Homebrew Resources: Your Lifeline
We all need a lot of help when we brew. We need inspiration, community, love, criticism, connection, suggestion, and some good hard numbers. The following are resources we know and love; they will help you air your frustration, gather answers, share the joy of homebrewing, advance your brew recipes, and find ingredients and equipment for your new favorite hobby. We highly recommend joining your local homebrew club and getting to know the brewers at your local brewery, both will be important advisers and resources.
• Brewing software: This software has been indispensable to us as we created our own beer recipes. Usable directly online or as downloadable software, these tools help you calculate your beers potential ABV, color, bitterness, and so on and help you keep your beer on style—if that is what you desire!
Beersmith: www.beersmith.com
BeerTools: www.beertools.com
ProMash: www.promash.com
• Websites: The series of tubes known as the Internet has been a huge step forward in spreading beer knowledge to the people. With discussions and expert instruction on style, nuance, brand, how to brew, and what to look for in a beer, these websites have been invaluable to us as our learning progresses:
American Homebrewers Association: www.homebrewersassociation.com
Beer Advocate: www.beeradvocate.com
Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP): www.bjcp.org
Brew Your Own: www.byo.com
Cicerone Certification Program: www.cicerone.org
Homebrew Talk: www.homebrewtalk.com
Rate Beer: www.ratebeer.com
• Suppliers of ingredients (also check at your local farmers’ market):
Culver City/Eagle Rock Homebrew Supply: www.brewsupply.com
Midwestsupplies.com
Morebeer.com
Northernbrewer.com
Spicestationsilverlake.com
Wholefoodsmarket.com
• Other books that are great resources:
Sam Calagione, Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Brewing Craft Beer at Home (Gloucester, Mass.: Quarry Books, 2006).
Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers (Boulder, Co.: Brewers Publications, 1998).
Randy Mosher, Radical Brewing (Boulder, Co.: Brewers Publications, 2004).
Garrett Oliver, The Oxford Companion to Beer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
John Palmer, How to Brew (Boulder, Co.: Brewers Publications, 2006).
Charlie Papazian, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (New York: William Morrow, 2003).
Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune, The Naked Pint (New York: Perigee, 2009) (shameless plug).
Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer, Brewing Classic Styles (Boulder, Co.: Brewers Publications, 2007).
• Magazines:
All About Beer
Beer Advocate
Beer West
Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine
Celebrator
DRAFT Magazine
Zymurgy
• Blogs:
Brookston Beer Bulletin: http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com
Hot Knives: www.urbanhonking.com/hotknives
The Beer Chicks: www.thebeerchicks.com (shameless plug)
The Mad Fermentationist: www.themadfermentationist.com
• Radio Shows and Podcasts:
Brewstrong: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong
The Sunday Session: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session
The Jamil Show: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show
Basic Brewing Radio: www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio
Beer O’Clock: http://beergoddess.com/beer_o_clock