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Here's my version of a Keezer. Before starting the build I spent several weeks sifting through all the various keezer build write-ups here and elsewhere on the the web and selected the features that made the most sense to me. A couple of things I've put my own spin on but you won't see anything radically different than other designs, I like to think this is a sort of "greatest hits" version. After much soul searching I decided 3 kegs would be plenty for me and that a 7 cubic foot freezer was the way to go. This prompted me to purchase a GE FCM7SUWW chest freezer, this particular model has gotten several good reviews and has been used in a lot of other Keezer builds. I bought mine online from Wally World using their free "ship to store"...

Not every homebrewer is a die-hard Do-It-Yourselfer. I mean sure, most of us feel the call occasionally – it’s probably the same brain wiring that makes us want to brew beer instead of buying it at the store. But there’s a big difference between screwing a bulkhead into a cooler, and that guy in your homebrew club who welded together a brew sculpture out of old kegs and bike parts so the whole thing looks like something out of Mad Max (and then he named it Mad Max, because the “Max” is for Max-imum efficiency, bro!). Maybe your skills are lacking, or your tool shed isn't equipped to weld a masterpiece. Or maybe you just don’t have room for an awesome homemade setup, but you still want to brew all-grain. If that’s you, you may be eyeing...

Here in the Northwest, we're pretty hardcore about our beer. Breweries are popping up constantly because there's a constant demand for the stuff. Our craft breweries are top-notch, showcasing some of the most innovative ideas and dedicated enthusiasts in the craft. Beer! What A Great Way To Bring Friends Together One of the reasons for all the imbibing is the readily available ingredients. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho are the top hops-producers in the country. Washington produces far and away the most, with 70.8% of the share, followed by Oregon with 15%, and Idaho with 10.9%. In terms of barley production, Idaho ranked number one in 2013 and 2014, ahead of Montana and North Dakota. Washington came in sixth. Low shipping costs and...

Kits are a staple of the homebrewing scene. Put together by your local homebrew shop or the big online retailers, they are all-in-one boxes that give you everything you need to create beers that are time-tested and brewer-approved. Sometimes they are clones of popular craft brews, other times they are retailer exclusives that recreate classic styles, but either way they take the guesswork out of making a great beer. For both newbie homebrewers and veterans alike, that can be a very welcome thing indeed. But sometimes you want to throw a little twist into an old favorite. Sometimes you want to get creative but don’t know where to start. Sometimes you have a beer idea in mind, but don’t want to spend ages tinkering with a base recipe...

Brew -in-a-bag (BIAB) is a full-volume, all-grain brewing process using a single kettle. The appeal of BIAB brewing to me is the great quality beer that you can make using a very simple process. In fact, if you stick with the basics, you could start brewing BIAB without ever brewing extract. So here's a down and dirty primer to get you started. Below are the items that may be different than what you are using for extract brewing. Large Brew Kettle This is a 17,000 BTU burner on our kitchen cooktop. I can get a decent boil out of it if I don't feel like brewing outside. With extract brewing, a 5-gallon kettle works well. You could brew just as easily on a stovetop as you could a propane burner. It's easy enough to handle, so a ball...

Funk In The House Part II Funk In The House Part I (found here), covered a very brief introduction to Brettanomyces and and overview to the Funk In The House Experiment. To recap, Brettanomyces is a wild yeast, robust and versatile enough for use in primary fermentation (100% Brettanomyces Beers), mixed/secondary fermentation (Lambic, Gueuze, Flanders Red, Oud Bruin, Farmhouse Ale, and American Wild Ale), and even bottling conditioning. To date, several species of Brettanomyces have been identified, with B. bruxellensis and B. anomalus most widely available from commercial yeast suppliers. Recently, several commercial yeast suppliers have introduced new strains of Brettanomyces, available in pure isolate or mixed culture forms. I...

