Price: $25.00
Pros: Goes into great specificity on each aspect of brewing; water, hops, barley and yeast.
Cons: Not for the beginner brewer (It is not advertised as a beginner book either).
Recommended? Yes

Comments: I bought this book because I am sick of making other people's recipes. I'd like to start entering my beer in competitions, but won't enter someone else's recipe. This book does a great job detailing out exactly everything you will need to formulate a recipe, also details out how to fix a beer on the fly (missed gravity etc). With this book and a little Excel experience you can easily create your own beersmith software.

A couple years ago after reading "The complete Joy of Homebrewing" I thought I good handle on the brewing process. This book really opened my eyes and showed me how much more there is to learn.

Like others have said, this book focuses on the all-grain brewer...but grain is only part of the final product. I can see how an extract brewer could benefit from this as well.

Price: $24.95
Pros: Great detail on ingredient variables and their effect on the brewing process, and on individual beer styles.
Cons: Many beer styles not represented
Recommended? No

Comments: This is a great book with detail on ingredient variables and their effect on the brewing process, and on individual beer styles. There are no outright recipes, but I think that makes the book more useful. I still refer to this book often.

Price: $16.47
Pros: Very good information on the styles it covers.
Cons: No information on many styles. Much of the information in the first half of the book becomes irrelevant with any sort of brewing software.
Recommended? No

Comments: I brew my own recipes almost exclusively, and was looking for more information to help me consistently come up with good recipes. I found myself disappointed by the content of the book though. The first half focuses on the properties of the various categories of ingredients (malt, hops, water, yeast, etc.). There was good information throughout this section, but the majority of the focus was on formulas that are made irrelevant if you have Beersmith or any similar brewing software that automatically does these calculations for you. The information on hop oils was great, the descriptions of various yeasts were good, but generally easily found online or on the yeast packaging.

The second part of the book was on particular styles and contained great information on the most common ingredients and percentages used in award winning beers... for the styles it covered. I was extremely disappointed in the range of styles it included though. He ignored all the Belgian styles entirely, and skipped a number of styles I was hoping to get insight into. I'm not recommending the book based entirely on this fact, since based on the description I was expecting a near-exhaustive range of styles. I also question the value of this resource to some extent, since anyone can easily go through the recipe database on this website and collect similar information on their own.

All that said though, it would be a great book for anyone looking to make some of the more basic styles (stout, pale ale, wheat beers, etc.) He also seems to spend a lot of time on German styles, so there's plenty of information on those. It is by no means though the conclusive resource for making your own recipes.

Price: $25.00
Pros: complete break down and easy to understand.
Cons: Can't think of any off hand
Recommended? Yes

Comments: Once I brewed about 4 batches I got my hands on this lil' jem; with this and some all grain youtube sessions I went right to all grain and making my own recipes and much of my own gear. Great book!

Price: $24.95
Pros: Easy to understand, clearly written, and really teaches you how to formulate your own recipes based on the exact outcome you want to achieve.
Cons: In order to cut out the more technical math values are often estimated from a table and not as precise as they could be, but none the less a great starting point. Does require some basic knowledge.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: If you looking to step up your brewing and become more exact in achieving certain styles and flavors. Its definitely good to have a little basic background knowledge before diving into this book however it is written to be easy to understand. Not only does this book cover everything you need to know about formulating your own recipes in part 1 allowing you to set a specific target and reach it, but part 2 the book goes into great detail about the various styles and the characteristics that set them apart from each other giving you an idea of what targets to aim for. Put both parts together and you can pretty much duplicate any style beer you want with a great degree of accuracy.

Price: $20.00
Pros: intermediate and semi advanced all grain
Cons: technical
Recommended? Yes

Comments: I love this book. I would reccomend it only for all grain brewers who want more advaced techniques and formulas. I use the charts and formulas from this book every time I brew. Also, half of the book is on beer styles, and how to brew to those styles which is very nice.

Price: $24.95
Pros: Better recipe formulation and history of different styles for more intermediate to advance brewing.
Cons: Goes against relax, don't worry.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: I say that Designing Great Beers is the new testament and the Joy of Hombrewing is the old testament.

I read this book in about 3 days after purchasing it. I still pick it up for a gander every time I am formulating a recipe.

For beginners and intermediates who are attempting to become more serious with their home brewery.

