Recent content by David Doucette

The world of automated brewing systems has exploded since the launch of the Pico Brew in 2013, automated brewing systems have been popping up like fruit flies in a house made out of bananas. Some big name examples like the BeerDroid / BeerFlo, the MiniBrew, IGulu, the Brewie and all the...

One thing that most brewers know is that your fermentation plays a big role in how your final beer tastes. If you didn’t know that before, now you do, you just read it. In this article, we look for flavor contributions beyond the grain bill & hop additions, and see how we can bend fermentation...

I have a friend who's really into politics, and more importantly, digging into what bills congress are voting on to see what they include. He found something on homebrew sales that might be pretty cool for us homebrewers. In fact, really cool. Homebrew Sales Could be Legal to Sell With a Home...

Some people say 2016 was an awful year, peppered with celebrity deaths, political hi-jinks, exploding cell phones, and seemingly rampant terrorism. But when all the dust settles there's always Homebrew Talk, and homebrew conquers all. We even got up and running on a new Wordpress platform for...

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...

Hello everyone, and welcome to our first "product spotlight". In these articles we are looking to shine the light on some of the new or up and coming products available to us homebrewers. This spotlight features HOPTOPs, a new product which is an airlock created to fit on mason jars. Let's dig...

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...

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...

Hops. Those little green flowers that bring so much joy to us, especially to APA and IPA lovers around the world. Lets take an illustrated journey through the world of Hops. Yes, we all know what makes a hop a hop, but what about the history, or how much is grown where? Northwest Hops Production...

If you missed it, Part 1 of this series deals with the all-grain brewing process. It goes over taking the leap into all-grain brewing in a simple, down to earth manner. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/all-grain-brewing-simplified-part1-process.html In this part, I'll go over some of the different...

To be forward and clear, here is a fact: heating honey does cause a loss of its aromatic properties. Here is another fact: cooking the honey to a boil and caramelizing some of the sugars replaces those lost aromatics with a whole new set of possibilities. It's time to talk about bochets. I do...

I've seen this and similar statements posted several times around the forum: "If you don't submit your beer to contests, you don't know if your beer is good". The point they are making is that without having a contest score associated with your beer--OR--a large homebrew club sampling with BJCP...

Mead Making: The Profiling of Honey Not too long ago, I was at a homebrew club meeting where I was the only mead maker in attendance. This was not for a lack of interest by the other members, they just hadn't made mead yet. When I presented my meads for tasting, I got a lot of questions and I...

The Greater Culture: Salting, Brining and Aging Cheeses Part 1 (starting equipment, basic processes, making cheese curds): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/culture-cheese-makling-basics.html The HBT Cheese Forum: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=130 Before we get too far into more...

A Marriage of Beer and Mead: Braggots Crisp, malty, and maybe hoppy beer; combined with aromatic, bright floral honey. Add a bit of carbonation (or maybe not) and what do you get? A braggot. A braggot is a type of mead that also uses brewing ingredients like hops, malt, or both. They are...