Best books for improving your brewing

[Steampunk]

Outside of the "how to brew" books. What books would you recommend as must reads to improve ones beer?

 

[hogwash]

Brewing Classic Styles has been great for me in learning how to put together a recipe for various styles in a "hands-on" way. A lot will recommend Designing Great Beers but I've found it to be rather dry and I don't refer to it very much. I have learned some stuff from it though. The forums here are, of course, great and I go back to Palmer's How To Brew time and time again. The thing that has really helped me lately is buying Beersmith 2. I'm still figuring it out but since I got it, every batch has hit the numbers perfectly. And now that I said that, I'm sure the batch I'm brewing today will be way off, haha.

 

[adamj]

I loved the book "Brewing better beer" by Gordon Strong. It has really helped me up my quality. Beer Smith is an amazing tool that I have has great luck with, not to mention the forums here and the help and advice from my local brewers and home brew shops.

 

[osagedr]

I loved the book "Brewing better beer" by Gordon Strong. It has really helped me up my quality. Beer Smith is an amazing tool that I have has great luck with, not to mention the forums here and the help and advice from my local brewers and home brew shops.

+1 on Strong's book. Also like Designing Great Beers, Yeast, and the beer styes series (Bock by Richmann, etc).

Some of the most-cited literature is now a bit out of date.

Really the right books for you depend on where you are wrt brewing knowledge.

 

[Nightshade]

Radical Brewing
Designing Great Beers
Yeast
For the Love of Hops

Theres more but these are the most referenced books I own in no particular order (although DGB is getting ragged)

 

[beaksnbeer]

Noonan's "Brewing Lager Beer" has a wealth of information from grain to yeast.

 

[tochsner]

Definitely "Brewing Better Beer". I learned a lot from that book. My beer has gotten better because of it.

 

[rico567]

After I was broken in, meaning I read Palmer's How to Brew in the online version (then bought the book) I have found nothing more valuable in my brewing than what I've learned on HBT.

If I was going to go somewhere from here, it would probably be Ray Daniels. But I'm not there yet.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Because I love Belgian styles Brew Like a Monk and Farmhouse Ales are tremendous resources. The essay on the Dupont yeast strain alone was worth the price of admission! Yeast was also a very informative book. I really wish Ray would update Designing Great Beers with more recent data as I think the world of homebrewing has advanced a great deal since he wrote it. I'm just starting to work through Brewing Classic Styles but it is an awesome recipe reference. I subscribe to the "know the rules so you know how to break them" philosophy!

 

[Beernik]

My quick reference book is Brewmaster's Bible. Great charts and tables.

Radical Brewing I occasionally go to for ingredient or ingredient combo ideas.

I recently picked up Brew Like A Pro because it has some DIY equipment build instructions.