Mr. Wizard
Frozen tap lines
The Wiz keeps his cool in an answer about freezing tap lines.
Krausen removal
The topic of kräusen removal is not discussed much in commercial brewing circles because most modern fermenters are not designed to remove kräusen. And it is frequently the case that “blow over”
Hot-side aeration
Re-using yeast, storing hops and sanitizing bottles
Mash tempereratures
There is more to mash temperature than finished beer flavor. Mash temperature has an effect on wort viscosity and ease of lautering, it affects the gelatinization of starch (“melting” of the bonds
Storing beer
This question reminds me of an article written by G. Bruce Knecht and published in the Wall Street Journal on January 30th. In his simple-minded article, Mr. Knecht criticized breweries that use
“Cara” malts?
Caramel, cara or crystal malts are synonymous terms describing a large family of malts that are made by changing the kilning process. All malts are kiln-dried to arrest germination. To make caramel
Is homebrew is an excellent source of vitamin B?
I am not an expert in nutrition but am pretty handy at digging into questions and searching out answers. It does seem that people who choose not to eat animal products do
Bottling nitrogen-charged beer
Anything is possible, Karl, and yes, you can bottle beer that has been “gassed” with a blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Just use your counter-pressure bottle filler as you normally would.
Extract vs all-grain brewing?
This is a pretty heavy question because it hits to the foundation of homebrewing. The way I see it, homebrewing is about brewing your own beer. Mashing is certainly part of what
Beano to lower the carbohydrates
Mr. Wizard respons: Beano Brau . . . now that’s a real blast from the past. I remember reading this article and thought the idea seemed credible, but never gave it a
Sodium metabisulfite to clear chloramine
This is an interesting question and I did some digging to come up with a good answer for you. Dechlorination is important to brewers for flavor reasons. Compounds called chlorophenols are formed
Overcarbonated kegs
I prefer to package beer in kegs for several reasons. Besides being convenient, perhaps the best thing about a keg is that it’s very easy to change the carbonation level in a
