As this is primarily a recipe book I decided to post this here (Admins feel fee to move it elsewhere if its more appropriate).
I encountered BBLTYB way back in 1982 (Seventh Impression) which was 4 years after it was originally published, and it was this book that set me off on the slippery path to brewing addiction. It was revised in 1995 by Roy Ekins, which could be considered a mistake as Roy is more well known for his winemaking than his beer making, however very little was done to the main text and the recipes were left untouched.
I've brewed many of the recipes from the book and the results are always good and very close to type . . . . There are alternative ingredients and methods available now which can substitute for many of the quirky ones (50g of Roast Barley /Chocolate Malt for Gravy Browning). With the huge range of true brewing yeasts available the use of a saccharin tablet for sweetening can be dropped.
The largest complaint that many brewers have with the book is that Dave used an impossibly high mash efficiency well in the upper 90's where most craft brewers are only capable of achieving 70-80% which means that their beers turned out to be weaker than the originals . . . . . The solution is quite simple increase the amount of pale malt (Yes, just the pale malt nothing else. leave the crystal and roast malts alone) by 20%. So if a recipe calls for 3000g of pale malt use 3600g.
All in all a book that can be recommended to brewers, there is a minimal amount of information on the brewing process and ingredients, which is a good thing. Too many new brewers get hung up on water treatment and sparging methods quite unnecessarily. With the instructions in the book it is quite possible to brew good/great beer, and having got your first couple of brews in the fermenter a brewer will come to appreciate all the differences in brewing methodology available on the web.
I encountered BBLTYB way back in 1982 (Seventh Impression) which was 4 years after it was originally published, and it was this book that set me off on the slippery path to brewing addiction. It was revised in 1995 by Roy Ekins, which could be considered a mistake as Roy is more well known for his winemaking than his beer making, however very little was done to the main text and the recipes were left untouched.
I've brewed many of the recipes from the book and the results are always good and very close to type . . . . There are alternative ingredients and methods available now which can substitute for many of the quirky ones (50g of Roast Barley /Chocolate Malt for Gravy Browning). With the huge range of true brewing yeasts available the use of a saccharin tablet for sweetening can be dropped.
The largest complaint that many brewers have with the book is that Dave used an impossibly high mash efficiency well in the upper 90's where most craft brewers are only capable of achieving 70-80% which means that their beers turned out to be weaker than the originals . . . . . The solution is quite simple increase the amount of pale malt (Yes, just the pale malt nothing else. leave the crystal and roast malts alone) by 20%. So if a recipe calls for 3000g of pale malt use 3600g.
All in all a book that can be recommended to brewers, there is a minimal amount of information on the brewing process and ingredients, which is a good thing. Too many new brewers get hung up on water treatment and sparging methods quite unnecessarily. With the instructions in the book it is quite possible to brew good/great beer, and having got your first couple of brews in the fermenter a brewer will come to appreciate all the differences in brewing methodology available on the web.
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
