Best Home Brew Books?

I've been trying to decide which brewing books to buy. I would like to find out the good and the bad about what you think are the best and worst book about home brewing books out there today. Instead of just leaving a book name, please include why you think a book is the best or the worst.

Cheers!

John Palmer: how to brew. It's the only book I've read. Idk how much it costs to purchase but the first edition is free and it's online http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian - The classic, to me its a little outdated, some things he emphasizes don't seem quite as important, and sometimes his recipe techniques are a little old school, but I bet most people on this site own a copy or have read it, not to mention RDWHAHB

Designing Great Beers by Daniels - A really good book if you are looking to brew a specific recipe, it includes common ingredients, techniques, etc. from past entries in homebrew competitions. This book is great if you are formulating recipes, not good if you are looking for a general guide to homebrewing.

Radical Brewing by Mosher - One of my favorites. Kind of a little of everything. History of styles, ingredients, techniques, random facts. When you finish the book you will be a more creative brewer (also has some really great interesting recipe suggestions) and a more informed beer drinker overall. Highly recommended.

the 2 i have are "how to brew" and "the new complete joy of homebrewing". i learned a LOT from them over the years. i also have "brew like a monk"....

I'm fairly new to brewing about 20 brews under my belt in 3 years (had a kid and another kid) but I've read a ton.

How to Brew by John Palmer which was great and broke the brewing process down and helped me eventually move to all grain.

Radical Brewing by Mosher, it's a great read and had so many cool ideas for beers. This book inspired me to create my first recipe which turned out great. This is the book that I go back to most just to read for ideas.

Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff. This one gives you a great recipe for every style of beer (BJCP style) and really helped me see what the differences in each are. For some reason this book is addicting even though it is mostly a collection of recipes.

Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong - A lot of people didn't like this book but for me it was perfect. I think it's actually great for someone who is new to all-grain rather than someone that is experienced. It helped me understand my process better and made me look at what I'm doing in a different way. I brewed 2 of his recipes and they turned out great as well.

I have some other books but these have been the most helpful to me in brewing.

How to Brew is the bible of homebrewers; beyond that, the books the guys above me have mentioned will do you very well - more knowledge is always a good thing

I have at least a dozen books. My top 3 favorites in order would be:
1. How to Brew
2. Brewing Classic Styles
3. Designing Great Beers (I've heard there may be an update on the way)

"New Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg Noonan. A good read and great technical info if you're into making lagers

For beginner, the two I'd recommend at The Complete Joy... and How to Brew (buy the third ed., the online version is the first ed. and it's a tad dated). The former is quite dated, but still a must read, IMO. The third ed. of How to Brew is also a must if you ask me, both books will leave you with a decent grasp of homebrewing and ready to get at it successfully.
For an intermediate brewer, I'd recommend reading about the things you find most interesting or appealing. If you like creating your own recipes, Brewing Classic Styles and Designing Great Beers are both great books. Beer Captured is another that comes to mind, it's more of a recipe book, with basic recipes, but it's a great resource for seeing what goes into some of the most popular and award winning beers from around the world. If you're more into the science of brewing, Yeast.... by Jamil Z. and Chris White is the first book I'd recommend.
Really, there's a ton of books out there, if you're a reader you could occupy yourself for quite awhile with all the books that appeal to you. Also, don't overlook the magazines like BYO and Zymurgy. Both are really good magazines for brewers and will keep you well informed of the current goings on in home brewing.

Groo said:

Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong - A lot of people didn't like this book but for me it was perfect. I think it's actually great for someone who is new to all-grain rather than someone that is experienced. It helped me understand my process better and made me look at what I'm doing in a different way. I brewed 2 of his recipes and they turned out great as well.

Click to expand...

I agree. The book is excellent information for somebody new or relatively new to AG brewing. I think the issue is that the book is billed as though it's going to take experienced AG brewers to the ninkasi. It isn't. He set improper expectations with that book and that's a lot of why people hate on it. Oh, and his overall *****ey attitude and lackluster writing style doesn't help.

Depending on what styles you like, brew like a monk, farmhouse ales and wild brews, are all great reads for their styles. I'm sure the IPA book will do the same for IPAs.

"I'm sure the IPA book will do the same for IPAs."

+1 Got my copy last week. Lots of history about the style and its a real insiders look at how american IPA has come into it's own over the last couple decades. Half the stories start "So, I was sitting around drinking beer with all the guys who brew your favorite IPA's...."

Papazian is great for the historical context and it is a fun read, but I rarely go back to those books.

The book that got me going was Palmer's -- It's great for beginners and seasoned brewers alike. You can learn how to do stove top extract or nerd out on water chemistry.

The two books that I go back to over and over again, though, are Ray Daniels's Designing Great Beers and Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles. Especially once you get into formulating your own recipes, these are indispensable. I rarely follow their advice to the "T", but for a reference point, they are great to have around.

If you are at all interested in Belgians, the three BA Pubs books are also great reads: Farmhouse Ales, Wild Brews, and Brew like a Monk.

Happy reading!

Like several have said, "How to Brew" and "Brewing Classic Styles" are both #1.

brewingbound said:

John Palmer: how to brew. It's the only book I've read. Idk how much it costs to purchase but the first edition is free and it's online http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Click to expand...

