Books for brewing

When I've spoken to people interested in starting to brew about brewing, the conversation inevitably turns to sources of information about brewing that are helpful. While you can garner a lot of information from online sources about brewing, I personally prefer to have the information in front of my while I'm brewing, so I prefer to get a lot of information from books. This post is a list of books I have used and recommend for beginning brewers looking for resources on how to brew.

1.) The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian - this book is so often the first book used by brewers that is is almost a cliché. However, it is full of great information presented in an easy-to-understand manner and with Charlie's famous philosophy of "Don't worry. Have a homebrew." Some people prefer the next selection over this one for beginning brewers, but I still have a soft spot for Charlie's book.

2.) How To Brew by John Palmer - This book is a fantastic resource for beginning brewers, and is known for its fantastic introduction to all-grain brewing, for those that wish to skip using extracts. This book is absolutely full of great information, but is a little more advanced than Charlie's book in some aspects. If you are jumping in with a mind to do some serious brewing, you may want so start with this one.

3.) Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels - I read through this book, and then read it again. There were two reasons for this. The first reason was that I really liked it. The second was because I didn't think I absorbed nearly all of the information the first time. This book is a fantastic reference to have around while you are brewing your batch, especially if you are thinking of brewing a particular style and want to get it just right. It's also great for looking up particular traits you like in beer and finding ways to draw them out or balance them within your recipe.

4.) Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer is a great source for recipes. Jamil Zainasheff is one of the most award-winning home brewers in history, and this collection of recipes is an invaluable source to the homebrewed who doesn't really feel comfortable formulating their own recipes, but wants to try branching out from extract kits bought at their local homebrew store. This book is great if you've got a couple of batches under your belt and want to start experimenting a little.

There are hundreds of home brewing books out there. Just search for "Brewing Books" on Amazon, and you'll see what I mean. The best books for sheer amount of knowledge are probably the textbooks, but, dollar for dollar, these four books and some practice and extra research online will give you plenty of knowledge to brew excellent beer.

Cheers,

Ben

All-Grain Brewing

It's been a long time since I have posted, but I'm still here. I recently was married, and had a great honeymoon. My brother, his wife, and their new son, Jasper, made it in for the ceremony and the reception.

I brewed three beers for my reception, and named them for my cats. Our manx cat, who was born without a tail and always looks sincerely surprised, had "Meow Meow's Incredulous No Tail Pale Ale." Our ginger farm cat had "Thomas Underfoot's Farmhouse Ale." Our little black female cat, who is ever so tiny, had "Violet's Purpleberry Wheat." They were all a success. The pale ale was an all centennial hop celebration, and it was pretty good, but not my best beer. The farmhouse ale was a light Cascade/Centennial hopped blonde ale in which I used Belgian Strong Ale yeast. It was probably my least favorite of the three, but I definitely drank my share. The Purpleberry Wheat, which went first and fastest, was a wheat beer in which I used Wyeast 1056 American Ale and then added 10 pounds of 5 different berries to the 10 gallon batch. It was brilliantly purple, and it was very good. These three beers were my last extract batches.

I'm in a New Venture Management class in school right now in which I am writing a business plan for a brewery. As I research it, I've realized jumping into a professional brewery with a 15 barrel system may be a bit on the risky side. Especially considering all of the rumors I've heard lately about a new brewery in the works in town.

I think I'd rather break into it more slowly, and grow my brewery more organically. I want to start brewing very small batches until I have my recipes just right, and concentrate on making amazing beer rather than just good beer. I want to dedicate my work to creating beer as art.

I'm starting this notion now, while I'm still in school and I'm still working full time. I am going to brew a few beers over and over until they are perfect and they are easily repeatable. I'm going to start with a pale ale based on the recipe my brother and I brewed the first time I brewed with my all-grain system. I'll be brewing it this weekend, as the second time I've ever brewed on my all-grain system. It'll be light gold in color, light on the alcohol, and hopped to balance really well.

It's about time, S.A.U.C.E and E.S.B.

Yesterday was my first brew day at the new house. I have really been itching for it badly. I put the recipe together on beertools.com about a month ago and finally got around to brewing it yesterday. I used the well water from the farm I was brewing at before, because I have yet to purchase a water treatment system for the house. I have had my eye on a carbon block filter I found on morebeer.com. It's relatively inexpensive and should remove the nasty chlorine-related flavors from my beer. For now, I'm using the farm water or making a trip out to my parents' well for water, since it is hard enough water for most beers and lacks chemicals.

The ESB went really well yesterday until cooling. The immersion chiller I was using sprung a like with the hose clamp loosened itself, and unboiled municipal water leaked into my cooling wort. Unfortunately, that means there is a high risk of bacterial contamination, but we'll see how it turns out. I may have just made a sour ale instead of an ESB. Luckily, the contamination was somewhat limited by the fact that I noticed it was happening and I switched to my backup chiller.

A friend of mine recently started a magazine here in Springfield, Missouri called SAUCE. It stands for Springfield Art Underground Culture Entertainment. I'll be writing a regular beer column, with tasting notes. Online at saucethemag.com, I will also be posting relevant blogs and a few home brew recipes and tips to try. While the column and the blog will be aimed at a more general audience, it will hopefully be filled with some useful information for everyone. Also, it won't hurt that I'll be posting recipes, as well.

Anyway, I'm easily distracted today, so I'm off. I'm playing with the The Brewing Network's registration and forums, etc. If you don't already subscribe to their podcasts and listen to them religiously, you probably should do that. They are filled with great information and are a lot of fun to listen to.