Ah the brew stand, or affectionately known as a “rig”, is a symbol of your dedication, passion, and soon to be borderline obsession with the art that is homebrewing. This sculpture of love will become the new centralized hub of your homebrewing hobby. But what exactly is it, and how do you design and build a brew stand of your own? Like many homebrewers, you will have a drive to improve your product, but you will also strive to perfect your process. It's important to build a brew stand that fits your brewing lifestyle and budget is one of the easiest ways to take your hobby to that next level. The brew stand will become home to your brewing equipment, adjunct supplies, and become as a gathering place for friends and family during the...

After using a couple of different liquid yeasts for the first time, I decided that since they cost $6.50 a pop, that it'd be the most economical to wash the yeasts for re-use. And being retired, I can't afford to spend a whole lot on the needed equipment to do so. Enter Giant Eagle and BP. They both have Tostitos brand chip dips and salsas in those 15 some ounce jars on the chip shelves. The labels are plastic and easy to peel off. Wash them out in the sink, then soak in PBW for a little while. Rinse well and sanitize with Star San before storage for later use. I feel that this helps prevent anything nasty from getting a foothold in the jars until they're actually used. I sanitize them again right before filling.I also found the 1...

After using a couple of different liquid yeasts for the first time, I decided that since they cost $6.50 a pop, that it'd be the most economical to wash the yeasts for re-use. And being retired, I can't afford to spend a whole lot on the needed equipment to do so. Enter Giant Eagle and BP. They both have Tostitos brand chip dips and salsas in those 15 some ounce jars on the chip shelves. The labels are plastic and easy to peel off. Wash them out in the sink, then soak in PBW for a little while. Rinse well and sanitize with Star San before storage for later use. I feel that this helps prevent anything nasty from getting a foothold in the jars until they're actually used. I sanitize them again right before filling.I also found the 1...

Beer! That delicious and refreshing beverage. When you drink a beer at home or in a bar, it is usually served cold. But does beer really taste better cold? Does temperature matter? Well, yes…yes it does. From grains to glass, temperature matters. If you brew extract, or if you brew all-grain, temperature control is key to good beer. If you mash your grains too hot or too cold, you get different mouth feel and alcohol levels. Without a good hard boil, the sanitization and flavor profiles might be off. Cooling wort too slowly can cause some crazy bacteria in the wort. Your fermentation depends on good temperature and temperature control, as does storing the beer, carbonating, and so on. So let’s journey down beer lane and see how...

My home brewing story starts simply enough. One summer afternoon, a friend invited us over to grill some burgers and enjoy a few beers on his back patio. What I didn't know was that the beers we'd be drinking a Hefeweizen and an amber ale were made right there in his backyard. From that first sip, I was intrigued, and a few weeks later I was there with him, helping to brew his next batch. This addiction we call a hobby, had me hooked. Over the next couple months, we got together to brew and bottle three different extract beers for my upcoming wedding. Each time I'd take on more responsibility, and by the third batch, I was basically borrowing his equipment under close supervision. The time had come to get my own gear. That was a...

It's giveaway time folks! Our sponsor, Brewer's Friend, has upgraded some of their features and added some new ones as well. In celebration of their new content, they will be giving away 10 recipe kits offered by Homebrew Supply! Let's look at some of the new features that are available on Brewer's Friends website. New Features Provided by Our Friends at Brewer's Friend! Personally, I've used Brewer's Friend calculators for just about everything, and some of these new features look great for all levels of homebrewers. New DME to LME and LME to DME converters for easy recipe conversion. In the Other Ingredients section on the Recipe Builder, we added a unit selection for the time field. Now you no longer need to convert your week...

By David Doucette The tides have turned on the “healthiness of beer” several times throughout my life, and likely yours too. Thankfully over the past few years newly discovered benefits have been more plentiful than newly discovered negative effects. Even WebMD (where we go to find out if our sniffle is actually an ultra rare brain infection) has stated that Beer is better than, wine, liquor, and even water at preventing heart disease. Beer is Now Good For Your Brains Researchers at Harvard University have now found that Isomerized Alpha Acids in Beer can boost neurotransmitter activity (which in turn boosts memory). This increase in the ability to create and store information as memories has been proven to a direct correlation on our...

