- Peter McMindes - Brewers today are pushing the past standards on IBUs and hop additions in their beers. With this new wave of hoppy IPAs and other hopped up traditional styles brings increased trub loss via higher vegetative matter, more astringency, and of course higher costs per batch of beer. The sheer amount of hops alone going into a New England IPA can double the cost of the beer! A newer style of hops, called Cryo Hops®, lends a solution to these setbacks. Originally Cryo Hops® … [Read more...] about Cryo Hops® – A Practical Hop for Homebrewing
Homebrew
DIY Hard Seltzer: A Trend Worth Trying
-Kristin Weeks- Summer is the busiest season of the year nationwide for beer sales, and over the past several months, the adult beverage industry has witnessed a major rise in popularity of a new kind of boozy beverage, hard seltzer. This light, low-cal, low-carb alternative to beer is attractive to consumers preferring more health-conscious drinking habits and an active lifestyle. Hard seltzer offers that with its sessionability (low ABV, 5% typically) and convenient packaging. Both national … [Read more...] about DIY Hard Seltzer: A Trend Worth Trying
Brewing in the Summer
-Ryan Blankenship- Summertime is usually a slow time for the traditional home brewer. Mainly because it gets so hot outside, most of us don’t want to spend 6-8 hours over a boiling hot kettle. It can also become difficult to regulate your fermentation temperatures. If you’re a diehard brewer like we are, however, you might be deciding on what beers do best during the summer. A few of my favorite summer style beers include: Belgian pale ales, Kolsch, and Saisons. Today I want to give a little … [Read more...] about Brewing in the Summer
Kveik: A Hot New Yeast Trend in Homebrewing
-Peter McMindes- Norway has been using kveik for centuries, passing it down through generations of brewing families, providing unique characteristics to farmhouse ales. Kveik (pronounced “kwike”), means “yeast” in Norwegian, and the strain has remained relatively unchanged in areas that engage in traditional farmhouse brewing. The name kveik refers to the yeast itself, not the style of beer, and it is extremely genetically diverse while exhibiting characteristics not typical in other brewing … [Read more...] about Kveik: A Hot New Yeast Trend in Homebrewing
Fining Your Beer With Gelatin
-Peter McMindes- As homebrewers, we pride ourselves on delivering delicious tasting beer to our friends, family and ourselves. While demonstrating how well-made fresh beer tastes, we also like to focus on the presentation. When seeing the brightness and clarity of other homebrewers’ beer, you may wonder how they achieve such a level in the finished product, and the answer is usually a fining agent known as gelatin. Many commercial and larger craft breweries may filter their beer and use … [Read more...] about Fining Your Beer With Gelatin
Using Enzymes In Brewing Production
-Ryan Blankenship- Enzymes have been used in beer production for some time now, whether for gluten reduction, turning some non-fermentable sugar into fermentable sugar, or increasing clarity. For brewing, enzymes can, among other things, increase starch liquefaction and saccharification, which in turn increases the production of fermentable sugars. These enzymes can also help reduce viscosity, support yeast during the fermentation process, and even extend the shelf-life of a beer. In … [Read more...] about Using Enzymes In Brewing Production
Gifts for the Homebrewer: Our Top Picks!
Shopping for people who have interests or hobbies that you’re not familiar with can be stressful. It’s difficult to know what they may already have, what they would want, what products are mere novelties, and what’s really quality. Here at Fifth Season Gardening we’re constantly helping guide folks through this arduous process, and we relish any opportunities to share our knowledge and experience to the benefit of our customers. In that spirit we have put together a collection of items that we … [Read more...] about Gifts for the Homebrewer: Our Top Picks!
Making Beer Kits at Home with Brewer’s Best
-Gabrial House- With fall in full swing, why not start a batch of home brew? If you are new to the art of brewing and not sure where to start then you should take a look at some of our awesome beer equipment and ingredient kits! We have lots of different ingredient kits for this cooler time of year, ranging from American Ambers, to Red Ale, to English Browns and even Robust Porters. You can make up to 5 gallons of your favorite hearty beer enjoyably at home! The Brewer’s Best equipment … [Read more...] about Making Beer Kits at Home with Brewer’s Best
New England IPA Part 2: How Do I Make It?
-Ethan Johnson- I think that my favorite thing about the Hazy IPA style (aside from drinking it…) is the fact that its origin is a function of the desire to create a very, very specific product. Thus, every aspect of the recipe formulation has intent and purpose. Previous IPA styles rose from a more simple drive; make them stronger, make them more sessionable, make them dark, make them sour, etc. At a certain point, it seemed like breweries were making IPA styles because they represented … [Read more...] about New England IPA Part 2: How Do I Make It?
New England IPA Part 1: Clarifying a Murky Style
-Ethan Johnston- The saying goes that a rising tide lifts all boats, and the rise in craft/artisan beer has certainly had a similar impact on the various beer styles. Styles like Gose and Grätzer, which were bordering on extinction until recent years, are enjoying exponentially more of a market share than they ever have. However, no style has been lifted to the height of India Pale Ale and its various sub-styles. IPA has been the hottest craft beer style on the market since the most recent … [Read more...] about New England IPA Part 1: Clarifying a Murky Style
