors appear not to care a whit about their readers or whoever uses the recipes in this book. Do not use the recipes in this book without consulting an authority on brewing. Mistakes, editorial and authorial, abound. You can look through this and their other book, Homebrewers Recipe Manual or somesuch, and pinpoint obvious mistakes in Original Gravity, Amounts, and practices.

Examples: 1.75 pounds of roasted barley and 2 ounces of chinooks in a 5 gallon batch of "sweet stout"? More like "briquette stout". .25 of an *ounce* of particular grain in a 10 gallon batch? Imperceptible.

I called one of the brewers interviewed in this book because the advice given was unclear and poorly written. He was also disgusted with the authors, but gave me excellent advice, despite the interference of the authors.

I have learned some good things from this book, but the carelessness with which it was thrown together calls all of its information into question. Don't buy it.

This book contains very valuable information about brewing better beer, whether at home or in a small brewery. The opinions of the brewers are justified in logical terms and make a lot of sense. The recipes are a different matter. In looking at a recipe for Americal Red Ale, my calculations showed that the beer would be two to three times more bitter than the most bitter beers available. I believe that it would be undrinkable. Please, if you buy this book, do the calculations before blindly following the recipes.

As a professional brewer I found this book interesting in that I was able to view thoughts on the subject by other professional brewers that I did not personally know. I frequently contact others in my area of the country and share thoughts and knowledge.

The recipes seem to be good examples of the styles they mean to emulate. You must remember beers can be very different from region to region, (but sweet stout should fall into certain guidelines) and vary brewer to brewer. That's what makes brewing and tasting beer so great.

I can appreciate the effort put forth by these authors, I also enjoyed thier first book. If a brewer felt missreresented in the book, well, I can't speak for the authors or that brewer, but in my mind the book was done well and is just what it claims to be.

The appproach to the recipes is relaxed and that is wonderfull. It will call for and ounce of Chinook hops, and not call for alpha acid or IBU's. While this is important to exactly replicate a beer time after time, I find the spirit of brewing is more closly followed by the more relaxed approach.

Anyway, good book.

This is a great book to progress to after you've read a couple of the starter homebrewing books. It's eye opening to hear the methods and techniques of the actual microbrewers. Their collection of recipes is the best I've seen in one book. The most important thing that I learned in this book is the importance of uncontaminated yeast strains. This one factor alone convinced me to use only liquid strains and therefore lesson the possibility of souring. My beers have been exceptional ever since reading this book.

Lot's of recipes in this one. I was expecting more information. What information is in this book is good; it's like talking about brewing with your buddies. If only I knew these people personally! This is a good book to help you focus on what's important, and understand where you can be creative. Don't get me wrong, I like it; I'm just not going gush.

I have been brewing beer since the early 80s and have read most of the 'good' books on the subject and I've done a bit of University (Davis) study on the matter. Before this book most of my best recipes came from visiting and calling breweries all over Canada and the United States. With this book you can save some traveling time and money as its as if you are speaking to some of the best brew masters in the country.

Secrets from the Master Brewers is one of the best books on the subject IMHO. The discussions of brewing techniques and materials are all pertinent to home brewers and come from established authorities. I did find a few editorial errors in the text and in some of the recipes but with a little thought on the matter they are easily resolved.

This book is the most used book in my collection. I regularly refer to the example recipes and often use them as written. Many different styles are covered from Lawnmower beers to mighty Russian Imperial Stouts, new style American Northwest to Belgian and many others in between. If I could only have one book on home brewing, this would be it.

The writers are passionate about their subject matter and have presented their information in a clear understandable manner. Fledgling and even experienced home brewers often have to rely on guess work or questionable recipes posted on the internet to imagine how a particular brewery created their masterpiece. With the recipes in this book as examples its like having a master class in brewing technique and style.

If you are looking for a slightly advanced book to improve your home brewing skills, you've found it. My advice, buy it as fast as possible.