Is there a good book on reading for advanced brewers?

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Elysium

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I am wondering if there is a book I could read. I am still not an experienced homebrewer...but I dont want another book that details everything from 0. I have done the kit part, started all-grain....I need info that is a bit more advanced....mainly on quality management (meaning that I wanna know about factors that make my beer taste different.....factors that otherwise I might not even find important).

Things that are related to setting up a microbrewery....like the next steps people take after their wanna move beyond the homebrewing system limitations....etc...

I really dont know if my post makes sense....but I hope some people can help me find a good, up to date book to read.

I have only read "joy of homebrewing", but that book is really basic. Many of the things they talk about can be learnt after a few months. I need something that pays attention to more details within the brewing techniques, ingredients and so on.
 
in regard to the factors making beer taste different . .. . perhaps Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels - it goes through ingredients and recipe formulation in great detail.... that might fill the bill for part of what you are looking for.

I also like the books that deal with specific aspects of brewing..... yeast by white and zainasheff, the book on Hops..... new book coming soon on Water by Palmer. New Brewing Lager Beer by Noonan......

Not much help on opeing a brewery - but all good books and more advanced.
 
I have the book Designing Great Beers. I think it's a little out dated. Let me ask you, what are you looking to read about? Water, PH, hops, grain, commercial, or homebrew?
 
I have read all the book above and are very good. Looking though my library of brew books, There is Brew Masters Bible, Radical Brewing and maybe "Brewing Classic Styles". . I've read so many brewing books through the years. When I started I wanted to read everything.

Another is Brewing lager beer by Greg Noonan..
 
I too like Designing Great Beers. It is an older book but I think the 411 in the book is still very relevant. There are new grains, hops and yeast on the market now but for the advanced understanding of each item in the beers (and a lot of good history) its a great read. It was the first book I ever bought and it is still the go to book in the brewery.

Cheers
Jay
 
mikescooling said:
I have the book Designing Great Beers. I think it's a little out dated. Let me ask you, what are you looking to read about? Water, PH, hops, grain, commercial, or homebrew?
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Thanks for the reply. I am planning to perfect my brewing...so I am pretty much looking for everything that is related to that. All the above mentioned.

So far....most of you highly speak of Designing Great Beers....I might just get that on amazon. Thanks.
 
I know Papazian has another book called The Homebrewer's Companion that goes into more detail, but I don't have it and can't vouch for how good it is. Radical Brewing is a good book though and has some interesting and unusual recipes for extract, partial-mash, and all-grain.
 
Gordon Strong has a book aimed at advanced brewers called "Brewing Better Beer." I haven't read it all yet, but so far so good.
 
malc said:
Gordon Strong has a book aimed at advanced brewers called "Brewing Better Beer." I haven't read it all yet, but so far so good.
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I plus 1 this. Brewing Better Beer is great. People hate it because he comes off sounding a bit arrogant and *****y but there is a lot of really good information and he doesn't give step by step instructions on anything but explains it at a high level assuming you have the background knowledge to figure it out on your system.

..and not to rip on the classics too much but brewing has progressed a long way since Designing Great Beers. I don't really care what the average grist of a 1998 NHC medal winning mild was - we have the internet now and I can access hundreds of recipes. Similarly i don't need to know how to calculate IBU's, OG or SRM by hand since my software will do it instantly for me. Its sort of like wanting to learn about evolution and picking up a book by Charles Darwin: Sure he was the great thinker and started it all but anything written prior to the discovery of DNA is hopelessly outdated. I feel the same way about homebrewing books written prior to the rise of the internet. Read them if you like to collect books on homebrewing or want to learn the history of homebrewing (don't expect anything great in the actual beer history dept from any of the old books) but any gems of insight they once provided are likely common practice today or at least widely known and discussed on forums like this one.
 
Maybe drill down with books covering specific styles you like. I just picked up Brew Like A Monk, which goes in-depth into Trappist/abbey Belgian beers. Others here might have ideas for some good books for other styles.
 
Noonan's Lager book is good too. Recommend the Gordon strong book as being different. Don't know of any opening a brewery type books.
 
There are some podcasts that talk about issues around microbrewery.... brewstrong maybe???

+1 to Gordon Strong book - I have that one too, and found it to provide useful information - in particular, I liked that it was simultaneously specific enough to address issues, but general enough that you needed think about and apply it to your own situation.
 
If you want advanced, George Fix is where you need to be. The rest is toddler toys in comparison.
 
