Writer: Brad Smith
Lautering for All-Grain Brewers
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThere is more to lautering than just rinsing grains with water. You need to consider the design of the mash and lauter system, grain crush, temperature, sparge volume, lauter flow, pH, and more. Take a closer look at ways to maximize the efficiency of your lauter.
Understanding Brewing Ingredients
FREEI was making pancakes one day with a box of Bisquick mix and noticed that there are a bunch of recipes on the back for things you can make with Bisquick. In addition
A Taste of the Season
Digital and Plus Members OnlyBrewing with fruit can add amazing depth, flavor, and aroma to your beer, but fruits also present significant challenges. Selecting the correct fruit, understanding its fermented flavor profile, the practical considerations of fermenting fruit, and getting the right overall flavor balance is difficult but also rewarding when you get it right. Back in 2015 I
10 Tips for Tastier Homebrews
Digital and Plus Members OnlyBrewers new to the hobby of making beer are often overwhelmed by unfamiliar ingredients, techniques, and equipment. Those who master the craft have to understand not only their equipment and processes, but a wide array of living ingredients that can produce a rainbow of flavors. In this article I’m going to focus on 10 tips
Wort Chilling
FREEOne of the first challenges a new brewer runs into is how to chill their boiling hot wort down to room temperature to pitch the yeast. I recall filling the bathtub with
The Decoction Mash
Digital and Plus Members OnlyDecoction mashing has both a mystic and feared quality to it. Purists imagine achieving perfection in the ultimate Bavarian or Bohemian lager. The more pragmatic of us fear the time-intensive triple decoction with its grueling brew day and extended mess. Like most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Decoction mashing is not done
Improve Quality and Consistency
FREETo brew great beer you need to start with a good recipe, know how to evaluate your beers, and then understand the cause and effect of each ingredient and technique so you can improve the beer the next time you go to brew it.
Fast Mead
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThis is a simple and straightforward mead recipe that should have your fermentation finished within a few weeks.
Tart Cherry Mead
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThis tart cherry mead uses 2 gallons (8 L) of tart cherry juice and finishes at 15.5% ABV.
Melomels: Brewing Big Fruit Mead
Digital and Plus Members OnlyHigh-gravity fruit meads — or melomels — can be a tricky style to brew when starting gravities are often above 1.140. Learn the best techniques to brew and ferment your next melomel, as well as advice for choosing the best fruit.
Blackberry Mead
Digital and Plus Members OnlyA blackberry mead made from 16.7 lbs. (7.6 kg) of blackberries and rings in at 15.1% ABV.
Save Your Hops for Post-Boil
FREEOutside of bittering additions, adding hops during the boil is inefficient as many of the essential oils and positive attributes being sought are lost to heat. Instead, save those hops for whirlpooling or dry hopping.