Mikkellers Book of beer.

[TheRedDarren]

Anyone into Mikkellers style needs this book!!

A really good read begins with how he started (in the basement like the rest of them!) he then goes into details of what he likes and how he brews.

It contains a lot of his own recipes for his 'out there' styles. Lots of DIPA's and Imperial Stout recipes, including a good few of his collaborations.

It finishes with food pairings and recipes for the food suggested.

Can't rate this highly enough, but then I'm a big Mikkeller fan.

 

[Spapro]

Anyone into Mikkellers style needs this book!!

A really good read begins with how he started (in the basement like the rest of them!) he then goes into details of what he likes and how he brews.

It contains a lot of his own recipes for his 'out there' styles. Lots of DIPA's and Imperial Stout recipes, including a good few of his collaborations.

It finishes with food pairings and recipes for the food suggested.

Can't rate this highly enough, but then I'm a big Mikkeller fan.

Agree its quite an inspiring book. There are better books for learning the brewing processes, but this one has enthusiasm for craft/interesting beers leaping off the pages and as you say the story of how they got started is very interesting.

It has about 2 dozen recipes (from memory) but each one is very different. A lot are quite strong but can be toned down using beersmith or similar.

Recently brewed a 'Green Gold' inspired IPA, toned down the grain bill a little. Early day but sampled a bottle last night after 2 weeks in the warm and very, very imppressed:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59900

 

[BreadMurderer]

My mate got this book for his Christmas, I had a wee look and it looks like a very nice read. Mikkeller's beers are always pretty interesting and a bit wack so I'd like to see how his thought process translates and a look at some of these recipes. I've got a few books being shipped over to me, this one is on my wish list. :-)

 

[teadixon]

Got this for Christmas.

Enjoying reading it - any recipes anyone's tried?

 

[DethApostle]

This is next on my reading list after I finish 'Brew like a Monk'!

DA

 

[geigercntr]

Picked this up with my Xmas Amazon vouchers. First skim: looks handy!

 

[Spapro]

I've used this book lots for interesting grain bills, great for making interesting beers, even if using slightly different hops and toning the ABV% down a bit for the real world !

Highly recommend this book as an inspiring read and some useful, interesting recipes.

 

[Brewdoug]

I've had this book for a few months now and it's a really nice book, lovely design and presentation. In fact I have to keep it away from my wife because she wants to cut it up and frame the pictures.
The instruction is fairly basic but the background section is interesting as is the food section although probably not really the type of recipes you're likely to prepare.
The best part is the beer recipes and there's a good selection in there of Mikkeller's beers and a few from people like Three Floyds, Kernel and Firestone Walker. He does have a habit of using Pilsner malt instead of Pale malt at times which is annoying but I'm sure you could substitute Pale malt if you don't have Pilsner.
I've only made Jackie Brown American Brown Ale so far which turned out OK without being anything spectacular. This could of course be down to me and also I toned down the bittering hops a little because I thought 77 IBUs was rather a lot for a brown ale.
A few typos eg flaked mats = flaked oats but all in all a very good book and well worth adding to your bookshelf.

 

[jceg316]

I have this book, it was a present from the wife for my birthday a year ago. It's worth getting for the recipes alone, they look insane, but I've brewed about 4 of them and they come out surprisingly well rounded and tasty. I wasn't really into the history of how the brewery got started as it was just Mikkell sucking his own c*ck, and I don't really care about his previous achievements.

I would say it needs to be proof read before being sent to print, not sure where I'm gonna get flaked mats from or if they even belong in beer? There are more typos in there which detract from the book.

On the whole though, worth getting for the recipes. I've brewed more from this book than any other, and if I'm brewing a new style for the first time, I always consult it to check what Mikkeller does first.

 

[Leon103]

Need to get this book.

 

[teadixon]

@jceg316 I'd love to know which ones you've tried.

I'm looking at doing the Drinkin' The Sun for an easy going table beer type brew, I might up the % to a high 3 or so and also the Firestone Black IPA.

One thing I'd like is a bit of a preamble to the recipes as one question I have is the thinking behind his difficulty scale. What makes the harder recipes hard? What should I look out for?

The Typos are pretty bad - they even mistyped one of the beer names! All Other Pales Pale is called All Other Pale Ales at the top of the recipe and I've spotted several more mistakes (am I really meant to ferment the porter at 121 C? I think that should be 21 C). It's a shame as it detracts from an otherwise pretty good book.

