Reddit reviews IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale

The definition of an IPA has changed since the 1800's, mostly within the last 25 years or so. This is largely due to the popularity of American hops and the ingenuity of west-coast brewers. The 'Imperial' designation usually just means a higher gravity ale.

You might enjoy Mitch Steele's book "IPA". He's the brewmaster for Stone and he dives into where the style has come from and how it has evolved.

http://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003

John Palmer's How to Brew is a classic. It was very eye opening for me (also with engineering background) and gave a very wide knowledge about every part of the process. Now I know whats really happening and how different factors affect. Some simple recipes also, but nothing eye opening there.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888


The next homebrewing book I'm going to get is Mitch Steele's (brewmaster for Stone Brewing Co.) book on IPA's. Watched couple BeerSmith's podcasts with him on and seems to know a lot and liked the way he talks about the issues.

http://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003

It's been well established in several books, most recently Mitch Steele's IPA that porter and other non-highly hopped beers were also being shipped to India, showing that the preservative properties of hops was not the reason the East India Ale (later named India Pale Ale) became popular. The highly hopped ale was more expensive than standard ales at the time and thus the upper class was used to drinking it. So when the went the India they demanded the same product they had already been drinking in England. The preservative properties of hops were a lucky side effect that was not completely understood at the time.

This is my full list of books from /r/homebrewing but it includes pro level books:

New Brewers:

• How to Brew - John Palmer
  
• Brewing classic styles- Jamil Zainasheff
  
• Designing Great Beers - Ray Daniels
  
• The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Charlie Papazian
  
  Continued Learning:
  
  
• Water - Palmer and Kaminsky
  
• Yeast - Zainicheff and White
  
• Malt - Mallet
  
• Hops - Hieronymous
  
• Experimental Brewing - Drew Beechum and Denny Conn
  
• Radical Brewing - Randy Mosher
  
• Brewing Better Beer - Gordon Strong
  
  Specialty/Advanced/Other:
  
  
• American Sour Beers - Michael Tonsmeire (/u/oldsock)
  
• Brewing with Wheat - Stan Hieronymus
  
• IPA: Brewing Techniques - Mitch Steele
  
• Farmhouse Ales - Phil Markowski
  
• Brew Like a Monk - Stan Hieronymus
  
• New Brewing Lager Beers - Gregory J. Noonan
  
• Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers- Stephen Harrod Buhner
  
• Drink: a cultural history of alcohol - Iain gately
  
• Principals of Brewing Science - George Fix
  
  Business Books:
  
  
• Brewing Up a Business - Sam Calagione
  
• Brewers association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery - Cantwell, among others
  
• SO you want to start a brewery - Tony magee
  
• Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co - Ken Grossman
  
• Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery Paperback –Steve Hindy & Tom Potter
  
  Technical Readings (Textbooks might be expensive):
  
  
• Brewery Operations Manual - Tom Hennessy
  
• Beer Packaging - Master Brewers Association
  
• Technology Brewing and Malting - W. Kunze, 5th Edition
  
• Malting and Brewing Science, Volume 1 - Many Authors
  
• Malting and Brewing Science, Volume 2 - Many Authors
  
• Brewing yeast and fermentation - Boulton and Quain

This blog post explains very concisely how to make a good IPA.

For something more substantial read PA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale by Mitch Steele.

Gift certificate for his homebrewing store and/or this book about the brewing of IPAs.

May I offer this book up for you to consider? IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale by Mitch Steele

http://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003/

I bring it up as Steele's research shows that "IPAs" were actually the pale ales of the day and starts to point that IPAs were not created solely for the trip to India.

There is plenty of info in the book that debunks many of the commonly held thoughts about how and why IPAs became what they did.

Also he has plenty of info in how and why beer degraded the way it did and why we were mostly left with American light lagers and how that process started back in the mid-1800s.

Also if you are a brewer, there are plenty of recipes in the second half of the book to grab plenty of ideas from or to brew straight out.

> why the English had India Pale Ale for the long voyage to bring beer to the expats on the subcontinent

This is the common misconception

To get the real story, read IPA by Mitch Steele

https://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501951679&sr=8-1&keywords=IPA+mitch+steele

Sniped from Mitch Steele's IPA book.

I haven't read this, but it sounds like it might be along the lines of what you're looking for: https://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003

I had the EKG/Fuggles on hand, and I did a Black IPA using these hops in the past (same bittering addition, lower aroma addition) and it turned out beautifully, though we used US-05 as it was on hand.

Just wanted to recreate that amazing brew from way back when seeing as I was making some darker beers. The British yeast was more because I had washed and recycled it from the Coffee Porter, and had read that commercial brewers often use either a British Ale yeast or a neutral US ale yeast for their Black IPA's and CDA's.

Reference: http://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-Techniques-Recipes-Evolution/dp/1938469003
(Good book)