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While authors of entry-level brewing books do well to alleviate the fears of anxious new brewers, advanced writers benefit from a pointedly informative approach. Dave Miller's dry, technically versed style has earned him widespread respect through his own publications as well as his work with Brewing Techniques, the first-rate magazine for small-scale brewers. Really an update to his classic Complete Handbook of Home Brewing, Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide is clear enough to introduce advanced techniques to the average home-brewer, yet thorough enough to provide a permanent reference for the expert.
Miller manages to improve upon his earlier book--itself one of the finest advanced brewing books available--by updating and better organizing the information. While the Homebrewing Guide does provide a cursory introduction to basic brewing techniques and a sampling of supplementary topics (kegging, filtration), its real value is in the thoroughness and clarity with which all-grain brewing is described. Grain mashing, for instance, is discussed in three different chapters: a summary of various mashing techniques, a description of the underlying biochemistry, and a step-by-step description of the mashing process. By compartmentalizing the information into short chapters and carefully organizing their sequence, Miller creates a guide that can be read straight through as an initiation to advanced brewing or easily referenced for specific information on brew day.