This post is addressed to us brewers who are looking to fully integrate kegerators into our homes and move past the beer fridge / keezer aesthetic. I set out to convert a piece of furniture (any piece that struck my fancy) into a kegerator. A good looking final product was key to my significant other allowing it inside the house. I scoured the internet and many brewing boards, before I started this project, for any posts describing how to make a completely custom kegerator and not just a modded home appliance. What I found: Kegerator Cabinet https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-finally-finished-keezer-267412/ Barrel Kegerator https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/resurrection-well-aged-whiskey-barrel-kegerator-134868/ Custom Coffin Box...

This post is addressed to us brewers who are looking to fully integrate kegerators into our homes and move past the beer fridge / keezer aesthetic. I set out to convert a piece of furniture (any piece that struck my fancy) into a kegerator. A good looking final product was key to my significant other allowing it inside the house. I scoured the internet and many brewing boards, before I started this project, for any posts describing how to make a completely custom kegerator and not just a modded home appliance. What I found: Kegerator Cabinet https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-finally-finished-keezer-267412/ Barrel Kegerator https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/resurrection-well-aged-whiskey-barrel-kegerator-134868/ Custom Coffin Box...

Thanks to El Nino and the mild winter, Spring is just a few drinks away. With Spring comes new growth, and with new growth comes new brewing ingredients. So grab your axe, let’s add some legitimacy to that lumberjack beard you’ve been sporting and let’s make a spruce beer! Ok, so maybe the axe isn’t exactly necessary. The new growth tips from spruce trees are really what we’re after, and can be easily be picked by hand. But if you’re picking spruce in a public place or your neighbor's yard, at least wear a plaid flannel shirt. Any part of the branch can be used but tips pack the most punch A tremendous source of vitamin C, spruce had long been used to ward off scurvy in our pirate and non-pirate forefathers. And, as with most things...

Okay, you live in an apartment; But what if you don’t want to have to brew in the kitchen and hide away your toys afterward? What if you wanted to have a dedicated home brewery? That’s my case. We live in a flat. Luckily we have two restrooms – one is supposed to be a ‘guest’ restroom, though we very seldom have anyone coming to stay for more than a few hours. My wife has so far stoically accepted all of my hobbies, from diving to RC-FPV flying, so she’s gotten used to tons of my gear occupying much of the floor area. She just sighed and nodded when on a bright sunny day I told her I was going to expropriate the guest restroom and turn it into a workshop. Now here is the problem. The place is 1.60 x 2.05 meters – a tiny bit over 28...

My setup, and how I got to that point: First off, let me preface this with a few notes about myself. I am a minimalist at heart. I grew up dirt poor, so it has been ingrained in my head. Even when I have the money to buy something I would rather pool my skills and resources to try to figure out how to accomplish something with what I have. Combined with a biweekly self-imposed allowance, which I may or may not actually get, depending on the budgetary constraints of just $25. When I started researching what it takes to start homebrewing I tried to figure out how to have the best possible with the least possible. You Don't Have To Spend A Fortune To Make Great Beer Christmas in 2011 found me adding the $40 basic Mr. Beer kit to my wish...

Brewing Space can be limited in apartments. When I first started homebrewing two years ago, I was browsing all sorts of brewing websites doing my research before I bought any equipment. Almost every picture I saw showed three-tier stands in nice big garages, or fancy basement electric breweries. This scared me. I was twenty-one years old and wanted to brew my own beer. I lived in a very small apartment, with one bedroom and hardly any room to move. I was unable to use propane, and had a small apartment-sized electric stove. I doubted my ability to brew good beer like that produced by these larger setups. I went ahead and bought a Brewer’s Best kit anyways. It is definitely a challenge if you have a small space, but it is far from...

