A properly aerated wort is crucial to ensuring a clean, rigorous, and complete fermentation. Yeast cells generally need about 10 ppm dissolved oxygen in the wort in order to function properly. A lack of oxygen can negatively impact your brew in a number of ways. First, some background. Yeast cells need oxygen in order to reproduce. The oxygen is a critical component in the production of cell membranes, organelles, and various compounds the yeast need to produce in order to survive. In … [Read more...] about Oxygenation when your brew needs it most!
Homebrew
Cyser: Making Mead with Apples
Apple juice and apple cider are incredibly popular drinks, especially during the fall harvest season. But despite the fact that the fruit is practically synonymous with fall, apples are largely underrepresented in our alcoholic beverages. Hard apple cider, once the drink of choice for colonial Americans, is experiencing a revival in popularity, but still lags behind mainstream go-tos like beer and wine. In fact, both beer and wine can be made or accentuated with apples, but you'll be … [Read more...] about Cyser: Making Mead with Apples
Hoplight: Galaxy Hops
One exciting outcome of the recent craft beer explosion has been the resurgence of a number of nearly extinct styles and the platform that has provided for the exploration of new practices and ingredients. There has been an especially intense interest in hop forward styles, new hopping techniques, the development of new hop varietals, and reemergence of varietals that had fallen by the wayside. As a homebrewer (or potential homebrewer) you have a myriad of these new (and heirloom!) hops … [Read more...] about Hoplight: Galaxy Hops
Behold, the Kegbot!
When I finish a keg of beer, most of the time I stop and wonder "When did I drink all this beer? And who helped me do it?" So out of a desire to get some interesting data - and to track all of my brewing process (drinking is part of the process, right?) - I began thinking about how I could track this information. It turns out someone has already done all of the work for me, using what is called an Arduino. So what is an Arduino? An Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform. … [Read more...] about Behold, the Kegbot!
Ethan’s Perfect Nitro Pour: Aesthetics of a Guinness
Have you ever ordered a pint of Guinness at a bar and after observing the bartender’s (hopefully) tedious pouring method wondered what the reasoning behind each step was? When it comes to beer, the ‘nitro’ pour epitomizes the relationship between aesthetics and enjoyment. Nitrogen bubbles are smaller than carbon dioxide bubbles and in combination with the shape of the pint glass they create the cascading effect typical of the pouring method. Luckily for you there is a rhyme and a reason to … [Read more...] about Ethan’s Perfect Nitro Pour: Aesthetics of a Guinness
Oak Chips: Barrel Aged Flavor in Your Home Brew
Spring is on its way, and the dark beer season is on its way out. Most beer brewers limit oak chips to flavoring their porters and stouts, but if you were one of “most” you probably wouldn’t be brewing your own! Oak chips are available year round and can add a whisper to a punch of flavor to any brewed beverage (beer, wine, mead, etc…). Having been using them for hundreds of years, wine makers (and drinkers) are already familiar with the benefits of fermenting with oak, but there is more … [Read more...] about Oak Chips: Barrel Aged Flavor in Your Home Brew
Kegging Versus Bottle Conditioning
The vast majority of home brewers bottle their fermented product for simplicity's sake, for aging or for other artisanal considerations. While bottle conditioning beer is effective and doesn't require much infrastructure, most home brewers eventually aspire to kegging their beer too. Once the set-up is in place, kegging offers numerous advantages over bottle-conditioning: it allows the brewer to control and modulate carbonation much more accurately and deliberately; it mitigates oxidation and … [Read more...] about Kegging Versus Bottle Conditioning
