New book!

[Chris Craig]

Just got a copy of Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels.  http://www.amazon.ca/Designing-Great-Be ... 104&sr=8-1

Can't wait to dig into this.

[jamie_savoie]

nice!  it's one book I plan to purchase eventually when I'm more experienced

I also bought 4 books yesterday....all on lambics  8-)

[fakr]

Hey Chris,

I have this book too.  I'm about 30-40 pages into it now and am very very impressed.

Ray doesn't go into "how to brew" details as he states that readers should already know the basics, but what he dives right into is grain profiles, classes of grain, types of grain, additions, sugars, etc.  He goes into great detail about their function, aromas, flavors, etc.  He gets right into efficiency formulas and how to calculating your grain bill.  He's taken what as seems a bit cumbersome, and has turned it into very simple calculations.

And I'm only on page 40.  Great book.

If anyone wants to borrow it when I'm done, not a problem.  Just let me know.
Should be through it within the next week or two.

[fakr]

by the way Jamie,  I would highly recommend you read this book regardless  of your experience level.  I've been brewing for a few years now and have not come across this type of solid, simple information on grain types, grain bill calculations, etc.  

I wish I had have had this information when I started brewing with grain.  The information is not limited to grain though, he touches on extract and explains how to do substitutions with basic calculations.

[pliny]

In the another section of the book, he takes many different styles and talks about the history and provides an analysis of recipes from national competitions and  looks at what the common ingredients & elements (OG, FG, IBU etc) were from the ones that made it into the final rounds of judging.
It's good to look at when formulating a recipe or when thinking about trying a new style, if you're wondering if a certain hop or malt of range goes well in a style.

[fakr]

looking forward to that part of the book Pliny.

I've made quite a few good beers in the past with no idea what style they would fit in.  I should be able to review the recipes, and with the help if this book, fit them in a certain style, or classify them as just a delicious beer.

[HappyHax0r]

I've had this book since I started brewing AG beers, it's a great book.