how to brew by mr John Palmer.
best practice id say is get your cleaning and sanitation down pat its that simple keep your cold side crazy clean get OCD on it make it your number one rule to not skimp on fermentation side of brewing( as in cleaning fermentation equipment and utensils even prep area

.
the more and more i brew the more im realising im a small part in the beer making process as in (im getting philosophical here) im 1 organism we are a conglomorate of them and i want another multiple billion organisms to do what i want (turn wort into beer) so this one organism better do all he/she can to make them multiple billion yeast cells happy or this one organism will be dissapointed with infected beer.
see how recipie can take 2nd place even process i dosnt matter if you dont get the essentials right.
good luck