Mr. Wizard
Fine-Tuning Bitterness Post-Fermentation
At times it is helpful to review why some brewing problems are not so easy to fix and discuss how to prevent these problems in the future. Under-hopped beers are an example
Brewing Beer With Fresh-Picked Hops
Thanks for the fun question! This topic is a great reminder that beer has been brewed way longer than our scientific understanding of raw materials, brewing, and beer. It wasn’t long ago
Aging Your Homebrew Beer
Hey Bob, before I attempt to answer this question I just want to let you in on a secret. If I could really answer this question, I would be retired on an
The Intricacies of Shelf Stability
Wow, this is quite the rabbit hole of a question. Let’s start out with why a fermented beverage, be it beer, wine, seltzer, cider, or some other tasty tipple, may be packaged
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
Measuring IBUs: Part science, practice, and opinion
My view about how international bittering units or IBUs are used by the modern brewer is a blend of science, practice, and opinion. The science behind the IBU is something I have
Dial In Your Brewing Water No Matter The Source
Thanks for the great question about water. I will jump into the middle of the pool here and try not to stray towards the deep end where the abyss of things not
Multi-Batch Brewing
The answer is yes! This is a great way to produce more beer volume from a brewhouse of a fixed size and is commonly used by commercial brewers around the globe. The
A Look Inside Crystal Malts
Morrey, thanks for letting me know that my material from 2000 is still being read today! Crystal, also known as caramel malts, do contain a mixture of fermentable sugars, non-fermentable Maillard reaction
Getting Into the Nitty Gritty on Apparent Attenuation
This is a great question that touches on several topics. I’ll start with a brief description of what you already know about mashing. For a given malt, wort fermentability is a function
Stressing yeast to increase phenolics
This is a great question that is perfect for a short answer. Contrary to my love of marching to my own beat, I do believe in following supplier suggestions. I would start
Temperature impact on pH
I think the best way to explain this is to start with a brief discussion about pH and why temperature affects it. pH is a measure of hydrogen ion concentration using a
