Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation is a resource for brewers of all experience levels. The authors adeptly cover yeast selection, storage and handling of yeast cultures, how to culture yeast and the art of rinsing/washing yeast cultures. Sections on how to set up a yeast lab, the basics of fermentation science and how it affects your beer, plus step by step procedures, equipment lists and a guide to troubleshooting are included.
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From the Back Cover
From the foreword: "...loads of sound information and techniques that will work for brewers at all levels, from beginning homebrewers to production brewers at any sized brewery. Included are fantastic tips for working with all kinds of yeast strains and beer styles, introducing new strains, and how to use best brewing and lab practices to keep your yeast healthy and your beer tasting great."
Mitch Steele, Head Brewer/Production Manager, Stone Brewing Company
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By G. Schmidt
Format:Paperback
This is a pretty good home brewing book. It's NOT a yeast biology textbook or a yeast-ranching manual, though, and I think the other recent review is a bit unfair in its expectations. (If you're looking for that kind of information, it's out there. Start with George Fix.) It is technical enough to get its point across without requiring me to dig out old college textbooks to understand its references.
If you're an intermediate- to advanced-homebrewer, this is worth having. (True beginners should probably concentrate on big-ticket techniques first.) It will teach you everything you need to know to get the best performance out of yeast purchased from reputable sources and help you shepherd it through a typical 4 or 5 generations.
If you're an intermediate- to advanced-homebrewer, this is worth having. (True beginners should probably concentrate on big-ticket techniques first.) It will teach you everything you need to know to get the best performance out of yeast purchased from reputable sources and help you shepherd it through a typical 4 or 5 generations.
161 of 211 people found the following review helpful
By Y T
Format:Paperback
This book was very disappointing.
If you're hoping it will contain the information necessary to maintain yeast without reliance on commercial sources (after obtaining a culture) then it will be grossly inadequate. The over simplification of techniques (often times a complete omission) make this book useless to a professional; this simplification is so incredible that it is not much more than a primer for the homebrewer. Considering it was written by prominent professionals with a academic backgrounds in science, it is appalling that it reads like a hybrid between an amateur forum post and an advertisement for White Labs.
The book was truly lost for me upon reading the sentence: "An easy way to determine the proper amount of yeast for your batch and how big a starter you need is the free Pitching Rate Calculator at [...]" (p144). Anybody buying an entire book dedicated to beer yeast is far beyond needing a reference to that website.
A text of this type should enable the reader to perform all of the necessary calculations on their own; it doesn't. This book mentions several times that certain methods should be avoided or circumvented in lieu of less ideal but easier methods because the reader is not competent enough to maintain a sanitary environment or use complex/expensive equipment or methods, yet the book goes on to recommend the reader purchase items like a centrifuge (p182) and a spectrophotometer (p229).
I admit some of this disappointment is my fault. I was foolish to assume that, since this book was co-authored by the founder of White Labs, it would be a wealth of knowledge bordering on the publication of trade secrets: a way of truly understanding how to indefinitely maintain my own yeast library and perform fermentations using IDEAL conditions (which are arguably never discussed). For instance, tell me HOW to make nutrient saturated yeast extracts instead of saying "one supplement that addresses [yeast nutrition] is Servomyces, which White Labs [sells]" (p75). Also, the book does not give the reader the information necessary to safely preserve yeast for long periods by creating something akin to a White Labs vial, or specialized nutrient solutions for long term refrigeration or freezing.
So far I've only quickly read through the book once. I plan on giving a detailed run-through of the problems with this book when I go through it again and take the time to make notes. I will be happy after doing so, so that I can eliminate this publication from my brewing shelf and make space for a text with practical use.
One bit of information I specifically hoped to gain from this book was the techniques for proper starters. I wanted to know *ideal* gravity, cell/mL inoc rates, cell/mL expected yield, and stepping proportions; I know some of you were probably fooled into thinking this book contains these answers (on pages 126-145), but if you read carefully you will realize that it doesn't (due to vague or excluded information and poor assumptions).
If you're hoping it will contain the information necessary to maintain yeast without reliance on commercial sources (after obtaining a culture) then it will be grossly inadequate. The over simplification of techniques (often times a complete omission) make this book useless to a professional; this simplification is so incredible that it is not much more than a primer for the homebrewer. Considering it was written by prominent professionals with a academic backgrounds in science, it is appalling that it reads like a hybrid between an amateur forum post and an advertisement for White Labs.
