Mr. Wizard
Tastes Great, Less Filling? Crafting low-carb beers
The keys to clearly understanding this topic are knowing about the types of starch present in a brewery mash and how malt enzymes act upon these large carbohydrates, appreciating how exogenous enzymes
Always Question Your Instruments: III
On the surface, this question looks like a no-brainer. Of course the enzymes in the mash were deficient, right? 55% enzyme-free adjunct, longer than normal mash at a moderate temperature perfect for
Always Question Your Instruments: II
If fermentation is truly complete, what you are seeing in your airlock is most likely the signs of carbon dioxide in the beer equilibrating with the environmental conditions of temperature and pressure.
Always Question Your Instruments: I
My column usually lacks a theme within a single issue and my answers tend to be long, but this short answer is going to contribute to a theme in this issue about
Brewing Water Tweaks
Grain bill, grist ratio (mash thickness), and salt additions all affect mash pH. I am not going to address specific how-to details related to the EZ Water Calculator in this answer, but
The Subtleties of Beer Gas
Years ago I was talking to a crusty dude named Larry who worked for a local beer distributor about the dirty draft beer tricks that can be played by competing distributors. Larry
Talking Oxidation and Hop Fade
Follow-up to previous answer: I answered a question from Scot in Chicago, Illinois that was published in the November 2019 edition of BYO. His question was about hop fade and why some
Curing Sparging Woes
The likely culprit to this problem, assuming that you have been using the same basic recipe over the last 7–8 years, is beta-glucan from the flaked oats. I am betting on this
A Deep Dive Into The Dynamics of Glycol Chillers
Your question brings up several interesting points that could be expanded into deep dives into topics that most homebrewers would not find very useful, so I will avoid spending too much time
Combating Chloramine
As far as chloramine removal goes, your “belt and suspenders” method is more than capable of removing chloramines from water. Just to very briefly hit this topic, carbon filtration is a great
Post-Souring Gravity
Thanks for the interesting question, Duncan. The product you are using as your source of bacteria lists Lactobacillus plantarum as the only bacterial ingredient in this beverage. Lactobacillus plantarum is a facultative
Fermenting Lemon Juice
It seems that people, past and present, have accidentally or intentionally fermented just about everything. The easy way to categorize alcoholic beverages is by raw material; beer is made from grains, wine