One hundred percent agree with bacon. If you are truly an advanced brewer, you'll find George Fix much more valuable. I've read all the books mentioned on this thread and his is the best for an advanced brewer. The others are more for someone who knows the basics and wants to try to get to advanced.
 
Yeast by Jamil and Chris White is a good book, I haven't read Hops or Water yet but I am sure they will be just as good. I am sure you have it but How to Brew is my go to, even brewing as a pro, you can skip the basic how to sections but it is a great reference.
 
http://www.howtobrew.com/

How to Brew by John Palmer

It's a great step up in complexity from Papizan, lots of technical stuff in there but presented really clearly. Available online or in book form. HIGHLY recommend.
 
Braufessor said:
There are some podcasts that talk about issues around microbrewery.... brewstrong maybe???

I'll second this one. There is a whole series, and I mean like 12-15 episodes of Brew Strong that deal specifically with opening a nano. I dont think it deals with much of the brew science, but it covers a lot of business aspects. Not exactly what you were asking about, but it might be helpful.
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gbx said:
Its sort of like wanting to learn about evolution and picking up a book by Charles Darwin: Sure he was the great thinker and started it all but anything written prior to the discovery of DNA is hopelessly outdated. I feel the same way about homebrewing books written prior to the rise of the internet. Read them if you like to collect books on homebrewing or want to learn the history of homebrewing (don't expect anything great in the actual beer history dept from any of the old books) but any gems of insight they once provided are likely common practice today or at least widely known and discussed on forums like this one.
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I totally agree with you. This is my problem with the book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing". It's a good book...but all that information is on the internet.

I might just buy brewing better beer. Can you tell me more about it? Does it go into details on how to improve the quality of your homebrew...regarding techniques and equipment? Is it relatively up to date?
 
Brewing better beer is probably the best of the intermediate books. That and designing better beers are the best I think. Brewing better beer will talk more about techniques and also some suggestions on recipes. Designing better beers will go into more recipe formulation only. The two go hand in hand to help you make the best beer, especially for winning competitions. Both books are what I would call "up-to-date".

Once you get through these books and have some improvement to your beer, if you still want to learn more and truly be "advanced" I'd recommend Fix's "Principles of Brewing Science" you'll want to take notes as you read it.
 
How to Brew is the best, overall book to get from beginner to moderately advanced - in my opinion. Covers everything that papazian's book covers but it is A.) much more up to date. B.) Less conversational, and more serious. C.) Much more emphasis on "best practices" and not so quick to just say RDWHAHB every time a choice is to be made or something gets confusing.

In addition, while it starts with the very basics..... it expands and goes beyond those basics.
Chapters 1-11 = The basics (including ingredients)
Chapters 12-13 = Extract Brewing
Chapter 14-19 = All Grain (Mash, water/pH, process)
Chapter 20-21 = Recipes and Styles

It is not an "advanced" book..... but it can get you to being closer to being advanced. It also includes a lot of useful charts, graphs, and reference information. If you go to the link for howtobrew above, an older edition is posted entirely on line. The newer edition is worth buying a copy of though.... I still go back to it from time to time.
 
Or, just do what I did - Buy 'em all:)

shelves.jpg
 
Even for advanced brewers, How To Brew is a great reference.

I can understand what folks are saying about Designing Great Beers, and how if you're looking for "this is what you need to do" take-me-by-the-hand instruction, you can find it all on the internet or in software. But that book helped me understand WHY this calculations are the way they are, and allowed me to better conceptualize my recipes from the start.

Yeast book is a must. Must read for a homebrewing, and even moreso if you want to go pro, since a good portion of it are lab techniques that are very pricy for the average homebrewer, but may be more feasible on the pro scale.

Brew Like A Monk and Wild Brews are also good, if you're into brewing Belgians. But they're as much if not more history of the styles than how to actually brew them (although there is some of that).

And if you really feel like geeking out, "Principles of Brewing Science" by George Fix.
 
If you want brewing science the seminal text is Textbook of Brewing by Jean DeClerck. Published in the 50's it is somewhat dated WRT, for example, what a pH meter looks like but I still find myself referring to it constantly. Fix's book is but a smattering that doesn't go into enough depth of the important subjects and contains errors but it is perhaps a place to start. It is probably the book that got me interested in learning some brewing science. There's lots of stuff on the internet aimed mostly at home brewers on sites like Brewkaiser and Wetnewf.
 
