Articles
Big Al Brewing: Replicator
Dear Replicator, Working in the commercial aircraft industry, I get to travel a lot. They send me to Seattle at least once a year, where the craft beer scene has really exploded.
Bottling Vs. Kegging
New homebrewers spend a lot of time considering the style of beers they want to brew, but another question to consider early in the process is what to do with your beer
Cloning Beers for Beginners
There are hundreds of resources available to homebrewers looking to clone the world’s most popular beers. But, inevitably, we’ve all stumbled upon that obscure brew that flies below the radar — be
Stainless Steel Care for Beginners
With qualities that prevent it from rusting, stainless steel is highly regarded and often used in every facet of homebrewing — from stainless kettles with stainless immersion coolers, to hot liquor tanks, mash
Oak Alternatives for Beginners
Aging your homebrew in an oak barrel can add more dimensions to your beer by imparting complex wood characteristics such as vanilla, cloves, coconut, or caramel, but barrels are not ideal for
Racking and Transferring
One of the essential skills you will come across when homebrewing, especially if you brew a style that is high in gravity, is racking. This is when beer is moved from one
Using Fresh Hops for Beginners
One of the best things about growing your own hops is the opportunity to then experiment with them in your homebrew. One way to do this is to try fresh hopping (sometimes
Crushing Grains for Beginners
Whether it is grains, hops or adjuncts used in brewing, the freshness of your ingredients makes a huge difference. When it comes to grains, you can order them pre-crushed, but if you
Homebrew Rivalry
My identical twin brother, Jay, and I have been rivals since we were young; from sports to school to girlfriends, and even barbecue’n. There was this one time when we were both
Session IPA Clones
It is no secret that the best-selling craft beer style category in the USA is IPA. We have a variety of official IPA beer styles, including British IPA, American IPA and imperial
Single Varietal Mead Making
In its simplest form mead is a fermented beverage made from honey and water. The key to making fantastic meads is your honey, so don’t think of honey as a generic ingredient
The Forced Ferment Test
A forced ferment is a test used by many professional brewers and brewery labs to determine the minimum final gravity possible from a freshly-made batch of wort. By diverting a sample of wort
