Brewing Classic Styles

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SuperiorBrew

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Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer

I really like this book, It does not replace Palmer's or Papazian's classics books for info on how to brew but what it does do is give you info on styles, choosing ingredients & extract brewing. It also touches on AG and kegging.

Its strong point is that it has over 20 categories of beers with several subcategories in each. Jamil tells you what a good example of each beer should taste like, provies keys to brewing that particular beer and provides a recent (last 3 years) award winning recipes in both extract and all grain versions.

Palmer also had Appendix’s on Pitching rates and starters, steeping specialty grains, stovetop partial mashing and priming rates and co2 volumes.

I find myself going to this book constantly to decide what to brew next and then again when I am ready to create the recipe.
 
After listening to all the archived material for Jamil's "radio" show on the brewing network, I put this book on the Christmas list, and if I don't get a copy, it will be my very next purchase.
 
I just got this book today as a late Christmas present from my sister!

13599-Photo6.jpg


I'll be going through it in depth shortly....
 
SuperiorBrew said:
Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer

I really like this book, It does not replace Palmer's or Papazian's classics books for info on how to brew but what it does do is give you info on styles, choosing ingredients & extract brewing. It also touches on AG and kegging.
...

I also really like this book. If you like the radio program and listen for brewing tips as well as recipes, then this book will not let you down. Its like having an edited and condensed transcript of all the shows.

Along with each recipe there is a brewing tips section that describes what you are trying to achieve with each style and pitfalls to avoid.

The chapter on "Brewing Great Beer with Extract" has several useful tips that all brewers will find useful, not just those brewing with extract.

The chapter titled "Brewing These Recipes" lays out Jamil's and John's philosophy/methodology for handling fermentation for both ales and lagers that is informative.

Interestingly, it says "In general, we recommend a single-vessel fermentation for a minimum of 1 week, and not more than 4 weeks, before packaging. Racking to a secondary fermenter is not recommended except for beer requiring a long maturation, such as lagers, or beer requiring a second fermentation, such as sour ales and fruit beers."
 
Beerthoven said:
I also really like this book. If you like the radio program and listen for brewing tips as well as recipes, then this book will not let you down. Its like having an edited and condensed transcript of all the shows.

Along with each recipe there is a brewing tips section that describes what you are trying to achieve with each style and pitfalls to avoid.

The chapter on "Brewing Great Beer with Extract" has several useful tips that all brewers will find useful, not just those brewing with extract.

The chapter titled "Brewing These Recipes" lays out Jamil's and John's philosophy/methodology for handling fermentation for both ales and lagers that is informative.

Interestingly, it says "In general, we recommend a single-vessel fermentation for a minimum of 1 week, and not more than 4 weeks, before packaging. Racking to a secondary fermenter is not recommended except for beer requiring a long maturation, such as lagers, or beer requiring a second fermentation, such as sour ales and fruit beers."

I also noticed this:

we recommend chilling the wort to down to 44º (7º C) and racking the beer away from the bulk of the cold break material before oxygenating and pitching the yeast. The fermentation chamber should be set up to warm slowly over the first 36 hours to 48 hours to 50º F (10º C) and held at that temperature for the rest of fermentation. This results in a clean lager, with very little diacetyl.

And started a new thread on these topics here
 
It's an ok book. I've brewed his extract Robust Porter and it is absolutely fantastic, however his AG conversion seems to be lacking. Even from his own site, the recipe was COMPLETELY different. I'm also not sure I trust his AG conversion guides (IE: just replace the extract with xx pounds of 2-row). Believe me, if you do the extract and AG versions of the same recipe, they come out miles apart, which (IMHO) makes them a different recipe completely.

YMMV
 
jezter6 said:
It's an ok book. I've brewed his extract Robust Porter and it is absolutely fantastic, however his AG conversion seems to be lacking. Even from his own site, the recipe was COMPLETELY different. I'm also not sure I trust his AG conversion guides (IE: just replace the extract with xx pounds of 2-row). Believe me, if you do the extract and AG versions of the same recipe, they come out miles apart, which (IMHO) makes them a different recipe completely.

YMMV

The all grain version is (almost) exactly what is posted here: http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/JamilsRobust Porter.htm

It really should be as simple as replacing the base malts, substituting the extract for grain at a given efficiency without changing any of the specialty malts. If you do this and they come out very different I would think it is a process problem or there is something weird going on with the extract.
 
Well, what I meant to say was -

Go find his extract recipe for Robust Porter. Completely different hop schedule than the recipe you linked to.

Seems like if you are making a conversion, you would (attempt) to make them taste the same, just with grains instead of extracts.
 
jezter6 said:
Go find his extract recipe for Robust Porter. Completely different hop schedule than the recipe you linked to.

Seems like if you are making a conversion, you would (attempt) to make them taste the same, just with grains instead of extracts.

Can I assume that these two sentences are not connected? Based upon that assumption, then I have to ask, with the recipe FROM THE BOOK, what about the extract to grain conversion is making the recipe taste different? Being that he brews all grain himself, on a B3-1550, I would expect the AG version to be the original version of the recipe, and the extract version to have been the "conversion".

Man I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book.
 
Good point. I didn't check in the book's Robust Porter section to see if there were any different conversion notes between the extract and AG that specify if the hopping is completely different in one and not the other.

