Understanding different beer styles

As a new brewer I am trying to gain a better understanding of the different styles of beers that can be made. I know the difference between an ale and a lager but I would love to know what a stout is composed of or what ingredients make a pale ale and so forth. This way when I move to all grain brewing (hopefully October) I will have a good sense of what needs to be in my recipes. If anyone can recommend a book or a website that would help me out it would be much appreciated.

Designing great beers by Ray Daniels is what you want.

Brilliant book, I pick it up every time I plan a brew. It has history on the styles, variations, grain bills, extract recipes, what hops are good and yeast recommendations. Most of his data comes from BJCP competition winners and finalists, and every chapter is an interesting read

Welcome to the hobby, I know you'll have a ton of fun experimenting with all the craziness you can find on this forum!

Happy brewing

Check out www.BJCP.org - the Beer Judge Certification Program has guidelines for many beer styles. These guidelines contain info about appearance, aroma, flavor, as well as historical info and ingredient insights.

Designing Great Beers is pretty much a bible of beer, combine that with the BJCP guidelines for style definition and you are set.

The BJCP is a great place to start, though that’s not really what it was designed for. It’s a style guideline for competitions, so some of the sub-styles are a little arbitrary.

Go to the library and check out anything by the late great Michael Jackson (not the singer, the other one). Emphasis on “The World Guide to Beer”. This will give you some context on history and regions.

+1 on Designing Great Beers

I would also recommend Brewing Classic Styles - it is an excellent recipe/style overview book. A brief synopsis of every category and subcategory as well as a good solid recipe for each one as well. Really a great starting point for almost any beer style you would want to brew. If I want to brew a new style, I usually use the recipe for it from this book the first time around, and then adjust from there in the future if I want to .

THere's also the old Jamil Show podcasts on The Brewing Network - each style is covered in a 45-60 minute episode. I learned a ton listening to these when I first started. I still go back to them when I'm trying something new. Just be sure to go back to the OLD episodes - the show has changed a couple of times since the beginning and I have found the new shows (i.e. "Brewing with Style") on less interesting and less informative.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show

Thanks for all the responses. Just picked up off amazon Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles, and was able to get for 50 cents a hardcover copy of World Guide to Beer by Michael Jackson. Thanks again.

JLem said:

Check out www.BJCP.org - the Beer Judge Certification Program has guidelines for many beer styles. These guidelines contain info about appearance, aroma, flavor, as well as historical info and ingredient insights.

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JLem,
Thanks buddy,I downloaded the phone app!Exactly the info I was looking for!
Ernie

Classic Beer Style Series (the Lambic book is out of print).

TxErnie said:

JLem,
Thanks buddy,I downloaded the phone app!Exactly the info I was looking for!
Ernie

Click to expand...

Happy to help.

Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles, and the BJCP website are excellent resources. There is also a series of books dedicated to specific styles of beer. I've seen a couple at LHBS; Stout and IPA for examples.