Amazon has the 3rd edition in paperback for $10.84. Just ordered it.

At first, I thought the first half of Designing Great Beers was going to be the better part and the second half was going to be a bunch of stuff I knew already. It's a bit outdated. It doesn't mention Briess and Northern Brewer as extract breweries. It's missing many modern hop varieties. However, it goes through a bunch of malts, the pros and cons of LME and DME extract, yeast packaging, handling, strains, and brands, adjuncts, and water in great detail without getting too boring.

The second half is just as interesting. He uses data from 2nd round beers to give the incidence and proportion of various amounts of ingredients, discusses differences between commercial and homebrew entries, and provides a detailed history of the styles he discusses.

brewingbound said:

John Palmer: how to brew. It's the only book I've read. Idk how much it costs to purchase but the first edition is free and it's online http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Click to expand...

How to Brew is definitely my choice as well... but do not go by the free online version. A lot has changed, hell, I think he might even say secondaries are a necessity in the first version -honestly, I get why it's up on the web, but John should take it down.

I guess I should have included that some of the stuff in that book has been changed and modified like the hop utilization but that's what got me excited about brewing beer

Greyhound said:

I have at least a dozen books. My top 3 favorites in order would be:
1. How to Brew
2. Brewing Classic Styles
3. Designing Great Beers (I've heard there may be an update on the way)

Click to expand...

+1 these are my mainstays

brewingbound said:

I guess I should have included that some of the stuff in that book has been changed and modified like the hop utilization but that's what got me excited about brewing beer

Click to expand...

Isn't it ironic... you'd think something posted online with the potential to be updated every minute if so inclined would be more up to date than something published long ago.

J187 said:

Isn't it ironic... you'd think something posted online with the potential to be updated every minute if so inclined would be more up to date than something published long ago.

Click to expand...

That's the incentive to buy the print copy. He still has to make money. Heck, he could pull that page down and save on the web hosting. It's a favor he does for those curious or just getting started.

J187 said:

Isn't it ironic... you'd think something posted online with the potential to be updated every minute if so inclined would be more up to date than something published long ago.

Click to expand...

There's inaccurate information on the Internet?!? ;-)

The price of everything is equal to its value. The online version costs nothing and the book costs something, so it's not ironic at all that the book is more valuable, it's simple economics. There's no such thing as free beer.

J187 said:

Isn't it ironic... you'd think something posted online with the potential to be updated every minute if so inclined would be more up to date than something published long ago.

Click to expand...

Oh, the irony!

Looks like I may have to get the Joy to Homebrewing book considering how many times it's been mentioned in this thread. I have How To Brew. Great read.


Anyway this thread could be stickied or pinned? Some good info here imo.

Yesfan said:

Looks like I may have to get the Joy to Homebrewing book considering how many times it's been mentioned in this thread. I have How To Brew. Great read.


Anyway this thread could be stickied or pinned? Some good info here imo.

Click to expand...

The Complete Joy's great, definitely get it and read it. But if you've already read How to Brew, also think about getting something more specific, like Brewing Classic Styles or Designing Great Beers. Like other's mentioned, books like that you'll keep going back to over and over, for recipes, ideas of what a style takes, etc.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

The Complete Joy's great, definitely get it and read it. But if you've already read How to Brew, also think about getting something more specific, like Brewing Classic Styles or Designing Great Beers. Like other's mentioned, books like that you'll keep going back to over and over, for recipes, ideas of what a style takes, etc.

Click to expand...

I'm about half-way through HtB. Those other titles I'll make a note of as well. Heck, I still have my copy of (don't laugh) Idiot's Guide to Beer somewhere.



On another note, are any of the books mentioned in this thread also on Kindle or online? I know HtB is, but it's $9. I'd still buy the book, but a Kindle version would be great when I wasn't home (I read a lot on my lunch breaks).

This is great, thanks a lot for your detailed posts and responses.

I haven't seen anyone mention my favorite unless I overlooked it in a post but I LOVE Homebrewing for Dummies. It seems like such a generic book but it's extremely informative in a simple straight forward way. After reading it in 2 days I completely understand every part of the process, what's happening, when it should happen, and why. I've only been brewing about 7 months and all of my batches have been really good. Other homebrewers and beer connoisseurs in general have all been really impressed and I owe the knowledge of brewing at this level to that book. Plus it comes with a bunch of award winning recipes to get you started or to use as a base for your own experiment. I actually left it at my LHBS when I was getting grains for one of the recipes. I called and they had it behind the counter for me. When I showed up to get it the guy said, "I looked through your book. I've never read that one but it looks really good." You get the picture, I could go on and on... LOVE IT

JDFlow said:

I owe the knowledge of brewing at this level to that book.

Click to expand...

Well, that book and this site. Definitely ask questions when you're unsure and want answers from experienced people. I've asked A LOT and everyone has been helpful.

Anything by Charlie Papazian, John Palmer, Randy Mosher, Gordon Strong, Drew Beechum, or Jamil Zainesheff. Papazian's book is kind of the bible, although the others all offer interesting and relevant information. To augment your reading, check out archived copies of "The Jamil Show" and "Brew Strong", especially the early episodes. You can find them on iTunes.