Category Archives: beer

5 Tips for Avoiding a Stuck Sparge

Who has time to putz around trying to fix a pesky stuck sparge? One of the best ways to deal with this issue is to prevent it from happening in the first place! Here are five tips to keep wort … Continue reading

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Automatic Boulanger Bottling System

Guillaume Boulanger, director of production at La Barberie Brewery in Quebec City, has been homebrewing for a decade. He’s also a beer bottle lover, which explains why he created an awesome bottle filling system he calls the Automatic Boulanger Bottling … Continue reading

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Mash pH and Why It Matters for All Grain Beer Brewing

Mash pH is an important concept for all grain brewing. While you can make “good” beer without worrying about pH, brewing truly great all grain beer relies on understanding the concept of mash pH and its impact on beer. Understanding … Continue reading

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How Malt Extract is Made

Malt extract is quite a powerful homebrewing ingredient, especially for beginners, as it takes out some of the variables like hitting mash temperatures and volumes. While more seasoned homebrewers can use it to supplement sugars in a “big” brew or help … Continue reading

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Czech Pale Lager — decoction mash

In the United States, about half the beer consumed is light lager, a relatively bland, lower alcohol product mass marketed to a wide audience. In the Czech Republic, there is also a consumer preference for a lower alcohol beer; however, … Continue reading

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Growing Hops in Containers

Wish you could grow hops, but don’t have a suitable in-ground location? With a little knowledge of container gardening, you can grow hops virtually anywhere — including your deck, patio or driveway. Growing plants in containers presents some added challenges, … Continue reading

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

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 … Continue reading

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7 Considerations for Making Better Homebrew

1. A complicated recipe does not a delicious beer make You’ve likely heard this tip before, it’s certainly nothing new, but it absolutely bears repeating. I’ll never forget the urge I used to experience when I first started homebrewing to use … Continue reading

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4 Ways to Sour a Berliner Weisse

Berliner weisse is a low-strength German wheat beer that relies on a source of lactic acid to create a refreshing but intriguing sourness. As with many things in homebrewing, there is more than one way to achieve Berliner weisses’ signature tart … Continue reading

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Collecting Wild Yeast

Yeast can be the difference between a good recipe and a great recipe. I have been making cider, wine and mead for over a year now and I am learning quite a bit about the strains out there and what … Continue reading

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