It’s been out of print for a long tine so it might be hard to find. PLus, the last time I looked through my copy I started laughing at some of the stuff that just isn’t the case any longer.
I agree with Denny. Since he is newer, some of these are either out of date or too technical. (Not that I don’t own them all myself and find them to be fine books.)
I would personally start with How to Brew. It is an excellent beginner book.
From there, you can see where your brewing life takes you. Want to learn more about IPAs? Then Mitch Steele’s book IPA would be great. Nerd out about doing well in comps? Then Gordon Strong’s Brewing Better Beer would be your best bet. Want to brew crazy beers? Try out Denny & Drew’s Experimental Brewing after you figure out how to brew a good base style. What to learn everything about water/malt/hops/yeast? Then grab the set of books for that.
Some of these other suggestions are like me suggesting The Principles of Brewing Science to my husband (who has no interest in calculus) when all he wanted was some light reading.
My favorite brewing-related book to date is “Brewing” by Lewis and Young. However, there is a lot of distance that needs to be covered between “How To Brew” and “Brewing.”
How to Brew is probably the best intro book on brewing. But I think Charlie P’s books (The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and Homebrewer’s Companion) are more fun to read and a lot more inspirational.
Why yes, it’s not because you “know” how to brew that you are actually brewing, right?
I credit Charlie P with getting me wicked excited about the hobby. I read the Complete Joy of Homebrewing in 2 days and had my first kettle 2 days after that.
However, I also think I spent entirely too much time “RDWHAHB-ing” per his instructions and not enough time actually trying to improve my beer. YMMV of course.
Seemed like he was looking for some more depth in his education as everyone had already mentioned the books most people start out with:)
+1
I wore the cover off of my copy of The Complete Joy. No other brewing-related book that I have purchased has come close to seeing that much use.
Yeah, there’s something about The Complete Joy of Homebrewing that really captured my imagination as well.
To me, Randy Mosher channels some of that essence in Radical Brewing, though it’s not really a book for beginners.
From what it sounds like I think I’ll be getting the Charlie P. and Mosher books first than get that series. I’m a science teacher so I enjoy the technical side of things as well. Thanks everyone!
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
Not sure I get what you are saying here. Just because we have more grains and hops to choose from we can’t use this book anymore?
DGB walks the dog through many of the basic processes of the brewing day, it also gives you a great foundation on how and where all the “numbers” come from, and then why they are important.
I guess in the end, it comes down to where and what you learned the most from. I have been brewing for almost 8 years, and did not read the Joy of Homebrewing until last year, I don’t feel I missed out on anything. I used the online version of How to Brew, but have never read the whole book.
Every time I feel I need to look something up in a book Designing Great Beers is the first on I pick up.
Tim
No Belgian styles either.
IMO, you are making a big mistake if you don’t have How to Brew.
It’s not that you can’t use it, it’s more like you have to know enough to avoid less than great ideas in it. For instance (going by memory so I could be wrong), we now know that crystal malt isn’t a real component of Ofest. But when DGB was written, continental Munich mlt wasn’t widely available, so crystal was used to kinda mimic it. Kinda…
+1
I don’t have it.
By the time HTB came out I was already pretty well versed in brewing and I never read it front to cover, though I did read the water section a few times. I think that for all the books out there it is the best book on brewing from a step 1 step 2 explanation.
Same here. I went from Charlie P> Mosher > Daniels. I did go back and read a good bit of How To Brew though.
You have special dispensation…
I went from Charlie P. → Noonan → All of the Classic Beer Style Series publications → a plethora of brewing and brewing science-related texts
I also owned just about every issue of Brewing Techniques at one point in time.