I'd like to expand my library a bit. Any recommendations on a must-have read?
Charlie Papazian, Michael Jackson and Randy Mosher all come to mind - would I be right?
I suppose i'd like something that gives a good description of each of the BJCP styles and the best methods for attaining these at home. :)
Thanks!
"Brewing" Michael J. Lewis
"Cowan and Steel's Manual for the Identification of Medical Bacteria" - Ok Just Joking! but it's on my shelf!
But for Yeast: "Yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff" Its the 'dogs' ref. on yeast!
If you want bjcp styles, brewing classic styles is the only book you'll ever need! If you like to listen to podcasts then there are some good style ones on the brewing network! These generally go through a recipe as well, like a fleshed out version of the brewing classic styles book!
But that said I'd recommend radical brewing as my favourite book! But there are a few good ones out there!
Thanks very much for all the recommendations.
I have How to Brew and Brewing Classic Styles - but I suppose i'm looking for a more in depth discussion of styles on their own - say an entire book about IPA or Wheat beers, for instance.
Also about ingredients - so say a book on Malt and the flavours different malt imparts; same for hops too.
Essentially an equivalent to the yeast book already recommended! :)
Any ideas on these types of books?
Thanks a lot! There's only so much googling and amazoning (yea, that's a word) that I can do! :P
the new Mitch Steele "IPA" book is v good. the Stan hero hops book I found a bit disappointing. really not impressed by it.
most of the american brewers association series of books are good. such as brew like a monk, brewing with wheat or the farm house ales book.
personally I think the ray Daniels book is absolutely useless.
who wants to brew to style anyway?
(http://imageshack.us/a/img715/5889/dsc02692m.jpg)
Not a brewing book, but interesting enough read, if a little dated.
Iorwerth Griffiths, he can't be Irish!
Either is your man that drives the number 7 bus - it still goes to dun laoighre though :P
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels is very good also.
Brilliant, thanks guys, these are all great suggestions. :)
Is there any merit of building a club library?
While some books are worthy references, many are read-once, dump.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how this would work?
I think library could be a good idea and may work well on a club level
What about something for complete beginners aimed maybe towards kit and kilo rather than all grain ?
QuoteWhat about something for complete beginners aimed maybe towards kit and kilo rather than all grain ?
Palmer's "how to brew" covers quite a bit, first edition is free online
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
QuoteQuoteWhat about something for complete beginners aimed maybe towards kit and kilo rather than all grain ?
Palmer's "how to brew" covers quite a bit, first edition is free online
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
+1 for Palmers how to brew.
Also, brewing with beersmith seems to be a good read for rookies, although I'm only on chapter 3!
I used Palmer when i started was able to do a decent enough extract APA after only reading the first chapter so I'd definitely recommend.
He's not so great on some more advance topics (lagering times and batch sparging for example) but I still use it as a reference.
QuoteI think library could be a good idea and may work well on a club level
I'm guessing you mean at regional club level, not National.
I got
The Home Brewer's Recipe Database - by Les Howarth
I dont know the chap but its a huge or should I say HUGH list of recipes but they list rough ingredients and dont always list the percentages.
For example - for XXXB from Batemans (one of my favourite beers .. period)
it lists
OG 1048-49 - Malt 72-75% MO - 7-12% Crystal, 0-3% Wheat Flour - 15-18% Invert Sugar
Hops Challenger and Goldings - IBU 37 EBC 40
Now ..
Sooo no mash temp (68 i believe) - no mash time (60 mins) - no boil time - no timing on hops - or mention of the split
No mention of the yeast or the water profile or of the open top fermenters.
Its just too little information .. I would have preferred more research on say 30 recipes with extensive detail rather than 1300 (I can only estimate) recipes all equally vague.
Just curious of what others make of the book.
Got my myself a copy of Clone Brews 2, some nice recipes in it. All recipes are in extract with detail for converting to AG. Great for brewers like myself
Quote from: BrewRob on March 15, 2013, 08:12:04 AM
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels is very good also.
+1
I've just got through the first half which is a pretty good overview and am not using the second part as a reference book.
Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff
thought this was very good and easy to read.
