looking for book suggestions

[Jako]

right now i am looking into low oxygen brewing and learning how to make my own recipes.i was wondering if anyone had a good suggestion on books that could help me.

also looking into getting a few recipe books. i have a few on my list but do any stand out to others?

i am still rather new so maybe a book on how to improve my beer.

 

[pshankstar]

I am not familiar with low oxygen brewing, but the books I have read and enjoyed are:

Experimental Homebrewing - Lots of good information and would recommend to anyone (beginners and up).
Homebrew All-Stars - Really enjoyed reading what other brewers do and their thoughts on brewing. Also a lot of recipes.
Project Extreme Brewing - Lots of recipes (most of the book), not a lot of groundbreaking information but has the fundamentals.
How to Brew (4th edition/newest) - Currently reading, just started.

I hope this helps and gives you some things to look into. Cheers!

 

[myndflyte]

Also not familiar with low oxygen brewing but another book with lots of good recipes and ideas to build off of is Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher and Michael Jackson.

 

[Keith81]

I'd recommend Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels. I don't know about LODO but if you haven't seen it already there is a subforum in the All Grain section about it.

 

[enkamania]

I like Brewing Classic Styles. It explains the beer and provides a sample recipe.

 

[mongoose33]

I've been delving into LODO brewing lately and I know of no book on it. There is a subforum here on LODO, and the lowoxygenbrewing.com site.

If you feel you have dialed in your process and you're making very good beer, then perhaps LODO is a place to extend your knowledge. If not, then you may wish to work on that process a bit before going the LODO route.

I just finished my 48th batch on Monday. I struggled with my setup to do as much LODO as I could. In fairness, I used a pump for the first time, had a couple other hiccups.

You can add a piece of LODO brewing at a time, but I've found it to be mildly complicated.

 

[mongoose33]

I want to add something....there's a sort of meme, perhaps, out there that if you don't do all of LODO correctly, it's all for naught. That is, if at any point oxygen gets in to oxidize the wort, you--and your wort--are toast.

If this is true--and FWIW, I don't think it's completely true--then slowly adding LODO pieces to your operation isn't going to result in perceptible improvements in your beer. That is, not until you finally close the circle and get it all correct.

This is daunting. However, I've seen some improvement in a couple of beers using partial LODO techniques--preboiling the strike water, using a mash cap, crushing JUST before dough-in, using a slow speed crush, and underletting the grain. I'm still stirring the mash, albeit as gently as I can, and in removing the mash cap I'm obviously exposing the wort to O2, and stirring does as well. But i need to stir from an efficiency point of view. Looking at a HERMS approach to recirculating the mash wort, which would eliminate stirring and allow me to control temps even better.

******************

One thing has kept me going here. Two brews ago, the first time I tried some of this stuff, I brewed an Amber. As a maltier beer I thought the LODO techniques might show up more prominently there, and I'd brewed the same recipe a couple months ago, had a good idea how it would taste.

Well. That beer may have been the best I've ever brewed, judging by others' reactions to it. My family gathering on Christmas Eve included several wine drinkers. Everybody tried a taste of the Amber, set aside their wine glasses, and drank my beer. And had refills. And again. Until my son had to bring a pitcher of the beer in.

I was stunned. I also liked it a lot, and in fact, among the five beers I had on tap, this was the one that kept filling my glass.

So. At this point, I think there's something here. I brewed Sunday, the same Amber recipe, using what I'd hoped would be even more LODO-compliant techniques. Sadly, it was not a good brew day--I started using a pump--but in the end, I'm pretty sure it'll capture a lot of that character.

 

[Jako]

I've been delving into LODO brewing lately and I know of no book on it. There is a subforum here on LODO, and the lowoxygenbrewing.com site.

If you feel you have dialed in your process and you're making very good beer, then perhaps LODO is a place to extend your knowledge. If not, then you may wish to work on that process a bit before going the LODO route.

I just finished my 48th batch on Monday. I struggled with my setup to do as much LODO as I could. In fairness, I used a pump for the first time, had a couple other hiccups.

You can add a piece of LODO brewing at a time, but I've found it to be mildly complicated.

i am still very new to brewing i started in late July and just finished my 11th batch? something like that. i added lots to my set up. i have a new burner and just made a mash tun so i am thinking i should just focus on getting my process down.

Thank you for the suggestions going to look into all the books you guys have suggested. another book i am looking into is mashmaker he has a few videos on youtube on BrewTV.

 

[Jako]

I want to add something....there's a sort of meme, perhaps, out there that if you don't do all of LODO correctly, it's all for naught. That is, if at any point oxygen gets in to oxidize the wort, you--and your wort--are toast.

If this is true--and FWIW, I don't think it's completely true--then slowly adding LODO pieces to your operation isn't going to result in perceptible improvements in your beer. That is, not until you finally close the circle and get it all correct.

This is daunting. However, I've seen some improvement in a couple of beers using partial LODO techniques--preboiling the strike water, using a mash cap, crushing JUST before dough-in, using a slow speed crush, and underletting the grain. I'm still stirring the mash, albeit as gently as I can, and in removing the mash cap I'm obviously exposing the wort to O2, and stirring does as well. But i need to stir from an efficiency point of view. Looking at a HERMS approach to recirculating the mash wort, which would eliminate stirring and allow me to control temps even better.

