Category Archives: beer

How to Prevent DMS in Beer

Posted on January 12, 2020 by alex

A  Look at Studies and Experimental Brew with Tested Results The past few weeks I have casually been combing through over 20 academic studies on DMS, a topic in brewing that has benefited from a surprisingly vast amount of research … Continue reading →

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Effects of mash parameters on fermentability and efficiency in single infusion mashing

Posted on January 12, 2020 by alex

A PDF version of this article can be found here: Effects_of_mash_parameters_on_attenuation_and_efficiency.pdf It is commonly known that there are many factors that effect the fermentability (limit of attenuation) of brewing wort. The series of experiments conducted here are aimed at understanding not … Continue reading →

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Improve mash efficiency in your stainless steel mash tun

Posted on October 1, 2018 by alex

Mash efficiency refers to the extent to which you are able to pull the sugars out of the malted grain and into the water. A high percentage of sugar recovery (75-90%) is called ‘high mash efficiency’. A low percentage (60-75%) is called ‘low … Continue reading →

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Keptinis – Lithuanian baked beer

Posted on July 14, 2018 by alex

At Šnekutis Užupis Farmhouse ale styles are known for being messy, sprawling, ill-defined categories to the point where it can be questioned whether they really are styles at all. The Lithuanian style keptinis, however, has a simple definition: it’s made … Continue reading →

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How to brew keptinis

Posted on July 14, 2018 by alex

The Jančys family brewhouse Keptinis is a little-known Lithuanian style of beer where the mash is baked in an oven. The first farmhouse brewer I ever wrote about was keptinis brewer Ramunas Čižas. A few years ago I put together … Continue reading →

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Brewing Water Basics

Posted on December 20, 2017 by alex

For many brewers, water chemistry is treated as the last frontier of homebrewing. Oftentimes, it is ignored or at least not something homebrewers want to think about. The old adage “if your water tastes good, it’s fine to brew with” … Continue reading →

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Lithuanian beer – a rough guide

Posted on November 12, 2017 by alex

Lithuania has one of the most interesting beer cultures on earth, but it’s a beer culture that is almost wholly unknown outside the country itself. This guide explains what is so special about Lithuanian beer and helps you choose the … Continue reading →

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Parti-Gyle Brewing – Two Beers from One Mash

Posted on November 12, 2017 by alex

Parti-Gyle brewing is a method for making more than one batch of beer from a single all grain mash. It offers tremendous flexibility since you can brew two beers of different gravities, and also add different hops and yeast to … Continue reading →

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Sahti – the Finnish Farmhouse Ale

Posted on November 11, 2017 by alex

Sahti is the traditional beer of Finland. The popularity of the drink waned after the wars, obviously the prohibition of 1919 – 1932 didn’t help. Today, sahti enjoys a small-time revival on the craft brew bandwagon, even on a commercial scale. But … Continue reading →

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Sahti and Related Ancient Farmhouse Ales

Posted on November 11, 2017 by alex

This is an introduction to ancient homebrewed farmhouse ales of northern Europe. Finnish Sahti is the best known of them, but similar beers exist in the Nordic and Baltic countries: koduõlu in Estonia, gotlandsdricke in Sweden, maltøl in Norway and kaimiškas in Lithuania. Once upon a time there were farmers who … Continue reading →

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