The illustrated guide to brewing beer: A comprehensive handboook of beginning home brewing

272 Pages·2012·14.01 MB·English

Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Schaefer
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written
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For my son, Evan,
and for my wife, Kimberly,
who allowed me to write this while she rocked Evan to sleep
CONTENTS
Introduction
PART I
Brewing
1
THE BREWING PROCESS: AN OVERVIEW
2
EXTRACT BREWING
3
BOTTLING
4
ALL-GRAIN AND PARTIAL-MASH BREWING
5
CLEANING AND SANITIZING
PART II
Ingredients
6
WATER
7
MALTS
8
HOPS
9
YEAST
PART III
Troubleshooting
10
COMMON OFF-FLAVORS AND AROMAS
11
HAZE
12
HEAD RETENTION
13
BOTTLING PROBLEMS
Appendixes
A. Adjuncts
B. Hops 197
C. U.S. Homebrewing Laws
Resources
Glossary
Acknowledgments
Index
INTRODUCTION
WHY BREW? There are probably as many answers as there are brewers out
there, and one would presume that before picking up this book that you have
come to some semblance of an answer yourself. For me, the beauty of brewing is
in the craft–the chance to start with raw ingredients and carefully shape them
into a beverage that I can enjoy and share with others. The ability to control the
nuances of flavor, body, and aroma, to bring the end product as close to my idea
of the ideal, is what keeps me coming back batch after batch.
I have some recipes that I have been working on for fifteen years. With each
batch, I take detailed notes about my process and the end result: Carefully noting
the color, flavor, body, mouthfeel, head retention, and aroma. Slowly tweaking
the recipe with each successive batch. Diligently trying to reach a fleeting
concept of what I think the perfect porter, IPA, or English bitter should be.
And the art of homebrewing gives the modern homebrewer a never-ending
palette of ingredients and processes to choose from. Homebrew shops are once
again experiencing a resurgence, and the availability of high-quality ingredients
over the Internet has made finding even once-obscure grains, hops, and yeast
strains easier than at any other time in history.