recomended reading

General brewing information, questions and discussion. Topics that do not seem to fit elsewhere.

Moderators: slothrob, 2row

Post Reply
instinctblues
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 3:07 pm

recomended reading

Post by instinctblues »

I am wondering, in your opinion what would be the top 5 must-read books on brewing? What might be considered the bibles of brewing?
User avatar
slothrob
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:36 pm
Location: Greater Boston

Reading

Post by slothrob »

There are excellent advanced brewing texts available, but here are a few recommendations for a beginning to intermediate homebrewers.

In the beginning, I'd devour "How to Brew" by John Palmer. That's probably the key reference book that covers what most homebrewer's need to know.

It's starting to get a little dated, but "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels is an excellent education in designing recipes.

If you want a solid recipe book, "Brewing Classic Styles" by John Palmer and Jamil Zainacheff will give you a good recipe for every style.

If you are interested in dabbling in traditional German brewing methods, "New Brewing Lager Beer" by Gregory Noonan is a good introduction to those and brewing Lager beers, of course.

"Yeast" by Chris White and Zainacheff is also a good summary of information on yeast handling and fermentation practices.

Some of the style guides are quite good, too, but they are a little hit or miss. If you find yourself particularly interested in a more exotic style, I'd consider getting the appropriate style guide to get a good understanding of the history of that style and some understanding of how brewers have made it successfully.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
instinctblues
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 3:07 pm

Post by instinctblues »

thanks, anybody else have some thoughts?
User avatar
jawbox
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 528
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: W. Dundee

Post by jawbox »

My top five for new brewers

1) How to Brew - John Palmer
2) Designing Great Beers - Ray Daniels
3) Brewing Classic Styles - Jamil Zainasheff/John Palmer
4) New Brewing Lager - Greg Noonan
5) Radical Brewing - Randy Mosher

Others worth reading
Yeast - Jamil Zainasheff/Chris White
Brewing Better Beer - Gordon Strong
Tasting Beer - Randy Mosher
Brewmasters Table - Garrett Oliver

Sorry not a big fan of Charlie Papazians books, have a lot of respect for the man I just find his books dated.

Jaw
iMac 27", 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB Ram, Mac OSX 10.12.6
iPhone 7+
iPad Pro 10.5
I like macs ;)
BrianBradford
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:18 pm
Location: Aliquippa, PA

Post by BrianBradford »

When I was doing a search for how to brew by John Palmer, I found his website for the book. He lets you read the whole book page by page for free right from the site! It is a very helpful book.

www.howtobrew.com
mbryant
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:07 pm

Post by mbryant »

I have to agree with John Palmer's book as the top pick for someone who is just starting out with this thing. The "How To Brew" book would cover lightly a lot of topics with emphasis on the stuff that you need to actually get you going.

Well that will also depend on what stuff you have so that you could tailor cut what materials you need to what you are inclined to do.
Post Reply