For the Love of Hops: The Practical Guide to Aroma, Bitterness & the Culture of Hops by Stan Hieronymus
still only half way through it, a lot on the history of hops and hop farming.
next on the list, Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski
going to assume there will be a malt one in the future too
Quote from: Tube on May 11, 2014, 10:05:46 PM
Quote from: beerfly on May 11, 2014, 08:40:42 PM
next on the list, Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski
going to assume there will be a malt one in the future too
NoooOOOOoooOOOOoo! Finding a lot of contradictory stuff and misinformation in JP's work.
Could you be more specific?
-Martin Brugaard and AJ Delange did a LOT of editing on that book; they have published a list of changes that they'd make in a 2nd edition already on the HomeBrewTalk Brewing Science forums, but there's really not very many edits for the next publication.
Adam
Quote from: Padraic on March 14, 2013, 09:52:36 AM
If you want bjcp styles, brewing classic styles is the only book you'll ever need! If you like to listen to podcasts then there are some good style ones on the brewing network! These generally go through a recipe as well, like a fleshed out version of the brewing classic styles book!
But that said I'd recommend radical brewing as my favourite book! But there are a few good ones out there!
Most of the recipes are very good; they're definitely focused on more modern american home brewing recipes and are tweaked for american ingredients. Personally, I would recommend looking up the styles that Jamil has won AHA gold medals (or any medal) on at putting a check mark before them in the table of contents and then get a second opinion on any styles that don't have a check mark on them.
Some of the styles he's mastered and is an expert on; other styles, he provides a recipe for, anyway.
Adam
Quote from: Stitch on March 15, 2013, 08:12:04 AM
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels is very good also.
It's good, if you know what you're getting. It's very much focused on a limited number of styles and how those styles have changed over time AND what AHA NHC medal-winning recipes in the early to mid 2000s had in common. -For Porter, Bock, and Oktoberfest/Marzen it's really great; I can't remember the other styles but there's plenty of styles missing.
This isn't a book that you read cover-to-cover in a sitting and this isn't an entertainment book, it isn't REALLY focused on brewing better beer, it's really about informing you a bit more on a number of styles and then focusing on the attributes of winning beers in those categories.
It's also very much gets you thinking about beer FLAVOR and how to put together your own recipe, or modify recipes to create custom beers that you like; this is it's primary value, IMHO. Much of the book is very much a reference material; a good way to get exposure to a large number of styles, without buying the entire Brewers Publications style series (and some of those books aren't worth owning, anyway).
The ingredient recommendations for the modern recipes (%grist of each malt) are getting a bit dated these days and it would be GREAT to see an updated version of this book. Personally this book should come with a link to a "E-version" of the book that is updated after every year's AHA NHC.
Adam
New Brewing Lager by Greg Noonan should be on everyone's list, even if you don't care for lagers.
It's the closest thing we have to a "malt book" until this September. It has great information on the over-all German Brewing tradition (how beer was made at different times in the German tradition), lager brewing specifically AND an invaluable section on reading malt reports and understanding how to translate the malt report into how you treat a particular malt to get the end result that you desire.
This book will make almost everyone a better brewer and focuses on subjects that just aren't talked about anywhere else (in English brewing literature, anyway).
New Brewing Lager sits squarely between a traditional home brew book and a professional brewing text book. After you've owned a number of brewing books, you should strongly consider it.
Adam
If you are into Hefeweizens; the BP "German Wheat Beer" book(#7) is a must-have; it gives you all of the techniques necessary to coax the flavors that you like out of a hefeweizen.
TONS of information from the big-named German Hefeweizen breweries with insights into their exact mashing and fermentation processes (and both matter in hefes). -Enables you to maximize banana or clove flavors if you want and control the balance between the flavors.
Adam
Brew Like a Monk is also great if you're into Belgian Trappist/Abbey styles (as the rest of the Belgian brewing tradition doesn't REALLY fall into styles easily) and its advice will help you learn how to better control the results of all fermentations. As many Belgian recipes are actually insanely simple and the flavors are driven by closely controlling fermentation, it's a skill all of it's own.
