Here's a quote from Amazon:Kev888 wrote:Another one for the list then - the title certainly sounds right and that quote has me hooked!Hogarth wrote:There's always George Fix's book Principles of Brewing Science. It is pretty technical, and some of it will only make sense to chemists, but I found it interesting despite having failed my chemistry 'O' level. The majority of it is written in plain English, and it seems pretty authoritative. The chapters are "Malting and Mashing", "Wort Boiling", "Fermentation", "Oxidation", "Beer Stabilization" and "Gases."
Here's one bit I like: 'There's an old brewer's saying that large infections are not a problem in brewing, but the small ones are killers. The former are easy to detect, and in most circumstances, easy to reverse engines to identify the culprits. Dealing with minor infections is considerably more subtle. For example, my experience has been than most complaints about a beer's lack of maltiness is not due to the grains used or the way they were processed, but rather to minor infections.'
Sadly I never got chance to fail my chemistry O-level - I was into physics and technology and in my time/school choosing to study them meant excluding other stuff, including chemistry and biology; ridiculous IMHO.
Cheers
kev
"The science and mystique of what makes truly great beer is explored with logic and order. The long-awaited second edition of the George Fix classic looks at ways in which fundamental science impacts brewing. This comprehensive and highly technical study bridges the gap between professional brewing texts and standard texts on chemistry, biochemistry and thermodynamics. Recent major developments in brewing science have been significant, especially in the most crucial determinants of beer flavour quality -- fermentation and oxidation. Dr Fix pays special attention to basic chemical pathways used by bacteria and wild yeast, chemical changes that occur during malting, and the application of gas laws to carbonation and dispensation. This is a book no brewer should be without."
They obviously want you to buy it but if you believe the hype it puts you in that middle ground your after Although the phrase "This comprehensive and highly technical study bridges the gap between professional brewing texts and standard texts on chemistry, biochemistry and thermodynamics." seems a little contradictory
Interestingly I've not found a more recent book that matches your criteria. Maybe beer research has not added much in the last 10 years or so but I do still wonder.