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San_Diego_Matt

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When you get your first aircooled VW, everyone tells you to buy John Muir's book A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot.

Is there a book like this for brewing? I looked at www.howtobrew.com and see John Palmer's first edition book that's free to view on line, but it also mentions that the third edition is now available. Should I spend the $ for the third edition? Is this even the book I need?

For some background, I've never brewed before, but have been to several brew days with the local homebrew club and am currently starting to collect the equipment to brew my pwn beer. I'm hoping to brew my first batch in January and it will probably be an extract beer or maybe a partial mach/extract one.

So, what other books will I need? At this point, I'm more interested in books on how to brew than I am in recipe books.

TIA

Matt
 
Buy the book. I have the 2nd edition, and I'm still considering purchasing the 3rd. It's a great book and answers just about everything you need to know to get started and then some.
 
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian

Homebrewing for Dummies is a good book too.
 
davy said:
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian

Homebrewing for Dummies is a good book too.

Also good suggestions! People are sometimes skeptical of the "Dummies" books, but "Homebrewing for Dummies" is very useful. Dave Miller's "Homebrewing Guide" is very good, but a little outdated on some topics. Palmer's 3rd edition has replaced Miller as my go-to book for answers to most questions.
 
I love reading brewing books and have starterd a library of them.

The best bang for the buck for a beginner ( and I include myself here, as the book is that good) would be the 3rd How to Brew.

Follow the instructions in that book and you'll make great beer.
 
How to Brew is money well spent. I am also addicted to brewing books and have started a small library. It starts with Palmer, then you get a little more interested and maybe buy Miller. Now you're interested in certain styles and you buy books dedicated to wheat beers or lagers. Next thing you know you're reading Noonan and wondering how you ever made beer without decoctions.

But definitely start with How to Brew :D
 
I started with Palmer - read the online version then bought the 3rd edition. I'm still reading Designing Great Beers and Extreme Brewing.

Designing Great Beers is a tough read, but it's packed with good information. Extreme Brewing is a fun read - not AS much info, but plenty of great stuff to make it well worth it.
 
Another step would be geting actual textbooks from brewing school. They contain a lot of useful information. But as a homebrewer you have to be able to figure out what matters to your process and what not. There is a lot that commercial brewers do that we don't have to worry about so much. The only prioblem with these books is, that they are rather expensive. I had my perents send one over from Germany and this book has been my best read about brewing so far.

George Fix' Brewing Science book is pretty good too.

Kai
 
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