Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #649536 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 666 pages

Synopsis
This book is a very useful resource for home brewers. It contains ingredient information that should permit you to replicate thousands of excellent beers at home. Many of these beers are no longer commercially brewed so the only way to try to taste them now is to brew them yourself. This book also gives an interesting historical insight into the way that some British brewers have adjusted their recipes through the 1990s and can provide you with the justification to break some brewing "rules" with your own creations.

Customer Reviews

a worthy addition to the home brewer's library
As the author states in his introduction, the recipes are primarily intended for Full Mash brewers but many could be adapted for partial mashing or extract brewing. The book assumes the reader is already versed in the basic techniques of brewing, this is not a "how to brew" manual. That said, you don't need to have years of experience - pick a recipe and just give it a go.
Les Howarth has assembled beer recipes from almost 350 breweries, some of them long gone but many brewing today. He has collated the data from numerous sources, and it is a wonder that existing brewers divulge this information. The recipes do vary in detail: some specify the percentages of each type of malt that make up the grist, some even specify the ratio of hops to use. Others only list the malt and hop ingredients with no guidance to ratios. The book provides the original gravity figure and the bitterness in IBUs, and the home brewer must call upon his/her knowledge of brewing theory to calculate a suitable amount of malt and hops to achieve the desired result; there are some examples in the book to help. If you know the desired colour of the beer this can guide you in malt selection. Hop ratios can be chosen based upon the brewer's experience of their flavour characteristics. Specific yeast strains are not specified since these are unlikely to be available to a home brewer; use your judgement to choose a suitable yeast strain from those readily available, e.g. a fruity ester yeast for an Old ale, a neutral one for a golden ale. Given the vast amount of variable factors involved in creating a beer, one should expect to repeat a recipe more than once with minor tweaking before getting it just how you like it.
For me the major appeal of this book is trying to recreate beers I know and like. I tried brewing an old favourite for a good friend of mine, a strong bitter he used to drink often but sadly no longer available since the brewery was closed in the year 2000. The first attempt was slightly too dark (I guesstimated too much chocolate malt) but otherwise a very good flavour match. After quaffing several pints each we both agreed it was a superb brew!
I have made two attempts to replicate my personal all-time favourite bitter (also no longer available) and the second brew is a pretty close match; I am confident number 3 will be nearing perfection.
This book has enough brewing recipes to keep you going for life, and it is very satisfying to recreate the beers of one's youth and indeed those of today. If you are an enthusiastic brewer I'd say this book is money well spent, and highly recommend it. For those of you who have not tried full mash brewing at home, how does top quality real ale for 35 pence a pint sound? Cheers!