2008

Beer spans an endless array of colors. The deep black color and white foam of an Irish Stout, deep copper of a Pale Ale and cloudy light color of a Bavarian Wheat are all within the rainbow we call beer. Today we’ll look at beer color, SRM, EBC, Lovibond, how its measured, color limitations, and how to estimate the color of a beer recipe.

Ten hop-saving tips for surviving the ongoing hop crisis. With brewing hops in short supply, everyone is looking for ways to use less hops. This week’s article includes a collection of home brewing tips to conserve and preserve your precious hops supply and save you money in the process.

Hops2

A look at beer bitterness for home brewers, estimating International Bitterness Units (IBUs) and balancing your beer recipe. How much beer hops is enough? With the hop crisis in full swing, it is important to understand the quantity of hops you need to properly balance your home brewed beer…

Brewing Hops Storage: Preserving Precious Hops

by Brad Smith on April 15, 2008 · 16 comments

Today we’re going to look at the best way to store and preserve your beer brewing hops and also some of the effects of hop aging. With hop prices pushing $5 US per ounce and the hops crisis likely to get worse before it gets better, caring for your precious hops supply is more important than ever…

With the ongoing hop crisis, brewers are turning to growing hops for beer in the garden. Learn how to grow your own hops at home from rhizomes to create your own perennial hop supply. Part 1 of our 5 part series on the hop crisis.

Beer Glasses

Design and brew a Kolsch beer recipe at home. Guest blogger DJ provides you with the history of Kolsch, how to design a Kolsch beer, and his personal recipe for brewing Kolsch. Kolsch is an exremely light ale with a lager-like character…

The Barley Crusher Malt Grain Mill Review

by Brad Smith on April 5, 2008 · 9 comments

Barley Crusher

A review of the Barley Crusher Grain Malt Mill. The Barley Crusher is an adjustable dual roller grain mill for all grain home brewing. I chose the Barley Crusher for my home brewing mill several years ago and I’ve been very happy with it…

Making a yeast starter for your homebrew beer will improve the quality and reduce the chance of infection. This week we cover how much yeast to use and how to create a yeast starter…

6 Tips for Crystal Clear Home Brewed Beer

by Brad Smith on March 26, 2008 · 28 comments

Beer_Pict

This week we give you six tips to improve the clarity of your home brewed beer. A bright, sparkling clear beer is highly prized by most consumers, yet clear beer can be elusive for the average home brewer. Commercial brewers use fining agents, filtering, and pasteurization techniques to keep their beer crystal clear…

BrewPoll

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the BrewPoll Home Brewing and Craft Beer News Site. After launching into the Web 2.0 with BrewWiki a few years ago and this blog the last few months, I’ve been fascinated with the way that many new social sites are able to find and promote the “best of the web”…

The First Wort Hop: Beer Brewing Techniques

by Brad Smith on March 17, 2008 · 48 comments

Hops2

Brewing beer with first wort hops (FWH) is a method I have used extensively for beer brewing over the last few years to improve the character of many recipes. First wort hopping produces complex bitterness and aroma that is both smooth and pleasing to the pallet…

So When is St Patrick’s Day Anyways?

by Brad Smith on March 15, 2008 · 2 comments

Stout St Pattys

St Patrick’s day is Monday March 17th 2008, right? Well it turns out that things are not so simple. Due to the early Easter holiday this year, St Patrick’s day conflicts with holy week. Because of this, Roman Catholic Church officials have moved St Patrick’s day feast up to Saturday the 15th of March. This […]

Brewing an Irish Stout Beer Recipe

by Brad Smith on March 14, 2008 · 32 comments

Stout Lineup

With St Patrick’s day upon us, it seemed appropriate to discuss the beer that Ireland is most famous for: Irish Stout. We’ll review the history of Irish Stout, the design of Irish Stout recipes and finish with a selection of great Irish Stout recipes for home brewing…

I recently revisited Ray Daniels’ classic work “Designing Great Beers”, a book written in 1996 and published by the Brewers Association. Though I originally read this book several years ago, I enjoyed it even more the second time. For those of you who don’t know the book, it is advertised as “The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles”…

Brewery

Today we look at traditional fly sparging, batch sparging and no-sparge brewing techniques. Batch sparge techniques have become very popular with homebrewers because batch sparging requires less time and less equipment than traditional techniques at minimal added cost…