Mastering Homebrew: The Complete Guide to Brewing Delicious Beer

by Randy Mosher

An accessible guide to making your own beer, for beginning & advanced brewers, with thirty recipes and tips for choosing ingredients, equipment, and more.

Mastering Homebrew will have you thinking like a scientist, brewing like an artist, and enjoying your very own unbelievably great handcrafted beer in record time. Internationally known brewing instructor, beer competition judge, author, and brew master himself, Randy Mosher covers everything that beginning to advanced brewers want to know, all in this easy-to-follow, fun-to-read handbook,

·      The anatomy of a beer

·      Brewing with both halves of your brain

·      Gear and the brewing process

·      Care and feeding of yeast

·      Hops (the spice of beer)

·      Brewing your first beer

·      Beer styles and beyond

·      The Amazing Shape-Shifting Beer Recipe

·      And more

“Randy is a walking encyclopedia of beer and brewing, and his palate and taste are impeccable.” —from the foreword by Jim Koch, chairman and cofounder, the Boston Beer Company

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Cookbooks

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2013

Reviews

[Gary Mesick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depending upon how you view home brewing (or life), this may or may not be the book you have been looking for. Randy Mosher believes one should brew (and live) in a way that builds community and allows for individual expression. In contrast, Papazian's "Joy" focuses on having fun. Palmer's "How to Brew" focused on measuring everything, from water chemistry to fluid dynamics. But I read Mosher's books primarily for his exhortations to honor the history and culture of brewing, to be in touch with the community and culture in which you live, and to use brewing as a mode of personal, artistic expression. You will find all that here.

Mosher's book is beautiful to look at. And it covers the landscape quite well, from ingredients, to recipe formulation to yeast management to considerations in building your brewery.

If you don't intend to measure your beer, you might go with Papazian instead. If you think you will find Mosher's exhortations a distraction, stick with Palmer for his practical advice. But even if Mosher hadn't given me anything practical to think about (and he did), I would buy this for the attractiveness of the book and for his reminders that caring about beer gives us another way to care about one another.

[Mitch Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a weird book. It is trying to be the only homebrew book you need, but I don't think that is realistic. Sections on water chemistry and yeast biology for advanced brewers will confuse beginners while parts about extract brewing will bore the experienced brewers. That said, there is a ton of great information here and the design, including charts is excellent. Definitely worth checking out but you may need to be selective about which parts to read. I'll be referring back to the malt guide a lot, I think.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book and I believe it will be a great resource later in my brewing adventures; however, it is not for beginners, which I am right now. It is very technical and very informative.

[José Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 estrellas

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, narrative style that gives a good crash course into brewing. It seeks to be an all in one sort of book which he admits is not possible, but his descriptions of the various techniques and fixes and styles and recipes are well written. I found his chapter on making and adapting recipes very useful as well as his charts and tables of ingredients and for these alone the book is worth owning and referencing. This book is not as much into the science and math of making beer, but there are other books that do that well and he references those where appropriate. This is a good book for the beginner looking to level up and as a refresher and reference book for those looking to up the consistency and quality of their beer.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it could be used by a beginning homebrewer, there is a lot of information in this book that could be overwhelming. For someone starting out, I would suggest John Palmer’s How to Brew instead.

This book has a wealth of information on hops,
malt, yeast, water chemistry, etc, and how everything interplays and creates certain characteristics in beer; it is broken down by ingredient and there are many handy reference areas for charts and info. There is also quite a bit of information to craft and/or hone recipes of your own, which I found very helpful. This book is an excellent resource and Randy Mosher has a lot of expertise in this subject (his book Radical Brewing is also good).

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book for homebrewing. Randy Mosher puts his own spin on homebrewing and shares his insights and memories of his own development. This book has a number of illustrations , tables and recipes. Do not try to read this book straight through. The book is long and reads like a textbook at times. Instead, look at this book like a cooking reference and try out the recipes and learn more about the techniques.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very technical, and very informative! Definitely not for beginners, but as someone who was just looking for some background information on a few things (a friend of mine is really into it, and I'd love to be a bit more knowledgeable on the process, since I get samples of said beer!), this definitely fit the bill. I haven't read any books about homebrewing before, so I have nothing to base this against, haha.

