Guildencrantz's Full Review: David G. Miller - Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide:...
It's been about four years since I first became interested in homebrewing and when I finally started doing the research it was Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer that I started with. I picked up this book originally on the recommendation of a homebrew shop employee because they were out of John Palmer's How to Brew, and I agree that it's a great second choice.
The Homebrewing Guide is an extremely informative reference intended to introduce people to the art of brewing and then act as a reference book through the rest of the owner's brewing career; with this purpose in mind the book's 326 pages are broken into 38 chapters followed by an appendix with conversion charts, sources, a glossary, an annotated bibliography, and an index. These short, highly focused, chapters make the book an excellent reference, but they get in the way of using it as an introduction to brewing.
Having said that let me commend Dave Miller on his first three chapters. These three chapters cover twenty-seven pages and give a quick over view of brewing and the terminology before walking the reader through an all-extract brew (the brewing equivalent of making Kraft Mac & Cheese). This introduction demonstrates the ease and simplicity required for brewing while alluding to the massive possibilities expounded in the remainder of the book.
Unfortunately it's at this point that things start to fall apart. Although the introduction did cover the basics, including sanitation, Miller moves straight into talking about malting and then throws water modification at the reader. Fifty pages in and he's throwing water mineral content & adjustment at somebody who hasn't even been properly instructed in the methods of sanitation—for the curious: sanitation starts at page 254.
This complaint isn't just because sanitation is so important and should be presented immediately, but that it causes problems with continuity. Yes I appreciated that Miller got right into brewing and made things interesting, but I felt a bit off when chapters late in the book went back to material that is as crucial as sanitation. The other problem is that early chapters throw quite a bit of advanced detail at the reader. I really enjoyed the discussion of the effects of various minerals in water on yeast growth and the drawings demonstrating the carbohydrates specific enzymes work on, however when that detail is in chapters four and five it's a bit early.
Dave Miller does try to keep the information under control by pointing out what isn't important to the new brewer. He also mentions that the book doesn't need to be read in order as it's intended to be a reference in addition to being an introduction. Unfortunately this aspect leads to another issue I had reading through in order: pieces of information get repeated. A number of pieces of information get repeated throughout different chapters in the book, further causing lulls in the reading pace while the reader is forced to slog through the same material multiple times in case he or she hasn't been reading everything in order.
As this repeating information suggests Miller doesn't leave anything out. From cleaning and sanitizing to equipment that's required, as well as advanced equipment that can be used, right through mashing methods and recipe development this is a very complete book. Even though I've complained about the overall reading experience Miller's individual chapters are all well presented and coherent.
The Homebrewing Guide is a great vade mecum, but doesn't quite come together as a cohesive introduction to brewing. While all the information, both the simple and complex, is present it's presented in such a way that I didn't feel confident I could brew more than an all-extract beer upon its completion (I was still fuzzy on sparging by finishing this book). If you have some experience brewing and are looking for a good general reference I do recommend this book, however if you haven't started brewing yet and are looking for a strong introduction I must guide you toward John Palmer's How to Brew.
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. How Beer Is Made
3. Getting Started in Homebrewing
4. Malts, Adjuncts, and Sugars
5. Water and Water Treatment
6. Mash Methods — An Overview
7. Equipment for Wort Production
8. What Happens in the Mash Tun?
9. Mashing and Lautering
10. Hops
11. Kettles, Wort Coolers, and Other Equipment
12. What Happens in the Kettle and Wort Cooler?
13. Boiling, Trub Separation, and Cooling
14. Yest
15. Yest, Propagation and Maintenance
16. Fermentation Methods
17. Fermentation and Lagering Equipment
18. What Happens during Fermentation?
19. Wort Aeration and Pitching
20. Running the Fermentation
21. Maturing and Lagering
22. Beer Clarification
23. Clarifiers, Filters, and Filtration Equipment
24. Clarification and Filtration Techniques
25. Carbonation
26. Beer Carbonation Methods
27. Bottle- and Cask-Conditioned Beers
28. Draft Beer Equipment
29. Draft System Design and Operation
30. Bottled Beer and Bottling
31. Cleaning and Sanitation
32. Cleaners, Sanitizers, and Cleaning Equipment
33. Cleaning and Sanitizing Procedures
34. Beer Evaluation
35. Troubleshooting
36. Beer Styles
37. Recipe Formulation
38. Recipes
Metric Conversions
Sources
Glossary
Annotated Bibliography
Index
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