Videos
Making Hard Seltzers at Home
Plus Members OnlyHard seltzers are everywhere and you can also make your own hard seltzers at home flavored just the way you want. But making it is a bit different from brewing beer since you are essentially fermenting sugar water. So you’ll need to get tips and advice on using yeast nutrients to get the job done.
Making Kettle Sours at Home
Plus Members OnlyKettle souring has grown in popularity recently because it speeds up the timeline for making sour beers. But there are several different ways to kettle sour with different sour cultures and even yeasts that create a faster sour beer. Brew Your Own’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis walks you through the different options you have at
Carbonating a Corny Homebrew Keg
Plus Members OnlyThere is something special when you can enjoy your homebrew served from a keg. But how do you properly dial in the keg carbonation levels and what are your carbonating options when using a keg to package your homebrew? Brew Your Own’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis will show you the three most common ways to
Using a Water Bath for Temperature Control
Plus Members OnlyControlling temperature is a key part of producing better beer. Whether it is keeping your fermenting beer in the proper temperature range for the yeast strain you’ve chosen or for extended lagering techniques, being able to accurately dial in temperature will result in a higher quality beer without risking off-flavors, off-aromas, and incomplete fermentation if
Making a Yeast Starter from Plates or Slants
Plus Members OnlyLearn how to start with a single colony of yeast stored on a plate or slant and build it up to a pitchable quality to add to your wort for your beer fermentation. Brew Your Own’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis walks you through step-by-step how to take the colony from the plate or slant and
Beer Foam Building Tips
Plus Members OnlyBrew Your Own’s Technical Editor and Mr. Wizard Columnist Ashton Lewis really, really loves beer foam. In fact he wrote his Master’s thesis while at UC-Davis’ brewing program all about beer foam. So now Ashton will break down the keys to having better foam in your glass. He’ll cover how to boost your chances at
Streaking Yeast on a Plate
Plus Members OnlyYeast is everywhere, on plants, on fruit, in the air…and in beer. Streaking an agar plate is a quick and easy way to isolate yeast, to check for purity, and to re-culture yeast from sources like a bottle-conditioned beer or your own fermenter. A sterile inoculation loop is dipped into a sample of yeast and
Making Your Own Agar Plates at Home
Plus Members OnlyAgar Plates can be used to streak and isolate yeast strains for your brewing. Instead of buying these agar plates, Brew Your Own Magazine’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis shows you how to easily and cost-effectively make your own agar plates at home. From preparing the agar medium to pouring the plates, Ashton walks you through
Better Hydrometer Readings on Carbonated Beer
Plus Members OnlyGetting accurate hydrometer readings is critically important to brewing better beer. However sometimes it’s really tough to get the best reading you can – especially after your beer has some carbonation built up after fermentation. All that foam in your hydrometer cylinder isn’t going to help you get accurate numbers not to mention even seeing
Beer Yeast Cell Counts with Microscope and Hemocytometer
Plus Members OnlyIf you know the viability of the yeast you are pitching into your wort you can be more confident your fermentation will go as expected. One of the most popular ways brewers understand how many cells they are pitching is to use a microscope and a special slide called a hemocytometer to count yeast cells.
Using Packed Cell Volume for Yeast Counting
Plus Members OnlyKnowing the viability of your yeast is key to running strong beer fermentations especially when you are reusing yeast from a prior batch. The traditional way to count yeast cells requires a microscope and some specialized equipment. BYO’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis shows you step-by-step an alternate way to accurately counting cells without a microscope
Mastering Milling
Plus Members OnlyLearn how to dial in your grain mill to produce the right kind of grist for your needs and your brewing system. You’ll see the difference between coarse and fine and what all this means to your brewing and efficiencies with Brew Your Own Magazine’s Technical Editor Ashton Lewis.