The internet is full of brewing resources: forums, recipe sites, podcasts, gear reviews, equipment retailers, etc. It can be daunting for the new amateur brewer to distinguish up-to-date, good quality websites from the merely so-so. BrewVIC members have scoured the internet to bring you the following recommended resources. We welcome suggestions to add to our list.
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Local Homebrew Shops
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- Hamilton Hops & Grapes (464 Burnside Rd E)
- They stock a number of different malts, hops and yeasts.
- Hamilton Hops & Grapes (464 Burnside Rd E)
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Forums
Brewing forums are good places to find solutions to brewing-related questions, to keep up with fresh ideas, and to bounce ideas off brewers all over the world.
- HomeBrewTalk – Very active, huge community.
- Jim’s Beer Kit – UK-based, fairly active.
- BeerAdvocate – Disorganized but lively brew forum.
- Brewing Network – Active forum covering brewing and beer in general.
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Blogs
Many homebrewers like to write about their exploits. Blogs can be both useful learning tools and a source of inspiration.
- Mad Fermentationist – A long-running blog; regularly updated; many recipes and articles.
- Mash Sparge Boil – Eclectic brewing blog; easy on the eye; lots of useful/quirky resources.
- Sean Coates – Recipe blog with great presentation and geeky articles about brewing programming.
- Brew Dudes – Prolific blogging about all aspects of brewing.
- HopfenTreader – Experimental brewing blog. Entertaining and lots of weird recipes.
- Seanywonton –Thoughtful, analytical blogging about all things brewed.
- Brew Science – Homebrewing at PhD level.
BrewVIC Member Blogs
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Podcasts
Homebrewing podcasts are becoming very popular. Here are our favourites.
- Brewing Network – Three quality brewing podcasts.
- BYO BrewCast – Several different semi-regular podcasts.
- KOFY TV – Not really a podcast, but a beer TV show. Some brewing content, lots of nonsense.
- BeerSmith – Brewing software manufacturer’s occasional, decent podcast
- Basic Brewing – Massive archive of beer education recordings
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General Brewing Sites
Sites featuring a mix of content related to homebrewing.
- BrewConductor – UK homebrewing basics site.
- Brewiki – Australian brewing wiki with lots of content.
- Homebrew Stack Exchange – Homebrewing Q&A community-rated for best answers. Very cool.
- American Homebrews Association – Some good non-member content.
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Brewing Education
Techniques, tutorials, howtos, and other learning resources.
- How To Brew – John Palmer’s classic book free online (1st edition only).
- BrauKaiser – Brewing science with an emphasis on German techniques, but useful for everyone.
- HomeBrewTalk – Wiki explaining many brewing techniques.
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Recipes
Original recipes and/or both “official” and “unofficial” recipes for recreating commercially-available beers.
- Brew365 – Covers all aspects of homebrewing but excels at commercial beer recipes.
- Beer Recipes – Large, searchable repository of beer recipes.
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Ingredient Guides
Resources dedicated to malt, hops, yeast, specialty grains, and other adjuncts.
Hops
- BeerAdvocate Hop Guide – Index of hop character and alpha acid content.
- Yakima Chief Hop Chart – Well-designed illustrated chart of main hop varietals (pdf download).
- Brew Beer and Drink It Hops Article – Basic guide with hopping technique rundown.
- ProBrewer – Lots of info on hops.
Malt
- BeerAdvocate Malt Overview – Basic details on malts and adjuncts.
- BYO Malt and Adjuncts Guide – Colour, gravity/pound and style notes.
- ProBrewer – Lots of info on malt and malting.
Yeast
- WYeast Yeast-by-style Guide – Pairs yeast strains to styles.
- BYO Yeast Guide – Rich information; yeasts organized according to styles/regions.
Specialty Grains
- BYO Specialty Grains Guide – Info on most specialty grains.
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Online Tools
Various brewing calculators, unit conversion charts, and other brewing “widgets” are available online. These are some of the more useful.
- BYO Yeast Pitching Rate Chart
- Beer Recipator – Browser-based substitute for homebrewing software.
- Homebrew Poster – Massive (!) print-out-and-keep poster packed full of useful homebrew info.
- Beer Colour Guide
- TastyBrew – Series of online calculators for gravity, bitterness, etc.
- Hopville – Another online recipe formulator.
- MrMalty – Yeast pitching rate calculator.
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Software
Homebrewers increasingly use computer programs that perform various useful tasks (e.g. scaling ingredients and brewing instructions, calculating efficiency statistics, predicting ABV and other characteristics of beer from your original recipes).
- HomeBrewTalk – List of pretty much every brewing program ever released.
- BeerSmith – Popular brewing program (PC/MAC) $$$
- ProMash – Once popular application, still good but no longer developed (PC) $$$
- BrewMate – New, developing, promising recipe designer (PC) FREE
- Beer Alchemy – Well-established brewing program (MAC) $$$
- BrewTarget – Actively-developed, multi-platform (PC/MAC/LINUX) FREE
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Equipment/Brewery Designs
- Brewhalla – Huge collection of amateur brewing rigs.
- Wort-O-Matic – Brewing gadgets and geekery.
- HomeBrewTalk Equipment Wiki – Good overview of most brewing equipment possibilities.
- Schoville’s 3-Tier Guide – Illustrated tutorial for building three keg gravity system.
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