A good book?

[chairmanmaw]

Guys,

I have been brewing kits for a few years and would like to get in to Grain brewing. I know nothing at all about it though.

Can anyone recommend a good beginners guide on the subject?

Also, a good recipe book?

Thanks,

Maw

[richc]

All of these are American books but they are very general in what they cover.

The old classic how to book is

Charlie Papazian - The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
This is from 1984 but has been updated several times

The newer how to book is

John Palmer - How to Brew
I've personally found this book really useful in getting the basic understanding of what is going on. Much of it is available online at http://www.howtobrew.com/

For recipes I have two books, both involving the above authors

Papazian - Home Brewers Gold
This one is very American as it is recipes for the winners of an American beer festival

Zainasheff/Palmer - Brewing Classic Styles
I've only just got this but it has a really good reputation.

Jamil Zainasheff also has a podcast about beer recipes which is well worth a listen (http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show)

[mysterio]

I would go for Graham Wheelers' Brew Your Own British Real Ale, an easy to follow introduction and all you need really. I started off with Papazian and wish I hadn't frankly!

[gr_baker]

I would go for Graham Wheelers' Brew Your Own British Real Ale, an easy to follow introduction and all you need really. I started off with Papazian and wish I hadn't frankly!

I'd second that. Graham's book is very good and tailored for the British market. That is to say that the recipes are for British style beers made in a British way using ingredients and equipment readily available over here.

Russell.

[Aleman]

Avoid anything by Papazian and Palmer like the plague. (IMO)

Graham Wheelers is excellent, and for a bit more in depth John Alexander's A Guide to Craft Brewing is worth a read . . . even if he does use 10 words where 1 would do . . . and the index isn't that much cop

[EoinMag]

Sorry to go off track, but what's wrong with Papazian and Palmer. I don't know much about either to be honest so this is an honest question.

[mysterio]

Palmer's book is good, in depth, although not very accessible for a beginner. If you go in with the question "How do I make an all grain batch of beer ?" you will probably leave thinking it's too complex or not worth it. When essentially the process is very easy and doesn't need much knowledge of theory or equipment. A smaller gripe is the American method of homebrewing is slightly different, stock pots, pellet hops, turkey fryers, carboys etc. These are things which typically aren't sold over here.

Papazian's book suffers from the same, it is written in a more folksy, accessible way but seems quite dated. I quite like both books but I wouldn't recommend them for someone wanting to learn about all - grain and getting stuck in as soon as possible (which, like anything, is the best way to learn). Both books also assume the first step in brewing will be an extract batch with added steeping grains and hops, which is usually a step UK brewers skip. Worse than this, if you have no exposure to anything else, you may think you can't make good beer without US Fuggle, US Williamette, 60 Lovibond crystal (what's that) US 2-row etc.

This is not to say the Americans don't know what they're talking about, it's just as someone else posted: the equipment, ingredients and taste in beer are just slightly different.

[Aleman]

Mysti . . . You didn't mention the inaccuracies in Palmers book as well . . . . Unless the 3rd edition has fixed that??

[boingy]

I'm not sure there is a perfect answer to your first question. Different people want different levels of detail.
I like the level of detail in the Palmer book but the chapter organisation I find a bit odd because he assumes you will travel to all grain via extract (and, yes, the third edition is way better than the "free to net" first edition).
Wheeler's book I think is a bit simplistic and lacks detail but would be an excellent first recipe book, assuming that your interest is archetypal British ales.

So based on the fact that you want a good recipe book I'd suggest Wheelers British Real Ale book as a first buy. If you need further detail/theory/radicalness then there will be other books we could recommend.

[richc]

Interesting, I think the differences between US and UK brewing styles are a bit exaggerated, after all stock pots and turkey friers are the just big pans and burners...
I've just got John Alexander's A Guide to Craft Brewing from the library and must say that so far I'm not that impressed, I haven't finished reading it yet though...
I find he keeps getting diverted into side topics like describing obscure bits of kit.
Anyway for recipe books I expect what you buy depends on what types of recipe interest you, I don't brew a lot of classic British style beers so prefer more general books.

[Steve B]

Another vote for Wheeler. Simple and accessible.

Saying that, there isn't much that you need to know that you can't get from here!

i went from a couple of Milestone kits straight to all grain via 1 extract brew. Nothing wrong with extract, but when you do the math all grain is much cheaper - once you acquire the basic kit.

I've read a few overseas books (US) and to be honest I'm glad I read them after I'd read Wheeler and browsed on here - the US ones leave me with the impression that AG is complicated. The basic process isn't. You can make it complicated as you progress and thats where the advanced books come in!

Good Luck!

[mysterio]

Mysti . . . You didn't mention the inaccuracies in Palmers book as well . . . . Unless the 3rd edition has fixed that??

Which inaccuracies do you mean and I'll check? The online edition is pretty old

[Horatio]

Graham Wheelers's books are worth buying for someone starting out. I started over 20 years ago with Dave Line's books and although I brewed good beer I found some parts of the books overwhelming; water treatment for a start!

One place that I would highly suggest is JIMS! You're already on here and you will find good information from people that brew great beers are just a search away. Everyone one here (well most ) are only too willing to offer help and advice on all aspects of brewing and recipe formulation.

[EoinMag]

Grahams book I use for specific recipes or launching points for recipes, I mean they're often attempted copies, but really like any clone they're a ballpark type thing and with real ale that's perfectly fine.

[HighHops]

I think we all agree that Graham Wheeler's "Brew your own..." is a great recipe book, but he has another book simply called "Home Brewing" which explains the fundamentals to get started on all grain.