Beer book sugestions

[Eltenchiz]

Hi all,
I got an amazon gift card from my work the other day and I decided to get a beer book. I already have the John Palmer how to and the dummies guide. Love the Palmer book and reference it all the time. I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a good brewing, history, styles, etc. beer book.
Thanks
Mike

 

[logan3825]

Designing Great Beers and Brewing Classic Styles are both in my collection. Liked both a lot and still use them as reference from time to time.

I also have Brew Like a Monk. Good book on Belgian styles. It helps know more about the styles but gives fewer specifics on the styles than the other two books. It gives more background than actual recipe building but it does have a few recipes.

 

[gimmejava]

Brew Like a Monk, without a doubt. I also highly recommend Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. He does a great job covering the different styles and it is packed full of information. I love Mosher's writing style.

 

[jonmohno]

The complete joy of Homebrewing. By Charlie Papazian.
I got a book which says its for easy brewing.Its mostly extract/partial mash. All the recipes i brewed out of it were very good I just convert it to all grain.It is the Homebrewers Recipe Guide. When i got this as a gift i was starting doing all grain-so despite being disapointed in getting it since it wasnt all grain recipes converting it wasnt hard and they turned out really good.

 

[craigger64]

I like both Designing Great Beers and Radical Brewing. I've learned TONS from both. The way Designing Great Beers is written, it reminds me of a textbook, and I've learned from it in the same way I would a textbook. I go to both books quite often. Honestly though, I've learned more about brewing from this forum and from actually brewing than I have from any of the books in my brewing library.

 

[Eltenchiz]

Thanks so far! I am going to take a look at these as soon as I get a chance.

 

[beergolf]

Designing Great Beers.

Also if you like Belgians, Brew Like a Monk is a great book.

 

[biochemedic]

The book on yeast by Jamil Z and Chris White (of White Labs) is an awesome book, and definitely changed some of my techniques, and convinced me to add others (oxygenation, etc.), which has definitely benefited my brewing.

+1 to Brew Like A Monk and Radical Brewing! I've heard alot about Designing Great Beers, and that will probably be my next beer book purchase.

As much as I hate to say it, Papa Charlie's book is probably extraneous if you already have Palmer...

 

[Eltenchiz]

The book on yeast by Jamil Z and Chris White (of White Labs) is an awesome book, and definitely changed some of my techniques, and convinced me to add others (oxygenation, etc.), which has definitely benefited my brewing.

+1 to Brew Like A Monk and Radical Brewing! I've heard alot about Designing Great Beers, and that will probably be my next beer book purchase.

As much as I hate to say it, Papa Charlie's book is probably extraneous if you already have Palmer...

Thanks a lot everyone! I ended up getting the book on yeast. I'll let u all know how it is.
Mike

 

[hogwash]

I see you've made your purchase but I recommend Randy Mosher's "Tasting Beer" for historical perspective, style descriptions & classic examples of a style, and even some food pairing recommendations. It touches on brewing a little bit but is by no means a "brewing" book. However, my beer knowledge grew quite a bit as I read this one and I keep it in the "reading room" and love to thumb through it while I'm taking care of business.

I have also learned a lot about brewing from Brewing Classic Styles. I have Designing Great Beers and Yeast but have not delved into them as much but I certainly need and intend to do just that.

 

[Spartan1979]

Brew Like a Monk, without a doubt. I also highly recommend Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. He does a great job covering the different styles and it is packed full of information. I love Mosher's writing style.

I'll second these.

 

[Super64]

I'm going to bump this thread because, like the OP, I got a Amazon card from my family and wanted to get a recipe book also.

I've looked at Jamil and John Palmer's book and Designing Great Beers on line (or as much as they will show you), and I own Charlie Pap's book.

I'm looking for all grain recipes so for you guys that have those books, are there a fair number of all-grain recipes in there?

-Thanks.

 

[Braufessor]

For recipe's, I really like "Brewing Classic Styles" by Jamil. Covers basically every style category. Gives some background about each style and a specific recipe for each. Great starting point to get a tried and true base recipe for each style.

Radical Brewing is a book I recently purchased. I have not read it yet, but I have flipped through it and it looks good. Covers more information than "Classic Styles" (which is basically a recipe book). The radical brewing book has a lot of the "how to brew", ingredients, food and beer, measurements, etc. I would say about 100 pages are devoted to that type of stuff. The other 200 pages are devoted to types of beers "normal" beers, Lagers, belgians, big beers, fruit/spice, etc. Each chapter talks about the beers, offers recipes, etc.

Both are good - I would say if you want accurate, time-tested, recipes that are "to style" - get "Classic Styles." If you want a broader book, more experimental/unusual/extreme recipes go with radical brewing.

Or, just get them both

 

[BobBailey]

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher is also a great book. Lots of history and old time techniques.

bob

 

[KISS Brew]

Both are good - I would say if you want accurate, time-tested, recipes that are "to style" - get "Classic Styles." If you want a broader book, more experimental/unusual/extreme recipes go with radical brewing.

Or, just get them both

This advice is excellent.

 

[ktblunden]

I'm going to bump this thread because, like the OP, I got a Amazon card from my family and wanted to get a recipe book also.

I've looked at Jamil and John Palmer's book and Designing Great Beers on line (or as much as they will show you), and I own Charlie Pap's book.

I'm looking for all grain recipes so for you guys that have those books, are there a fair number of all-grain recipes in there?

-Thanks.

Brewing Classic Styles gives the recipes in extract form with an all grain option at the end of each recipe that gives you the substitutions and mash temp/time.

 

[Super64]

Thanks Guys, awesome info. Placing an order today

 

[hogwash]

Brewing Classic Styles for recipes, Designing Great Beers for learning how to build your own recipe.

I think the recipes in BCS were originally all-grain and they converted them to extract and use that as the primary presentation so it appeals to a broader brewer base. I've been doing recipes from BCS using the all-grain directions, save for a couple that I did extract before I started doing all grain, and all of them have been great. The extract ones were great as well.

 

[DPBISME]

I have both of these books by Stan Hieronymus http://www.brewlikeamonk.com/

I also liked Radical Brewing because of al the recipies http://www.radicalbrewing.com/

and until you asked the question...

I did not know they had websites.