Homebrewer's Companion

If your happy just doing kits and not really caring about all the extra little things you could be doing or the in depth process of beer making then you might not want this book. It is however an excellent book to get if you love making beer and like to learn all about it. Lots of information. Extra things you can do to make a good beer, great.

I have read "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and was extremely impressed with it and was equally impressed with this book. It is more in depth and detailed than the previous and covers more issues. Highly recommend it.

Everything you need to get started homebrewing. Its a little out of date, (I bought the 2nd edition, there is a 3rd, its from the 80s), but all of the info is good. Great book, don't worry, relax, have a home brew!

It is hard to disagree with the author, who said that this could have been titled The Complete Joy of Homebrewing part 2. This book takes the reader into a deeper look at some of the more advanced brewing techniques, but don't let that scare you off if you are a new homebrewer. This book is well worth the information even for the new brewer. Also includes more recipes (which you can never get enough of).

I bought this along with The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, also by Papazian. I think both books are a must-have for any homebrewer. _Companion_ is more of a reference text, while _Joy_ is more introductory. Both books have indispensable information about the basic ingredients and processes of brewing. When formulating a recipe, I refer back and forth to both books. Each has a variety of recipes in myriad styles that provide a good jumping-off point. For customizing the recipes, I refer to the table in _Companion_ that summarizes the various malts and their contribution to specific gravity, then I go to the table in _Joy_ that catalogs the different varieties of hops and their contribution to bitterness and flavor.