Homebrewer’s Library: BYO Writers Pick Favorite Books
New beer books show up in the Brew Your Own mailbox every week, but not every book is an instant classic. We asked some of BYO’s longtime columnists — Ashton Lewis (“Mr. Wizard”), Marc Martin (“The Replicator”), Jamil Zainasheff (“Style Profile”), Terry Foster (“Techniques”), Chris Bible (“Advanced Brewing”) — what titles they reach for in their homebrewing reference libraries time after time. Their choices provide a great list of must-haves for anyone looking to fill out the bookshelves of a well-stocked homebrewery.
A Treatise on Lager Beers
By Fred Eckhardt and Jack McCallum
Marc Martin: Fred is commonly known as “The Dean of American Beer Writers.” This was the first book in my library, purchased in 1979 and the one that originally made me consider homebrewing. This book is very dear to me as Fred lives in my metro area and is a good friend. It is signed by
Fred with this inscription: “One taste of Dr. Eckhardt’s Steam Beer elixir
and I became immune to all constructive criticism.”
Beer Companion: The World’s Great Beer Styles, Gastronomy, and Traditions
By Michael Jackson
Ashton Lewis: Michael Jackson’s books about beer likely did more to explain beer to the consumer audience than any body of work from any other author. This book, as with several others he penned, includes interesting information about brewing materials, specific breweries and their beers, timeless descriptions of beer flavor and beautiful photography.
Brewing
By Michael J. Lewis and Tom W. Young
Chris Bible: This book dives deeply into the biochemical aspects of malting and brewing beer. It is well-written and has an almost “conversational” feel to me when reading it. Great coverage all around, but especially strong on the biochemistry.
Brewing Classic Styles
By Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer
Chris Bible: This book comprehensively covers the BJCP style categories and presents great, detailed information on recipe formulation. This book is a great starting point when seeking to brew a style that you may not have attempted before.
Jamil Zainasheff: A broad range of award-winning recipes all from a single source. A great resource when learning to brew a new style of beer.
Brewing Science and Practice
By Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens
Chris Bible: Comprehensive in coverage of brewing ingredients and the brewing process, this reference book contains well-written, technically detailed information on the science of beer and brewing. It is a great companion reference to Malting and Brewing Science, and contains lots of great technical data.
Brewing Quality Beers: The Home Brewer’s Essential Guidebook
By Byron Burch
Marc Martin: This is the book that took my beers to the next level. It is basic but includes very complete instructions for both ale and lager production. It provides very easy reading and is not super technical.
The Chemistry of Beer: The Science in the Suds
By Roger Barth
Chris Bible: This is a great textbook-style book that we are using in the Professional Brewing Science program at South College in Knoxville, Tennessee (I am presently helping them out as an Adjunct Professor). This book starts out with a review of general chemistry and basic organic chemistry, but rapidly moves into discussion about the specific chemical processes that are going on during the brewing process. It is well illustrated and contains a depth of technical detail that is just about exactly right for educating a new brewer on the chemistry of beer and brewing.
Classic Beer Styles Series
Chris Bible: This series of books is unique in that they provide a very in-depth coverage of the available historical information associated with beer styles, and also provide a good amount of information regarding recipe formulation and brewing techniques for each major beer style.
Terry Foster: Any serious brewer should not forget the Classic Beer Styles series from Brewers Publications (of which I have authored a couple). These are relatively specialized for they deal with individual styles,
defining them, relating what goes into them and giving recipes for producing them yourself.
The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing
By Dave Miller
Ashton Lewis: This was the first brewing book I purchased that really addressed the science of brewing in a manner that I found practical. Miller’s writing style is concise and easy to understand and the topics he covered in 1988 when this book was first published are still relevant to the modern homebrewer.
Designing Great Beers
By Ray Daniels
Chris Bible: This book takes a data-driven, statistics-based approach at recipe development that sets it apart from other references. Ray analyzes and presents data based on American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition (NHC) award-winning beers, and compiles it in a way to make it accessible to any technical-minded homebrewer.
Terry Foster: Not exactly a new book, but still one packed with useful information. Daniels is very good on beer color — how to measure it and ways in which it can be calculated when formulating a recipe. Apart from brewing fundamentals, Daniels also delves deeply into analyzing beers from competitions, showing not only what makes the styles, but also how to best brew them. He is a particularly good source if you want to be successful in brewing competitions.
Marc Martin: This is an all around excellent publication. It is perfect for more advanced all-grain brewers. Two of the best features are the extreme focus on duplicating individual styles and the most commonly used grain bills for NHC second round-judged beers. This is the reference book that I use for teaching advanced brewing classes in conjunction with the Bader Beer & Wine Supply store.
Jamil Zainasheff: An aging resource, but still great because it teaches you a lot about how to create recipes with a logical approach.
