Reference Books

My local home brewing store and has a pretty decent selection of titles:

1st Steps in Yeast Culturing
Brew Chem 101
Brewer's Companion
Brewing Lager Beers
The Complete Joy of Home Brewing
Designing Great Beers
Dictionary of Brewing
Essentials of Beer Styles
Extreme Brewing
Homebrewer's Companion
Homebrewer's Guide
Homebrewer's Garden
Homegrown Hops
How to Brew
Pocket Guide to Beer
Principles of Brewing Science
True Brew Handbook

Is there a book considered to be "the bible" of brewing?

Thanks - BH

bhethcote said:

My local home brewing store and has a pretty decent selection of titles:

1st Steps in Yeast Culturing
Brew Chem 101
Brewer's Companion
Brewing Lager Beers
The Complete Joy of Home Brewing
Designing Great Beers
Dictionary of Brewing
Essentials of Beer Styles
Extreme Brewing
Homebrewer's Companion
Homebrewer's Guide
Homebrewer's Garden
Homegrown Hops
How to Brew
Pocket Guide to Beer
Principles of Brewing Science
True Brew Handbook

Is there a book considered to be "the bible" of brewing?

Thanks - BH

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Yes: The Complete Joy of Home Brewing (RDWHAHB)

Actually, skip The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. It's outdated at this point. The bible is John Palmer's "How to Brew."

You can read the first edition online How to Brew, but get the third print edition. It walks you through every step of brewing and gives you the rationale and science behind everything (if you want it). There is no better one-stop brewing reference.

Chad

Chad said:

Actually, skip The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. It's outdated at this point. The bible is John Palmer's "How to Brew."
Chad

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I enjoy the "classics."

Chad said:

Actually, skip The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. It's outdated at this point. The bible is John Palmer's "How to Brew."

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I learned how to bre using Palmer's book, but the Complete Joy is good also. Nobody is saying you need to stop at one book. The more you read, the more you know and knowing is half the battle.

'The Bible' would be 'The Hombrewer's Bible' which I don't have but hear a lot of people reference it. I wouldn't say 'The Complete Joy' is out of date at all but I think the best book to get is John Palmer's. For lagers you can't beat (New) Brewing Lager Beer by Noonan. I think it's good to get a lot of books, they all have something to learn from. My first book was Dave Miller's Homebrewing guide which many would say is out of date but I love that book and has some great info.

I found John Palmer's "How to Brew." to be the best so far. But trust me - once you buy one it's a slippery slope and you will have most of those at some point!! LOL

I recently went through this. I read 5 books before brewing my first batch.

Palmer's book is the best, hands down, but it's too much info for your first batch. I would recommend either Radical Brewing or Brewing for Dummies first. Once you've got your first batch done, read Palmer. It will make A LOT more sense and you will get more out of it that way.

Grinder12000 said:

I found John Palmer's "How to Brew." to be the best so far. But trust me - once you buy one it's a slippery slope and you will have most of those at some point!! LOL

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I agree.

As soon as I finished The Complete Joy of Home Brewing I went and got another book. Now I'm reading one about Mead and have 5 beer books in the waiting list for their turn to be read.

That reminds me, any good books about Soda making?

+1 for "How to Brew" (3rd Ed.)

I read Complete Joy of Homebrewing cover to cover first, but as others have mentioned, there is some out of date info in there. It is an excellent book, but it is also a bit like reading a textbook. I would get both if you can, but start with Palmer's book.

Parker36 said:

I learned how to bre using Palmer's book, but the Complete Joy is good also. Nobody is saying you need to stop at one book. The more you read, the more you know and knowing is half the battle.

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Alright, I'm laughing for the rest of the day about that!

How to Brew is very good! As someone else mentioned, it has more information than you need for your first batch, but you don't have to get into all that if you don't want to.

Papazian is good for your first batch, but you soon will outgrow that. In any case, though, you should read it. Charlie is a great philosopher about brewing, and his thoughts are priceless.

Brewing for Dummies also is a great way to start. I've given that book to more than one person who wanted to get into brewing and didn't mind being called a "dummy."

