A great book to consult if you're a beginning homebrewer. Papazian takes care to present the process as fun and approachable. The book is well-organized, allowing beginners to get the information they need up-front, then go back for more details later as they become more advanced. ( )

This is the homebrewer's bible. Read, revisit, and always keep a copy nearby (while you experiment... liberally). ( )

I'm cheating here, I'm only logging this book once but we have two copies since Scott likes it so much as a brewing reference. As he says, need to have two copies in case one gets lost or damaged.

If a man needs two copies of a book, that should say all you need to know about how good it is. ( )

(Alistair) "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew."

When we started making beer, Amy handed me this to read - while I have had some experience of the wonders of fermentation, in the past I'd always concentrated on wine rather than beer.

And Papazian's is a very good book. His laid-back style offers pleasant, easy reading, but the meat of the book offers all the solid information you need to get started homebrewing (along with the background on such things as the actual chemistry of brewing), and to go quite a ways before you need another reference. In addition to the information on the basics and technique in general, it also offers a good few recipes - enough to keep the beginning homebrewer going for quite some time even if their tastes in beer styles are limited - and plenty of useful information to modify them or design your own from scratch.

Interesting to read; completely informative - I think even for people starting from nothing -; and useful for a reference even once you're done. Very much recommend for anyone considering getting into homebrewing.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ce... ) ( )

In the great list of cliches, the phrase "the only book on X" that you'll ever need must surely be numbered. It is seldom warranted; I can think of only two books which qualify to serve as the sole reference in their subject. On the subject of bicycle wheels, there is a book by Jobst Brandt, and on the subject of beer, there is Charlie. Hey, Steve, I might say, how much spray malt do I need for bottle conditioning? And Steve will say, go ask Charlie, meaning look in the section on bottling in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Hey, Dan, I might say, what's kraeusening mean again? And Dan will turn to a battered copy of the Complete Joy of Home Brewing and give me a rundown on the process of priming beer with a measured amount of gyle. If you were to start brewing tomorrow by buying and reading this book, and you never bought or borrowed another book on the subject, you would make a lot of fine beer. Starting from the simplest way to make beer in your kitchen - open a can from a kit, boil the contents, let sit - and proceeding to full-grain open-air boilups and kegging your beer, this book is as complete a reference as I can imagine for the home brewer. If you decide to open a commercial operation, you'll probably want a second book. Until then, go ask Charlie. ( )