Beer Library
Beer is the drink of the common man. In fact The Average Man drinks about so many a year. In the list that follows I will try to give you a list of the best books currently available on the art and appreciation of beer drinking and making. Enjoy.
I started with Charlie Papazian’s book, The Joy of Home Brewing. This book started me off. No library would be complete without it even though it is written for the newcomer to homebrewing it contains a lot of history and just plain fun. The following description is from Beertown.
Charlie Papazian, master brewer and founder of the American Homebrewers Association and Association of Brewers, presents a fully revised edition of his essential guide to homebrewing.
This third edition of the best-selling and most trusted homebrewing guide includes a complete update of all instructions, recipes, charts, and guidelines. Everything you need to get started is here, including classic and new recipes for brewing stouts, ales, lagers, pilseners, porters, specialty beers and honey meads.
Homebrewing Guide is a great process book. There are many books that will discuss the theory of brewing, mashing and so on, the real nitty griity of what brewing is about. However, not many guide you to acturally do these things with equipment available at home. This book does a great job of that.
From the Back Cover:
Presenting a thought-provoking celebration of 12,000 years of the art of brewing. With over 100 complete recipes and an abundance of useful information for the novice as well as the grizzled veteran, Radical Brewing puts you in touch with some of brewing’s most exotic–and delicious–brews.
After a concise introduction to beer and how to brew, Radical Brewing moves on to the secrets for the great session ales, lagers and easy-to-brew Belgian beers. Then, it moves on to the next level: strong beers, adjunct beers, fruits, spices, smoked beer and more. The challenging Belgian styles are next, followed by a tour through the vast repertoire of beer through the ages and an introduction to mead and honey beers. Chapters on group brews and activities, equipment, and the art of enjoying beer & food complete the text.
Lavishly illustrated and filled with fascinating tidbits of brewing lore, this is a brewing book unlike any other. From the arcane to the exuberant, the ancient to the futuristic, Radical Brewing encompasses the passion and vitality that makes the contemporary American brewing scene the envy of the world.
Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher is an awesome read. This is what is currently on my reading table. Randy’s style of writing is very readable and full of wit. The book contains history and recipies that will take you from the ordinary into Radical Brewing.
From the Back Cover:
Presenting a thought-provoking celebration of 12,000 years of the art of brewing. With over 100 complete recipes and an abundance of useful information for the novice as well as the grizzled veteran, Radical Brewing puts you in touch with some of brewing’s most exotic–and delicious–brews.
After a concise introduction to beer and how to brew, Radical Brewing moves on to the secrets for the great session ales, lagers and easy-to-brew Belgian beers. Then, it moves on to the next level: strong beers, adjunct beers, fruits, spices, smoked beer and more. The challenging Belgian styles are next, followed by a tour through the vast repertoire of beer through the ages and an introduction to mead and honey beers. Chapters on group brews and activities, equipment, and the art of enjoying beer & food complete the text.
Lavishly illustrated and filled with fascinating tidbits of brewing lore, this is a brewing book unlike any other. From the arcane to the exuberant, the ancient to the futuristic, Radical Brewing encompasses the passion and vitality that makes the contemporary American brewing scene the envy of the world.
How to Brew by John Palmer is a wonderful process read. This is the book that helped me start improving the brewing process. The caption under the title says it all, “Everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time”. I agree and highly recomend John Palmer’s book.
From the introduction to the book:
There are many good books on homebrewing currently available, so why did I write one you ask? The answer is: a matter of perspective. When I began learning how to brew my own beer several years ago, I read every book I could find; books often published 15 years apart. It was evident to me that the state of the art had matured a bit. Where one book would recommend using baking yeast and covering the fermenting beer with a towel, a later book would insist on brewing yeast and perhaps an airlock. So, I felt that another point of view, laying out the hows and whys of the brewing processes, might help more new brewers get a better start.
Here is a synopsis of the brewing process:
1. Malted barley is soaked in hot water to release the malt sugars.
2. The malt sugar solution is boiled with Hops for seasoning.
3. The solution is cooled and yeast is added to begin fermentation.
4. The yeast ferments the sugars, releasing CO2 and ethyl alcohol.
5. When the main fermentation is complete, the beer is bottled with a little bit of added sugar to provide the carbonation.
Sounds fairly simple doesn’t it? It is, but as you read this book you will realize the incredible amount of information that I glossed over with those five steps. The first step alone can fill an entire book, several in fact. But brewing is easy. And it’s fun. Brewing is an art as well as a science. Some people may be put off by the technical side of things, but this is a science that you can taste. The science is what allows everyone to become the artist. Learning about the processes of beer making will let you better apply them as an artist. As my history teacher used to chide me, “It’s only boring until you learn something about it. Knowledge makes things interesting.”
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels is the masters treasure of recipe formulation. When I first started brewing I would gather recipes from the web and from the More Beer showroom where I would buy my ingredients. It did not take me long to want to try to do a better job of crafting my own beer and Ray Daniels had the key to do this. You have to understand, my first batch of beer that I brewed was all grain. Now I know that most people start with extract brewing. It just so happened that I ran into a group of all grain brewers who got me off into all grain from my first batch.