The book was truly lost for me upon reading the sentence: "An easy way to determine the proper amount of yeast for your batch and how big a starter you need is the free Pitching Rate Calculator at [...]" (p144). Anybody buying an entire book dedicated to beer yeast is far beyond needing a reference to that website.
A text of this type should enable the reader to perform all of the necessary calculations on their own; it doesn't. This book mentions several times that certain methods should be avoided or circumvented in lieu of less ideal but easier methods because the reader is not competent enough to maintain a sanitary environment or use complex/expensive equipment or methods, yet the book goes on to recommend the reader purchase items like a centrifuge (p182) and a spectrophotometer (p229).
I admit some of this disappointment is my fault. I was foolish to assume that, since this book was co-authored by the founder of White Labs, it would be a wealth of knowledge bordering on the publication of trade secrets: a way of truly understanding how to indefinitely maintain my own yeast library and perform fermentations using IDEAL conditions (which are arguably never discussed). For instance, tell me HOW to make nutrient saturated yeast extracts instead of saying "one supplement that addresses [yeast nutrition] is Servomyces, which White Labs [sells]" (p75). Also, the book does not give the reader the information necessary to safely preserve yeast for long periods by creating something akin to a White Labs vial, or specialized nutrient solutions for long term refrigeration or freezing.
So far I've only quickly read through the book once. I plan on giving a detailed run-through of the problems with this book when I go through it again and take the time to make notes. I will be happy after doing so, so that I can eliminate this publication from my brewing shelf and make space for a text with practical use.
One bit of information I specifically hoped to gain from this book was the techniques for proper starters. I wanted to know *ideal* gravity, cell/mL inoc rates, cell/mL expected yield, and stepping proportions; I know some of you were probably fooled into thinking this book contains these answers (on pages 126-145), but if you read carefully you will realize that it doesn't (due to vague or excluded information and poor assumptions).
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By R. Mooney
Format:Paperback
I was really anticipating this book which may have unreasonably raised my expectations.
The first half of the book can be reasonably skipped by most people who have had almost any brewing experience and felt somewhat like filler to me.
The second half where there was actually some discussion of techniques and process was interesting. I would recommend this book to serious homebrewers for the second half, if only as a reference to help learn what you should go lookup in more detail. If nothing else the last couple of chapters are a decent survey of most basic yeast handling techniques. If it had been about as long, but more process and technique information it would have been better for my purposes.
The first half of the book can be reasonably skipped by most people who have had almost any brewing experience and felt somewhat like filler to me.
The second half where there was actually some discussion of techniques and process was interesting. I would recommend this book to serious homebrewers for the second half, if only as a reference to help learn what you should go lookup in more detail. If nothing else the last couple of chapters are a decent survey of most basic yeast handling techniques. If it had been about as long, but more process and technique information it would have been better for my purposes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
Tremendous resource of knowledge, I learned an incredible amount about the brewing process from this book. Read more
Published 3 days ago by J. Den
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beer Brewing Yeast
For someone who took no biology in college but has a strong chemistry background it was an enjoyable and informative book that will be a reference in my beer library. Read more
Published 4 days ago by CopperTop
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very complete
All subjects are presente in this book. Good for all levels of experience. Nice tips and histories too. Very useful.
Published 6 days ago by Andre
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book
A lot to learn in this book. There is one chapter that digs into the biology of yeast, other than that it doesn't stray too far from comprehensible. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Bryan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!
Everything a homebrewer need to know about yeast and fermentation, the most important part of the brewing process. Read more
Published 10 days ago by GLENN ROGER LIE
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hops! Water! Yeast! Oh, my!
This is a great book that builds on books like John Palmer's. I love this series of books. I have the Hops and Yeast books. Cant wait to get the Water Book. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Malcolm Coon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
Haven't read the whole book yet but highly recommended if you are wanting to learn more about yeast and brewing/fermenting.
Published 28 days ago by R. HANSEN Jr.
3.0 out of 5 stars
The weakest Brewing Elements book yet
I had such high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it's the most disappointing of all the Brewers Publication's books. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. H
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
An excellent resource to learn more about yeast. It goes very far into depth while still being readable. I have learned a lot from this book.
Published 1 month ago by CoryMathews
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT
Livro extraordinario! Sensacional para o iniciante e tambem para o usuario avançado. Excelente leitura ede facil assimilaçăo.Muito bom mesmo.Recomendo.
BOM
BOM
Published 1 month ago by Antonio Quintella
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