What Are Hops? Hops are the female flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor. The hop plant is a vigorous, climbing, herbaceous perennial, usually trained to grow up strings in a field called a hop field. Many different varieties of hops are grown around the world, with different types being used for particular styles of beer. Beautiful Hops When we brew beer we use hops, different amounts, different varieties and we add them at different times for bittering, flavor, or aroma. John Palmer described it best in his book How To Brew. Beer wouldn't be beer without hops - hops provide the...

Honey bees working to fill each comb with honey and cap it off. Bees are one of nature’s most amazing and complex insects, and one of the more useful for humans, flora, and fauna. Pollination of plants and flowers is crucial in farms and agriculture, as well as for wildlife. Beekeeping is especially useful now due to the increasing rate of bee colony collapse disorder around the world over the past decade.This has many looking into supporting bees by keeping them on their properties. They can be kept on both large rural properties, as well as small urban environments. A word of warning. Just like getting into beer brewing as a hobby opens your mind to the world of hops, yeast, fermentation and appreciation of a quality product...

Yeah, I know… Sound storage considerations for your bottles isn’t the most exciting topic. You probably would be much happier if I offered up the world’s finest red ale recipe and left it at that. Sorry… Truth be told, this is an extremely important matter, and it might behoove you to at least think about the subject. Here are two quick anecdotes that should drive home my point. First, a friend lost his entire stereo system when an old bookshelf failed, sending all his audio gear hurtling to the floor. And secondly, we sold a used 40” flat-screen TV to a fellow because his previous unit wasn’t mounted properly to the wall, and it met the same fate as the stereo. Moral from the stories? Weight takes real support, and gallons of homebrew...

Spring has finally sprung here in the great white North, and the first day where the temperature broke 60 gave me good reason to focus on installing my new (albeit small) hop trellis for growing this season's crop. If you're anything like me, your wife and property size/shape have a lot to do with where you plant hops. We're fortunate to live in the perfect latitude for hops, right around 43 degrees north, in West Michigan, but my house's southern exposure (ideal for lots of sun that hops like) is the front lawn. Bearing in mind that my wife would rather have a third eye in her forehead than have an enormous hop trellis in her front yard, I decided that the southwest side of the house would have to suffice. I decided my trellis would be...

So often we’ve tasted beers that have been over powered by the one ingredient that ends up giving it the hollow single identity so advertised on the label. Whether it is a label illustrating a personified ninja blackberry performing a front snap kick to a pint glass, or strawberry that has been re-imagined as an explosive device; we’ve become accustomed to the constant chase to the extremes many brewers take. For so long I had avoided brewing any beers with fruit. Not due to a long hard stance with Reinheitsgebot, but due to a lack of respect for any of the beers with the belief that they had either covered up a bad beer with a gimmick, or are trying to appeal to a new demographic with cheap artificial flavorings. I know now that there...

The enlightened among us understand the addictive and magical nuances present in our favorite passion: orchestrating processes to create utopian elixir—also known as homebrewing. Homebrewing was effectively legalized on a federal basis on July 1, 1979. President Carter had signed H.R. Bill 1337 on October 14, 1978 making it so. And man, has it grown since then. Homebrewing is now legal in all 50 states and, recently, Puerto Rico as well. Many homebrewers started with humble beginnings: an obligatory copy of Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, maybe a copy of Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer a little later, and more likely than not – a Mr. Beer kit. I had brewed with...

Italy continues to be known more as an interesting beer country and a home to many popular microbreweries. Less known maybe is the fact that Italy is also home to a flourishing homebrewing community. The sudden growth of Italy's craft beer industry, and it's homebrewing community, was unheard of 20 years ago. Back then I had the chance to be part of the homebrew and craft beer movement. Since the late 1990's, at the very beginning, I had helped to start homebrewing in Italy. THE PAST Back in the early 1990's both craft beer and homebrewing were unknown concepts in Italy. Quality beer was not completely unknown, thanks to a few good Belgian and UK imports. There were only a couple of pioneering microbreweries then, which only sold their...

