Best Book for AG Technique?

[Richard]

I bought Jamil Zainasheff's "Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew", but tbh I can't read this through cover-cover any better than I can a standard cookbook. It's a nice reference, though.

I want a book that explains AG technique, preferably with

• some variations on the theme of mashing (infusion, decoction, parameters' effects on wort qualities, etc)
• ingredient selection (specifically how to construct a grain bill for certain non-flavor characteristics such as body, head retention, etc)
• High-gravity brews requiring long boil-time to reach volume.

Mostly everything of note up to the point of pitching, as I figure yeast deserves an entry in my library all by itself

Anyone got any suggestions?

[Shawn]

"How to Brew", by John Palmer, is always pretty dependable.

BCS is great for starting recipes for styles, but it's not really a methodology book.

[Richard]

This is a good example of the level of detail I'm after (excepting his occasional lapses of quality control):
http://braukaiser.com/documents/Effects ... ciency.pdf

I just put in an order for Jamil Zainasheff + Chris White's Yeast book, too.

It occurs to me that a club library might be a good idea...

[Richard]

"How to Brew", by John Palmer, is always pretty dependable.

I'll grab a copy and see how it goes. If I've read "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" third edition (as I have), will it provide much new material?

[Shawn]

Haven't read that one... so,  hard to say.

I've heard of a lot of people who have brewed for years constantly going back to Palmer's book. Mind you, even now it's a bit dated (he admits in articles and podcasts now that there's rarely a good time to transfer to secondary, for example), but it has a lot of useful information that you may like.

howtobrew.com has quite a bit of the book there, for free, if you want to take a look to compare to that other book you mentioned.