Advice on a book purchase

I am looking for advice from the experienced....

I am about to use up an Amazon.com gift cert on a few brewing books and I need to know which is the better companion to How to Brew:

Brewing Classic Styles

or

Designing Great Beers.

I am new to brewing, and I am brewing strictly extract for at least the next year. My goal is to, sooner rather than later, begin creating my own recipes as opposed to using kits or "borrowing" recipes from the net.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Both books are awesome, but they are totally different.

Designing Great Beers is a very long book, talking about the science and techniques of brewing as well as the style guidelines.

Brewing Classic Styles goes style by style through each type, and gives you a recipe or two that are exactly to style. There is a very short description of each style, and what makes the style distinct.

If I was starting out, and still doing extract beers, I'd get Classic Styles.

If you are really trying to devise your own recipes in the long run, Designing Great Beers is an excellent book. However it really doesn't have any recipes for you to cut your teeth on. I think you might be better off with Brewing Classic Styles in order to get a few batches under your belt with tried and true recipes. There are extract versions of every recipe. As you get through a few BCS recipes you'll likely begin to see the trends in recipe formulation and get a feel for creating your own recipes eventually.

If I was in your boat I would get classic styles. That's what I've done.

I don't have Ray's book though.

I'm with the majority. Get Classic Styles first. DGB is awesome, but more technical and won't be as much of a use to you at this point.

I guess it comes down to whether you want to buy a book of recipes (with some brief description of the styles), or if you want to teach yourself how to make your own recipes.

Get Brewing Classic Styles if it is the former, and Designing Great Beers if it is the latter.

Or just cough up some cash and get both -- they are very complementary. I own both and refer back to each of them on a constant basis.

How to Brew by John Palmer is the only brew book I ever bought (so I might be a little bias), but its pretty much covers the basic to start. As well as gets into the nitty gritty science behind zymurgy. At barnes and nobles it $20, which is quite cheap comparied to the other books with half the knowledge.

I would recommend either How to Brew (John Palmer), or Joy of Homebrewing (Charlie Papazian) for brewing reference, and Brewing Classic Styles for recipes and short descriptions. Designing Great Beers is a good book, but a bit technical and the recipes are not really recipes IMO. It's more of a style guide with some homebrewing tech help. It's a good resource. I keep a copy in the back bathroom for those leg-numbing, stomach cramping, extended period sit-downs.

Brewing Classic Styles gives you the quick style guide and what to expect and a large number of recipes that you can follow. It's next on my brewing book purchase list.

Guys -- please read the first post in a thread to see what question is being asked before chiming in with your opinion. The OP said he already has How to Brew and was wondering which book complements it better: Brewing Classic Styles or Designing Great Beers.

It sucks when you post a thread and it quickly goes off track because people start chiming in with opinions that don't relate to the original topic/question.

Actually, sounds to me like Designing Great Beers might be your choice. If you are already going to be buying kits and "borrowing" recipes online, then what's the point of buying a book of more of the same. If you aspire to come up with your own recipes in the not so distant future, "Designing" might be better. Granted I don't own Brewing Classic Styles, but from everyone's descriptions I think "Designing" is your fits into your gameplan a little better. Just my two cents.

I have both and am going to go against the grain a little and recommend that you get Designing. It contains more information, obviously, about designing brews but also provides a lot of history of each style, moreso than Classic does. It's a much more technical book. I owned it prior to owning Classic and I think it probably helped me to understand and enjoy Classic more than I would have otherwise.

Yes, Classic has more ready recipes and is more extract friendly but you can get recipes here on the recipe forum. I believe you will learn much more from Designing.

You'll probably end up with both though so if you can cough up the cash, get them both now.

Huh. I own and love Designing Great Beers, but I hadn't heard of Brewing Classic Styles. It sounds like a useful book. I'll have to pick up a copy.

+1 Brewing Classic Styles

Designing Great Beers all the way.

had I read this book ahead of all the others on brewing (not that I've read so many) I would not have made half the mistakes that I have to date.

I would go so far as to say that everyone would benefit from reading that book first, and then even Palmers book, which is a classic.

Cheers

Lucas

Designing Great Beers.

You not only get background on the styles, you get the nuts and bolts, the how and why, of the grain bills, yeasts and hops. Not recipes, but how to make your own recipes.

You will be able to literally "design" beers you want. Like somethings about a style, but not like other things? You will be able to keep the parts you like, and minimize or remove the parts you don't.

Thanks for all the responses.

In the end, I ended up ordering How to Brew and Brewing Classic Styles, but as it was suggested in one of the responses, I am sure I will pick up the other shortly.

Now I just have to wait for delivery.

Why is it waiting is ever present in this new hobby(obsession) of mine....

Heeeeyyyy...How to Brew wasn't one of the choices!
I have that one as well and it's a great book. You'll enjoy and use all three I'm sure.

Not to muddy the waters here, but my favorite has to be Greg Noonan's "New Lager Brewing".

He has a section of several pages to help you calculate exactly what recipe you're working toward. His writing style and technique make the process very easy to comprehend.

JayJitsu said:

In the end, I ended up ordering How to Brew and Brewing Classic Styles, but as it was suggested in one of the responses, I am sure I will pick up the other shortly.

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I think this was the right decision. For the time being, you are taking the first steps, and these books will give you a great foundation. How to Brew is my favorite; even after a few batches under my belt, I still go back to it time and again to look up answers to questions that arise. BCS is great because it gives you a nice breakdown of the BJCP styles and recipes to immediately try it on your own. And, since you know they are award-winning recipes, you know that the result will also be great.

Once you've digested these and tried a batch or two (or 5 or 6...), Designing Great Beers will mean more to you. It assumes at least passing knowledge with home brewing and gets into the nuts and bolts that are meaningless if you don't have the basic knowledge.

One more suggestion. My favorite book next to How To Brew is Radical Brewing, by Randy Mosher. It's quirky, irreverent, and meant to make you think about the brewing process in a way that gets the creative juices flowing. Just one to consider if you're looking for other options.

In all, I think these are the four best home brewing books out there. Can't go wrong with any combination of them.