New Brewing Lager Beer is the probably the most scientific brewing book I own. It goes through the chemistry of the mash, the effects of the water, calculations for almost everything you could run across, and several other things I can't remember. It has a small section of recipes, but it's mainly a fundamental knowledge book.
It is also the fundamental resource for one of the most difficult methods of homebrewing beer: the dreaded triple decoction mash all grain brew. Apart from using wild yeasts, nothing strikes fear in the hearts of homebrewers like the thought of a decoction mash. Instead of shying away from it or explaining it away, Noonan embraces the technique with an almost religious zeal. Although decoction mashes require several times the amount of effort and care of a standard mash, Noonan's process leads the brewer through it as easily as possible, and the results are simply not reproducible by other means. The question is: is that flavor worth the effort? For Noonan, it is. For most other brewers, it isn't. For those types, Noonan provides scaled down mashing processes, including double and single decoctions, step mashes, and the basic infusion. (after trying all of them, I've settled on the step for most of my brews. I figure it gives a good balance of conversion/extraction and not taking all damn day!)
For all its technical information, New Brewing Lager Beer is short on a couple fronts. It does not have much on recipe formulation or much of anything on ales, as the name would suggest. But that's ok: lots of other books have those.Get more detail about New Brewing Lager Beer: The Most Comprehensive Book for Home-and Microbrewers.
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