I have been home brewing now for over 4 years and am interested in getting to know beer characteristics better. I am not a member of a local club, but saw someone talking about studying for the BJCP helped them really nail down the subtle differences. I currently brew all grain and keg but mostly from tried and true recipes. I would like to take it to the next level and try my own recipes but do not know enough about the different characteristics of the ingredients to risk my own.
I checked the BJCP page but did not find what I was looking for.
Where can I find a bibliography that will help me become smarter on the distinctions on beer ingredients?
Best place ot start (at least for me) was to grab a copy of Designing Great Beers. Start with that to understand recipe design. To understand the grains and hops, really the only way to go about it is to get your hands on the grains and hops and chew, taste, make teas, etc.
I did put in my book what I thought were the highlights of the different malts and hops, so you could try that as well.
You will find what you’re looking for in the following books. I would start with Ray Daniels as Drew has suggested.
Michael Jackson, Beer Companion (Running Press, Philadelphia, 1997).
Michael Jackson, The New World Guide to Beer (Running Press, Philadelphia, 1988).
John Palmer, How to Brew, (Brewers Publications, Boulder, CO, 2006).
Al Korzonas, Homebrewing: Volume 1 (Sheaf & Vine, Palos Hills, IL, 1997).
Dave Miller, Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide (Garden Way Publishing, Pownal, VT 1996).
Gregg Smith, The Beer Enthusiasts Guide (Storey Communications, Pownal, VT, 1994).
Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers (Brewers Publications, Boulder, CO, 1996).
Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer, Brewing Classic Styles (Brewers Publications, Boulder, CO, 2007).
Homebrewing for Dummies also has a great section on grains and hops that goes into detail about what aromas and flavors they inpart to your brew, but I agree with dbeechum about getting your hands on them and really tasting them and making teas with them to give you the full flavors and aromas of each grain and hop.
+1 Definitely those two. Daniels goes into more depth but not on as many styles. The second one covers practically every style but not in quite as much depth.
Does nobody SMASH anymore? I still love a good MO+EKG. And of course it would take time and quite a few batches, but adding ingredients to the SMASH would definitely let you know what happens if I add “ingredient X”.
drew’s book is very good, i use it as one of my main references
the brewer’s home garden has great stuff in it as well, especially about making your own malts, speciatly malts and odd ingredients. dandylion wine, rhubarb etc. good recipes to use as a basis in these ingredients
in terms of getting basic techniques for just learning i like the “basic home brewing”
and denny, i hope you get royalties on your recipe contributions
