Writer: BYO Staff
Smoked Maple Amber Ale
An American-style Amber Ale, with maple sap and syrup. Maple sap is the clear liquid that maple syrup is made from. In this recipe, maple sap replaces your brewing liquor. Maple sap contains 2.5% sugar on average. (In contrast, maple syrup contains around 66% sugar.) If you don’t have access to maple sap, use water and add an extra 1.66 pints of maple syrup during the boil. The amount of German smoked malt called for will only yield the faintest whiff of smoke. For a stronger smoked flavor, try replacing it with some home-smoked malt (we’d try hickory smoke.
Original Hempen Ale
An American-style Ale with roasted hemp seeds. Steve Nordahl, former head brewer at Frederick Brewing Company and the originator of this commercial Hempen Ale told the story of how his hemp beer came to be in a 1999 article for BYO. Hempen Ale was originally meant to be a dark beer, with the flavor of roasted hemp seeds playing a large role in the flavor profile of the beer. Note: In the US, it is legal to possess (and brew with) sterilized hemp seeds. (An internet search will reveal multiple sources for the seeds.) These seeds contain only a trace of THC (the active ingredient
in marijuana) and have no psychoactive effects. However, it is possible that consuming hemp beer may cause you to test positive on some modern drug tests. Use your best judgement of your situation when brewing this beer.
Eye in the Pyramid Wild Rice Helles Bock
A Helles Bock made with rice… How is that wild? Helles is German for "bright," so this is a bright or light colored bock.
– Adapted from Wild Wild Rice by Joe and Dennis Fisher.
Minimizing diacetyl in lagers
The first thing that comes to mind when contemplating diacetyl problems is yeast strain. I have not personally used Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager Yeast, but after reading its description and learning that
RIMS systems
I must confess that I am one of those particular brewers who likes nailing my target temperature and appreciate the gadgets of modern brewing. I have a mash mixer where I work
Balancing Hoppy Beers: Tips from the Pros
Corking Belgian-style homebrews
Your attempt to recreate the entire package at home is admirable and more challenging than using crown caps on normal beer bottles. For-tunately, the challenge has more to do with finding the
When you want to double the batch size of a recipe, do you just double all the ingredients also?
Dear Mr. Wizard, I’m a partial mash brewer and formerly brewed single, 5-gallon (19-L) batches using 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water in the brew pot. After the boil was complete, we
What is the proper way to force carbonate a keg of homebrew?
Dear Mr. Wizard, I used my keg system for the first time recently and force carbonated my brew by chilling the beer, applying approximately 30 pounds of carbon dioxide pressure and shaking
Growing Hops: Tips from the Pros
Two professional hop growers give their gardening tips for growing backyard hops.
Gelatin fining naturally conditioned beer
Fining is one of those brewing practices that takes some “touch and feel” to perfect. Not all beers respond equally to finings, regardless of the type. That’s because the components in the
Delayed Yeast Pitching
This is a question deserving a brief answer! I think you are on the right track wanting to have your lager fermentations timed where you can use the same lagering schedule. I
