Have you ever been challenged to make a beer featuring a secret ingredient? Let me introduce my local homebrew club’s event: Iron Kettle. What is Iron Kettle? Iron Kettle is an “end-of-the-club-calendar-year” event from my local homebrew club that challenges brewers to feature a secret ingredient in their finished beer. Grains and hops, along with […]
Doppelbock What is Doppelbock? According to the BJCP guidelines (2021), it is “a strong, rich, and very malty German lager that can have both pale and dark variants. The darker versions have more richly-developed, deeper malt flavors, while the paler versions have slightly more hops and dryness.” BJCP Category 9A ABV 7.0–10.0% Original Gravity (OG)
How to Brew: Doppelbock (Sponsor a Brew Edition) Read More »
What is a Munich Helles? Helles is the German word for “bright” or “pale” and Munich Helles is just that: a light, mild, drinkable beer that is golden straw in color with rounded hop flavor and smooth, malty flavor. I brewed a Munich Helles recently using David Heath’s recipe and Novalager as the yeast choice.
Not homebrew related, but just a quick update. We recently switched website hosting providers. And even with daily backups, some of our posts and comments disappeared on both the front end and back end during the switch. Restoring from backup did not solve the issues, or at least yet. Nothing major, but still a bummer.
What is a Diacetyl Test Compounds known as vicinal diketones, or VDKs, are aromatic compounds that are byproducts of fermentation. The most well-known VDK is diacetyl, which presents a characteristic butter, buttered popcorn, or butterscotch flavor and aroma. Yeast will usually “clean up” these byproducts by further metabolizing them into other compounds when given enough
What is Forced Fermentation? How do you know when fermentation is complete? One way is to measure the specific gravity, SG, several days in a row to see if there is a change. If the gravity reading is steady, fermentation is most likely complete. (Unless, of course, you have a stuck fermentation.) Another way is
I built a lager fermentation calculator following a modified Narziss fermentation profile. See How To: Lager Fermentation for more information on fermenting lagers. Narziss Fermentation Schedule For a bit quicker turnaround of your lager, you can follow one of the lager fermentation schedules from Professor Ludwig Narziss. One such schedule is as follows: With a
Wheatwine What is wheatwine? According to the BJCP guidelines (2021), it is “a richly textured, high alcohol sipping beer with a significant grainy, bready flavor, and a sleek body” BJCP Category 22D ABV 8.0–12.0% Original Gravity (OG) 1.080–1.120 Final Gravity (FG) 1.016–1.030 IBU 30–60 Color (EBC/SRM) 6–14 SRM One Way to Brew A Wheatwine Wheatwines
An Introduction to Irish Red What is Irish Red ale? According to the BJCP guidelines (2021), it is “an easy-drinking pint, often with subtle flavors. Slightly malty in the balance sometimes with an initial soft toffee or caramel sweetness, a slightly grainy-biscuity palate, and a touch of roasted dryness in the finish.” Yum. BJCP Category
Schwarzbier What is schwarzbier? According to the BJCP guidelines (2021), it is “a dark German lager that balances roasted yet smooth malt flavors with moderate hop bitterness.” BJCP Category 8B ABV 4.4–5.4% Original Gravity (OG) 1.046–1.052 Final Gravity (FG) 1.010–1.016 IBU 20–35 Color (EBC/SRM) 19–30 SRM One Way to Brew A Schwarzbier I found this