[Sca-cooks] brewing

[Nick Sasso]

-----Original Message-----
As popular as that book is, it is not a very good reference for
making GOOD beer.

His methods and recipes are workable, sometimes even palatable, but
they are not GOOD. . . . . . . .  < < <SNIP> > >


I am sure I could criticize a lot more items if I went back and
re-read his book again, but I am far beyond that level. I learned a
lot from professional brewers and Chris White (of White Labs, a yeast
supplier to the brewing industry) back when I was actively brewing.

One of these days I'll get back into it and I really ought to write
the book that should replace that one.

Dragon > > > > > > >

Be sure that you are writing a book for people that are neophytic and have
little to no desire to move beyond the most basic skill levels.  Your
criticisms are sometimes accurate and sometimes unfair.  "Uncle Charlie"
wrote a book based on the very early homebrewing efforts he, his wife and
friends made in the late 70's (IIRC).  His was the first and only widely
published and distributed guide (for years) with step by step instructions.
He wrote his first edition at a time when it was patently illegal in many
the states to brew beer in the home.  Techniology, equipment, materials and
information resources have far outpaced what was available when he first
published . . . doesn't change the initial usefulness of the book for
unskilled and ignorant would-be brewers.

Sure, the guy did not write the definitive guide to creating commercial
grade beverages in you basement with a burlap sack and an old bucket.  What
he does have is a very conversant trreatment of the subject that gets people
in the door and provides anough variety of method and recipe to keep the
basic entry-level brewer interested.  Not unlike some of the first cookery
books many of us bought to use in becoming historical cook type people.


pacem et bonum,
niccolo difrancesco
(started with that book . . . moved beyond it quickly . . . and still come
back to it)