Miller also is good. Sometimes, he seems to go off the rails a little, but you want to read it. As someone else mentioned, you really ought to read Noonan (or, at least, parts of it) before brewing lagers. There also is a great wiki on this site with lots of good information to get you started. Don't pass up that free resource.

Skip the other stuff for now. It's a bit advanced. Read the basics first, then get into Designing Great Beers and Extreme Brewing. However, Mosher is a damned fine read at any time (and one heck of a good guy!).

No matter what, you cannot read too much, even if it means getting into Dr. Fix and all his intricacies!


TL

Bigsnake said:

...That reminds me, any good books about Soda making?

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I just purchased Homemade rootbeer, soda, & pop I should be getting it monday. Ill let you know how it is.

Timekiller said:

I just purchased Homemade rootbeer, soda, & pop I should be getting it monday. Ill let you know how it is.

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Thanks! I've seen that one online before and always wondered how it is.

Although Papazian and his Complete Joy of Homebrewing might have some detractors, I agree with others that it is great for your first batch. After reading it for the first time, I was really excited about trying to homebrew. The guy knows a great deal about homebrewing, and has some great philosophies.

Certainly, How to Brew is indispensable, but I would try Complete Joy of Homebrewing first. Heck, buy both of them - you'll end up doing it eventually anyway.

I read The Complete Joy of Home brewing back in '94 and brewed three simple canned hoped extract batches. I got to say I learned about everything I know from that book. I just started brewing again and read Palmer's on-line edition. I want to read Designing Great Beers next.

The internet is a great source of information, but I think if they saw some housewife brewing a batch of ale 200 years ago they all complain how she did everything wrong. Beer is older than us it it will go on without us--we are all wrong or, at least, we all have beer!

+1 for Palmer! that book will get you started on your first extract batch, and you will refer to it when you are brewing all grain(I just did my 3rd batch today, and it was right there, just in case).

I've not read Papazian and I've only perused parts of the online-version of How To Brew (which looks very strong, and seems to be the consensus intro reference at the moment).

I got my start with Miller's Homebrewer's Guide.

In my "reference" library I have the following, listed in the order that I would recommend them for someone getting started. I find all of them useful.

Homebrewer's Guide, Dave Miller -- A good overall reference covering extract, all grain, ales, lagers, kegging, bottling, fermentation. I like that for each major step in brewing he has two chapters: a "what's going on from a scientific/technical standpoint", and "what am I doing here from a practicum standpoint" Not a perfect book, but pretty strong, imo.
New Brewing Lager Beer, Greg Noonan -- This is the reference for brewing lagers, imo.
Designing Great Beers, Ray Daniels -- This book is a virtual necessity for learning to develop your own recipes, but I think it is a good book for anyone to read who wants to understand some of the major styles from both a recipe and historical standpoint. An excellent book. My biggest "complaint" with this one is that it doesn't cover every style.
Brewing Classic Styles, Palmer/J.Z. -- I haven't actually brewed any recipe out of this book yet, but there's a wealth of information about every BJCP style, how to brew it well to style, and a proven recipe to examine. Good book.
Analysis of Brewing Techniques, George Fix -- This book focuses on the scientific aspects of brewing. A good read if you are intrested in that sort of thing. I am, so...
Using Hops, Garetz -- This book has quite a bit of information about hops from how they are farmed and processed, how to use and store them, how to calculate bitterness impact, right through to how to grow your own. There is also a section about common varieties: name, region, general alpha, charactaristics, and substitutions. But this section doesn't have many of the newer varieties such as Amarillo, Zues, Sterling, and others. A decent book, but somewhat dated.
Radical Brewing, Mosher -- I like Mosher's style. Period.
Brew Like a Monk, Hieronymous -- I just picked this up and haven't finished it yet, but this is the consensus book for anyone interested in Belgian styles...

I didn't really mean to type that much!

Timekiller said:

I just purchased Homemade rootbeer, soda, & pop I should be getting it monday. Ill let you know how it is.

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please do

Bigsnake said:

Thanks! I've seen that one online before and always wondered how it is.

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comp said:

please do

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My REVIEW of Homemade Root beer, soda, and pop is up!

Good book, BTW