Clonebrews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commerical Beers

Rating:
Summary: They taste like the store-bought stuff... even better.
Review: The recipes in this book really do come out tasting like the store bought versions of these beers (but homebrew is always better than the stale old store-bought stuff). Each recipe gives a brief description of the beer so you can read about different beers, then sample the brewery version of any that appeal to you and see if you like it enough to make 5 gallons of it. I have even won several competition medals brewing these recipes. There is a good reference section with specifications on beer styles and brewing ingredients (including grains, sugars and extracts, hops and yeast). Highly recommended. Also check out "Beer Captured" by the same authors.

Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff!
Review: This book is a great resource for beer recipes that fit within competition style guidelines. I have brewed beers using recipes from this book and have won ribbons in several homebrew competitions. Check it out!

Rating:
Summary: Likely to disappoint all-grain brewers
Review: This book is clearly focused on the intermediate level brewer using extracts and specialty grains. The all-grain "equivalent" recipes ignore important variables like conversion temperatures (every recipe specifies a 150F rest) and mash thickness. I was also disappointed that measurable statistics (O.G., IBUs) do not always match what is reported by the breweries. For example, the Sierra Nevada website shows the O.G. for their Pale Ale to be 1.052, yet this book suggests a noticeably stronger 1.056. Such verifiable discrepancies erode my confidence in the rest of the book's accuracy. However, given the reduced level of control inherent to extract brewing, this book provides a very good starting point for intermediate brewers seeking to emulate certain commercial beers.

Rating:
Summary: Likely to disappoint all-grain brewers
Review: This book is clearly focused on the intermediate level brewer using extracts and specialty grains. The all-grain "equivalent" recipes ignore important variables like conversion temperatures (every recipe specifies a 150F rest) and mash thickness. I was also disappointed that measurable statistics (O.G., IBUs) do not always match what is reported by the breweries. For example, the Sierra Nevada website shows the O.G. for their Pale Ale to be 1.052, yet this book suggests a noticeably stronger 1.056. Such verifiable discrepancies erode my confidence in the rest of the book's accuracy. However, given the reduced level of control inherent to extract brewing, this book provides a very good starting point for intermediate brewers seeking to emulate certain commercial beers.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is fantastic. As mentioned by others, each beer recipe is listed 3 ways (extract, mini-mash, and all-grain). Some of the complaints other reviewers had about recognizing only a few of the brands were unfounded. I was familiar with nearly half of the beers listed. Something that is NOT listed in the book is that the author runs a homebrew shop in Connecticut and offers pre-packaged, pre-measured kits for EVERY recipe in this book and the newer "Beer Captured." I mail order my ingrediants anyway, so they've got a new customer.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is fantastic. As mentioned by others, each beer recipe is listed 3 ways (extract, mini-mash, and all-grain). Some of the complaints other reviewers had about recognizing only a few of the brands were unfounded. I was familiar with nearly half of the beers listed. Something that is NOT listed in the book is that the author runs a homebrew shop in Connecticut and offers pre-packaged, pre-measured kits for EVERY recipe in this book and the newer "Beer Captured." I mail order my ingrediants anyway, so they've got a new customer.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but nonauthoritative, and not so good for all-grain.
Review: This book provides a good base for getting quick views of grain and hop bills for different styles of beer. It is well orgranized, includes a style index, has useful reference charts and is particularly free of typographical errors. These traits make the book a good reference resource. However, many of the beers included in the book are not widely available, so it is unlikely that the average imbiber will have knowledge of them. More importantly, the book has every all-grain brew mashed at the same sacharification rest temperature. It is not probable that a brewer can mash a light ale and a porter at the same sacharification rest temperature to achieve the desired results for both. So, for all-grain, develop your own mash scheme. Too, the book is tied too much to arithmetic figuring instead of to common practice and availability. For example, the base recipe for each beer is extract. For the all-grain recipe, the boil is extended from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. Instead of leaving the hop schedule the same, the bittering hops are boiled for the entire time (against some authors'advice, eg Noonan) and the brewer is told to use 22% less bittering hops. Who has scales like that at home or what shops sell 0.88 oz bags? It would have been better to leave the hop schedule alone. So, while the book is a good source of information, it does have its pitfalls. It is a good resource, but not a "must have".

Rating:
Summary: Like a kid in candy store
Review: When I got this book I was like a kid in candy store... so many recipes that I want to try, and so little time. I have come to understand that there is no shortage of beer recipes in the world of home brewing. Yet, I still feel this book is worth it. It shows you what you can do with extracts and it gives you the all grain recipes as well. I think there is much to be learned from this one, one cloning and on creating your own recipes.

Rating:
Summary: Beer varieties from around the world, not quite for novice
Review: While not quite as good as their later book "Beer Captured", I'd give this book about 31/2 stars for the amount of information it contains (the Szamatulski's 2nd book is even more detailed hence the lower rating). You get a variety of recipes from all over the world including countries you might not expect to even allow alcohol. I've never brewed beer but I'd say that this book would do pretty well for extract, mini mash or all grain method brewers who have a good idea of what they're doing. While there is some introductory information and some more in the appendices I really don't think the total novice(like me) should rely on this book alone. How close are the cloned recipes?, I don't know but expect that most of us couldn't tell the difference.