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Archive for the ‘Ingredients’ Category

Ingredient Series: Gene-Edited Beer Yeast

Thursday, May 13th, 2021

by Jim Vondracek Homebrewers use their creativity, building recipes and brewing processes using new or novel ingredients, pushing the boundaries of new flavor profiles. Similarly, those who produce ingredients and products also innovate, using both cutting-edge science and brewing knowledge to create these new ingredients and products for homebrewers. A few months ...

Priming Sugar 101: How To, How Much, and When To Use?

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

by Chris Cook Congratulations. You nailed your brew day, you’ve made it through what probably felt like several long weeks of fermentation, and your precious wort is now precious beer. Now just one step remains between you and a cold, bubbly glass of homebrew: Priming. What is Priming? Without priming, the beer a ...

How to Use Chocolate in Your Beer

Thursday, April 9th, 2020

By Jesse Southard Personally, I love chocolate beers. Before I was a homebrewer, I took a trip to the Czech Republic and had my fair share of beer. However, a chocolate beer stood out to me called Opat Chocolate Stout. I remember thinking how did they get so much chocolate flavor ...

6 Hops That Can Make an Impact Next Brew Day

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020

By: Ryan Celia Hops are 1 of 4 ingredients required to brew beer according to traditional German Reinheitsgebot. They impart bitterness, flavor, and aroma to beer when used during specific times before, during, and after the boil. Hops come in several forms, the most common being whole leaf hops, pellet hops, ...

Brewing Water Basics – Putting it All Together

Tuesday, February 13th, 2018

We've covered some of the basics of water chemistry in the last two articles, and now we are ready to put it all together. The first step is to start with chlorine-free water of suitable quality for brewing and reducing the alkalinity if needed. Once you have an understanding of targeting an ...

Brewing Water Basics Part 2

Sunday, November 19th, 2017

This article is a continuation of a three-part series. Check out part one here. You may have heard that you have “hard” water, or “soft” water. Hardness in water is mostly due to the calcium and magnesium ions in the water. A low concentration of these is said to provide soft ...

Brewing Water Basics – Part 1

Sunday, November 19th, 2017

For many brewers, water chemistry is treated as the last frontier of homebrewing. Oftentimes, it is ignored or at least not something homebrewers want to think about. The old adage “if your water tastes good, it’s fine to brew with” may be repeated, and believed. The brewer may work on ...

Aspects of Brewing a Wheat Beer

Monday, October 23rd, 2017

Hefeweizen, weissbier, witbier, white ale… Whatever your preference; wheat beers are abundant, effervescent, and different. They can be served with a slice of orange or lemon, with all the yeast “mit hefe” style, with raspberry syrup, or filtered crystal clear. They vary in color from the light witbier to copper-brown ...

Wheat Malt in All Grain Brewing

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

Wheat malt takes extra preparation in brewing since it is smaller in size than standard malts. The first time I ran wheat malt through my grain mill, it was frustrating to discover the gap was set too wide for the wheat malt only! The other grains were being crushed perfectly. ...

Hops Types Pellet Plug Leaf

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Hops come in three different packages, pellet, plug and leaf (whole/loose leaf). The difference between pellet, plug and whole leaf hops is much more than cosmetic. Aside from looking different, these variations will affect hop utilization (to a degree), freshness, and ease of storage/use. The best hop type ...

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