To sanitize or not to sanitize? Let me put it this way: To dump a batch of beer or enjoy an ice cold homebrew? Yes, keeping your equipment sanitized is that important. You can cut corners and make mistakes during the brewing process, and still end up with drinkable beer, but sanitization is one area where you don’t want to cut corners! There is nothing worse than spending your day brewing, waiting for weeks through up to two stages of fermentation, spending a few hours bottling, waiting two weeks for it to condition, then you grab one to sample and – BAM! Mount Beersuvious erupts in your living room spewing undrinkable beer everywhere. Yes, Best Brewing Friend, Brewman Dave has done this, and shamefully I’ve done it more than once. No one wants to see a batch of beer dumped, but contamination due to poor sanitization practices can cause the beer to turn out that bad. Best case scenario, you have a friend who will step up and take it off your hands, and console you while you anguish over the loss of a batch of beer. ...
Hops: a Bittersweet Tale
Our tale today is a bitter one indeed: an epic battle between sweet wort and the bitter hops. In the end though, there is a truce where both are balanced. I know you might be thinking: What about IPAs, where hops clearly take control, or a light wheat ale where hops are less present? Well, the winner of the battle is ultimately determined by you, the brewer, and the style you hope to create. ...
You’ve got a grain list. Now what?
So you’ve came up with a recipe – either your own or someone else’s. Don’t worry if you’re not making your own recipes yet; stick with it and soon you will be. In front of you is a list something like this: 12 lbs two row malt 1 lb wheat malt 1 lb Caramalt 20 1 oz Chinook pellet hops 1 packet Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale yeast This is sometimes referred to as a grain bill. Walk into your local brew supply shop with confidence: you’ve been reading the articles on here and your ready to “Talk the Talk”. ...
Grain: The Backbone of Beer
According to the original German Purity Law of 1516 there were only three ingredients allowed in beer: grain, hops, and water. Yeast wasn’t on the list at that time. It was added sometime in the 1800’s. For now I will talk about grain, because without grain you really wouldn’t have beer as we know it and have come to love. There are three main grains that are used in the brewing of beer. They are: barley, which is the most popular, wheat, being second most popular, and lastly rye. This is not to say that other grains aren’t used, these are just the most popular and the only three allowed according to the German Purity Law. It is the grain that gives us the wort, which is the sweet raw beer before the yeast has fermented the sugar out. ...
Talking the Talk: Wort
Wort: the magical liquid that becomes beer – the all grain version. What is wort? Wort is beer in its infancy, and like all infants we want to protect it from harmful nasties that could infect or otherwise make it sick or contaminated. But where does wort come from? How can we protect it? How long does it take for this sweet wort to become beer? These are a few of the questions you may ask yourself. ...
Talking the Talk: Aeration
For the “Talking the Talk” series, we’ll talk about some brewing terms so that when you join that brew club you won’t even sound like a newbie. For now we’ll introduce the following term and a brief explanation and hopefully not bore you to the point of giving up the hobby. Aerate – the boring version: “To expose to the action of air or to cause circulate through.” ...
The Beginner’s Guide to Making Home Brew
Waiting for Your Home Made Beer is the Hardest Part
The rock music artist Tom Petty had a hit song that went, “The waiting is the hardest part”. And when it comes to brewing your own beer, maybe the most difficult step of them all is the fermentation and aging process. After all, the steps leading up to the time when you wait for beer to mature is full of activity. From shopping for new equipment and ingredients, to cleaning and preparation to boiling the wort to cooling and preparing for fermentation, it’s a fun process. And that is what you want from a great hobby. ...