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December 2020
December 2020 issue of Brew Your Own magazine. Cover Story: Allagash Brewing. Also extract malt beers, brewing with mushrooms, and a DIY sanke fermenter.
In this issue
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articleCask Ale
In Britain, beer is still frequently served at cellar temperatures and lightly carbonated with live yeast from casks. A British brewer who has been making these beers professionally for years shares tips to brew cask ale to your brewery.
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recipeCopper Clad Best Bitter
Every self-respecting cask ale pub in the UK will have a best bitter on the bar. This recipe uses Endeavour, a modern British hop variety, to provide a refreshing, light, and fruity character to this most traditional of ale styles.
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recipeShip’s Cat Dark Mild
It is rare for me to brew the exact same recipe twice; I tend to make tweaks and adjustments even to ones I like. But I brew this recipe every late spring in time for session drinking over the summer because I love it so much.
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recipeAllagash Brewing Co.’s Nowaday Blonde Ale clone
A blonde ale fermented like a lager. Nowaday is fermented at lower temperatures, including an additional lagering step, resulting in a crisp 5.5% ABV refresher of a beer with very low ester character.
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recipeAllagash Brewing Co.’s River Trip clone
Good for any adventure, River Trip is a low-ABV, Belgian-style table beer with hop-forward grapefruit and stone fruit notes.
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articleBrewing with Mushrooms
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articleExtract Brewing Essentials
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articleBrewing Is In My Blood
When someone mentions the name Hamm’s and brewing, most people think of the St. Paul, Minnesota brewery. But this homebrewer’s family traces their roots to a Hamm’s Brewery located in Wisconsin.
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articlePropane vs. Electric: What are the considerations?
With the rising popularity of brewing with electric power, the homebrewing world has seen new options abound. In many cases though, propane may still be a brewer’s best option. Learn the pros and cons of each heating method.
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articleHow Do You Brew: It speaks volumes about our advice
Homebrewers can often be classified by their approach to the hobby, whether they focus more on the gear, the recipes, the results, or simply the means to the ends. Learn where you fall and why this may be important when you guide new brewers who are looking to get into the hobby.
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articleWinter Seasonal Beers: Winter warmers, Christmas beers, and holiday treats
With the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, winter warmers can be found on beer shelves everywhere. This year, make your own best version at home with some guidance from Gordon Strong.
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recipe
Gordon Strong’s Winter Seasonal Beer
I’ve been making Christmas beers since my fifth batch and this version has several of my favorite ingredients and combinations, and is richly malty, complex, and spicy for the season.
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articleThe Raw Deal With Raw Ales, Seltzer Nutrients and Grain Milling Considerations
Not boiling your wort then pitching with a traditional strain of yeast has been dubbed brewing a raw ale. The Wiz delves into questions surrounding this technique of brewing as well as hard seltzer nutrients and milling already crushed grains.
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mr-wizard
Is There Any Harm Milling Twice?
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Digging Into Seltzer Nutrients
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recipeStrike Brewing Co.’s Beat the Heat clone
Beat the Heat is an ode to the fastball — or at least an ode to a faster lager fermentation. Primary fermentation is started near ale temperatures and with yeast pitch rates that allow for a faster start, less yeast biomass requirements, and slight fruity esters that are produced in the first 24 hours.
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articleStrike Brewing Company
A reader was pitched a bit of a curveball when they ordered up a Pilsner from Strike Brewing Co. The Replicator scouts out what makes their Beat the Heat a hard-to-define offering from this California-based brewery.
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articleBrewing With Oats
Oats have long been relegated to just supporting roles in a select few beer styles, but the age of oats is upon us. Learn keys to using this brewing grain.
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recipeOMB!! — Oh my bock
The first beer I brewed on my new brew system found in the December 2020 issue’s Homebrew Drool Setups.
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articleDrool Page