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March 1998 Volume 21,
Issue 3 Book Review Review by Sam Mize, taken from the HBD Title: Homebrewing, vol 1. Author: Al Korzonas Published by Sheaf & Vine, 1st edition Cost: $14.95 direct.
Introduces brewing, provides about all you'll need to know except mashing. Not just for extract brewers, unless all-grain brewers have quit boiling, fermenting, bottling, and using specialty grains, hops and yeast. This is a big thick book, and I'm just listing the highlights, this is not the complete contents. Volume II promises to cover mashing, yeast ranching, and other more-advanced topics. In volume I: - The first two chapters introduce brewing using partial-boil and a kit. - Following chapters cover full boil, recipe use and development, and techniques for extract brewers. - Later chapters and appendices cover characteristics of malt, hops, specialty grains and yeast (tables of characteristics for common breeds of hop and brands of malt and yeast, including liquid and dry yeasts). - Recipes, including a table of basic extract recipes for common styles. - Troubleshooting and FAQ sections. Fairly comprehensive for extract brewing, fairly clear, contains a lot of research results. Heavily documented with footnotes and pointers for further reading. Potential for improvement: The book's pedagogical arrangement could be a little stronger. I've found the index adequate but a little weak for reference. The table of contents only provides chapter headings, so I've wound up paging through the book a lot to find a specific section. Al has a tendency (like many of us (including me)) to, somewhat, use less than unconvoluted sentences on occasion. However, his difficult sentences are fairly rare, and they're clear once you work through them. If you give it to a beginner, note that the introductory partial-boil batch directions ASSUME you are using a plastic fermenter. If the beginner is using a glass carboy, caution him/her about thermal shock. Overall, an excellent reference for brewers at a broad range of expertise. I've been extract brewing (and reading like crazy) for a couple of years. I still wound up with a page of references to new ideas and useful info, and that's not counting the recipe and materials tables. My only "must-read" is the Bible but I'd certainly recommend this toanyone on HBD, or as a first book on brewing. Highlights: (from authors web page)
Notes:
Organization of book:
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