I was wondering if there was a cookbook with a collection of homebrew recipes? An on line search is not getting me what I’m looking for precisely. All I’m finding are mostly reference books. I have john Palmers " How to Brew" as well as the Zymurgy magazines. They are both excellent with some great recipes, however it would be nice if I wanted to make a dark stout or an IPA not to have to search through 10 different books for a recipe. I’m still very new at brewing and nowhere near ready to craft my own recipes. Still I thought it might be cheaper to buy the ingredients separately rather then in a kit.
It’s great that it is designed so both extract and all-grain brewers can use all the recipes. I still turn to BCS when I want to brew a new style that I’m not too familiar with. It’s an excellent resource regardless of your level of brewing.
I agree with Brewing Classic Styles. I would also mention Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. It has a lot of good recipes and descriptions/notes on different ingredients for branching out as you go.
Also, the two books by the szamatulskis (I probably butchered their name) Beer Captured and Clone Brews. That has a lot of good recipes which are clones of well known craft beers.
I never used the books, I have used 1 recipe in my entire brewing career. However, I have flipped through the books and used some of their ideas to put together recipes of my own. I cannot comment on the quality of the recipes inside any of the books. :-X
Oh, and you spelled my name wrong 8)
But I agree with Denny’s recommendation of the AHA recipe database, and most homebrew shops have their own recipe books, which can be decent as well (More of a mixed bag though)
Are you talking about all of those books garc mentioned, or just the last two? I really like the few beers I’ve brewed from BCS, and Radical Brewing is probably my favorite brewing book and I think it is hands down the best resource for odd ingredients.
I’ve only ever flipped through Clone Brews, but I remember saying “this doesn’t seem right” to a few of the recipes for beers I’m familiar with. I know there’s more than one way to skin a cat, but when a brewery lists their ingredients on their website and a clone recipe is way off in the specialty malts, then I don’t have high hopes for that recipe.
That’s exactly how I felt about Clone Brews. I got it for Christmas a couple years ago, read it, became skeptical for the same reasons and returned it. Got Brew Like a Monk. ;D
Thanks for all the replies. Brewing Classic Styles and Radical Brewing sounds worth checking out.
I went to Kuhnhenn Brewery last weekend and was really impressed with their beers. Now I’m wishing I’d gone into their shop to see if they sell any of their recipes. I did get a tour of their factory tho and had a really great time. Great owners and employees too. Half of them where walking around with a brew in their hands. What a job eh?
Keep in mind that the recipe is probably the least important aspect of brewing. 10 people brewing the exact same recipe will come up with 10 different beers.
I like Designing Great Beers over any of the previously mentioned books(I have all of them). It gives you insight on creating your own recipes that fit your system and brewing style.
And here I thought I was sleeping because I had to reread all the posts to figure out what you guys are talking about.
I like to consult Brewing Classic Styles when designing a recipe. Radical Brewing is a great book, but I never actually considered it a recipe book, more a resource.
I completely agree with your comment about recipes. At one NHC, I tried 10-12 different versions of my Rye IPA recipe. All were good and not one of them tased like mine!
DGB is a great book, but it’s getting dated. When you look at the award winning recipes, there are a lot of them that wouldn’t be formulated that way using ingredients we have available today. As long as you recognize that and can compensate, there’s a lot of great stuff there.
