TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Recipes

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 – What is Simplicity?

The Inherent Simplicity of Beer

The Importance of a Pragmatic Focus, or A Book’s Manifesto in Three Lines

The Efficiency of Simplicity

A Word on Process

But, That’s Not How the Pros Do It

What Isn’t Simplicity?

Profiles in Simplicity: Doug King

Chapter 2 – Simple Extract Brewing

Modern Brewing Pioneers

The Basics about Brewing and Extract

Rescuing Extract from Its Reputation

Why Extract Is Awesome

Why Extract Is Terrible

The Simplest Brew Day Ever

The Oversimplified Explanation of Extract Brewing

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Beer

Tricks for the Best Extract Beer

Advanced Extract Brewing

Late Extract

Full-Volume Boil

Use a Chiller

Speed Brewing: Beer in 20 Minutes

How to convert to/from Extract

Other Extract Uses

Yeast Starters

Simplifying Your Brew Day

Boosters

Baking: The Final Frontier

Pretzel Magic

Extract Beer Recipes from Denny

An Inspirational Message to All the Doubters

Profiles in Simplicity: Jay Ankeney

Jay’s Tips for Extract Brewing

Chapter 3 – Simple Small Batch

In Defense of Small-Batch Brewing

Less Physical Strength Needed

Smaller Gear and Less Gear Needed

Less Room Needed

More Variety and Experimentation

Less Risk

Less Time Needed

Small Batch Shortcomings

Brewing Small: The Total Picture

A Small-Batch Brew Day

What’s In Your Kitchen?

Brew-in-a-Bag

Small Processes

Profiles in Simplicity: Mary Izett and Chris Cuzme

Chapter 4 – Simple All Grain

The Strict Worlds of Fermentation

It Wasn’t Always So

Making Malt

On to Brewing

Mashing from Start to Finish

The Super High-Level Process of Mashing

The Cheap ’n’ Easy Mash Tun

Mashing

Calculating Your Mash Water Volume

Batch Sparge

Other Mashing Regimens

Short Mash and Boil

Overnight/Extended Mashing

Brew-in-a-Bag: One-Pot Brewing

Profiles in Simplicity: Chip Walton Teaches Us about Brew-in-a-Bag

Profiles in Simplicity: Jeremy Jalabert—Award-Winning, Busy Dad Brewer

Chapter 5 – Technology Serving Simplicity

Automated Systems

PicoBrew

Brewie+

All–in-One Manual Systems

Grainfather

Speidel Braumeister

Recipe Interlude

Simple Fermentation Systems

BrewJacket Immersion Pro

Vessi Fermentor

Home Canning

Some Assembly Required

Bucket Heaters: A Cheap Electrical Assist

Raspberry Pi and Arduino-Based Systems

Looking into the Crystal Ball

Profiles in Simplicity: Ronaldo Dutra Ferreira

Chapter 6 – Simple Flavor Identification

Simplifying Recipe Design

Understanding Flavors and Ingredients

Flavors in Beer

Understanding Ingredients: Build Your Flavor Database

Malt Evaluation

Malt Evaluation at Home

Hot Steep Malt Evaluation Method

Hop Evaluation

The Language of Hops

Evaluating Hops at Home

Yeast Evaluation

Clean

Estery and Fruity

Phenolic

Sulfury

Learning Through Drinking

Simple Beer

Chapter 7 – Simple Recipe Design

Evolution of a Homebrewer

Stage 1: Extract Recipe Kits

Stage 2: All-Grain Recipe Kits

Stage 3: Brewing Other People’s Recipes

Stage 4: Your Own Recipes

The Philosophy of Recipe Design

Bottom-Up Recipe Design

Top-Down Recipe Design

Every Beer Tells a Story

Single Malt and Single Hop (SMASH)

Choosing Hops

Hop Balancing

Recipe Templates

How Do You Know It Worked?

Triangle Test: The Only Way to Know

Sample Triangle Test Procedure

The Importance of Locality

Profiles in Recipe Design: Randy Mosher

Chapter 8 – Simple Water

Simple Truths About Water

Brewing Water Basics

Treat Your Brewing Water

What’s in Your Water?

Understanding Your Water

Calcium

Chloride

Sulfate

Magnesium

Sodium

Chlorine the Killer

Distilled and Reverse Osmosis Water: The Level Playing Field

Adjusting Your Water

pH

Alkalinity

Function and Flavor

Adjusting Your Water: An Example

Is There A Simpler Way?

Sulfate-to-Chloride Ratio

It’s Never Too Late

Profiles in Simplicity: Martin Brungard

Chapter 9 – Simple Adjuncts

A Little Adjunct History

How to Adjunct

Adjuncting the Hard Way: Cook ’Em

Adjuncting the Easy Way

One Final Tip: Hulls are Your Friend

Major Players of the Adjunct World

Wheat

Rye

Oats

Corn

Rice

Potatoes

Sugar

And Now It Gets Weird

Fruit

Vegetables

Not Weird Enough Yet?

Processing the Mushrooms: Denny Experiments

Profiles in Simplicity: Mike Williams of Candi Syrup, Inc.

Chapter 10 – Simple Yeast and Fermentation

Types of Yeast

Ale and Lager Yeast

“Wild” Yeast and Bacteria

Top versus Bottom Fermenting

Yeast Flavors

Ale Yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Lager Yeast: Saccharomyces pastorianus

Wild Yeast: Brettanomyces Species

Dry or Liquid?

Getting the Yeast Ready to Work

Rehydrating Dry Yeast

Liquid Yeast Starter

Starter by the Numbers

Simplifying the Starter: The Vitality Starter

High-Gravity Fermentations

Fermentation

Why Control Fermentation Temperature?

Easy Methods for Controlling Temperature

Temperature Manipulation

When Is Fermentation Done?

Profiles in Simplicity: Mark Van Ditta

Chapter 11 – Simple Wild

Wild Done Safely

Wild Inoculation

Getting Safer with Booze and Acid

Even Safer with Wild Starters

The Cultured Wild

Kettle Souring: The Ultimate Simple Sour

Blending and Flavoring

Profiles in Simplicity: Garret Garfield

Index