The Joy of Brewing Cider, Mead, and Herbal Wine: How to Craft Seasonal Fast-Brew Favorites at Home

by Nancy Koziol

Overview

With a unique focus on local, seasonal produce and sustainable farming practices, this will appeal to seasoned brewers who are looking for something new as well as eco-conscious millennials ready to impress their friends on Instagram.

You’re ready to try your hand at home brewing, but you want to try something unique—and you also have no idea where to start. This is the book for you. Broken into three sections—mead, cider, and herbal wine—you’ll learn:

• What basic equipment you’ll need
• What ingredients to have on hand
• Step by step processes for brewing
• Information about ethical consumption, sustainable farming, and the science behind fermenting.
• And more!

Whether you want to try a simple honey mead, a crisp apple or pear cider, or a wild wine with herbs foraged from your backyard, in these pages you’ll find the inspiration and instruction you need to follow through to the finished product. Many of these drinks are brewed in a matter of weeks rather than months, so you don’t even have to be particularly patient! Once you get the hang of the basics, try experimenting with the suggested seasonal additions, or whatever fruit, herb, or spice is ready for harvest (or on sale at the local market). Add some ginger to your cider, some blackberries to your wine, or some pumpkin to your mead for brews that are truly your own.

Fascinating tidbits of trivia, information on health benefits, and a dash of humor make this book as entertaining as it is useful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510734944
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Series:	The Joy of
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	488,756
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Nancy Koziol is a lover of all sorts of fermented drinks: wine, beer, cider. She began writing about wine for two emerging wine blogs: Winedom: The Wine Dominion and Wine Turtle. She has also traveled extensively through various wine-producing climates touring, tasting, and learning. She enjoys following the news from emerging regions (Chinese and Indian wine anyone?), has a particular interest in how climate change affects the wine world, and is fascinated by the politics of wine. While particularly fond of South American reds, her current favorite is Brooklyn Oenology’s Orange Gewuürztraminer. She works in Digital Marketing as chief content writer for a small firm and is working toward her first fiction publication. Nancy lives in Bennington, Vermont with her husband, two dogs, a cat, and a lot of beer.

Table of Contents

1 Welcome to Home Brewing 1

Why Brew One-Gallon Batches? 1

2 Home Brewing Equipment 3

Spray Bottles and Other Sanitation Tricks 10

3 How to Siphon 13

4 What Is Mead? 19

5 Brewing Your First Batch of Mead 26

6 Mead Flavors, Recipes, and Pairing Suggestions 37

The Buzz about Honeybees 52

7 What Is Cider? 54

8 Brewing Your First Batch of Cider 58

9 Types of Cider and Cider Recipes 62

Brew Cider, Improve the Earth-and Your Community 68

The Anatomy of Cider 72

10 Brewing Cider the Natural Way 75

11 What Is Herbal Wine? 80

12 Making Your First Batch of Herbal Wine 86

13 Herbal Wine Flavors and Recipes 93

Destemming and Bruising Your Herbs 108

14 Describing Your Brews 111

15 Troubleshooting Your Brews 120

Measuring ABV 124

Understanding Yeast 128

Vegan Home Brewing 131

Works Consulted/Additional Resources 134

Index 136

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

" The Joy of Brewing Cider, Mead, and Herbal Wine is the perfect manual for beginners just embarking on the craft of brewing. The book provides a clear, step-by-step guide on the equipment you will need and how to brew your first batch. There are lots of useful tips on how to avoid common pitfalls, as well as a section on troubleshooting. I have long considered trying brewing for myself. This book has given me the confidence to attempt that first batch." —Phil Lewis, owner of The Bennington Bookshop

"Nancy Koziol’s The Joy of Brewing Cider, Mead, and Herbal Wine does precisely what it promises: takes a complex and somewhat daunting process and shows us how it can be exciting, enjoyable, and simpler than it seems. A fun, easily-understandable book from start to finish, The Joy of Brewing will leave you enthused about your home-brewing prospects, and itching to buy your own kit and get started—right away!" —AZ Pascoe, writer and blogger, azpascoe.com