Brewing the World's Great Beers: A Step-By-Step Guide

I was given this book as a present over ten years ago. I could not imagine, nor have I seen, a better book. It covers every level of brewing you could want to try in easy terms. All levels from processed ingredients to true 'from scratch' cooking. If you can cook, this is the book. If the book seems thin or small, that is because brewing is that simple. It's a fair amount of work, but it is that easy.

This was the book that got me started home brewing. If you are just starting, then this is a great book for you. I am not sure why other reviewers are stating the author is paranoid, but for me, I am paranoid and want to do everything right. One wrong move with making beer and the whole batch is messed up. I wanted to give five stars, but the author should have discussed kegging more and pushed it instead of bottling. Even for a beginner, kegging is the way to go. The initial up-front cost is a little more, but it is much faster and easier than bottling which is well worth the cost.

I've been homebrewing since the 1990 (all-grain since 1994), and started out using Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Charlie can wax poetic about the joys of homebrew, but he's pretty fuzzy on the details - and good homebrew is all about the little details. This is where Mr. Miller's book comes in handy. This book is broken up into three sections, which are basically step-by-step guides for the novice, intermediate, and advanced homebrewer. It may come off as "uptight" or "anal-retentive" or "paranoid," but if you want to brew award-winning beer, you MUST sweat the details. There are recipes for brewing standard beer styles, as the title suggests, but the real strength of this book is in its concise, practical approach to proper brewing procedure. Personally, I haven't used any of his recipes, but I always insist on devising my own anyway - that's the fun part, and once you learn the correct procedure you can focus entirely on the more creative aspect - recipe formulation. The quality of my homebrew took a big step forward once I used this book, and I've gone on to win several awards with them. After you get the advanced brewing section down, pick up Greg Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer - it's a great advanced source for improving your wort production, for both ales and lagers, but for beginning to intermediate brewers, I can't recommend Brewing the World's Great Beers highly enough.

... is this book. I began homebrewing in 1993, and was immediately able to create basic and very good beers using only this book as my guide. It walks you into the process, providing the fundamentals, and then allowing you to learn more at your own pace (from full wort boils, to yeast cultures, to full grain). I quickly gained the confidence to not only progress, but to experiment with variations on the recipes to suit my own tastes, and as a result I have enjoyed this casual hobby for 8 years running.

This was an excellent book for brewers. For a beginner like me, the author walks you through the basics and explains processes in a simple yet helpful way. There are many beer recipes to choose from, so anyone can find a recipe to suit their tastes. I highly recommend this and other Storey books!