Best Homebrew Books

[Gavoreilly]

What are the top books for someone who has done a bit of extract brewing and wants to learn more?

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

"Designing great beers" by Ray Daniels is a treasure trove of info.

And of course "how to brew" by Palmer if you've not read it

 

[joe_four_strings]

"Designing great beers" by Ray Daniels is a treasure trove of info.

Reading this one at the moment. Great book. Also the Brewing Elements Series ("Water", "Yeast" and "Hops") is very good.

 

[brewmeister13]

If you are looking to build a foundation of understanding I'd say Mastering Homebrew by Mosher is amazing. It deals with the basics of brewing and goes beyond them in easily understood language. It's also new, without the dated information you may find in some other books.

The elements series is awesome, but a lot of it can be fairly advanced.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

While I agree with the general consensus that How To Brew is the best choice for a new brewer, I would give nearly equal standing to the venerable Complete Joy of Homebrewing, especially now that the fourth edition has come out. While Palmer's book is better written more technically accurate, Papazian brings to the subject a creativity and an infectious enthusiasm that is hard not to enjoy.

I also still hold that Dave Miller's books are good for intermediate and advanced brewers, though most of them are now quite dated. The same holds for The New Brewing Lager Beer by Noonan, and Principles of Brewing Science by Fix.

Brewing Classic Styles and Designing Great Beers are both highly recommended, the former being a good introduction to the styles and who to brew them, the latter a more in-depth and technically masterful continuation on those themes.

The often overlooked Classic Beer Styles series has several gems, and could use more recognition, even if most of them are quite old now.

The Elements of Brewing series are excellent resources for intermediate brewers moving towards more advanced study, and have much to teach even the most experienced homebrewers.

Finally, Stan Hieronymus' books are all well-written and technically superb.

 

[BurlingBrew]

"Designing great beers" by Ray Daniels is a treasure trove of info.

And of course "how to brew" by Palmer if you've not read it

Designing great beers was first published in 1998. Is that the only and most recent edition?

 

[BigJack]

I know there are technically superior books out there, but I still like The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Uncle Charlie has helped a bunch of us learn.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Designing great beers was first published in 1998. Is that the only and most recent edition?

The copy I ordered from Amazon this year has a copyright date of 2000

 

[BurlingBrew]

The copy I ordered from Amazon this year has a copyright date of 2000

Have you found the book useful?

 

[OleBrewing]

Have you found the book useful?

I just got this booka coupleof weeks ago, haven't had much time to read it but it is a great book on where and how the beer styles came about. Its worth the purchase and a great reference book.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'd second most of the suggestions made here, particularly for How To Brew, Brewing Classic Styles, Designing Great Beers, and in particular Yeast from the Brewing Elements Series. I have both the Malt and Hops books on the shelf but haven't gotten to em yet, and Water is certainly worth a read, but that's a more advance subject matter that you may not want to delve into yet. If you REALLY want to geek out, reading Fix's Principles of Brewing Science is a good place to start (although there are again superior science-oriented brewing texts out there), but it's not a "how to" manual as much as a "this is the chemistry happening behind the scenes". While it's definitely a more advanced book that assumes you already know the basics, Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer is good too.

 

[MaxStout]

For anyone considering the jump to AG, I would highly recommend Water, by Palmer & Kaminski. Getting down the basics of water chemistry will be instrumental for all-grain brewing. Going with the "if the water tastes good, it's fine for brewing" credo just isn't enough if you want to make great AG brews.

 

[guitarguy6]

Mastering Homebrew by Randy Mosher was released February 2015 and is well worth the money.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 4th edition and Homebrewers Companion 2nd edition by Charlie Papazian are equally as good.

After those I would suggest the newest version of How To Brew, Brewing Classic Styles, and Designing Great Beers.