******************

One thing has kept me going here. Two brews ago, the first time I tried some of this stuff, I brewed an Amber. As a maltier beer I thought the LODO techniques might show up more prominently there, and I'd brewed the same recipe a couple months ago, had a good idea how it would taste.

Well. That beer may have been the best I've ever brewed, judging by others' reactions to it. My family gathering on Christmas Eve included several wine drinkers. Everybody tried a taste of the Amber, set aside their wine glasses, and drank my beer. And had refills. And again. Until my son had to bring a pitcher of the beer in.

I was stunned. I also liked it a lot, and in fact, among the five beers I had on tap, this was the one that kept filling my glass.

So. At this point, I think there's something here. I brewed Sunday, the same Amber recipe, using what I'd hoped would be even more LODO-compliant techniques. Sadly, it was not a good brew day--I started using a pump--but in the end, I'm pretty sure it'll capture a lot of that character.

this is awesome, gets me excited brew and work on some simple parts of LODO. thank you for sharing think i will read around on that part of the forum to see what i can pick up.

 

[BobBailey]

The new (4th edition) of How to Brew by John Palmer is a great resource for all things brewing, especially for new brewers. He covers most everything you might want to know and a few things you probably don't care about. He has some recipes in it as well.

 

[mongoose33]

The new (4th edition) of How to Brew by John Palmer is a great resource for all things brewing, especially for new brewers. He covers most everything you might want to know and a few things you probably don't care about. He has some recipes in it as well.

Honestly, I thought the newest version was worse for new brewers than the previous edition. What I think is great about the new edition is it's pretty comprehensive, but if I were a new brewer and thought that was what was necessary to brew, I might have given it up.

 

[daveMN]

Honestly, I thought the newest version was worse for new brewers than the previous edition. What I think is great about the new edition is it's pretty comprehensive, but if I were a new brewer and thought that was what was necessary to brew, I might have given it up.

Agreed. This version is like a homebrewing encyclopedia. It has almost everything, if you know what you're looking for. I talked to Palmer at HomebrewCon last summer about a lot of the homebrewing resources, his book included, are getting pretty technical for a beginner brewer. He said he was considering writing a shorter book focused on new homebrewers.
But for getting into technical books on brewing that touch on LODO, I got Fix's Principles of Brewing Science for Xmas and am enjoying it. Lots cheaper than Kunze.

 

[BobBailey]

If you desire a more simple version, the on line version is still up and running.

 

[Jako]

The new (4th edition) of How to Brew by John Palmer is a great resource for all things brewing, especially for new brewers. He covers most everything you might want to know and a few things you probably don't care about. He has some recipes in it as well.

i bought this book the day i bought all my brewing gear. super good book pull it out often and read different parts again as i think of stuff or forget.... most of the time its because i don't remember hah.

 

[Kent88]

Charlie P's Joy of Homebrewing was the first brewing book I read and I really recommend it. My big issue with it was that his definition of sparging and lautering (he makes it sound like something that happens after the boil instead of after the mash, but maybe that was fixed in a later edition).

Brewing Classic Styles is a good recipe book. I've made the belgian dark strong ale recipe from that and it turned out well. Other recipes look intriguing. I also just go the book The Mashmaker, which I would say from skimming through it is mostly a recipe book, but there are a few chapters about ingredients that I think will be helpful when I finally get around to reading them..

I'm not aware of any low oxygen mashing books. You've probably already read this.

 

[Jako]

If you desire a more simple version, the on line version is still up and running.

this is some good information, free and a great place to learn the basics.

 

[Jako]

Charlie P's Joy of Homebrewing was the first brewing book I read and I really recommend it. My big issue with it was that his definition of sparging and lautering (he makes it sound like something that happens after the boil instead of after the mash, but maybe that was fixed in a later edition).

Brewing Classic Styles is a good recipe book. I've made the belgian dark strong ale recipe from that and it turned out well. Other recipes look intriguing. I also just go the book The Mashmaker, which I would say from skimming through it is mostly a recipe book, but there are a few chapters about ingredients that I think will be helpful when I finally get around to reading them..

I'm not aware of any low oxygen mashing books. You've probably already read this.

i made a pale ale out out of classic styles one of my best beers so far.


anyone know of a good place online to buy used books? thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[chris000]

Honestly, I thought the newest version was worse for new brewers than the previous edition. What I think is great about the new edition is it's pretty comprehensive, but if I were a new brewer and thought that was what was necessary to brew, I might have given it up.

this is the only HOME-brew book I've ever read and while it has more than someone with absolutely no previous practical nor theoretical knowledge will be able to make use of, I found it well balanced for those who like to get seriously started. IMO, it's far from an all encompassing encyclopedia - more like one approach the author felt is right for him and a good baseline for many homebrewers.
nowadays, all a brewer (new or old) need is a kit; comes with an assortment of reasonable ingredients and a simple instruction. if they really want to understand it nothing has changed. perhaps only that it's easier to read up information and the availability of ingredients

 

[beernutz]

i made a pale ale out out of classic styles one of my best beers so far.


anyone know of a good place online to buy used books? thanks for all the help everyone.

I use allbookstores.com which searches mutiple online book seller's new and used inventory including amazon and the amazon market. For example here's the price quotes for one of my favorite brewing books, Brewing Classic Styles:
https://www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/0937381926

I have literally saved thousands buying high school and college textbooks for my kids using that site but it is good for non-textbooks as well.