-I really feel like the BP "Water" and "Hops" books help you to hone in on those skills, I feel like "New Brewing Lager" helps you focus on controlling what you get from malt, and obviously lager fermentations and Brew Like a Monk really helps you control fermentability of wort (via mash techniques / temp AND via sugar additions) and the flavors that you get from Fermentation ("German Wheat Beer", helps to understand how to control finnicky yeast strain flavors, too).
People talk about the Germans being the "technical brewers", but you quickly find that the Belgian brewers are SUPER focused on control and repeatability especially in fermentation (what the big breweries call "quality"); that's because those phenolic-producing yeast strains REQUIRE it, if you want to create the same beer every time. How to dry out a strong beer so you don't end up with cloying sweetness is something you can also learn by "brewing like a monk"; something that is useful to know whether or not you like Belgian styles. (Take a 2nd look at West Coast IPA / Double IPA recipes after learning how to make strong, dry beers and note the similarities.)
Adam
Gordon Strong's: "Brewing Better Beer: Master Lessons for Advanced Homebrewers" is an all-around great book that reminds you of the importance of things that you already knew, debunks a few common brewing myths, and helps you to identify the whole body of knowledge that is required to become a great brewer and helps you to fill in those gaps.
It's huge strength is just how well-rounded it is; some of the previous books I mentioned help to fill in your knowledge (and skills through application) in specific areas but Brewing Better Beer helps you to understand the whole landscape and tells you what's the most important in each of those areas.
Very well rounded book and I wish Jamil would've written something similar; I think this book would've been even better if Co-written / contributed to by Jamil. Jamil is the only person to have more Ninkasi awards than Gordon Strong and this type of advice would've been more useful than just a recipe book ala BCS, IMO.
Gordon sets you straight towards always thinking about your beer and recipe and process in terms of FLAVOR; so many books *cough Palmer *cough get you thinking about a beer as science and statistics; beer should be about the FLAVOR -thanks for setting us straight, Gordon!
If you want to enter competitions, it has great value in getting you to think like a beer judge and to fill in the gaps in your knowledge and process to have the best chance of success. If you want to start entering AHA-sanctioned competitions, Brewing Better Beer combined with the medal-winning recipes from Jamil's BCS will give you the greatest chance at success. (assuming you've already got the basics down)
Adam
The new Sour Beer book from Michael Tonsimere (The Mad Fermentationist) is the ONLY place you can go to get it's wealth of information. It fills what's the biggest hole in brewing books today and it fills it with actual examples of techniques that work, the reasoning/science behind WHY it works, so that you know where it might be safe to improvise, and then provides practical examples including examples from HOME BREWERS.
It's a book that can give you the confidence to make sour beer and help you to be successful with what is a wild and rather uncontrollable thing otherwise.
This book is about taming the brewing "wild things"; the mysterious and magical ways of the sour beer brewers are now available to us and it's not so mystical and magical any more. Even the professional sour beer brewers are reading this book and learning new and valuable things; it's a huge collection of knowledge gained from the experience of many different people trying to accomplish the same goals independently. This is the book that helps you to learn from other's mistakes and successes to have a chance at brewing good sour beer without having to go through the pain of dumping batch after batch of beer that you've spent months/years fermenting.
Full Disclosure: I'm only 2/3rds done with this one right now.
Adam
I'll also recommend "Radical Brewing" after you fall into a brewing "slump" and it seems to have lost some of it's magic and you just get beer maker's "writer's block" and can't think of something interesting and creative.
Randy Moser will remind you of why you love beer and brewing in the first place and make it incredibly exciting again. I'm not sure there's anyone on the planet more excited all the time about beer than Randy Moser and this is coming from a guy who is himself very much in a constant state of excitement about beer. Radical Brewing is Randy Moser's love letter to his life long love, beer; and its awesome to read.
Adam
A great review of "Radical Brewing" just got posted here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/radical-brewing-review.html
Randy Moser is going to be releasing a new book entitled "Mastering Homebrew: The Complete Guide to Brewing Delicious Beer".
Hey guys
I am pretty sure that English versions of "La fabrication de la bière" by Jean Sunier can be ordered from Canada. It is the most complete and accurate brewing guide I ever came across, I really highly recommend it!
The technical part is sometimes a bit complex but it literally goes through everything you need to know to make your own!
Hope it helps...
