Favorite Homebrew Books - Let's Talk

[derekp83]

We almost all have them, and if you don't, you need to get some: books for homebrewing.

For recipes, I'm a big fan of North American Clone Brews by Scott R. Russell. I've done a dry Irish stout and more recently, a brown ale. The author uses an interesting calculation to pin down IBUs to account for variations in alpha acids. The base of each recipe is for partial mash, but all-extract (though it actually reflects extract w/ specialty grains) and all-grain versions are included in the margins. I love this book.

For the process, I've always enjoyed Charles Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and John Palmer's How to Brew. They are absolutely essential for anybody stepping into the hobby as they include the most straight forward steps while also providing greater insights and detail for anyone willing to dig deeper into the later chapters.

One book that I read and skim a lot, but haven't yet used for its recipes is British Real Ale by Graham Wheeler. Aside from including a slew of British ale clone recipes (I really want to try the Highgate Mild), there's also process sections and very interesting tips and insights, like the rule of thumb when it comes to bottle conditioning: 1 week for every 10 points of gravity.

Curious to hear what everybody else frequents when it comes to brewing.

 

[imasickboy]

I'm a fan of Brewing Classic Styles. The recipes are solid, and award winning. They are to style, but just enough off-centered that they are able to garner attention in competition. They're a great base for creating your own.

I'm also a big fan of the style books from the AHA. Many are very dated, but full of great recipe knowledge and technique that experienced brewers can incorporate into their skillset.

 

[Franktalk]

The BYO book of clones. Some nice recipes in there.

 

[bkboiler]

I've read a lot of homebrewing books on Kindle including many of those mentioned. So far my favorite is been Brew Like a Monk by Stan Hieronymus. Just a different backstory than only the brews...

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Curious to hear what everybody else frequents when it comes to brewing.

New in 2019:

• The New IPA (Janish). Hop science + a whole lot more
• Simple Homebrewing: Great Beer, Less Work, More Fun (Conn & Beechum).

Books, revisited for specific purposes, in 2019:

• Homebrew: Beyond The Basics (Karnowski). for me, noteworthy for its ready to measure water profiles for those who brew all-grain using RO water.
  
• Brewing Engineering (Deeds). for me, noteworthy for its ready to measure brewing salts additions for those who brew extract+steep using RO water.
  
• Methods of Modern Homebrewing (Colby)
• Brewing Beter Beer (Strong)
• How to Brew, 4e (Palmer)

Mastering Homebrew and Radical Brewing may see more use this year if I switch my focus from processes to ingredients.

 

[Dgallo]

Great for beginner

And just an amazing read

 

[riceral]

Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer is my go-to book for process. More of an intermediate book than a beginner book.

Malt, Hops, Yeast are also on my list

Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing and Tasting Beer.

 

[bkboiler]

I'd also second the recommendation for Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer. A very inexpensive purchase on Kindle ($3 when I bought) and great to study for the BJCP exam. A very interesting read as well.

 

[Zambezi Special]

John Palmer's "how to brew", and BYO (more a magazine) "guide to all grain brewing".
I would like to get "Brew like a monk" as I like Belgian beers and have been looking at "home brew beyond the basics"

 

[Zambezi Special]

John Palmer's "how to brew", and BYO (more a magazine) "guide to all grain brewing".
I would like to get "Brew like a monk" as I like Belgian beers and have been looking at "home brew beyond the basics"

 

[Wayne1]

As of lately:

Ron Pattinson's The Homebrewer's Guide to Vintage Beer and Let's Brew

Gordon Strong's Modern Homebrewing Recipes

 

[Beholder]

Another great one to add to the list, Designing Great Beers.


https://www.brewerspublications.com...MIoNvZ2Jb-5gIVDYvICh2k0whmEAAYASAAEgLO7fD_BwE

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Another great one to add to the list, Designing Great Beers.


https://www.brewerspublications.com...MIoNvZ2Jb-5gIVDYvICh2k0whmEAAYASAAEgLO7fD_BwE

For updated data, there is an spreadsheet (over in /r/homebrewing [link]). Many of the older winning recipes can still be found via the "way back machine" [link]. AHA membership will get you access to newer styles as well as recent silver and bronze winner recipes.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I'm also a big fan of the style books from the AHA. Many are very dated, but full of great recipe knowledge and technique that experienced brewers can incorporate into their skillset.

These were (still can be?) a pretty great resources. I liked the concept (even if they repeated some basic brewing info in each that was often contradictory...and it got pricey to buy lots of them). I have a few and I find that when I pull them out that, while maybe that style of beer has not change much, 1) often there is new information about the history of the style that is not included or the history in the book has been shown to be wrong and 2) the general information on how to brew examples of the styles is way out of date. I was just looking through the German Wheat book at it was talking about how hard it was to get access to authentic German ingredients or authentic examples of the yeasts used.

"Designing Great Beers" is also quite outdated. I am cool that it does not have any stats for the latest New Zealand hops, but the book was published before Simcoe and Amarillo were released. I know the ingredients that I had access to 15 years ago were a shell of what you can get now. There is still a lot of good info in that book.