Price: $25.00
Pros: - Single Best book for All-Grain brewers, bar none. - Especially helpful for recipe formulation
Cons: - Very advanced, not for Extract or partial-mash brewers
Recommended? Yes

Comments: As I'll preface all of my book reviews: I've read just about every major homebrewing book and have enjoyed them all.

This book, however, is the single best book for all-grain brewers and brewers wanting to understand the process of recipe formulation. The only one I'd stick in the same category as it is 'How to Brew' by Palmer.

It's very technical and dry -- but it is EXTREMELY informative. A must for any serious all-grain brewer.

Recommended? Yes

Comments: Very informative book with a lot of detail on specific ingredients. Only a few vague areas.

Pros: Gives methodology of recipe formulation instead of a collection of recipes.
Cons: Some styles omitted.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: This book should be in the library of every brewer worth the name. Designing Great Beers teaches one how to formulate a recipe for a classic style, from grist to hops to yeast.

Further, he does it in a way which should be required in our community - instead of writing about amounts, he gives percentages. That way, a batch can be formulated whether the brew length is 1 gallon or 50 barrels. I wish HBT's recipe section would go that route. That would stop the "Can someone turn this to a 10 gallon batch, please?" questions.

I'm to the point that I'm forced to replace my copy. I've worn it out; pages flutter loose every time I open it.

Highly recommended

Price: $24.00
Pros: Tells you WHY somethign is happening
Cons: none so far.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: This book is for people that want to to know WHY - not HOW.

I love it and it's one of my favorite books.

Pros: Really helps you learn to write your own recipes.
Cons: Does not include enough beer styles, but which book does.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: I have never set this book down. I reference this book everytime I am planning a brew.

Pros: Very detailed, good history on many styles
Recommended? Yes

Comments: This ia an excellent source of information for those looking to create their own recipes or for those who are already doing so who are looking for details on WHY certain malts fir the profile of certain styles.

Pros: Plenty of useful data specifically on the elements of recipe design. Just like the title would lead you to expect.
Cons: Some styles are sparse and not enough professional orientation.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: If you do not want to spend the rest of your brewing life making somebody elses recipes, buy this book.

Pros: lots of metics that you can measure and aim for
Cons: recipe design is based to much on home brew recipes
Recommended? Yes

Comments: This is indeed a great book.

The only problem I have with it is that he focusses on receipes that made it into the natioals. Though it seems as if these must have been good beers, it relies on the brewers and the judges perception of a style rather than actaul commercial examples of the style. But I understand how hard it would have been to get the statistics from commercial beer recipes. In the end this book should be seen as one of many sources (though a very good one) to read when doing research for particular style.

Pros: Excellent technical resource for understanding malt and hops and developing recipes.
Cons: Not exactly a book for beginners.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: If you have been brewing for a while and want to modify or develop your own recipes, this book is a must have text. This is a great book, but not one for the pure beginner or anyone not good at math. It has a great structure covering numerous beers styles and their malt and hops. The book has details on the malts and hops used in winning recipes at the AHA.

Pros: excellent resource for styles
Cons: i could do without all the charts ... just give me the facts
Recommended? Yes

Comments: my wife gave me this book last christmas when i had 3 brews under my belt and i was still trying to brew the perfect extract apa. i felt like she wasted her money (lhb guy recommended it) til i got into all grain brewing and wanted to do other styles like wheats, porters and alts. i like the little history lessons but most important is the guidance on yeasts, ferment temps and aging by style. i wouldn't do a new style without reading this first.

Pros: Very in depth on grains, hop, and other characteristics that an ingredient imparts.
Cons: Too in depth at some points almost to the point of propriety.
Recommended? Yes

Comments: I read and skim this book all the time. It is a great source of information. I'd like to add something the other reviewers didnt mention. He's geared towards all-grain brewing, but dont let this dissuade you. You can translate everything you learn into extract if it fits your style.

Kill,
Nobes

Pros: Covers basics of styles including history, ingredients and tons of other data
Cons: Can get a little technical
Recommended? Yes

Comments: Excellent book. A must for formulating recipes. Gives you the nuts and bolts of what determines a particular style including grains, hop varieties and yeast strains, as well as history behind the style.

Pros: Great detailed technical info
Cons: Some beer styles not included
Recommended? Yes

Comments: When you're ready to move beyond great intro books like Palmer's How To Brew and Papazian, this should be the first book on your list. I love the "technical specs" on commercial and award-winning homebrew versions of classic styles. It really helps in designing recipes and evaluating others' recipes, in terms of knowing what is or isn't typical for a style. If you are a "beer geek," then this is the book for you.