I agree about the history too - his 'Gypsy Brewing' technique is interesting, that he was into running when he was 14 isn't.

 

[jceg316]

@jceg316 I'd love to know which ones you've tried.

I'm looking at doing the Drinkin' The Sun for an easy going table beer type brew, I might up the % to a high 3 or so and also the Firestone Black IPA.

One thing I'd like is a bit of a preamble to the recipes as one question I have is the thinking behind his difficulty scale. What makes the harder recipes hard? What should I look out for?

The Typos are pretty bad - they even mistyped one of the beer names! All Other Pales Pale is called All Other Pale Ales at the top of the recipe and I've spotted several more mistakes (am I really meant to ferment the porter at 121 C? I think that should be 21 C). It's a shame as it detracts from an otherwise pretty good book.

I agree about the history too - his 'Gypsy Brewing' technique is interesting, that he was into running when he was 14 isn't.

I also wonder what is considered difficult in this book. Seems to be kind of random, and none of the recipes are particularly hard. I look at some of the IPAs, or beers with a hefty malt bill, and get that feeling of tedium that I have to buy 100 different ingredients and spend 40 minutes weighing them all out. However that's not difficult, just my own laziness.

I first tried Draft Bear but something went wrong on brew day (can't remember what). It came out nice but not what I thought.

Rauchpils was really good, I've only ever drank a smoked lager once before, this came out really well and the batch went quickly - my friends enjoyed it too. Tried the

Milk Stout but added coca nibs to secondary. The flavour was great but I think the sugars are still being fermented in the bottle - they are now all pretty lively on opening.

Monk's Brew is possibly my favourite. I made it in April sometime and still have some bottles left, it keeps getting better with age. I used MJ Trappist yeast instead of the one in the recipe, when I brew it again I think I'll try and culture up Westmalle yeast instead.

The next one I brew from the book will probably be Green Gold or Black Hole. I've heard really good things about the former.

Drinkin' in the Sun looks like a really interesting one to do. I think it's harder to make a good tasting weak beer than a good tasting strong beer. I trust his recipes so it'll be great to see how it comes out.

 

[geigercntr]

Not tried any recipes yet, but they at least *look* pretty good to my untrained eye. Typos are common but not too distracting for me. The epic monolithic ego is a bit annoying.

Overall a really good book though.

However be warned that the main author rocks a terrifying jacket... [ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EDE6cuQa2Os[/ame] :)

 

[peteplus1]

Got this for Christmas.

Enjoying reading it - any recipes anyone's tried?

I've done the milk stout and beer geek breakfast stout. both turned out fabulous.
There are a few typos as people have said. One recipe grain bill adds up completely wrong. But its a great book to have nonetheless. Thoroughly recommend it!

 

[teadixon]

Thanks all - looking forward to trying a few of these!

@geigercntr - interesting doc, thanks. I quite like his cardigan!

 

[teadixon]

Anyone tried the Wookey Jack Black IPA recipe?

I'm planning to do it but I'm a bit puzzled by the fact it has no dry hop. No dry hop in an IPA of any kind seems a bit odd, no?

I may just dry hop it anyway, or dry hop half of it and do a comparison. But I'm pretty sure the dry hop will make it better so why not just dry hop the lot??

 

[peteplus1]

Anyone tried the Wookey Jack Black IPA recipe?

I'm planning to do it but I'm a bit puzzled by the fact it has no dry hop. No dry hop in an IPA of any kind seems a bit odd, no?

I may just dry hop it anyway, or dry hop half of it and do a comparison. But I'm pretty sure the dry hop will make it better so why not just dry hop the lot??

I was just looking at this tonight in the book again. The Firestone Walker beer ? If I can get hold of the ingredients I might try this after my next brew

 

[teadixon]

I was just looking at this tonight in the book again. The Firestone Walker beer ? If I can get hold of the ingredients I might try this after my next brew

That's the one.

I found everything easily online (I use Brew UK).

What do you think about the fact there's no dry hop? Does that seem odd to you for a black IPA?

 

[peteplus1]

That's the one.

I found everything easily online (I use Brew UK).

What do you think about the fact there's no dry hop? Does that seem odd to you for a black IPA?

I'm not that far advanced into my brewing yet to know. I'm sure there are plenty who can advise though. Let me know if you get it going!

 

[teadixon]

I'm not that far advanced into my brewing yet to know. I'm sure there are plenty who can advise though. Let me know if you get it going!

Will do I just made the Drink'In The Sun today planning to do this one in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know when I get to it.