Qhrumphf said:
Yeast book is a must. Must read for a homebrewing, and even moreso if you want to go pro, since a good portion of it are lab techniques that are very pricy for the average homebrewer, but may be more feasible on the pro scale.
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Thanks for the reply. In your opinion, which book is good on yeasts?
 
ajdelange said:
If you want brewing science the seminal text is Textbook of Brewing by Jean DeClerck. Published in the 50's it is somewhat dated WRT, for example, what a pH meter looks like but I still find myself referring to it constantly. Fix's book is but a smattering that doesn't go into enough depth of the important subjects and contains errors but it is perhaps a place to start. It is probably the book that got me interested in learning some brewing science. There's lots of stuff on the internet aimed mostly at home brewers on sites like Brewkaiser and Wetnewf.
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I will have to pick that up. Looks pricy but I suppose it's worth it.
 
Elysium said:
Thanks for the reply. In your opinion, which book is good on yeasts?
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I think he literally means "Yeast". Its a pretty good book, and only came out a short time ago, so its relatively up-to-date compared to some of the other books that have been mentioned.

Edit- Beat me to it. That's what I get for wandering away to do some work.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lately Ive been moving into the books about specific styles, I find they go very in depth, which is what I need to understand what makes a good beer in a style. Almost done with IPA by Mitch Steele, which is great. And Brew LIke a Monk is also great, as has been Farmhouse Ales. I'd like to check out the lager book, as well as the pale ale book.

ALso the brewing network podcasts are a treasure trove of info. Podcasts going back to about 2007 on about every style and technique you could ever dream up....and much more.

Plus, cheap porn. Asians, chunky, coeds, you name it...
 
I disagree about Brewing Better Beer. The book is redundant and has absolutely nothing new (except the tip of adding roast grains at the end of the mash) besides Gordon Strong going on about his philosophy of brewing. Only brewing book I regret spending money on.

I like Briggs' textbooks and reference them pretty often.
 
orangehero said:
I disagree about Brewing Better Beer. The book is redundant and has absolutely nothing new (except the tip of adding roast grains at the end of the mash) besides Gordon Strong going on about his philosophy of brewing. Only brewing book I regret spending money on.
Click to expand...

What's great about the book is his philosophy. What to worry about, what not to, the chapter about precision vs accuracy. The water chapter has actual advice vs the ridiculous table of classic city profiles and useless RA tables that you see in every other homebrewing book. Blending and competition brewing. What other book has this? Let me know as I will buy it.
 
gbx said:
What's great about the book is his philosophy. What to worry about, what not to, the chapter about precision vs accuracy. The water chapter has actual advice vs the ridiculous table of classic city profiles and useless RA tables that you see in every other homebrewing book. Blending and competition brewing. What other book has this? Let me know as I will buy it.
Click to expand...
My third time reading thru Strong 's book was with a highlighter. Overlook his new age views and he some great process control tips to help make your good beer better. Yes, it has some dated material like Daniels, but easy to read and use if applicable to your process. Fix was good. Haven't been able to get past ch 3 of the yeast book (thanks chris:drunk:) and I was let down by Charlie bamforths book 'beer'.
 
I was just like you - I wanted something a little more advanced, something that starts out assuming you at least know a little bit about brewing. I sure didn't want to read another book that started out by explaining what the words "liquor" and "wort" mean. I found Brewing Better Beer to be a great read. Not a lot of specifics, but a lot of things to get you thinking about various parts of your process and equipment, and different tweaks you could make. I have incorporated some things I learned in there. like cold steeping dark roasted grains for less harshness. And the warning about sanitizing a freshly dumped liquor barrel by burning a sulphur disc in there - always good to hear cautionary tales. I also own "designing great beers", but find it to be almost unreadable. If there is such a thing as being too in-depth in a homebrewing book, that one does it. I can only look at tables and percentages for so long before I have to put it down. I've had it probably 2 years and still haven't read it all. As for beginner info on professional brewing, the book "Brewery Operations Manual" by Tom Hennessy of Colorado Boy brewpub is very informative on the A-to-Z of opening and running a small brewery. Everything from licensing and equipment to specific checklists for day-to-day operations and hiring. Even if you don't plan on opening a brewery, it is still a very interesting read. You can only order it online:

http://breweryoperationsmanual.com/
 
LordUlrich said:
Yeast by Jamil and Chris White is a good book, I haven't read Hops....
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Skip Hops, unless you want a bunch of super dry history and stories about hops. There is about a chapter's worth of actual science and applicable brewing techniques woven throughout a whole book of hop history. It is well written but don't expect to gain much practical hop knowledge from it.

I think I just expected a lot out of it because of how amazing Yeast was.
 

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