Home Brewing for Dummies

Yes I am a dummy. Is this a good book? When recipes are posted,they are still confusing to me(up to the boil). I have gone to the next step in BIAB and I'm still not sure if I am doing things right. My first BIAB is in the primary(Yoopers Cream Ale). The color is nowhere near the yellow fizzy beer I thought it would be. It's almost as dark as a Blonde Ale. There was one recipe I came across to day and part of it said. Mash @ 150F and that was it. Just wish recipes were more detailed.

Dummy Out

Palmer's How to Brew is a better resource. There is a free online version, but I would suggest the print version - I think it's more up to date.

In addition, you are currently on the best resource for anyone homebrewing (but you probably already knew that).

If all it said was mash at 150, that means there are no steps. You just hold at temp until it is finished. (You can check for complete conversion with an iodine test - starch turn iodine blue, so if it doesn't change color it is finished - or you can just mash for an hour and assume you are done, as probably 99% of people do.)

If there were more steps, the instructions may have been more clear (beta rest at 140 for half hour, alpha rest at 158 for half hour, for example). Mashing can be somewhat complicated, so a book (such as "how to brew" might be helpful if you get into those mashing techniques).

I found that book quite useful and informative. It's a little old fashioned in ways, but the basics and then some are covered thoroughly. (Old fashioned as far as things like yeast autolosis, secondary fermentation, etc. seem to be at odds with most of the advice here.)
I say read it, be your own judge.

Home Brewing for Dummies was the first brewing resource I read before I started brewing.

It is divided into an introduction section followed by specifics on extract, partical mash, and all-grain brewing. Before I brewed my first extract batch, I read the intro section and extract section twice, once each on a roundtrip plane flight.

It's a quick read and gives you all of the basic concepts on brewing. Palmer's book definitely provides more depth to help you UNDERSTAND the concepts, but you can make a good beer and start getting your concepts and process down with the Dummies book.

I would recommend it, just don't stop there. There's always something new to learn in brewing, so always keep reading!

I started with reading the online version of John Palmer's How to brew. I found it to be a great resource, however like stated above the print version is likely better/more up to date. I have not read the dummies book. Also, I prefer the statement "Inexperienced brewer who is eager to learn." Instead of "dummy," but I know you were making a joke.

Since you stated that you are brewing in a bag, the all grain section has a pretty good sticky thread explaining at least one of the ways to do it. Here is the link below. After taking a look, if you still have questions repost in this thread and I will try to give you the best answer I can. Thanks.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-brewing-pics-233289/

Oh yeah, +1....there's also basically nothing in any of the intro books that you can't learn in about 4-5 hours of reading the stickies on this forum!

PackerfaninSanDiego said:

Yes I am a dummy. Is this a good book? When recipes are posted,they are still confusing to me(up to the boil). I have gone to the next step in BIAB and I'm still not sure if I am doing things right. My first BIAB is in the primary(Yoopers Cream Ale). The color is nowhere near the yellow fizzy beer I thought it would be. It's almost as dark as a Blonde Ale. There was one recipe I came across to day and part of it said. Mash @ 150F and that was it. Just wish recipes were more detailed.

Dummy Out

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It will look darker in the primary than it will in the bottle or glass.

I read the dummies book when I started. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Its a great base, because it doesn't go off on technical tangents like Palmers book does.

With your first beer, no one gives a damn about all the crazy stuff.
If you want something similar but a bit more up to date, try the complete joy of homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. Its a pretty good read, and I think I prefer it to dummies.

Once you're comfortable with all the stuff in the Dummies book, how to brew (as previously mentioned) is an excellent next step.

Also really like Designing Great Beers.