[Finnick Littlefoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read to get me started in Homebrewing. I sipped it slowly while I waited for my first batch to ferment and learned so much about what I’d just done and what to do next time. A book like this has the potential to be very dry but it was entertaining the whole way through. Crisp and refreshing. My only wish is that it had gone deeper on some of the recipe construction and technique.

[Jeremy Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing overview into the world and science of brewing. I loved it. He weaved such excitement into different styles, why they are different and the chemistry of yeast and sugars and the different flavours that come from such simple ingredients. it was good night reading for a few weeks. I will reread large parts of it many times I think.

[Christopher L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very informative. Everything you need in one place. Although it reads like a textbook. And kind of takes the fun out of just trying it and seeing what happens. Which a lot of big beer books encourage. Might be a great tool for a lot of new brewers and old brewers alike. Just too heavy for me.

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this is not a book that you should start with if you want to venture into the world of homebrewing. Instead, it is a nice companion that can enhance your process quite a lot. Mosher is an excellent writer and knows how to explain things clearly, although I'd recommend How To Brew by Palmer before this one.

[Caspar Bøtchiær · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is in my opinion the best book on brewing I have read so far. Great for learning, great for reference when making recipes and also just a good read. If you like this one. Get his book Radical brewing too.

[Calvin Rye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good introduction to beginners but also a good reference for more experienced brewers. I've been able to translate the thinking to other fermentables as well. Tons of information, presented with well designed infographics.

[Joost · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has quickly become the one reference book about home brewing I keep coming back to.

[Tim B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that everyone from a beginner to advanced brewer could use. Lots of tips and tricks with many recipes and clever suggestions added in. This should be on every brewers bookshelf.

[Maksym Karazieiev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read it fully as it is mostly targeted at beginners and those who want to systemize their knowledge. Great material but of course the latest approaches to mashing, hops usage etc. is missing.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Randy Mosher helps novice homebrewers gain a fuller understanding of beer and the homebrew process.

[Josh Fogelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Wordy and could have been half the length. Narrative form does not explain the brewing process very well, but it does inspire to make beer. The charts showing malts, hops, and yeasts and the flavors they impart on the beer are very useful and helpful. The chapter on coming up with your own recipe is also useful.

Mastering homebrew notable pages

Beer-Tasting Checklist
39

Malt Profiles
53-63

Adjunct Profiles
68-69

Brewing Sugars Chart
75

Hops Profiles
82-95

Water Mineral & Trace Mineral Details
98, 104

Herbs and Spices Flavor Profile
107-109

Yeast Flavor Chemicals
202-203

Yeast Characteristics
207-208

Yeast Starter Instructions
213

Carbonation Chart
225

Malt Flavor Graphic
246

Malt Strategies
249-252

History of Beer Timeline
280-281

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for the new homebrewer. While "How To Brew" and "The Joy of Homebrewing" are fantastic books that have a lot of useful information, they are a bit out-of-date. For example, neither of those books address HERMS, or pump considerations.

Randy's book has a lot of great colour illustrations and tables, making it easier to understand some of the more complex ideas in brewing.

Another interesting area that Randy covers is beer styles, and how to go beyond the styles. While it's a big enough topic for a separate book, he does a good job of introducing the idea to new brewers.

[Sagely · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I were to buy only one home-brew book, this would be it.Randy Mosher's Mastering Homebrew is as encyclopedic as it is accessible, as helpful as it's inspiring. I read this and salivate over all the great beers I hope to brew.

I find MH's easy to read charts and guides most helpful. I haven't tried any of the starter recipes, but I'm sure they'll be great too.

A beautiful book.

[Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great brewing book! A wealth of brewing information from an amazing icon in world of craft. Covers the whole span of Brewing process and will be a valuable resource for years to come.