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ScubaSteve
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Nope, but I want to....even though I got more crap than I know what to do with. 
Orfy:
I have that one and have paged through it to find the particular thing I was trying to figure out. I think this book coupled with HBT can be of great use. How much help it would be with the materials available in the UK I don't know.
I have that one and have paged through it to find the particular thing I was trying to figure out. I think this book coupled with HBT can be of great use. How much help it would be with the materials available in the UK I don't know.
OP
OP
I don't think I need it. I was just curious about it's contents and how advanced and how detailed it is.
FlyGuy
Well-Known Member
I have a copy of this on my bookshelf, and I have read it a couple of times. Honestly, it isn't a great book. For one, it is immensely dated. Two, it doesn't really have much by way of clever homebrew DIY projects in it. It is mostly beginner tips like how to use a milk crate for holding a carboy or plans for building a copper immersion chiller or a blow-off tube. It also spends a lot of time discussing the basics of commercially-produced brewing equipment (like false bottoms or different types of airlocks).
There would be immense opportunity to write a great book that is more advanced than this one, which would include some DETAILED discussion on how to do things like:
- make a boiling pot from a used 15.5 gal keg (this book shows the parts, but doesn't really give enough details to make one)
- make a steel roller grain mill (instead of one made from rolling pins)
- designs for making a cooler mash tun, including a manifold (limited detail in this book) or stainless steel braid filters (not really mentioned)
- DIY hop stoppers or other clever ways to filter break material and hops from your kettle
- how to wire a temperature controller (not just what is a temperature controller)
- just about anything you will find here in our Equipment/DIY section, etc., etc.
The other disappointing aspect of this book is the lack of clear detail. The last two chapters of the book are on growing your own hops and yeast culturing. These really caught my eye, but the information was so basic that these chapters would only be enough to pique your curiosity on these subjects, and you would require other sources of information to actually grow your own hops or yeast successfully.
Anyways, overall there is a smattering of good ideas and project plans that the book is worth buying. But it could have been a much better book with a little more advanced detail, in my opinion. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of ten.
There would be immense opportunity to write a great book that is more advanced than this one, which would include some DETAILED discussion on how to do things like:
- make a boiling pot from a used 15.5 gal keg (this book shows the parts, but doesn't really give enough details to make one)
- make a steel roller grain mill (instead of one made from rolling pins)
- designs for making a cooler mash tun, including a manifold (limited detail in this book) or stainless steel braid filters (not really mentioned)
- DIY hop stoppers or other clever ways to filter break material and hops from your kettle
- how to wire a temperature controller (not just what is a temperature controller)
- just about anything you will find here in our Equipment/DIY section, etc., etc.
The other disappointing aspect of this book is the lack of clear detail. The last two chapters of the book are on growing your own hops and yeast culturing. These really caught my eye, but the information was so basic that these chapters would only be enough to pique your curiosity on these subjects, and you would require other sources of information to actually grow your own hops or yeast successfully.
Anyways, overall there is a smattering of good ideas and project plans that the book is worth buying. But it could have been a much better book with a little more advanced detail, in my opinion. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of ten.
OP
OP
Thanks for the review FG.
It as I thought.
It as I thought.