Not Brewing as such, but An Appetite for Ale makes an interesting read, contains lots of food recipes using beer plus food/beer pairings
Quote from: Sorcerers Apprentice on October 02, 2014, 08:22:00 AM
Not Brewing as such, but An Appetite for Ale makes an interesting read, contains lots of food recipes using beer plus food/beer pairings
In the same vein, the gold standard in beer and food pairing:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Brewmasters-Table-Discovering-Pleasures/dp/0060005718
Adam
This is a great thread. I'm going to try and start a book swap in my local club. just got CAMRA's Brew Your Own British Ale and there's a lot of good stuff in there for the beginning/intermediate brewer. If a little old school.
I'm currently reading "Home Brewing - A Complete Guide On How to Brew Beer" by James Hueston. Fantastic book, lots of history of the origins of many types of beer and how they've changed/advanced over the years. The second half the book is awesome tips + tricks to brewing better beer for each specialty.
I just got Modern Homebrew Recipes by Gordon Strong and it looks great. The recipes are laid out better than any other book I've seen and he includes techniques like first wort hopping and adding grains late in the mash. He specifies the exact malt from specific maltsters too. The recipes look really interesting too and he shows a few examples of different version of certain styles. Of course as you'd expect he includes recipes for new BJCP styles too. I really can't wait to brew a few recipes from this now.
Quote from: Qs on June 11, 2015, 11:56:49 AM
I just got Modern Homebrew Recipes by Gordon Strong and it looks great. The recipes are laid out better than any other book I've seen and he includes techniques like first wort hopping and adding grains late in the mash. He specifies the exact malt from specific maltsters too. The recipes look really interesting too and he shows a few examples of different version of certain styles. Of course as you'd expect he includes recipes for new BJCP styles too. I really can't wait to brew a few recipes from this now.
Thanks for posting this! This book is next on my list and it's great to hear good things. I've been considering Randy Moser's new book, too, if for no other reason than reading Randy Moser makes me get excited about brewing again every time! That guy really loves beer!
Adam
Just finished Randy's new book and didn't find it that exciting. Ordered Gordon strongs new one based on this thread to see.
Quote from: Qs on June 11, 2015, 11:56:49 AM
I just got Modern Homebrew Recipes by Gordon Strong and it looks great. The recipes are laid out better than any other book I've seen and he includes techniques like first wort hopping and adding grains late in the mash. He specifies the exact malt from specific maltsters too. The recipes look really interesting too and he shows a few examples of different version of certain styles. Of course as you'd expect he includes recipes for new BJCP styles too. I really can't wait to brew a few recipes from this now.
Are the units in metric or imperial in this book?
Both
Quote from: Partridge9 on May 07, 2013, 11:40:40 PM
I got
The Home Brewer's Recipe Database - by Les Howarth
Now ..
Sooo no mash temp (68 i believe) - no mash time (60 mins) - no boil time - no timing on hops - or mention of the split
No mention of the yeast or the water profile or of the open top fermenters.
Its just too little information .. I would have preferred more research on say 30 recipes with extensive detail rather than 1300 (I can only estimate) recipes all equally vague.
Just curious of what others make of the book.
I don't have the book but had an idea of what was in it. Never seemed very useful to me, until I heard an interview with the author on Basic Brewing Radio. He describes why he published it and how he uses it to develop recipes. Sounded much more interesting after that!
February 18, 2010 episode from http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2010
Quote from: Qs on June 11, 2015, 11:56:49 AM
I just got Modern Homebrew Recipes by Gordon Strong and it looks great. The recipes are laid out better than any other book I've seen and he includes techniques like first wort hopping and adding grains late in the mash. He specifies the exact malt from specific maltsters too. The recipes look really interesting too and he shows a few examples of different version of certain styles. Of course as you'd expect he includes recipes for new BJCP styles too. I really can't wait to brew a few recipes from this now.
Got this and love it. Like Brewing Better Beer, there is a nice preamble about process and then the recipes talk about flavour contributions of ingredients and how to change the recipes to get interesting results. It really helps you think about your brewing and how to formulate, much more so than just a raw set of recipes like BCS
I just started reading Modern Homebrew Recipes, and I like it so much that I went and ordered Brewing Better Beer (waiting for it now). I like his approach to technique and some of the recipes in MHR look great.