It was Jan 2008 and I had the home brewing bug big time. I had been brewing about twice a month for 2 years and I had quickly moved from extract to all-grain. I had planned to join my dad and a bunch of fishermen at Pyramid Lake, Nevada for a fish-out in late March. Having brewed a Belgian Blonde the previous year for the trip that was not a style the guys appreciated, I decided to just do a basic American Blonde ale. Lo and behold, there was a style profile recipe on American Blonde Ale from Jamil Zainasheff in Jan/Feb 2008 issue of BYO magazine. An American Blonde Ale My parents were in Portland from Northern California for Christmas. My dad and I had made a tradition of brewing beer together when he visited Portland. We did a trip...

Have you entered the HomeBrewTalk 2014 Big Giveaway yet? With 94 chances to win an awesome brewing prize there's no reason not too. Sure forum entry is limited to supporting members, but all the more reason for you to join up! Member donations are what keep HomeBrewTalk online. Without members regularly supporting the community we could not bring you the great contest, new features, and technology you've come to expect from HomeBrewTalk.com. I keep making reference the control panel, brewing course, and jockey box, but there's a ton of great prizes up for grabs. Everything from Critter Cutter openers (I own and love mine) to custom mash paddles, to fermentation coolers, regardless of your status as a brewer you will find something...

Have you entered the HomeBrewTalk 2014 Big Giveaway yet? With 94 chances to win an awesome brewing prize there's no reason not too. Sure forum entry is limited to supporting members, but all the more reason for you to join up! Member donations are what keep HomeBrewTalk online. Without members regularly supporting the community we could not bring you the great contest, new features, and technology you've come to expect from HomeBrewTalk.com. I keep making reference the control panel, brewing course, and jockey box, but there's a ton of great prizes up for grabs. Everything from Critter Cutter openers (I own and love mine) to custom mash paddles, to fermentation coolers, regardless of your status as a brewer you will find something...

Sooner or later a day comes when many homebrewers decide to add a pump to their brewing system. At first most probably buy a small inexpensive pond pump to help recirculate their chiller water through some ice. Pumping ice cold water through a chiller really cuts down on the amount of time needed to get your wort down to pitching temperature. These types of pumps are easy to setup, are easy to replace and do a very good job of moving low volumes of cool water relatively short distances. For the tougher jobs like recirculating hot or boiling wort either a March pump or a Chugger pump seems to be the homebrewer's pump of choice. Choosing a Chugger pump had nothing to do with the Chugger company being located just five miles from my home...

Earlier in the year, I decided I had enough of bottling and wanted to start kegging. I didn't have the money to start a kegerator or keezer build, so I started researching five liter kegs. I found the Brewferm Mini Keg starter pack with the posh picnic tap to be the one I wanted (two sites sold the same package, each with different tap set ups). Just my luck that the one I wanted was not in stock, so I had to play the patience game. I'd planned to take a keg camping with me but this wasn't going to be. So, I went to the supermarket and purchased an Easy Keg of something to everyone's liking. I found the use easy, and it didn't take too long to settle down after a three hour drive. My first thought was refilling it. After all, why let a...

A few years ago in the last golden days of a late English summer I brewed up a clone of the Dark Star Brewery's lovely Festival Ale. Everything went well on the day and I collected a good amount of beautiful wort. Unfortunately, after fermentation in the midst of a searing (and unusual) heat wave I ended up with an ale that was way more fruity than it had any business to be. It wasn't bad, it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't to style and didn't taste anything like it should have. This my friends, is the peril of trying to brew beer to style with yeasts working outside of their temperature range. Brewing Great Tasting Beer Using Temperature Control We all know that yeast (ale yeast in particular) can be a funny old beast " once you take...