Most of Jamil's recipes are in Extract, with a conversion guideline for AG, at least from what I saw in the book. That being said, I've been brewing his Robust porter (both version) before the book was out, and they are completely different. If this book presents yet a 3rd "version" of the recipe that is different from what is already released, then I'm concerned about the authenticity of his stuff.

I don't care which recipe was 'first' and which is the 'conversion.' His online recipes out at the same site linked to above, it's not so much the amount/time of the hop schedule that's different -- different hops. How are 2 beers that are supposed to be the same recipe using different hops? I can understand adjusting amount/time based on getting different extraction in AG, but different hops? It doesn't make sense to me...

Edit: By 'authenticity' I mean - is it really the 'same recipe' or is it something converted only for the sake of the book but never brewed in that form.
 
jezter6 said:
Well, what I meant to say was -

Go find his extract recipe for Robust Porter. Completely different hop schedule than the recipe you linked to.

Seems like if you are making a conversion, you would (attempt) to make them taste the same, just with grains instead of extracts.

Yes, I am pretty sure everything in the 2 recipes (extract vs. all grain) should be the same with the exception of extract vs. grain. I have never heard a show where he says anything different and the recipes in the book support this as well. The BeerDujour site has been wrong in the past and is not created or edited by Jamil. I would go by what is in the book and if there is a discrepancy you can post over the The Brewing Network forum and he usually responds (read the thread on the oatmeal stout, it was completely wrong on BeerDujour).
 
Beerrific said:
Yes, I am pretty sure everything in the 2 recipes (extract vs. all grain) should be the same with the exception of extract vs. grain. I have never heard a show where he says anything different and the recipes in the book support this as well. The BeerDujour site has been wrong in the past and is not created or edited by Jamil. I would go by what is in the book and if there is a discrepancy you can post over the The Brewing Network forum and he usually responds (read the thread on the oatmeal stout, it was completely wrong on BeerDujour).

A possibility I didn't think of. Good point.

Now - if you like porter, go brew Robust Porter. It's a damn fine recipe, and the extract version tasted amazing. The hops were different when I did AG (per BeerDujour), and it tasted quite different. I recommend the extract or a conversion of the extract.
 
All the hop schedules are the same in the book for both the AG and extract versions.
For the robust porter it's:

Kent goldings 1.75oz (60 min)
Fuggles 0.75 oz (15 min)
Kent goldings 0.75oz (0 min)
 
Hrmm.. I made the one on Beer Dujour:

1.65 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.40 33.9 60 min
0.75 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.40 0.0 0 min

Tasted AWESOME. The fuggles one wasn't quite as good (IMHO).
 
Has anyone else brewed anything from this book yet? I just ordered it and am wondering if anyone has any success or failure stories.
 
jzal8 said:
Has anyone else brewed anything from this book yet? I just ordered it and am wondering if anyone has any success or failure stories.

I just got the book, but since these are just Jamil's recipes I have made recipes that are in the book.

I have made Jamil's Northern English Brown, Oatmeal Stout, and Munich Helles. All excellent beers.
 
jzal8 said:
Has anyone else brewed anything from this book yet? I just ordered it and am wondering if anyone has any success or failure stories.
I just received it yesterday. I am already reading through to find the first couple I "have" to try.

Matt
 
I got the book a month or two ago, but have only done the Pale Mild Ale recipe. It was outstanding.

The book is really good. It was a little lighter on the information than I had anticipated, but after reading it once, I am not disappointed. This is one very helpful book for understanding and brewing individual styles.
 
Great well then I don't regret my decision to get this guy. At the very least I am hoping it will be a reliable jumping off point for exploring how to brew new styles.
 
Hi All

I am attempting to use the Jamil Z & Palmer book for recipes. I have a question and hope someone may be able to help me with.

Each recipe offers an all grain option for substituting the extract addition. It suggests the type of grain and weight of the grain to substitute for that extract.

There is no mention of what to do with steeping grains. My inclination is to simply take the steeping grains and add them to the all grain recipe and mash it all.

Should I treat steeping grains as I would a base malt and add them to an all grain mash?
 
I really like this book. I use HBT's recipe database most of the time to find a recipe I want. However it's nice to have a book to flip through to get starting ideas for styles.
 
Just to bump this and to keep it updated:

I swear by this book! I have made 10 recipes from it and am quite pleased with the results. I went from bottling HBT recipes to kegging Brewing Classic Styles recipes and I have seen a huge improvement in my beers. If you brew five gallon batches and want to see improvement in your brewing I can't recommend this book enough.

I only brew from this book, and will do so until I have won enough competitions to want to forage out on my own.
 
Zombie Thread!!

So I just got this book and I gotta say, I'm inspired!

I want to start trying some new styles that I've never tried before.

I know this is a bold vision (and I'm wondering if anyone else here has tried this) but I'm thinking about tempting to brew each and all of the styles here!

I'm gonna skip around and maybe not make every sub-category, and I'll probably tweak each recipe just a bit, but I am gonna start with some Lagers.

One question: (as I've never attempted a lager) when it says to "Allow the beer to lager approximately 4 weeks" does that include fermentation? If not how long to lagers usually take to ferment? Do I just take hydrometer readings and then when it's done start the lagering process? If I'm fermenting at 50degrees, is the lagering temp the same?

Ok that was more one question. :D

Great book!
 
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