In an Amazon Review Todd Gehman continues:
Part 1 of Designing Great Beers is a complete book in itself, focused solely on home-brewing ingredients and techniques (including three superb chapters on hops alone). Ray Daniels proves himself the “techie” type, infusing his introductory chapters with as much brewing math as brewing lore. Yet, Daniels never hops off the deep end of beer geekdom. Instead, he complements this emphasis on data with the creative use of graphics; where one could get bogged down in the stats, there is usually a clear visual depiction to instantly summarize their meaning.
This focus on facts continues into part 2 of Daniels’s guide, where it backs an admirably pragmatic take on beer styles and their importance in home-brewing. Daniels devotes a chapter to each of 14 major style categories, detailing historical origins and modern brewing techniques. He lays a contemporary groundwork by compiling and analyzing the recipes of the National Homebrew Competition’s most successful beers. The assumption is that beers deemed representative of particular beer styles in modern competitions serve as ideal models for recipe creation. Among the information provided for each style is a chart showing the percentage of brewers using each type of grain and in what proportions the grains were added. Similar data are supplied for hop varieties, yeast strains, and water treatment. This reverse engineering of award-winning beers naturally benefits experienced brewers seeking to wow judges at the next competition. Yet, even brewers taking their first shy steps into creating their own recipes have much to gain from this kind of practical analysis. Daniels provides the basic tools a brewer of any level can use to formulate recipes with confidence and creativity. –Todd Gehman
The Homebrer’s Companion by Charlie Papazian is the follow up book to his classic Joy book that everyone knows about. Charlie is one of the founders of the homebrewing movement started in the 1970′s. Currently he lives near Bolder Colorado and heads up Beertown.com the home pages for the American Homebrewer’s Association. From their web site follows a description of the book.
The guru of homebrew, Charlie Papazian, has done it again! A complement to newly revised The Joy of Home Brewing-3rd Edition, this book provides in-depth information on all aspects of the brewing process.
New recipes, taste-evaluation tips, world beer styles and common concerns are all addressed in this notable volume. Complete with recipes, techniques and equipment information for the advanced brewer.
In the Begian tradition, “Brew like a Monk”, is a classic.
From the introduction of Brew Like a Monk.
Could you brew like a monk? Should you? Would you?
In an interview a few years ago, Brother Pierre of Rochefort indicated you certainly could. He said:
“Every brewer with some experience is able to copy our beers perfectly. After the bottling, the yeast cells still keep living for about six months. Anyone wanting our yeast can remove it from the bottom and cultivate it. We use the same culture for the main and second fermentation. Even the malts and hops we use are no secret. Anyone who is determined … can do so easily. Some brewers do not want to reveal the spices they use for brewing. Well, we only use a dash of coriander.”
He does allow it might not be quite that simple. “You know, if there were a secret, it is to be found in our attitude towards life, in our relation with God and with nature. We believe that everything growing on the field or in nature?and what you brew out of it?is not merchandise but a gift. That is no laughing matter. We make our beers as natural as possible without too much profit seeking. The Trappists are not dealing with compromises regarding price or quality.”
by Phil Markowski
Brewing classic styles is one of the master pieces in recipe formulation. Jamil is perhaps one this this generations greatest home brewers and brings this classic to us so that we too can brew classic styles. An excerpt from Beertown follows.
In the history of the American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition, few brewers have succeeded like Jamil Zainasheff. From his first gold medal in 2002 through his second Ninkasi award (for best all around brewer) in 2007, he has accumulated a trophy case full of NHC medals-all with recipes contained inside this book.
In Brewing Classic Styles, Zainasheff shares his award-winning extract-based recipes to help other brewers enjoy the top-quality beers that the homebrewing hobby offers today. The 27 chapters cover the standard homebrew competition categories published by the Beer Judge Certification Program, giving one recipe for each of more than 80 different style sub-categories.
To kick the book off, homebrewing expert John J. Palmer, author of How to Brew gives insight into beer ingredients and their selection along with tips on brewing and recipe adjustments. The combined expertise from these legendary homebrewers delivers a proven collection of recipes suitable for all who make beer at home.
Farmhouse Ales by Phil Makowski is another in the library of great beer books specializing in the Belgian style of brewing.
From Beertown reviews.Few brewers really understand Belgian farmhouse ales. Created for sustenance rather than commercialization, they have remained hidden from study for many generations. But students of Belgian-style beer have found these styles at once simple to brew yet rewardingly flavorful.
Now for the first time in an English-language text, master brewer Phil Markowski reveals the brewing and culture of these satisfyingly authentic ales for brewers and beer lovers alike.Blending both on-the-ground research with modern Belgian producers and extensive experience from his own brewhouse, Markowski details the ingredients and procedures that distinguish these flavorful ales from the rest of the brewing world.
In addition, the book includes unprecedented historical commentary from Belgian brewer and beer scholar, Yvan Debaets as well as a lively and informative forward from award-winner Belgian-style beer brewer Tomme Arthur.