Pan Seared Salmon with American Wheat Ale Hello, my name is Matt O'Reilly and I'm a HOMEBREW ENTHUSIAST! I have been brewing for a little over a year, but I have been drinking beer for a little over 15 years. Of those 15 years, 8 of them have been spent pursuing new (to me, or otherwise) beers to try. I love variety and I love anticipation, which is why I homebrew. I also work on the line at one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles. Cooking professionally is what led me to homebrew. Where I live, in Hermosa Beach, CA a few of the local restaurants began organizing beer dinners on nights when they were generally slow. A former co-worker of mine was working in the kitchen at one of these restaurants and told me about the upcoming...

I've long been a fan of European lagers and some years back had the pleasure of spending a wonderful summer in Munich with friends. We lived up the road from the famous Lowenbrau Keller and when opportunity presented itself, frequently enjoyed sampling the culinary and beer related offerings to be found there. Memories of Munich In recent months I have been attempting to replicate those delectable flavors from that memorable Bavarian summer by brewing some lagers and hybrid ales. These include a Munich Helles, a Munich Dunkel, two Vienna lagers, a German pilsner, a Kolsch and an Altbier. In researching these styles of European beers I noted a trend. Traditional methods including step mashes are commonplace, being used by many...

Whenever I transfer my wort from the kettle to the fermentor or my beer from the fermentor to a keg or bottling bucket I also see it as an opportunity to clean it too. Reducing the amount of trub your finished beer contains before packaging it goes a long way in preventing the formation of chill haze, floaties and off flavors. Trub consists of yeast, proteins, hop debris and other solids left over from the beer making process that are no longer wanted or needed in your finished beer. If left unchecked trub can ruin the appearance and taste of an otherwise perfect glass of beer. Enjoy Your Beer Cold, Clear And Colorful The first step in removing unwanted yeast, proteins, hop debris and other solids is to use a fining agent like...

All Grain Brewing Simplified Pt 1: Process It can be argued that moving to all grain brewing can be the best thing you can do for the quality of your beer (pre-flameout). This being due to even more creative freedom, freshness of ingredients, and is a more engaging hands on process. It can also be argued that it can be an intimidating, confusing, and expensive step to take for your hobby. However, none of these things need to be true. It's all a matter of preference after you decide to try all grain. I'm here to simplify the equipment needed for all grain as well as the process. I'll start with the process and move to equipment later on. With this, I hope everyone can feel more confident about taking the next step in their brewing...

Who hasn't gone through the ups and downs of crafting that first successful batch of home-brew and then, satisfied with your work, had that passing thought that you could someday turn around and do this for a living. Well, about that... The tone of this article is not meant to be rude, condescending or anything other than matter of fact. It is meant to provoke some serious thought into the minds of hopeful entrepreneurs. Consider this a primer to finding more detailed information elsewhere, such as Probrewer.com. I started home brewing about the time a childhood friend went off to brewing school. It was his dream of bringing a brewery to our hometown that got me thinking about opening and running a brewery. I have always felt a calling...

Who hasn't gone through the ups and downs of crafting that first successful batch of home-brew and then, satisfied with your work, had that passing thought that you could someday turn around and do this for a living. Well, about that... The tone of this article is not meant to be rude, condescending or anything other than matter of fact. It is meant to provoke some serious thought into the minds of hopeful entrepreneurs. Consider this a primer to finding more detailed information elsewhere, such as Probrewer.com. I started home brewing about the time a childhood friend went off to brewing school. It was his dream of bringing a brewery to our hometown that got me thinking about opening and running a brewery. I have always felt a calling...

A beer brewed with love is drunk reasonably. A motto among the devoted monks who produce some of the most sought after and unique tasting beer in the world. Of course, Im speaking of the Trappist monks who create those delectable beers we love. Monks admiring beer is a common subject among Trappist-themed artwork these days. The Trappist Way of Life Its not just a bunch of monks in robes drinking beer all day. Before you put everything aside to join the O.S.C.O. (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance) way of life just to get your hands on unlimited supplies of Westvleteren 12 or Rochefort 8, lets learn a little bit about the way of life responsible for making our beer. First and foremost, only a handful of these monasteries...

