Literature

Like any good Librarian, I've started to build up a collection of homebrew titles. There is always something one can learn of this ancient art, and not having the best recall in the world, it helps me greatly if it is written down.

If your looking for recommendations; here is what can now be found crammed into my bookshelf between Bruce Campbell's autobiography 'If chins could kill' and Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's pendulum':

• The Complete Guide to Beer & Brewing by Laurie Strachan 

This is a good introduction to beers and brewing with some recipes for the novice homebrewer (adding additional hops to can kits) and a few for the more adventurous (extract and all grain). He tends to have a harsh word in regards to Australian beers and some of his advice is a little lacking in detail and occasional at complete odds with what I have discovered to be conventional wisdom. My general impression is that that it is well written however, I am not convinced that following his directions will really set the novice brewer onto the right path.

• Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

With a name like 'Randy Mosher', you would imagine he has a lot to live up to and in this book he succeeds. It is an excellent all round read; full of interesting and essential facts and useful recommendations. The style is light-hearted and this makes it an enjoyable read. There are plenty of recipes, ranging from novice to advanced to get you started, including a number of interesting brews that have already been requested by my wife (the Juniper Rye Bock for starters). If there was ever anything you needed to know about beer or brewing, you'll find it in this book.

• Clone Brews 2nd edition by Tess and Mark Szamatulski

As the subtitle suggest; there are over 200 recipes for commercial beers in extract brewing format. All of these recipes are supplemented with additional instructions for mini-mash and all-grain brewing methods. This is an invaluable resource, and although a  large majority of the beers are a bit too commercial (do I really want to brew a Foster's Lager?), there is plenty here to keep you occupied.

• Beer Captured by Tess and Mark Szamatulski

Another great title by Tess and Mark. 150 excellent beer recipes. There tends to be a bit of an American focus however, the beers that appear in this collection are the higher end range of brews set out in the same format as Clone Brews. This is another must for anyone wishing to go further than can kit brewing.