Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation (Book Review)
Friday, May 29th, 2020
I’ve come to realise over the years that my core pursuit is farming yeast. The by-product of being a better farmer is a beautiful beer. So, I agree wholeheartedly with the statement that brewers make wort and yeast make beer. I’m not sure if anyone who makes wort and ferments that wort into beer (at least if you want to really make great beer) would disagree. Yeast are complicated organisms when it comes to making beer, every beer is really a chemical experiment in the fermenter; and if you don’t understand the creature you’re farming, then you won’t achieve ideal results. So the better brewers read and study because the more you implement that science and experimentation in your farming of yeast, the greater the improvement to your final beer. I would add that I’m now making beers, in many cases, equal to those I would purchase from craft breweries, sometimes better. Almost certainly, fresher.
This is exactly the reason you may want to read Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. At a bare minimum the reading of this book improved three significant misunderstandings or bad practices that affect the beer that I pour. And yes, it’s a dry read if you don’t like science. But, then, if you don’t like science you probably aren’t that interested in making the perfect beer.