“If you’ve ever wanted to learn to brew beer from an expert, look no further. Award-winning homebrewer Chris Colby of Beer & Wine Journal offers recipes for every major style of beer to teach novice, intermediate and advanced brewers more about the craft and science of brewing. From classic styles like pale ales, IPAs, stouts and porters, to experimental beers such as oyster stout, bacon-smoked porter and jolly rancher watermelon wheat, brewers will learn more about brewing techniques and beer ingredients. Chris also shows how recipes can be modified to suit an individual brewer’s taste or to transform one beer style into a related style, creating a lot of different and fantastic beer options”.
Chris Colby is the former editor of Brew Your Own Magazine, and the current editor of Beer & Wine Journal. He has a PhD in biology and is a long time homebrewer. His book is written in a conversational style, with great information disseminated for the non-scientist to understand while remaining interesting and approachable for all.
The book says it is designed for all levels of brewers. Colby provides enough basic entry-level information on things like sanitation, cleanliness, and the importance of fresh ingredients for a new brewer to digest and follow. The Home Brew Recipe Bible leaves out some of the nitty gritty details that may overwhelm a new brewer. The short notes on these things are great reminders for all brewers, and serve enough of an introduction to new brewers before they seek out more knowledge in sources dedicated to detailed homebrewing information. This approach works if the new brewer is willing to practice the provided brewing technique without needing to know the in depth details of why.
Section 2 is where the recipes begin. For brewers with a few batches under their belt (literally as well as figuratively, perhaps!), this book will be a treasure. Colby covers all of the basic styles of beers, with chapters 2-8 broken down by beer style.
The first chapter of Section 2 features ten unique recipes designed for using malt extract. They vary in style nicely, so that a brewer can easily pick several of their favorite styles to begin with. The helpful hints and tips alongside of the recipes provide more information about terms like “lovibond” and how malt extract is made Recipe options are also given, including the partial mashing and all-grain versions of these recipes. Even for advanced brewers, these tips are appreciated. The recipes themselves describe the beer style with some of the history, and give an idea of how the final beer will taste. The instructions are complete and thorough,
The following chapters begin the organization of the recipes by type, with the next chapter being “Dark Ales”. The next is “”Amber Ales”, and so on. They are loosely organized by type and color, with the pale lagers in their own chapter. The recipes cover every major beer style, with the final chapter being chapter 8, twenty one recipes with the heading, “Beers Made with Special Ingredients: Interesting and Experimental Flavored Brews”.
The recipes were thoroughly reviewed, and all seem to be solid recipes to produce the desired results for the brewer. There are 101 recipes, most written by Colby, while several of the recipes come from other homebrewing experts, like Denny Conn's well known “Waldo Lake Amber” amber ale, and the “Franken Berry Weisse” from James Spencer, utilizing the breakfast cereal of the same name. While I personally might skip the oyster stout, I think the Jolly Rancher Watermelon Wheat sounds like a poolside sipper on a hot day. It also features classics like dry stout and best bitter to eisbock, Gueze, Godlandsdricka, and everything in between. There are many recipes to instruct and inspire all brewers looking for practical advice and recipes to make any style of beer. He even includes a recipe for Zombima, an alternative malt beverage, for those inclined.
In the chapter, “A Walk on the Wild Side”, 10 recipes for specialty yeast or bacteria are provided, will be a huge hit for those starting to experiment with sours and funky beers. Most, if not all, of the recipes have extract and/or partial mash versions as well, for those limited by equipment or space limitations.
The Home Brew Recipe Bible is easy to read, and the illustrations are beautiful. The book itself is quite attractive, well organized, and enjoyable to pick up and leaf through while considering which beer to brew next. All brewers would enjoy owning and using this book as it will be useful even as beginning or intermediate brewers grow and develop into more proficient brewers. There are enough recipes to keep even the most prolific brewer happy with the variety of offerings in this book.
