This is one of the few book on brewing that I would recommend to everybody who is truly interested in art of making beer. Everything within the book is logically arranged and is layered from baseline topics to more advanced ones. This makes it very easy for Advanced brewers to skip the child's play and move right along into the good stuff, and for beginners to read all they need to know and skip through the scientific mumbo jumbo.

I hesitate giving this book a bad review because it's clear that anyone who does so must not be "advanced" enough in homebrewing to appreciate it. (We might not be altogether different from those who couldn't see the emperor's new clothes.)
The book certainly isn't about brewing lagers (as opposed to other styles.) The author says as much in his introduction. That was a disappointment. More disappointing was the tone. It read more like a textbook than what I've come to enjoy in "homebrewing books." (Books like Papazian's and Palmer's among others.) It screams with the message that brewing is just too serious of a matter to have fun with. I disagree. I guess that means I'm just a beginner.

This book was useful on fermentation techniques, and all sorts of insider info on what to do and what not to do to get a better fermentation going. Noonan also explains the difference of yeast pitching rates between lagers and ales.

I enjoyed the book however the technology is outdated and most people ferment lagers at 9-11C, secondary ferment then filter at -2C. Nothing on force fermenting or Hermes systems for infusion mashing. OK reference book for the shelf.

DO NOT get this book if you are a beginner looking to start brewing, I recommend How To Brew by John Palmer for that, a truly excellent book to start with. This is more of a reference guide for the advanced brewer ( being a beginner myself I have yet had a chance to use it ).

Although this book has a lot of useful information in it, I was disappointed to find it was not about lager at all. It is simply a general purpose brewing book with a lot of emphasis on all grain brewing. This makes it hard to rate because as a lager book it gets zero stars, which is why it was on my Christmas wish list.

I had the pleasure to hear Mr. Noonan speak about beer, he knows about beer and the beer world.

Reading his book bring a sea of information at all levels - I got a bit lost in the bio-chimistry of fermentation transformation. Nonetheless, if you want to go beyond amateur brewing this is a must.

Only drawback, after 10 years a refreshed version would be welcome.

In January I was lucky to be stuck in Berlin with Salmonella...because it gave me a month to go through this book chapter by chapter, reading, and re-reading with highlighter. And after 2 reads and a well worn and hi-lit version of the book, I have to admit, it is a potent and nearly perfect book for understanding how brewing works on a variety of levels. Best of all, it follows through all methods of all grain brewing for lager beer in the traditional Germanic style.

Thought the book tends to repeat itself a little as it describes the process, then re-describes the brewing process for practical use, it is well descriptive with paragraphs making perfect sense on a variety of levels of information. Once read by a beginner, he then has a great source for a step into higher understanding of the chemistry and biology behind brewing.

I put this book as THE BEST brewing book on my ever expanding beer book shelf.

Greg Noonan is probably one of the best authors on brewing books. This book is a great reference for brewing lagers, if not just brewing alltogether. This book is backed by true data, not anecdotes. Whether brewing lagers or ales, this book should be on your brew library shelf!!

This classic book has recently emerged from the land of the out-of-print books in a new edition, and I bought one as soon as I found out it was available. As an experienced homebrewer, I found it fascinating and informative. Noonan gets down to the hardcore chemical and technical foundations of brewing. And if you are interested in decoction mashing, Noonan provides what is probably the best description of the process that is available in print. This book is perfect for the professional brewer or advanced all-grain homebrewer.

However, the sheer volume of detail would bore a newcomer to brewing, or worse yet, scare him or her off. The beginner simply doesn't need this much highly-technical information. However, after that beginner gets a few batches under his belt, this book would be a good addition to his or her brewing library.

This classic book has recently emerged from the land of the out-of-print books in a new edition, and I bought one as soon as I found out it was available. As an experienced homebrewer, I found it fascinating and informative. Noonan gets down to the hardcore chemical and technical foundations of brewing. And if you are interested in decoction mashing, Noonan provides what is probably the best description of the process that is available in print. This book is perfect for the professional brewer or advanced all-grain homebrewer.

However, the sheer volume of detail would bore a newcomer to brewing, or worse yet, scare him or her off. The beginner simply doesn't need this much highly-technical information. However, after that beginner gets a few batches under his belt, this book would be a good addition to his or her brewing library.

This is without question the best book for homebrewing available. It is the only one that covers decoction mashing in detail. Most German brewers and even Anheuser-Busch use this efficient method to get maximum flavor and yield for your beer. Noonan covers a broad area of topics in great detail. From brewing chemistry to practical procedures outlined for the intermediate to advanced brewer, Noonan hits the bullseye. If you have brewed a little and really want to get into it, get this book!

This book is required reading for any serious brewer. After reading it, you will know how to choose your ingredients, the correct process for your ingredients and the proper equipment to make high quality beers. There is a lot of good advice for setting up your brewery (at home or otherwise) and the general guidelines for getting the most out of your brews. Even though I have been an all-grain brewer for some time, I find that I still go back to Noonan's book for practical information rather frequently. The only downside to this book is that the theoretical sections can be rather confusing. I am an engineer by education and I had a difficult time of understanding the enzyme reactions that occur in a mash or way hop resins combine with ions in the wort. A good deal of this in-depth theory made this book read like a college text, instead of like a book for the hobbyist.

Still, once you can distinguish the practical aspects from the theoretical information, this book is a must-have.

Noonan's text is simply superb. It is well organized, extremely detailed, and concise. This is a book about how and why you use each part of the brewing process. Noonan champions and explains the decoction mash, and even explains how to figure out if the malt you're using needs a decoction or an infusion mash. Appendices address both the infusion mash and the step mash, concisely, yet in detail.

The first third of the book, dedicated to ingredients, is alone worth the price. The detail on malt, brewing water, and yeast instantly imparts a greater understanding of and appreciation for the brewing process.

Read this book and begin to make informed decisions about your ingredients and the processes you use to brew beer from them.

This is the best written of all the brewing books I've read. Noonan is concise and informative about every aspect of brewing lagers. The chapters are organized well ('Water', 'Hops', 'Malt') and he is easy to follow when he lays out the procedures for brewing an all-grain beer. Two minor complaints: Noonan trumpets the primacy of the decoction mash and derides infusion mashing, which may give the novice homebrewer some confusion as to the 'proper' way to proceed; the book is also very scanty with recipes, though it never promises any and indeed its technical side is so superior to Papazian or Miller or anyone else out there, it belongs on the shelf of every homebrewer anyway.

...this is /the/ book for those who wish to enter all-grain (as opposed to extract or partial mash) brewing. The title specifically references lager beers, but the information, techniques and theory described apply to the production of ales as well. Don't buy this book first if you are just entering brewing as a hobby, but do buy it second or third if you move on to all-grain methods.

Cheers to beers.