Brew books

I am looking to buy a setup to brew, (I have my first beer fermenting in a Mr Beer kit) I have found some great info and advise in this forum but before I buy I will probably get a book as a guide. Any suggestions as to the best book for a beginner such as myself?
I started reloading ammo many years ago and I find it to be very similar to home brew in that you can go into it as deep or simply as you like. With my reloading I started just making ammo then ended up with some very custom loads. I have no doubt that my brewing will end up the same way.
Thanks

The "de facto" book people recommend is "How to Brew" by John Palmer. You can read an older version of the book online at howtobrew.com and there is a new updated hard copy version available for purchase.

I'm currently reading "Extreme Brewing" and "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" as well.

Doctor_Wily said:

The "de facto" book people recommend is "How to Brew" by John Palmer. You can read an older version of the book online at howtobrew.com and there is a new updated hard copy version available for purchase.

I'm currently reading "Extreme Brewing" and "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" as well.

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thanks I will look for it!

I "grew up" on New Complete Joy of Home Brewing. but How to Brew is great. I recommend getting both. Extreme Brewing is a great start for those of us who like to push the envelope. don't limit yourself to one book as your "brewing bible". they all have some great info.

The New Complete Joy of Brewing is a tad out of date, but there are some valuable tables and information in it. Plus it helps reinforce relax and don't worry.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and the Homebrewer's Companion are good and will serve for years.

Euripidez said:

The New Complete Joy of Brewing is a tad out of date, but there are some valuable tables and information in it. Plus it helps reinforce relax and don't worry.

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1. Palmer's book, How to Brew
2. The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Papazian.

I recently bought both, and i've only been doing this three months.

Palmer's a touch better, but the Papazian book is sort of a "requirement"

The series of books might get a bad rap, but Homebrewing For Dummies is excellent.

if you are interested in small batch, all grain, brewing there is one called.

"Beer Craft, Six Packs From Scratch", by William Bostick.

it was actually my first book, and i made my first four batches from it. it's no bad. very informative and it's put together to be easy to use while you are actually doing your brewing

i would still recommend the palmer book, though, because it starts with extract brewing, and doesn't just jump into the deep end of the pool.

Thanks everyone
for the great response, I know that eventually I will probably have every book I can find but now I know where to start.

i've got the palmers one, it's pretty good. a little advanced for a noob. it's easy to kind of glaze over and not read it because of all the math / chemistry kinda stuff.

carguy13 said:

i've got the palmers one, it's pretty good. a little advanced for a noob. it's easy to kind of glaze over and not read it because of all the math / chemistry kinda stuff.

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Not to worry, nowadays there are plenty of online calculators to do all of the heavy thinking for you

I started with Extreme Brewing by the dogfish fellow, and man, I wouldn't change a thing. I also have How To Brew by John, while that is still a great book, if I was starting fresh from start, like I was, I wouldn't trade Extreme Brewing for anything. Just so simple and easy to read. Then advance to John Palmer's.... Just my two pesos....

The first 2 books every brewer should buy

• How to Brew - Palmer
• Brewing Classic Styles - Jamil Z.

The first one will teach you the process, the second one is front-to-back winner recipes, with great qualitative discussion of beer styles.

I've got a whole library of this stuff. BTW, while Extreme Brewing is nice to look at, with some interesting extract recipes, it's not a good "learn to brew" book. I consider it more of a coffee table book.

passedpawn said:

The first 2 books every brewer should buy

• How to Brew - Palmer
• Brewing Classic Styles - Jamil Z.

The first one will teach you the process, the second one is front-to-back winner recipes, with great qualitative discussion of beer styles.

I've got a whole library of this stuff. BTW, while Extreme Brewing is nice to look at, with some interesting extract recipes, it's not a good "learn to brew" book. I consider it more of a coffee table book.

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I would consider it completely useless if it wasn't the first book I read. But the book covers the basics, very simply, totally a great place to start. Why the hell would I have that on my coffee table, to stare at pictures? Sorry man, we are here to brew, not look at pictures in our pretty book, it does hold super easy, imperative info....

jakenbacon said:

Why the hell would I have that on my coffee table, to stare at pictures?

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Yes.

Though they aren't really good for learning to brew, I really like reading the Classic Beer Style Series. They have individual volumes for different styles.

How to Brew is a great read, and is a book that you can reference as you develop as a brewer. The Joy... is great, but a bit dated. Brewing Classic Styles is great for reference about what a style should be like. I also like Radical Brewing as well. Extreme brewing is neat, but all extract recipes.

I started out with Brewing Lager by John Alexander and it has stayed with me when all other books have failed to provide me with useful information.
It is an easy read with good explanations and a few recepies.