Best homebrewing books?

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motorneuron

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This is a pretty general question, because I don't have a really specific need in mind, but I wanted input on what homebrewing book I should read next. I don't have a specific topic in mind that I want to read up on; I'm still learning a lot and getting my feet wet (especially after several boilovers). I'll list at the outset what I have read:

(1) Palmer, How to Brew
(2) Papazian, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
(3) Mosher, Radical Brewing
(4) Daniels, Designing Great Beers

I think I'd enjoy almost anything, as long as it's good. Of the books I've read, Palmer's was extremely informative obviously and great to have on hand; Radical Brewing was probably my favorite, though I also liked the Complete Joy of Homebrewing a lot; and I found Daniels a little dry (and maybe a little outdated, since his data is largely from the early 90s).

Thanks!
 
Not sure what the best ones are, but I have these:

Yeast - White/Zainasheff
For the Love of Hops - Hieronymus
Brewing Classic Styles - Palmer/Zainasheff
How to Brew - Palmer

Rick
 
There are really too many to name.

The classic beer style books are great - if you're interested in brewing a particular beer style.

Brewing with Wheat was one of my favorites.

Mitch Steele just came out with a FANTASTIC IPA book. Lots of commercial recipes in there.
 
I find myself going back to Daniel's book more than any other. That's the way to go if you're ready to jump into recipe design. But, if you still need to fine tune your process I'd focus on that. Yeast is good to skim through also.
 
I think How to Brew is the best book for the beginning brewer. But so far I've read that and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing for just homebrewing and that's it. I've read Brew Like a Monk which is kinda a homebrew/how awesome Trappist beer is book, and I'm in the middle of Designing great beers. I also want to read radical brewing, though I'm scared that it will be in a similar style to Caglione's auto biography which I couldn't read.
 
Read brewchem 101. Seemed very simplistic, however I have had 4 years of chemistry. For someone with less of a background it's a great read.
 
I consider Designing Great Beers to be the single most used book in my arsenal.
Radical Brewing is a great read from a historical perspective and filled with enough anecdotes to keep it fun.

Read a book recently on farmhouse brewing specifically dealing with Saisons and Bier de Garde, interesting read even though it is probably a pair of styles I won't be tackling in the near future, but well worth reading (not sure the author)

Next book will be Yeast, I know very little about yeast but I do know it is probably the single most important factor in brewing. Hopefully this book gives me good insight as to just how important and ideas on better management of my yeast.
 
hcuda said:
Has anyone read
Brewchem 101
or
Extreme Brewing-Sam Calagione

Extreme brewing was the first book I read. It's a bit outdated in some of the methods IMO and more geared towards the beginner extract brewer. But it has recommended quantities for some interesting ingredients like herbs and spices as well as fruit, which I like. The other sections in the book have good beer and food pairings, beer food recipes, and great beer recipes. The recipes are for extract but I've never had any trouble converting them to AG.
 
A lot of people seem to hate it but I'm going to recommend Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer. It doesn't tell you how to do anything or provide step by step instructions but it gives a lot of really good tips on what you should be doing at a high level and leaves the process details up to you. And it is the only book i've seen that presents water chemistry for homebrewing in a decent, reasonable and comprehensible manner - no over-complicated residual alkalinity or make believe classic city profiles. It says its for "advanced brewers" but if you've already read How To Brew and done at least 1 all grain batch, you are "advanced" enough:)
 
A lot of people seem to hate it but I'm going to recommend Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer. It doesn't tell you how to do anything or provide step by step instructions but it gives a lot of really good tips on what you should be doing at a high level and leaves the process details up to you. And it is the only book i've seen that presents water chemistry for homebrewing in a decent, reasonable and comprehensible manner - no over-complicated residual alkalinity or make believe classic city profiles. It says its for "advanced brewers" but if you've already read How To Brew and done at least 1 all grain batch, you are "advanced" enough:)

As much as I hate to agree, this book is useful. Gordon comes across loving himself and writes a lot about how great he is as a brewer, which isn't great to read. But, it is useful, goes through the whole brewing process in detail and gives good information on various techniques that you can use.

I also found yeast and for the love of hops very useful. As well as principles of brewing science (although hard to read if not familiar with scientific textbooks)
 
If you like IPA's, Mitch Steele's book is very good. He is the Brewmaster at Stone. The first half is heavy on the history of IPA's, then he gets into brewing techniques and recipes.
 
Thanks for all the replies! I have been poking around on Amazon, and I think maybe I'll get the Gordon Strong book. I don't think it's going to bother me if he comes off as a bit self-important. I'm thinking that other books might be a bit more redundant with what I have already read.

Although it's not a brewing book per se, I'm also thinking about reading Randy Mosher's beer tasting book. Has anyone read that? It has rave reviews on Amazon, and I really liked Radical Brewing, so I bet I'd like it.
 
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