Home Brew Recipe Bible should be on every homebrewer's shelf. It it is a great companion book to dedicated “how to homebrew” books already on the shelf and is absolutely a worthwhile investment. The Homebrew Recipe Bible easily outclasses other homebrew recipe books and should be an instant classic.
Chris Colby is the former editor of Brew Your Own Magazine, and the current editor of Beer & Wine Journal. He has a PhD in biology and is a long time homebrewer. His book is written in a conversational style, with great information disseminated for the non-scientist to understand while remaining interesting and approachable for all.
The Introduction
The book says it is designed for all levels of brewers. Colby provides enough basic entry-level information on things like sanitation, cleanliness, and the importance of fresh ingredients for a new brewer to digest and follow. The Home Brew Recipe Bible leaves out some of the nitty gritty details that may overwhelm a new brewer. The short notes on these things are great reminders for all brewers, and serve enough of an introduction to new brewers before they seek out more knowledge in sources dedicated to detailed homebrewing information. This approach works if the new brewer is willing to practice the provided brewing technique without needing to know the in depth details of why.
Overview of Styles and Recipes
Section 2 is where the recipes begin. For brewers with a few batches under their belt (literally as well as figuratively, perhaps!), this book will be a treasure. Colby covers all of the basic styles of beers, with chapters 2-8 broken down by beer style.
The first chapter of Section 2 features ten unique recipes designed for using malt extract. They vary in style nicely, so that a brewer can easily pick several of their favorite styles to begin with. The helpful hints and tips alongside of the recipes provide more information about terms like “lovibond” and how malt extract is made Recipe options are also given, including the partial mashing and all-grain versions of these recipes. Even for advanced brewers, these tips are appreciated. The recipes themselves describe the beer style with some of the history, and give an idea of how the final beer will taste. The instructions are complete and thorough,
The following chapters begin the organization of the recipes by type, with the next chapter being “Dark Ales”. The next is “”Amber Ales”, and so on. They are loosely organized by type and color, with the pale lagers in their own chapter. The recipes cover every major beer style, with the final chapter being chapter 8, twenty one recipes with the heading, “Beers Made with Special Ingredients: Interesting and Experimental Flavored Brews”.
Recipes in the Book
The recipes were thoroughly reviewed, and all seem to be solid recipes to produce the desired results for the brewer. There are 101 recipes, most written by Colby, while several of the recipes come from other homebrewing experts, like Denny Conn's well known “Waldo Lake Amber” amber ale, and the “Franken Berry Weisse” from James Spencer, utilizing the breakfast cereal of the same name. While I personally might skip the oyster stout, I think the Jolly Rancher Watermelon Wheat sounds like a poolside sipper on a hot day. It also features classics like dry stout and best bitter to eisbock, Gueze, Godlandsdricka, and everything in between. There are many recipes to instruct and inspire all brewers looking for practical advice and recipes to make any style of beer. He even includes a recipe for Zombima, an alternative malt beverage, for those inclined.In the chapter, “A Walk on the Wild Side”, 10 recipes for specialty yeast or bacteria are provided, will be a huge hit for those starting to experiment with sours and funky beers. Most, if not all, of the recipes have extract and/or partial mash versions as well, for those limited by equipment or space limitations.
The Home Brew Recipe Bible is easy to read, and the illustrations are beautiful. The book itself is quite attractive, well organized, and enjoyable to pick up and leaf through while considering which beer to brew next. All brewers would enjoy owning and using this book as it will be useful even as beginning or intermediate brewers grow and develop into more proficient brewers. There are enough recipes to keep even the most prolific brewer happy with the variety of offerings in this book.
Home Brew Recipe Bible should be on every homebrewer's shelf. It it is a great companion book to dedicated “how to homebrew” books already on the shelf and is absolutely a worthwhile investment. The Homebrew Recipe Bible easily outclasses other homebrew recipe books and should be an instant classic.
Always enjoy adding another brewing book to the library.
