Best Brewing Science Books

FlyGuy · 03-06-2009, 05:43 PM

So, what are everyone's favourite books on brewing science?

I own the two really popular ones:

George Fix (1999) Principles of Brewing Science

Lee Janson (1996) Brew Chem 101

There is a lot of useful information in these books, but neither is an outstanding read. Both books suffer from providing a technical, but relatively superficial overview of the science behind the brewing process.

While not a 'brewing science' book per se, I have found this book to be immensely useful:

Greg Noonan (2003) New Brewing Lager Beer

And my top book for brewing science is this one:

Dennis Briggs et al. (2004) Brewing Science and Practice
Outstanding book. My #1 go to reference.

Anyone else?

menschmaschine · 03-06-2009, 05:57 PM

Those are all great, though I've not read Brew Chem 101. Designing Great Beers has a few tidbits in the front section that are useful. I also found some surprising brew science-type information in Horst Dornbusch's Books Altbier and Bavarian Helles.

Kaiser · 03-06-2009, 07:04 PM

I found Brew Chem 101 horrible and a waste of the $10 that I spent on it.

Kai

BioBeing · 03-06-2009, 07:18 PM

It took me less than a night to read Brew Chem 101, and I a total newbie to brewing (although I do know biochemistry OK). I got nothing new out of it.

I am reading Fix's book right now, and am finding it much more informative. If you can only get one of the two, make it Fix's.

Briggs' looks a little expensive for my pocket right now (and I don't plan on getting Kindle either).

thedude123 · 03-06-2009, 07:47 PM

Kai what books would you recommend?

Kaiser · 03-06-2009, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedude123

Kai what books would you recommend?

Fix's book is good and has a lot of useful information.

Have a look at Google-Books. There are many books (including the Briggs one) for which you get a limited preview. This means you get to read a few pages.

Aside from that good textbooks are expensive and not necessarily worth the investment for the homebrewer. And you'll have to read them with a very critical eye. Not everying said there applies or matters in home brewing.

Kai

FlyGuy · 03-06-2009, 08:20 PM

I too recommend Fix's book over Janson's book for content. But neither are particularly well written. Fix's book is popular because it is really the only brewing science book (with any substance) that is written for homebrewers. My problem with it is that it is poorly structured and has a surprising number of errors in it.

The Briggs et al. book has far more information and is very well written. It is aimed at pro-brewers, but is written without a lot of industry jargon so a homebrewer should have no problem reading it. Like the other industry books, it is expensive to purchase a hardcopy. But keep your eyes open for other sources.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/brewing-book-106097/

RockfordWhite · 03-06-2009, 09:04 PM

Brew Chem 101 is great for people who have absolutely no idea of any aspect of chemistry and want to be able to spout buzz words about brewing science to their drinking buddies...

Fix's books is really good if you have a chemical background...

Basically what it comes down too, if you don't have the chemistry background a book is either going to be so basic it's useless of too complicated that it doesn't matter... That's just IMHO...

SPLASTiK · 03-10-2009, 06:53 PM

I have two pretty advanced textbooks but haven't plowed through them...

'Brewing: Science and Practice' by Briggs, etc. Mine's a PDF file...

Then I bought 'A Textbook of Brewing' by Jean De Clerck in December when I found a copy of it on sale for cheaper.

z987k · 03-11-2009, 01:18 AM

I'd like to pick up the DeClerk Book Somewhere, heard a lot about it.

One that has not been added is Brewing New Technologies by C. W. Bamforth - 2006
It's even more micro-brewery oriented than Brewing Science and Practice, but there is information covered that Briggs et al. does not cover.

Also, Brewing Yeast and Fermentation by Chris Boulton and David Quain - 2001
goes very in depth with yeast and fermentation... as that's all it's about.

Brew Chem 101 is garbage.
Brewer's Companion by Mosher is nice for the beginner wanting to learn more of what is going on than Palmer or Papazian(can never spell his name) ever go into.