Getting started with wort canning
There are a couple of ways to can wort. Using the pressure cooker is the safest method. If done correctly it will produce wort for starters that can sit on your shelf for at least a year if not longer.…
Category Education
How to Prepare a Pin Cask
So, you’ve got yourself a pin cask and you’re ready to serve your beer the traditional way. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get it prepped and ready to pour. What You’ll Need Step 1: Fit the Shive Insert the shive into the…
Hop Science for Homebrewers: What’s New, What Matters, and How to Use It
TL;DR: Modern hop science is exploding. Use hops where their compounds survive, lean into whirlpool and dry hop, watch for hop creep, and play with thiols and new hop products for bigger aroma without the guesswork. Thiols, oils, mash hopping……
Kettle Souring: Fast, Clean Sour Beer at Home
Updated from our May 2018 club presentation (Dean V.). This is the quick, reliable way to brew tart beers like Gose and Berliner-style without barrels or bugs all over your brewery. What is kettle souring? Kettle souring means you sour…
Brewing Lager Beer (Club Guide)
Based on a Lauter Day Brewers talk by Paul Konopelski (Bohemian Brewery). TL;DR: Start with soft water (RO + salts), pick classic malts, mash simple (or go fancy with rests/decoction), ferment cold with a healthy pitch, give it a diacetyl rest,…
Brewing Better Beer: Water Chemistry Basics
We all know beer is mostly water, but did you know your water can make or break your brew? At our July meeting, we dove deep into water chemistry and adjustments—here’s a recap for anyone looking to up their game. 💧…
American Pale Ale (APA): Club Guide
From our June 2017 meeting style session. What is an American Pale Ale? According to BJCP, APA lives between malt and hops — our takeaway: about a 50/50 balance. If a Double IPA is purely hop-driven and an IPA is hop-forward…
Tasting Descriptors and Beer Tasting Cheat Sheet
Why tasting descriptors matter Beer tasting isn’t about being pretentious—it’s about having the vocabulary to share what you’re experiencing. Whether you’re judging, brewing, or just swapping bottles with friends, having a shared set of descriptors helps everyone understand what’s in…
All About Using Hops
Hop Usage & Utilization What Are Hops Hop Anatomy IBUs IBU stands for International Bittering Unit but what does it mean? “Bitter” vs. “Hoppy” The Science of Hops So is it useful? So what to do? Bottom Line IBU is…
Recipe Formulation
Our May meeting educational topic was a fantastic one, put together for us by VP Andrew Ayers. We asked brewers to consider how recipes are formulated and why. We explained the foundations for a good recipe and used a bit of sensory analysis to dissect the recipe of a commercial pale ale.