Homebrewing

Brewing beer is a temperature-sensitive process.  Ales require 58-68˚ F (14-20° C).  Lagers need 53 down to 40˚ F (4-11° C) to properly ferment and condition.  If you live in the far Northern Hemisphere, or the Southern, temperature becomes a concern.  You have many options.  You need not be relegated to your short summer months […]

Brew day is the most fun when making beer, second only to the drinking itself.  There are those that are gung-ho about bottling and ready by the time the airlock stops bubbling.  They get carried away and bottle too early.  Here is a best- and worst-case scenario. Bottling too early could result in broken bottles:

For intermediate to advanced brewers, mashing is an integral step to making better beer in their pursuit of great beer.  There is no mash without a clean vorlauf. Whether store-bought or homemade, mashing and extracting raw wort is key to the process. So, what is vorlauf in beer brewing? To vorlauf means to recirculate the

According to some…the Germans, there can only be four ingredients in beer.  Barley, hops, yeast, and water.  They speak from a position of authority as they are arguably the world’s preeminent lager brewers. What about the yeast? Dry yeast is stable, dependable and the quality has dramatically increased in recent years.  Liquid yeast is cultured

Grain bags are used on two levels: beginner/ intermediate and advanced brewing.  Brewing with grain bags is often the first step to upping your brewing game. The Brew-in-a-Bag (BIAB) method, wherein all-grain brewers place all of their mash in a bag, mash, sparge and boil in one vessel, eliminates the need for mash-tuns, lauters and

Home brewers are full of questions.  It comes with the territory.  One that comes up regularly: Is it OK to top off my wort with water?  Well, that depends.  Yes and no. For extract brewers it is routine and expected to add water to concentrated wort. For all-grain brewers, it may be Ok, but the

Raw wort can tell you a lot or a little about your beer.  This partly depends on how developed your palate is at that moment.  It will hint at what sort of beer it will be, subtle characteristics to reveal how quenching or delicious its potential. Raw wort hints at the characteristics of a beer.

Your brew session is wrapping up.  Whether one hour for a beginner or eight hours for an advanced all-grain brewer, the next stage is the same.  You must cool your wort and quickly.  Your window for effective cooling is 30 minutes, 40 minutes at the absolute outside. You can cool your wort by adding cold

When it comes to homebrewing beer, Brew-in-a-Bag (BIAB) can be one of the easiest and most efficient ways to homebrew beer if you’ve never done it before. BIAB bags take the guesswork out of adding your grains and extracts and instead let you focus on other technical aspects of the brew such as temperature and

Sparging is the process of spraying or pouring 170°F water onto mash to collect or rinse out any residual sugars left in the mash pile.  While there are three different ways to sparge, they all follow similar steps and processes of pouring brewed water over your mash pile until the sugar is fully collected.  People