The primary aim is to create an accessible and practical guide to home brewing, covering all aspects of the process. The intended outcome is that somebody following the guide, would be able to brew a number of different style of beers of good quality and take pleasure from both the process and the end product.
Practically, the book will also offer some introductory, but very useful, information on other issues that are relevant to the home brewer; equipment and the cost versus benefit of different types, beer styles and flavours and an understanding of key, quality ingredients.
The photography will fit this approach in that images will be useful and show helpful details but also be professionally shot and be more than just functional; they will be good to look at.
The style of the book will be engaging and personal, in that it is intended to guide the reader through the process as something enjoyable, rather than approach it in a purely step by step approach. It is also intended to be light-hearted and, above all, readable and so could be enjoyed by someone actually brewing beer or someone who just wants an interesting way into the topic.
Make Your Own Beer is a layman accessible introduction to homebrewing beer by John Shepherd. Due out 30th Nov 2020 from Pen & Sword, it's a compact 104 pages and will be available in paperback format. The book has a logical and accessible layout. The introduction provides a capsule history of modern zymurgy, changing beer styles, and the renaissance of craft beers. The following chapters provide an overview of the scope and reasonable possibilities for home-brewing through a very well written tutorial through the process: equipment, ingredients, preparation, mash & sparge (don't worry, understandable definitions are provided), hopping, transfer, fermentation, packaging, storage, and further exploration/experimentation. There are several appendices which give examples of record keeping brew sheets and brew-kit equipment. There is no index in the eARC I was provided for review (but it's a short and streamlined book).
This would make a great gift for a keen beginner or intermediate hobbyist. Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