I began my home-brewing career a little over a year ago and have to admit, I am completely hooked on the art and science of the craft. I am fortunate in that an ex-roommate of mine some years back was a keen brewer, allowing me to assist and enjoy the fruits of his labors. This provided me with some insight into the process prior to embarking on my own journey of discovery. Luckily, it was relatively early in the learning process that I discovered HBT and to say this forum is invaluable as a resource is no small exaggeration. The purpose of this article is to outline my methods and system that I have tweaked over the last year in the hope it will assist others. I have endeavored to stick to proven methods rather than the, "it works for...

We all know the economy is bad and everybody is broke. Does that mean it's gonna stop us from brewing? HELL NO! So why waste $150 on a Counter-flow Wort Chiller from your local home brew shop, when you can build your own for around $55. This project requires some basic tools, basic skills, and the ability to solder copper or know someone who does. This project does involve using a torch. Here is your material list (I bought all mine from Lowes): 2 1/2" Copper Tee 1 - 1/2" x 24" Type L Copper Pipe 26' - 5/8" ID Vinyl Tubing 2 - 1/2" x 1/4" Copper Reducer 1 - 5/8" barb x 3/4" female garden hose fitting 4 - #8 Hose Clamp 1 - 3/8" x 20' Copper Coil Now your tool list (Hopefully you have these, or know someone who does, otherwise...

The Blichmann Top Tier Burner commands a premium price, which may put a lot of people off. When you can get a burner for $29.99 that does an adequate job of heating wort, why pay five times that amount for equipment that does essentially the same thing? I too was skeptical at first, and started off with a basic Bayou Burner. I had to burn the paint off of it before I used it to brew. No biggie, but I didn't want the paint residue landing in my wort. Then my adult kids bought me the Blichmann for Father's Day back in 2012. I would not have bought this for myself because I'm cheap (see first paragraph), but I was really pleased when I saw it. After all, it is a big, beefy piece of stainless steel art in my opinion. Let me say that if mine...

So often when we go out to enjoy a few adult beverages, many bars and restaurants just pour them into the same thing: a shaker pint. Named after its purpose, a shaker pint is what bartenders cap the shaker with to mix up a cocktail. Most bars also use them to serve beer for one simple reason: they're easy to stack so they are cheaper from a space perspective. Maybe if you're lucky, your bar has nonic pints. Those are the ones with the bulge about 1/4 of the way down from the top. But the question is, does it matter? Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an event to find out. To celebrate their recently installed 200BBL brewhouse, Abita Brewery invited some people in the homebrewing and beer blogging community to a first peek at the...

Brewing outdoors is an enjoyable experience, and brewers living in warm climates are fortunate in that they can do what they love year round, but for those of us who live in cold climates winter puts a damper on outdoor brewing. When temperatures plunge below freezing, and sometimes below zero, it's not so fun standing around a kettle. In Minnesota, where I live, winter tends to come early and stay late. I do BIAB over a propane burner in my attached (but unheated) garage, with the door open for ventilation. I don't have a warm place I can brew with a gas burner. Running water for chillers can be problematic in extremely cold environments. Image Courtesy of runkelia Every winter I go through this same conflict: I want to brew, but I...

As a home brewer who loves experimentation, I am always looking for new things to try. So, my ears perked up when I saw a video on Brulosophy about sour beer tasting and they mentioned a Brettanomyces beer that was far older than the strong hop aroma let on [1]. As luck would have it, later the same day The Mad Fermentationist posted about how some isolates of Brettanomyces can free additional aromatic compounds from hops that are normally locked away, strengthening and prolonging hops aromas [2]. These additional flavor and aroma compounds are bound up inside other molecules called glycosides. What are Glycosides? A glycoside is a molecule consisting of two parts: a carbohydrate and another molecule called an aglycone; a...