Mr. Wizard
When you want to double the batch size of a recipe, do you just double all the ingredients also?
Dear Mr. Wizard, I’m a partial mash brewer and formerly brewed single, 5-gallon (19-L) batches using 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water in the brew pot. After the boil was complete, we
Cold conditioning kegs
I prefer to cold condition after carbonation, because you can aggressively remove yeast by racking the beer from keg to keg without worrying about having enough yeast in the beer at bottling
Extract varieties for yeast starters
This question asks for opinions rather than any real facts. I can do that! Strictly speaking, any wort with a gravity ranging from 1.040 to 1.052 works well in starters with respect
Reduce tannins during the steep
The two most influential factors affecting the extraction of tannins from malt into wort are pH and temperature. All-grain brewers are very careful not to allow wort pH to reach more than
Storing crushed grains
The key to storing grain is keeping it dry. Whenever crushed grain is left to sit around, it begins to take up moisture from the air. Most malts have a moisture content
Steeping vs mashing
Mashing and steeping are very similar processes at first glance. Both involve soaking crushed grains in hot water. However, if you look more closely, there are some sharp contrasts between the two
Brewing a “hybrid” style
I haven’t brewed tons of off-the-wall beers in my brewing life, but every now and then I get the urge to stray from the norm. There are no rules to follow when
Steep times for different specialty grains
As difficult as it is to admit, brewing is a whole lot like cooking and there are many ways to get the job accomplished. Steeping is one of these tasks. When using
Delayed Yeast Pitching
This is a question deserving a brief answer! I think you are on the right track wanting to have your lager fermentations timed where you can use the same lagering schedule. I
Corking Belgian-style homebrews
Your attempt to recreate the entire package at home is admirable and more challenging than using crown caps on normal beer bottles. For-tunately, the challenge has more to do with finding the
RIMS systems
I must confess that I am one of those particular brewers who likes nailing my target temperature and appreciate the gadgets of modern brewing. I have a mash mixer where I work
Forgot to add hops during my boil
There is not much great news to report on this unfortunate oversight. Hops need to be boiled to convert the insoluble alpha-acids into the soluble iso-alpha-acids. Unless the alpha-acids are “isomerized” during
