Articles
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
Bohemian Pilsner
The pale, bitter, hoppy lager known best to American homebrewers as Bohemian Pilsner and typified by the classic example Pilsner Urquell is also called Czech Pilsner, Czech Premium Pale Lager, Svetly Lezak,
German Pilsener
The Pils — short for Pilsner or Pilsener — is the northern German adaptation of the world’s first-ever blond lager, the original Czech Plzensky Prazdroj, which is more commonly known by its
Best Bitter
I just returned from a visit to London where I attended the Great British Beer Festival. London has always been a favorite of mine. The city, its people, its history, and its
Nitro Beers: Tips from the Pros
Joe Schiraldi is Vice President of Brewing Operations at Left Hand Brewing Company in Longmont, Colorado. In 2011 Left Hand was the first American craft brewery to release a nitrogen version of
Diacetyl Rest
One of the most common flaws in the beers brewed by homebrewers who are new to the hobby, particularly in lagers, is diacetyl. Diacetyl, which has a taste and aroma of butter
Green Leaf Brewing Co.: Replicator
Dear Replicator, My wife and I made friends with a couple from Vancouver, B.C. on their vacation up here in Anchorage. Last January we visited them and they took us to a
Filtering for Beginners
Many homebrewers bypass the step of filtering their homebrew and instead use fining agents and cold crashing (storing the beer after fermentation has completed in a cold place for a week or
The Science of Hop Glycosides
The modern IPA is more about the strong hoppy aroma and flavors than it is about bitterness. Michael Tonsmeire breaks down the science behind hop glycosides, one often misunderstood compounds in the complex hop chemistry matrix
Hops Forgotten
Garlick, Canterbury brown, Finess, Farnham pale, Flemish, Grape, and Colgate hops have all died away in England. As have Grape, English Cluster, Pompey, and Red Bine in the US. There are many
Brewing with Spices for Beginners
Spices allow for countless variations and experiments in homebrewing — in styles that require it like pumpkin ales and Belgian wits, to saisons or wheat recipes that you may want to add
