I have been reading Palmers "How to Brew" and "The Complete Homebrew Beer Book" by George Hummel, both of which have been excellent. Are there any other books or resources that are either very useful or even just worth a read before I start my adventure?
My caution is based on my previous experience of using a wort kit (I know). I somehow even managed to screw that up, hence my trepidation.
I started getting information of the forums, videos on youtube and blogs. Find a method you want to use and research that. Extract brewing will take less equipment to get started.
Finally someone coming on here asking the correct question! How to Brew - Palmer The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Papazian This Forum Google other brewing forums
The above authors gave good books and ideas. If you complete went through John Palmer's book (online or book) you can be ready to go provided you understand what your doing. I read several books, then met a veteran extract (I think) brewer at the local coffee shop to ask a couple questions and chat. He nicely mentioned a local HB club. Boom, I started brew an extract, and by luck? no dumped batches to date. Drinking an extract today that isn't great, the FG was 1.080! No exploding bottles either cross my fingers Cheers!
We're lucky around here, as there's a great local store (homebrewparty.com) that has employees that generally know something about beer and brewing. They're not all experts, but they're not just there to run the cash register either, and they usually have something on tap and something brewing all the time. Their yeast selection is good and they've got plenty of hops and grains and extracts and equipment and chemicals, all around a fine place to get beer stuff.
My LHBS happens to be pretty good (love2brew.com) both in terms of knowledge and great ingredient selection (still not English crystal malts grrrr). They get ECY and awesome hop selection and prices. My old LHBS was just terrible, decent knowledge there but horrible selection and rude staff. I have just heard so many stories of random and completely false crap that other people say their LHBS has said, which leads me to be pretty cynical about them in general.
I read "How to Brew" seven times. My seventh batch was infreakingcredible. Coincidence? I think not. The book could use some updating. Some of the recipes use as much hops for a whole five gallon batch as some home brewers on here use for dry hopping but it's the best book I have.
I was cautious about hops at first, expecting them to be super-bitter, potential beer-ruiners if used in excess. I've since been cured of that problem, preferring the "shovel method" of hopping nowadays. The most forgiving parameter of brewing is probably the hops, as long as you don't do something really stupid, and you follow a general formula typical of the style. An example of something really stupid would be adding six ounces of warrior and four ounces of magnum at the beginning of the boil for a hefeweisen. An example of something typical of the style would be 15, 10, 5, and flameout additions of hops to an IPA or hoppy APA, with total bitterness levels adjusted via a 60 minute addition, total hops 6-7 oz, most of it added late. As I recall, my first batch of all grain was a self-formulated SMaSH with maris otter and willamette. What possessed me to use a grand total of 2.5 oz of willamette, I don't know. Definitely UN-balanced towards the malt side*. At some point I will brew this again, and will probably use about 7 ounces** of willamette on the second time around. With the enjoyable maltiness of maris otter, I think that would be a good level of willamette to make a nice, balanced (yet amply hoppy) pale ale. * but hey, it was still beer, plenty drinkable, and a couple people even really liked it. I rather liked it too, as my first all grain batch resulted in tasty beer, but yes, it needed MOAR hops. When using willamette (or fuggles, serebrianka etc) formulate your recipe normally, then double the hops. Then add in two more ounces at flameout, just to be sure. *double the recipe (2..5 times 2) then add two more ounces at flameout (2.5 oz times 2, plus 2 oz at flameout, per my own advice, = 5 oz + 2 oz = 7oz)
My advice is to just watch some "how to" videos on YouTube and start brewing some batches first to get a simple idea of the general process. Then go to the books, especially 'How to Brew' because it's top notch, and get your more in depth "this is why" information. If you read the books before your familiar with the process, they won't make nearly as much sense on a deeper level. I found this to be true for myself anyhow. My 2nd read through of How to Brew clicked 100% because I had familiarized myself so much with the process by actually brewing beer that I could make sense of the info I was reading.
There's so many grate books out there that I really don't know what to start from. If you never brew before, you may start with this one . If you already start, try some books that holds a good mix of recipes and technic like this classic one or this book . Happy brewing