Nice article on brewing American IPA's. Simple and practical tips.
https://beerandbrewing.com/VtXo8ykAAMgVjygC/article/how-to-brew-your-best-ipa-ever?cbbeid=thebuggys@gmail.com&utm_source=Craft+Beer+%26+Brewing+Newsletter&utm_campaign=eb9aa7af70-150303_EDIT_BR_ASTORIA&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_502555b94c-eb9aa7af70-247880241&goal=0_502555b94c-eb9aa7af70-247880241&mc_cid=eb9aa7af70&mc_eid=3a25ef66c9
"For the Love of hops
The Practical Guide to Aroma, Bitterness and the Culture of Hops
Stan Hieronymus
"
All 4 of the brewers publications series Malt Hops Yeast & Water are all good reads, I thought the most tedious would have been the one on Yeast but I was wrong. Gordon Strong's Brewing better beer is good for both tips on technique and a few recipes.
I found the best value price wise was http://www.bookdepository.com but maybe some of you guys have better places
(I'd be interested to know if you do).
I think John Palmers first book which is available online is or should be on the mandatory reading list for all home brewers.http://www.howtobrew.com
My favourite type of beer is ale so does anyone have any suggested reading to help me improve my knowledge on brewing ales.
I have 4 different variations on Matilda bays 'Fat Yak' in several stages at the moment. One in the fermenter, one kegged and 2 bottled. I can't wait to start sampling them.
I'd recommend buying How To Brew rather than using that site. Its essential reading IMO but that site is the first edition which has a lot of myths that have been debunked since it was first published. Newer version are much better. Last I heard he was finishing up work on another new edition so that might be worth looking up for anyone who is thinking of getting it.
Just picked up 'Craft Brew' by Euan Ferguson
Some 50 international craft breweries have volunteered a recipe.
Would take a while to get through em all!
^
I've ordered the ingredients of HBC for the Beavertown Smog Rocket recipe in this. It's a good book, and theres some Irish recipes in there too.
Quote from: The Bull on January 17, 2017, 01:10:56 PM
Just picked up 'Craft Brew' by Euan Ferguson
Some 50 international craft breweries have volunteered a recipe.
Would take a while to get through em all!
Agreed, The 4th edition is out now and there was an excellent podcast on 15/05/17 with Beersmith where John Talks about the changes to the book based on recent research. There is a lot of updated data and this should probable be a goto book for a person new to Home brew.
"Dark Lagers: History, Mystery, Brewing Techniques, Recipes"
-By Thomas Kraus-Weyermann (CEO of Weyermann malting), and Horst Dornbusch (I know, but Weyermann seems to have reigned-in Horst on this one.).
This one is published by MBAA and not Brewer's Publications, but don't let that scare you, it's very approachable for homebrewers.
https://my.mbaa.com/ItemDetail?iProductCode=72680
I'm still in the middle of it but it fills such a HUGE gap in English-language brewing literature, IMHO, Daniel "Designing Great Beers" didn't provide basically any coverage on dark lager recipes and there's some TRULY TERRIBLE American homebrewing recipes on making these styles. (I DARE you to make the Munich Dunkel recipe in Gordon Strong's book and brew it with RO water and without adding the dark malts to the sparge... -You won't like it...)
The book starts out with a history of German brewing and the appearance of lager and moves onto lager yeast genetics and speculation in Chapter 2 and gets to recipes later in the book.
The recipes are all using 100% Weyermann malts (should be no surprise there) and include some historical recipes for beers like Munich Dunkel, which look pretty exciting.
-If you can't get Weyermann malts you need to be VERY careful with substitutions and learn how to read a malt spec sheet because Munich malts are ALL OVER THE PLACE in terms of color and diastatic power and things can go wrong really quickly when substituting Munich malts between maltsters. (Best and Weyermann are statistically equivalents, but that's about it....)
I'm excited to experiment with dialing in my Munich Dunkel the way I want it because it's just not a style that you can even buy good examples of here in the US. (One exception: The Chuckanut brewery 2 hours north of Seattle in Washington State.)
Adam