Froth: The Science of Beer
By Mark Denny
Chris Bible: This book is, in my opinion, unique in that it bridges a gap between “crazy-science-technical” (like the Malting and Brewing Science volumes)” and “just follow the recipe.” It presents, in an easy to read manner, science and technical details on such topics as “yeast population dynamics” and “brewing thermodynamics,” but does not read at all like a textbook or reference work for a practicing brewing-science person.
How to Brew
By John Palmer
Chris Bible: This book still represents to me the gold standard in introducing new brewers to the art and science of homebrewing. John takes a very practical-minded approach to homebrewing, but still presents enough technical detail for me to get my geek on.
Terry Foster: This is a comprehensive introduction to homebrewing, including techniques and equipment. It will take you from simple to more complex malt extract beers, right on up to all-grain brewing and formulating your own recipes. In fact, it is more than an introduction to homebrewing, since it contains much information valuable even to the experienced brewer.
Marc Martin: This is probably the single-most comprehensive book in my library of over 30 volumes. It covers everything from the basics of ingredients to the most advanced techniques. For brewers wanting to take their beers to the ultimate level there is an excellent section on water adjustments. If you can only have one homebrewing book, make it this one.
Jamil Zainasheff: The most comprehensive and complete book for beginners to intermediate. A must have for every homebrewer’s library.
Malting and Brewing Science, Volumes 1 & 2
By Dennis E Briggs, J.S. Hough, Roger Stevens, Tom W. Young
Chris Bible: These books are some of the best technical brewing science reference volumes available, despite being somewhat older. They are a great resource when trying to dive deep into understanding a particular technical nuance at a fundamental science/engineering level. They are comprehensive in their coverage of malting and brewing, and contain lots of data.
Ashton Lewis: The second edition of this two-volume textbook, copyrighted in 1981, is still my go-to reference for the scientific basis behind many brewing topics. This is a classic and in many ways is a more current, albeit dated, version of Jean DeClerck’s masterpiece, A Textbook of Brewing, which was first published in English in 1957.
New Brewing Lager Beer
By Gregory J. Noonan
Terry Foster: Although almost 20 years old, the information in this book is still very relevant to those homebrewers who want to brew the best beer they possibly can. Noonan gives quite a lot of technical background coupled with basic brewing information, so whatever your brewing skill level may be you will find this book a good standby. Most importantly, this is one of the few homebrewing books to focus exclusively on lager brewing.
The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing
By Chalie Papazian
Marc Martin: This is the most beloved book in my library. It not only provides good homebrewing instruction but is also just a good read. Charlie’s writing style makes this a book you could read at the beach. Great classic recipes like “Toad Spit Stout,” a chapter on how to make mead, and even a few pages on hangovers — what’s not to like?
Jamil Zainasheff: You’ll enjoy homebrewing more if you read this book. When you find yourself caught up in the technical details more than enjoying your beer, read this book and relax a little.
The New World Guide to Beer
By Michael Jackson
Terry Foster: This is perhaps a little dated now, but it is a classic and should be in every beer lover’s library. After all, Jackson was the beer guru and was influential in the re-birth of the craft brewing industry in both the USA and Great Britain. He describes in some detail the world’s great beer styles and their origins and backgrounds, and is particularly good on Belgian beers. As with Beer Companion this is a great foundation stone on which to build the edifice of your brewing knowledge.
The Oxford Companion to Beer
Ed. Garrett Oliver
Chris Bible: This book is essentially the “Encyclopedia of Beer.” It is comprehensive in its topic coverage, but does not go into a great deal of technical detail.
Terry Foster: This is a reference book, with contributions from many distinguished authors (and even a few from me) on beer brewing and the history of beer. It covers almost everything in the beer “sphere,” including brewing methods, “normal” and unusual ingredients, beer styles and backgrounds, brewers and breweries. If you have a beer/brewing question, this is the place to start.
Practical Handbook for the Specialty Brewer Volumes 1-3
Ed. Karl Ockert
Ashton Lewis: A three-volume book published by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA)
in 2006 as an updated, and craft brewer-centric version of MBAA’s signature text The Practical Brewer. This book is written in a Q&A format and covers a wide array of brewing topics ranging from raw materials to wastewater treatment and just about everything in between. Although this book is targeted to the professional craft brewer, the topics covered are also of interest and of use to the homebrewer.
Technology and Brewing Science
By Wolfgang Kunze
Ashton Lewis: Commonly called “Kunze,” this book was first published in 1961. The latest Fourth International Edition was published in 2010. Kunze’s text has many similarities with Malting & Brewing Science with a few notable differences. One of the primary differences between the two is nearly 30 years in age. Another is that Kunze touches on some of the more practical brewing topics in greater detail than Hough, Briggs, Stevens and Young do. Kunze is my go-to reference for engineering and equipment design basics.
Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation
By Jamil Zainasheff and Chris White
Jamil Zainasheff: Fermentation is the most important aspect of brewing great beer. Fermentation separates the great brewer from the good brewer.
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