Homebrewing Volume 1 is written by Al Korzonas, a homebrew shop owner and an award-winning home brewer. This book covers extract brewing in great detail (all-grain to be covered in a forthcoming volume 2), and anticipates many questions before you've thought to ask them. All of Korzonas' procedures are solid; when it comes to debatable ones (blow off vs. non-blow off, the use of secondaries, liquid vs. dry yeast) he presents both sides of the argument. Throughout the text are tips on performing tasks that seem straightforward, but are in reality the result of years of hands-on experience. (How do you sanitize a racking tube? How do you start a siphon without using your mouth? How do you get labels off bottles?) This book includes extensive sections on troubleshooting, recipe formulation, and an excellent FAQ. An appendix of beer styles, hop varieties and yeast profiles (including his own personal notes on yeast with which he has direct experience) round out this excellent book.