Topic: Brewing Science
Hop Extracts
Substituting hop pellets with CO2 hop extract increases yields and can produce cleaner, brighter beer while maintaining hop varietal character. Learn more about how hop extract is made and how to use it in your brews.
Ciphering Fruit Beers
Calculating the impact a fruit addition will have on a beer’s ABV is tricky — so much so that even commercial brewers have gotten in trouble for miscalculating their influence on gravity. We take a closer look at the math required to get it right.
Dip Hopping
Dip hopping — letting hops soak at about 170 °F (77 °C) for an hour — has been shown to boost pleasant hop aromas while suppressing or removing unpleasant off-flavors, like myrcene, and aromas that are derived from fermentation.
Crystallization: Forming the ice in your eisbock, baby
To make a good eisbock (or any other kind of ice beer) it is helpful to have a good understanding of how ice crystals form, and to be able to effectively manage crystal formation within the beer.
How Important is Kettle pH?
Mash pH gets most of the attention when it comes to pH measurement, but there are ideal pH levels at every step of the brewing process and they may get out of
From Juicy to Crazy Hazy
Juicy. Hazy. These style descriptors have become so commonplace in the craft beer world over the past two decades that everyone can picture the beer in their mind upon a single word.
Cold-Side Considerations: It’s lurking out there . . . oxidation
Oxidation and the effects of staling on beer is one of the great frustrations of brewers. John Palmer lays out the root causes and things we can do at different stages of production to minimize this problem.
Sour Power: The many ways to Lacto
The popularity of Lactobacillus in the modern craft beer scene is hard to miss. But not all Lacto species (or sub-species) act similarly. Get the scoop on a few of their differences.
Digging Into Seltzer Nutrients
The answer to this question requires an upfront disclaimer about any bias or product promotions that may accompany my answer. I work for BSG (Brewers Supply Group) and we carry several products
Testing Your Hypothesis: Experiments you should do
Homebrewing and experimenting are about as old as brewing itself . . . but modern scientific method delineates theories and proven facts. Denny and Drew provide some pointers.
Enzymes Ex Machina: Explore the world of exogenous enzymes
For a long time the only enzyme most brewers would ever think about adding was some amylase enzymes . . . boy have times changed. Learn about the rapidly expanding world of exogenous enzymes.
Bitterness & The IBU – What’s It All About?
In the earlier days of the American India pale ale, bitterness was king. The more Bitterness Units (BU), the better. We didn’t have the hazy-juicys, we had bitter and hoppy, piney, ashy,