Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
Good books
I love reading about brewing when I get the time and thought it would be good to see what everyone else was reading/ had been reading.
The first book I ever read about brewing was "The complete Joy of home brewing" by Charlie Papazian. This is a great book for the beginner and mainly focuses on extract brewing although covers all grain in the later stages.
I then read "The Big book of brewing" by Dave line which was great for getting my head around all grain brewing and also has some good recipes. I then read his second book, "Making beers like those you like to buy" which is packed with lots of recipes (including most of the major brands) although its a bit dated.
Brewing Great British Ales by Graham Wheeler was next up. Much more modern book with extensive range of recipes, although they are all quite similar when you look closely. Lots of useful info too.
Most recent has been Designing Great Beer by Ray Daniels. Great book for growing confidence in recipe creations. Basically go through some of the major styles of beers (Pale Ale/Pilsner/bock/barley wine/porter amongst many other) and breaks down the important factors regarding the ingredients required to meet that style. Not a single recipe in it but tells you how to formulate the style you want.
What other books (or reading elsewhere) would anyone recommend?
Responses
Posted 2 years ago by Member
The only books I have are my dad's which are from the the 60's and early 70's.
They have some very out dated ideas. Like mashing for 3-8 hours, and adding about 30% sugar to everything.
I don't think IBU's or colour units had even been conceived back then.
I did find "How to brew" by John Palmer very useful.
It is an E-book and totally free on the inter web.
Posted 2 years ago by Member
:o)
I read all of those and in pretty much the same order as you along with some others I picked up on ebay - try finding a brewing book in your average bookshop! I'm reading the Designing Great Beers right now - about 3/4 of the way through... found it a bit 'dry' though.... he didn't seem to be having fun if you know what I mean .. it was all formula and rule... and whilst I appreciate the need for this, brewing beer is more about having fun .. or am I thinking about drinking it? :o) I've got 'A Guide to Craft Brewing' to read next, looks pretty good.
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 2 years ago by Admin
Yeah I know what you mean, definitely not a book for a novice but its probably the one book I refer to more often than any other. It would be good if some more styles were covered too as its a little limited.
I haven't seen 'a guide to craft brewing' so I'll have to check that one out I'm about ready for another read.
Posted 2 years ago by Member
I'll let you know when I've got into it .. with the nippers always wanting to go/do something, it's difficult to find the time to read anything!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 2 years ago by Moderator
The books I currently have are:
Brewing Great British Ales by G. Wheeler-
First Book I read (was the older version but now have new one)
Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy by D.Line-
Never got round to reading this fully some good recipes but a little old and too much writing for me!
The Big book of brewing- D.Line-
as above
Brew Classic European Beers at Home by G. Wheeler and R. Protz-
Love the recipes in this book and also has great descriptions of different types of mash!
Real Ales for the Home Brewer by M, Ollosson-
Good book with excellent recipes in!
North American Clone Brews By S, R, Russel-
American book full of recipes for likes of Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams etc....
The Everything Homebrewing Book By D, Beechum-
Another American Book with lots of info inside from america, some wacky recipes that include Poppy Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Shiitake Mushroooms and Coca-Cola combined to make a barley wine, then there is some normal ones including a 'beefed' up version of Bluebird Bitter.
Next on my book list is:
The Home Brewer's Recipe Database
(666pages of recipe break downs of british beers i.e. it tells you the percentage of malts and what hops the commerical brewery uses)
Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles
Posted 2 years ago by Member
666 ay ..? Don't tel the missus, she'll read something into that!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 2 years ago by Admin
Um, that's definitely a dodgy number of recipes on that one! What recipe is number 666 Dan?
Posted 2 years ago by Moderator
Recipe 666 is...........Enville Ales, Stourbridge, Enville Ale!
The recipes are in this format:
1407. Light Ale
OG: 1032
Malt bill: 82% Maris Otter pale malt, 8% Crystal malt, 10% Torrefied wheat
Hops: Challenger
Late hops: Goldings
IBU/(EBC): 26
Source: RP2
And there is over 2200 of them, from over 350 different breweries!
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
As we were talking about books I thought I would get this thread going.
I've just finished "Yeast - the practical guide to beer fermentation" by Chris White (White labs) and Jamil Zainasheff (brewing network).
Very interesting book and well worth checking out. Their advice contradicts quite a few things that I had previously though about fermentation conditions but I reckon they know their stuff about yeast.
Just started "brewing like a monk".
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
I first read GW's Brew your own British ale then use Daniels Designing Great beers as a constant resource, great book. I also like reading about beer history so Im half way through Pete Browns A man walks into a pub - full of great beer history and facts, I also have his others but havnt read em yet.
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
My Books are:
GW's Brew your own British Real Ale
Dave Line's The Big Book of Brewing
Dave Line's Brewing Beers like those you buy.
I have several others from jumble sales, etc which seem to be designed to cobble together anything that comes to hand.
Next to acquire is definitely Designing Greet Beers
Although I set great store by tapping into the knowledge of others, the hobby, together with a agriculture, ingredients and knowledgw involved have changed so much over the last 20 to 30 years that the older books have become very outdated. In particular, Dave Line's Brewing Beers like those you buy can be very confusing. Dave was great in his day, but things have progressed, and sadly he left us far too early. I also feel that this hobby should be kept as simple as you want it to be, and the more, and often conflicting, opinions you gather the more complex and confusing the thing becomes. To my way of thinking we need to have a good grasp of the basics, keep up with advances, and develop our own style.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Wonderful times, Tony. Plenty of time for reading when the nippers have grown out of being kids, and that happens far too quickly.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Member
That's true .. I do know it. they're my life and I try to spend as much time as possible with them. I can't wait until they can help me with my brewing. Have to be careful though, Eleanor (3 next week) talks about beer at nursery and when we were in a cafe this morning, asked the waiter if she could have a beer!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Shouldn't be a problem, Tony..... provided she's prepared to pay for her round.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Member
With regards to old books whats it the best (newest eddition book for wine making ) Like wheelers book has a newer version .Whats the most up to date wine book anyonme can recommend?
Fermenting:Dandelion wine
Conditioning:Fullers pride extract Elderflower wine,Dandelion wine,Ribena wine,summer ale
Drinking: Turbo Cider/summer ale/way to amarillo/funked up wherry
beerlover1983brew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Greg? Man here wants to buy a good book. What do you recommend?
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
If you are talking about wine books then I'm not sure really as I've not read many except CJJ Berry First Steps in Wine making which seems to be the bible as far as British books are concerned although its quite old.
There are probably some good US ones available on Amazon as wine making is really big over there but they will probably focus on wines from grapes rather than fruit.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Cool i got cjj berrys book on order as like you say seems to be the book.Just thoaght there may have been a revised eddition or similar.
Fermenting:Dandelion wine
Conditioning:Fullers pride extract Elderflower wine,Dandelion wine,Ribena wine,summer ale
Drinking: Turbo Cider/summer ale/way to amarillo/funked up wherry
beerlover1983brew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
I'm not aware of any other British Country wine books really, certainly not any modern one's but I could be wrong as I've not really looked to be honest.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
I have these seven books at the mo,WINE MAKING THE NATURAL WAY by IAN BALL,WINEMAKING WITH CONCENTRATES BY
Peter Duncan,BREWING BEERS LIKE THOSE YOU BUY BY DAVE LINE,First steps in winemaking by C.J.J.Berry,
WINE AND BEERMAKING Hints and Recipes by BEN TURNER,THE COMPLETE HOME WINEMAKER & BREWER by BEN TURNER,
BREWING BETTER BEERS by Ken shales.
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