Joy of Homebrewing = good read
How to Brew = good reference
I think both are required for new brewers and I will often gift one or the other depending on experience. Thanks Amazon.
Guilty. That recipe gives you a long list of “extras” you can add. I’d only brewed a few batches and had no idea what I was doing, but I recall adding spruce, molasses, and a couple other things. I had to force down the entire 5 gallons because nobody else would drink it.
Which brings about a valuable lesson for the newbie: don’t be afraid to dump a batch if it sucks! Just gives you another reason to brew more beer.
Charlie wrote an interesting, kind of retrospective article for the latest Zymurgy about the first addition, including one of the recipes. After the recipe he says - well, it was the best advice at the time.
I imagine Joy sells well because it has the reputation as THE beginning homebrewing book. Once you want to move beyond that, How To Brew is one of many options.
I’m pretty sure we brewed this one. Isn’t one of the additions a stick of licorice? I don’t recall drinking much of it, but I’m sure my brew partner at the time took most of it.
I brewed a whole lot of those recipes. Toad Spit Stout was the first one.
The other valuable lesson is to think about what you’re putting in your beer and if it will really be as good as you think it sounds…
Haha. I’ve had some beers that turned out poorly IMO. It’s a big lesson when you have to drink the whole thing yourself. Found myself actually developing a taste for several bad batches but was glad to see the kegs kick.
I’d say don’t make 10 gallons of something that you have no idea how it will turn out. Or have unrealistic expectations. Better to make a small pilot batch first with an untried recipe and unfamiliar ingredients or grain combinations.
“Cherries in the Snow” is the beer I wanted to brew and never have. I didn’t see the recipe in the latest edition. Anyone have it?
I’ve heard good things about the Toad Spit Stout. I’ll give that one a shot when I’m feeling stouty again.
The guy who taught me to brew gave me his original copy of CJOHB, and it has cool margin notes too. He’s a big fan of the Ricky Racoon’s Honey Lager.
I especially like looking at the photos of 70’s era homebrewers bottling beer in the kitchen. Now I’m going to have to go track down my copy for old times’ sake ;D
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=11836.0
Some guy named Euge appears to have asked for and received the recipe in this link…
The Toad Spit recipes calls for an ungodly amount of gypsum. Something like 4 Tbsp., which we now know is counterproductive for a dark beer. I once asked Charlie if he’d eliminate it if he was doing the recipe today. He told me that he probably would, but OTOH thousands of people (including me!) have brewed that recipe the way it us and loved it, so he wasn’t taking it out at this point.
That’s one of my moves!
Lol I totally forgot. I’ll remember this time!
No worries!