Radical Brewing, Randy Mosher

[Sir Humpsalot]

My book progression has been as follows: The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (Papazian), Howtobrew.com (Palmer), Designing Great Beers (Daniels), and now... Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher.

I thought this was a book that would best be appreciated by experienced brewers, but I was wrong. This should be required reading for any newb who is really interested in brewing. What a great book!

It's almost as if the book were designed for someone with ADD... It's just soooo easy to read a paragraph here... and a paragraph there... Really awesome format and, yes, there's even a perfectly adequate "first recipe" for newbs. That was a pleasant surprise...

 

[rdwj]

I agree that it's a great book, but Mosher even mentions in the beginning that Radical Brewing is not a "how-to". I think it would be far less enjoyable without a fundamental understanding of the process.

My book purchases are nearly identical to yours; although I've only thumbed through "Complete Joy". I continue to read bits and pieces of both Radical Brewing and Designing Great Beers depending on what kind of mood I'm in.

Of all the books mentioned, I think Designing Great Beers is the toughest read. It's got great information, but it isn't presented in a format that's, for the lack of a better word, exciting.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

You may be right, rdwj. I guess as I've gotten more into brewing, I take the little beginner things for granted, but on the other hand, there is a beginning section and though I only really flipped through it, I honestly don't see what other kind of information you need.

His first recipe was something like: Pick a yeast strain for the kind of beer you want. Add this much extract with somewhere between X ounces and Y ounces of Cascade... or W ounces and Z ounces of Hallertau, depending on how hoppy/bitter you want it.

He gives you all the basics, he just doesn't go into the depth that most beer snobs would want... but for getting the basics down in an unintimidating manner, I think it's cool.