Topic: Brewing Science
Water Chemistry: Tips from the Pros
Are your ideas about water chemistry all wet? Let Greg Noonan (Vermont Pub & Brewery), Keith Villa (Blue Moon/Coors) and Kraig Bridgeford (Butte Creek) give a cut and dried explanation.
Brewing Experiments
Learn how to replace the hot air of opinion with the cold, hard facts of science — by conducting an experiment. Put your favorite homebrew argument to rest with an appropriate test.
Fermentability
Your beer’s final gravity is determined by the fermentability of the wort and the action of the yeast. Find out how to control these factors in your homebrews.
Balanced Recipe Formulation
Tired of brewing other people’s recipes? Learn the basics of recipe formulations, from making an ingredient list to choosing the right techniques. We’ll cover what you need and how to go about it, with discussions of all major brewing ingredients and what they add to beer. Plus, discussions of balance, complexity, harshness in dark grains, grains for body and cohumulone in hops. Plus: a recipe for "copper ale"
Calculating Alcohol Content, Attenuation, Extract, and Calories
Learn how to calculate measures of extract, real and apparent attentuation, alcohol content and how many calories are in your beer.
Hitting Target Original Gravity and Volume
Learn the tips and techniques to nail your target volume and original specific gravity every time you brew a batch of homebrew.
Understanding Residual Alkalinity & pH
Predicting mash pH based on residual alkalinity. Plus: What’s the best beer color for your water type?
Home Lab Tests
Does this look infected? Even if your beers tastes fine, it has some level of contamination. Learn how to find out if your beer is in the clear or if you’re one pitch away from disaster.
High Elevation Brewing
At high altitudes, water boils at a lower temperature. How does that affect mile-high homebrewers? Read this article and find out. Plus: a high-altitude recipe from a New Mexican brewery at 7,000 ft.
Temperature Management Science
The theory and practice of temperature measurement in brewing.
The Role of pH
How the pH of wort and beer changes during the brewing process.
Science of Oxidation
How to avoid the last major hurdle to extending your beer’s shelf life.
