Jun 1, 2011

“The Complete Hombrew Beer Book” by George Hummel

The Complete Hombrew Book cover

This is a review of a promotional copy received from the publisher.

I’m not a home brewer — never claimed to be one. That doesn’t mean, however, that the subject doesn’t interest me or spark my imagination of an all-grain, three tier system sitting in my car port. To that end, I found award-winning homebrewerGeorge Hummel’s The Complete Homebrew Beer Book an interesting and informative read.

While the first forty pages of the book, as fleeting as they may be, were of more interest to me personally, I’m sure it’s the remaining 400+ pages that will peak the interest of those who already have some experience brewing their own beer. Within the majority of the publication are 200 recipes geared toward every skill level from novice to those looking to add to their already deep reservoir of brewing knowledge.

The book opens with a fairly truncated summary of what homebrewing entails and some of the equipment that you may want to prepare yourself with in order to start brewing your own beer. There is a detailed section on setting up your first operation as well as informative tips on all sorts of topics from suggested tools, to fermentation, to racking and bottling your beer when all is said and done. Mr. Hummel’s language is light and informal, yet delivers the book’s content with enough authority to let you know he’s quite knowledgeable of what he writes.

As far as the library of recipes (for a large variety of styles) is concerned, each one is broken down into a series of easily digestible sections. The ingredients list are clearly outlined and listed in a variety of measurements for your use. The greatest aspect of each recipe, however, is how simply and clearly stated each step of the process is laid out for you. Each beer has a series of step-by-step instructions from preparing the yeast to monitoring the final activity in the airlock before bottling. Any novice homebrewer should be able to follow Mr. Hummel’s recipes from start to finish with minimal deviation. Hell, they were even easy enough for me to follow along with — and perhaps push me that much closer to looking at purchasing my first set-up.

I can tell you right now, that the moment I try my own hand at brewing beer, I’ll be consulting one or two of the recipes within this book — not necessarily to experiment with a porter or stout, but because each is described simply and plainly. Mr. Hummel makes you feel like you could randomly flip to any page in his book and be able to brew the beer that you land on, without issue — that’s what makes this book great for someone like me.

Sample Recipe*

British Brown Ale
Brown Ales are one of the easiest first-time brews. Classic examples from across the pond are Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale and Newcastle Brown. The Sammy’s is a robust version, while the Newkie is more light-bodied. We’ll try to peg our example in the middle. This is a great beer to quaff on an autumn’s eve. Makes 5 Gallons

  • 4 pounds UK amber malt extract syrup
  • 1 pound UK amber dry malt extract
  • 6–7 AAUs bittering hops: British hops such as Bramling Cross, East Kent Golding, or Fuggle
  • 1 pound demerara sugar (or turbinado or raw brown cane sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon Irish moss
  • 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
  • 1 ounce aroma hops, divided: UK hops such as Bramling Cross, East Kent Golding, or Fuggle
  • One 11.5 gram pack Fermentis S-04 or 11 gram Danstar Nottingham ale yeast
  • 5 ounces dextrose (corn sugar), for priming

  1. In a brew kettle, bring 2 gallons water to a boil. Remove from heat and add the malt extracts. Dissolve completely.
  2. Return to boil, add bittering hops and boil for 45 minutes.
  3. Scoop a saucepan full (2 cups) of liquid (wort) from kettle, add sugar, Irish moss, and yeast nutrient.
  4. Return wort to kettle. Bring to a rolling boil and boil, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
  5. Add aroma hops, remove from heat and cool to just below 70°F (20°C), approximately 30 minutes or longer depending on cooling method.
  6. Preparing dried yeast: In a sanitized container, add 1 cup of pre-boiled water that has been cooled to 100°F (38°C). Stir in yeast, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes.
  7. Strain wort as it is moved into sanitized primary fermenter. Pour wort back and forth between brew kettle and primary fermenter a few times to aerate it. Add enough clean, dechlorinated water to bring volume to 5 gallons.
  8. Pour yeast solution into primary fermenter, and fit fermenter with a tight lid. Move fermenter in a location where it can sit undisturbed at between 65 to 70°F (18 to 20°C). Replace lid of fermenter with airlock. After 24 hours, check to see that fermentation is underway. Leave fermenter for two weeks.
  9. Preparing priming liquid: In a small saucepan stir dextrose into 2 cups of dechlorinated water. Bring to a boil and stir to ensure dextrose is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and cover. Cool to room temperature.
  10. Gently add priming liquid to sanitized bottling bucket; siphon beer into bottling bucket, being careful not to add more oxygen.
  11. Carefully fill prepared bottles and cap them.

* Excerpted from The Complete Homebrew Beer Book by George Hummel © 2011 Robert Rose Inc. www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with permission.

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