Great Literature For Men Who Aspire to Greatness

A reader wants to know where to get information on brewing beer.

The most respected book in the homebrewing sector is How to Brew, by John Palmer. You can find it at Howtobrew.com. Mr. Palmer has an online version of the book there, and if you like it, you can buy the hardcopy version.

Another reader suggested starting with what is known as extract brewing. This is the simplest kind of homebrewing. Instead of taking raw grain and steeping it in temperature-controlled water to convert the starch into fermentable sugar, you buy malt extract, which is the end result of the conversion process.

The advantages of extract brewing are that it's easier and faster. I assume it's more expensive, though, since you're paying someone to convert the starch for you. I don't really know. I've never done it.

I hear that people make very fine beers using extract, but I never bothered with it, because I wanted to do the real deal, and I wanted total control over the ingredients.

The guy who made the recommendation assumes I'm an expert brewer because I do all-grain brewing and put the results in my cookbooks! Don't be deceived. I started doing this in the fall of 2002, and I have a lot to learn. The fact that I get such good results just proves that all-grain brewing is not all that hard.

It's a wonderful hobby, and WAY cheaper than things like golf and fishing. The total cost of ingredients for a 5-gallon brew is $20 or less. As for the equipment, if you were to spend a thousand dollars--peanuts by golf and fishing standards--on fridges and kettles and kegs and so on, you would be outspending most homebrewers by a wide margin. You can get everything you need for around two hundred bucks.

Of course, homebrewing is a hard hobby to share with your kids.

Your beer WILL be better than almost anything you can buy, and you won't have to worry about skunking or having to hunt for the brands you like. And as an added bonus, you'll be drunk a lot.

I am glad to offer advice to anyone who asks, provided you realize that anything I say may be totally wrong.