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Efficiency
By Mike Blaesser

By Mike Blaesser When it comes to efficiency, only one number matters We brewers are an obsessive lot. We worry about everything.   My pH is too high or too low. I fermented too hot or too cold. I dry-hopped too long/too short. I’m sure I’ve ruined my beer....

The Highs and Lows of Micro-Batch Brewing
By Derek Fleming

By Derek Fleming Most homebrewers refer to any process smaller than about five gallons as “small-batch brewing.” The label isn’t necessarily inaccurate, but it misses the point somewhat. Homebrewers doing batches of five gallons or more at a time typically want to...

Decoction Mashing – Is it Worth the Effort?
By Chris Pfeiffer

By Chris Pfeiffer   Do you love malt-forward, European lager styles?  Do you enjoy exploring historical brewing methods and techniques? If so, then you have likely thought about decoction mashing.  You may be wondering if it is worth the effort. Below, we’ll...

Introduction To Mashing
By John Brady

By John Brady     Quick Links What happens in the Mash Why we mill Grain Performing an Iodine Test Lautering & Sparging   Enjoy homebrewing and thinking of taking it to the next level by going with an all grain mash? ...

Crafting Beer
By Vito Delucchi

By Vito Delucchi Quick Links Section 1: What Is Craft Beer Section 2: Crafting Your Own Beer Section 3: Enjoying & Sharing Craft Beer   Introduction If you’re reading this, it’s safe to say you probably like beer; so much so that you even...

Sparging Methods
By Jack Horzempa

By Jack Horzempa   But first we must mash Prior to conducting a sparge, the grains must undergo a mash. Mashing is essentially just the soaking of the grains in hot water to activate the enzymes within the malt which subsequently convert the starches into sugars. There...

Beyond Extract: What A Homebrewer Needs To Go From Extract To All Grain
By Tim Murray

By Tim Murray   When I was 30 years old, I brewed my first batch of beer.  I had thought about brewing beer many times before, but this was my first time actually firing up the kettle. I was excited. I eagerly watched the combination of extract and water on the stove, and...

A Simple Key to the Mastery of Efficient Lautering
By John J. Palmer and Paul Prozinski

by John J. Palmer and Paul Prozinski (Brewing Techniques) Fluid Dynamics     Understanding how the fluids in your mash tun move through the grain bed during sparging can help you maximize your extraction efficiency.     Extraction...

A Look At Brewing Beer In A Bag (BIAB)
By Vito Delucchi

By Vito Delucchi with Contribution from Adam Wyss     Brew in a Bag Made Simple Equipment: A Kettle (Large enough to handle full volume of liquor and grain) A Bag (Large/Strong enough to handle amount of soaked grain needed) Heat...

Using Adjuncts in Beer
By Delano DuGarm (Brewing Techniques)

By Delano DuGarm (Brewing Techniques)     Outcast Ingredients Take Their Place in Quality Beers   Grain adjuncts share a bad reputation among specialty brewers, most of whom associate adjuncts with the sweet, under-hopped, light lagers produced by major...

Understanding pH and It's Application in Small-Scale Brewing
By A.J. deLange

by A.J. deLange     Understanding pH and Its Application in Small-Scale Brewing—   Part I: Fundamentals and Relevance to Brewhouse Procedures     The question of pH often arises in brewing circles — what is it, why is...

Mashing Made Easy
By Jack Schmidling (Brewing Techniques)

Mashing Made Easy The easy mashing system makes light work of all-grain brewing. by Jack Schmidling   Mashing and sparging in picnic coolers and plastic buckets of one form or another have become so universal that the method discussed in this article might seem like...

How to Lauter for the Highest Extract Efficiency
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)     In this installment of “Stepping Up,” we investigate the process of lautering and review some of the common situations that can cause lautering problems. Lautering is a fairly simple process, but also a very...

Brewing With Rye
By Rosannah Hayden (in Brewing Techniques

By Rosannah Hayden       An ancient grain is making a new name for itself in the small-scale brewing scene.     Necessity is not always the mother of invention. This is especially true in the world of brewing, where the spirit of...

Mashing With a Protein Rest
By Dave Miller (Brewing Techniques)

Question: I have two questions for which I can’t get good answers from local homebrew supply stores. I am a new full-mash brewer. I have been using highly modified two-row pale malt with 10% adjuncts. When mashing on cooler days, I find it hard to keep a steady mash temperature in my...

Step Mashing Q+A with Dave Miller
By Dave Miller (Brewing Techniques)

  Question: I am confused. I am a beginning all-grain home brewer and have learned a lot from friends at a local homebrew shop. One thing they all agree on is that single-infusion mashing is the way to go. Most of the books I have, particularly yours and Papazian’s, use...

Understanding pH of Beer and Mash pH
By Dave Miller (Brewing Techniques)

By Dave Miller (Brewing Techniques) Checking pH of Beer         Have any feedback on this article? We want to hear from you! Click here, to contact us with any feedback. Did you enjoy reading this article?...

Mashing 101 For The First Time All-Grain Brewer
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)     Mashing Basics for the First-Time All-Grain Home Brewer   There is no reason for mashing to be a difficult, scary task. First-time all-grain brewers can easily produce outstanding beers, provided they master a few...

No-Sparge Brewing
By Louis K. Bonhamb (Brewing Techniques)

by Louis K. Bonhamb (Brewing Techniques)     No-Sparge Brewing - An Old Technique Revisited   Will skipping the sparge step create beers with superior flavor? A home brewer’s experiment sets out to determine whether objective differences...

RIMS versus Decoction
By Louis Bonham and Andy Thomas (Brewing Techniques)

by Louis Bonham and Andy Thomas (Brewing Techniques)     The Great Texas Mash-Off Two brewers put their favorite mashing techniques to the test in a friendly showdown between new-fangled technology and Old World tradition.    ...

Decoction - A Review of a Traditional Technique
By Spencer W. Thomas (Brewing Techniques)

by Spencer W. Thomas (Brewing Techniques)     An authentic decoction mash may well have no replacement, hut these experiments show that using a pressure cooker can give excellent results with far less work.     Decoction brewing is...

Step Mash for Customized Worts Part II
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

The Starch-Busting Amylases By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques - Vol. 5, No.4) This installment of Home Brewery Advancement completes a two-part exploration of step mashing. Part I described the low-temperature enzymes (glucanases and proteolytic enzymes) and their role in...

Advanced Mashing Techniques
By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)

By Jim Busch (Brewing Techniques)     Mashing 102 — Advanced Material   In a way, mashing is the natural progression of malting. Both act to take a raw ingredient (barley or malt) and through enzymatic processes reduce the material into sugars that...