Experimental homebrewing : mad science in the pursuit of great beer

"Trial. Error. Better Beer. When most brewers think of an experimental beer, odd creations come to mind. And sure, in this book you can learn how to brew with ingredients like bacon, chanterelle mushrooms, defatted cacao nibs, and peanut butter powder. However, experimental homebrewing is more than that. It's about making good beer--the best beer, in fact. It's about tweaking process, designing solid recipes, and blind evaluations. So put on your goggles, step inside the lab, and learn from two of the craziest scientists around: Drew Beechum and Denny Conn. Get your hands dirty and tackle a money-saving project or try your hand at an off-the-wall technique. Freeze yourself an Eisbeer, make a batch of canned starter wort, fake a cask ale, extract flavors with distillation, or sit down at the microscope and do some yeast cell counting. More than 30 recipes and a full chapter of open-ended experiments will complete your transformation. Before you realize it, you'll be donning a white lab coat and sharing your own delicious results! "--;Introduction -- The basics -- Recipe design -- Splitting batches -- Equipment nerdery -- Off-the-wall techniques -- Favorite experimental styles -- Conventional brewing ingredients -- Experimental ingredients -- Evaluating your experiments -- The experiments. This challenging, stimulating, and inspiring book will take your brewing to the next level with creative ingredients and scientific investigation. If you are an experienced homebrewer bored with the same basic recipes, Experimental Homebrewing: Breaking the Rules to Brew Great Beer is the tool to help you take your brewing to the next level. Beer experts Drew Beechum and Denny Conn waste no time explaining what malted barley is or how to use a hydrometer. Instead, they show how by understanding the scientific method, homebrewers can begin to break established rules of homebrewing to create new, unique beers all their own. In addition to explaining special considerations for experimental homebrewing (such as recipe design and small-batch brewing), Beechum and Conn guide readers through their first experiments before delving into ways to deviate from the norm during boiling, fermentation, bottling, and kegging--and even in the glass. Of course, there's also discussion of unconventional ingredients, including flowers, cacao nibs, chili, seaweed, chicory, peppermint, and more. Finally, the authors show how conventional equipment can be employed to unconventional advantage. Whether you're into IPAs, Belgians, porters, stouts, wheats, or all of the above, Experimental Homebrewing provides the base of information necessary to venture forth into a world of homebrewing possibilities heretofore unimaginable "Trial. Error. Better Beer. When most brewers think of an experimental beer, odd creations come to mind. And sure, in this book you can learn how to brew with ingredients like bacon, chanterelle mushrooms, defatted cacao nibs, and peanut butter powder. However, experimental homebrewing is more than that. It's about making good beer--the best beer, in fact. It's about tweaking process, designing solid recipes, and blind evaluations. So put on your goggles, step inside the lab, and learn from two of the craziest scientists around: Drew Beechum and Denny Conn. Get your hands dirty and tackle a money-saving project or try your hand at an off-the-wall technique. Freeze yourself an Eisbeer, make a batch of canned starter wort, fake a cask ale, extract flavors with distillation, or sit down at the microscope and do some yeast cell counting. More than 30 recipes and a full chapter of open-ended experiments will complete your transformation. Before you realize it, you'll be donning a white lab coat and sharing your own delicious results! "-- Provided by publisher