BeerSmith Home Brewing: Recent Episodes

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This week I take a close look at the many changes to the water profile features in BeerSmith 4. The water profile estimation and matching was significantly overhauled in the new version of BeerSmith to make it easy to use and more accurate.

Water Salt Forms and Molecular Weights In BeerSmith 3 most of the water salt additions were in their dry (annhydrous) form. Unfortunately, Calcium Chloride was calculated using numbers for the hydrous form. Since most home and professional brewers use typical water salts in their dry form, for BeerSmith 4 the Calcium Chloride numbers for the annhydrous form are now used.

In addition, I calculated all of the water salt factors from scratch starting with their molecular weights. Calcium Carbonate (chalk), for example, had numbers that were slightly off and are now updated. This gives more accurate results across the board when doing water matching or water salt calculations. In addition the chemistry on items like Chalk and Pickling lime were altered to reflect the way the ions chemically break down during the mash.

New Water Adjustment Salts and Features For some time brewers have been asking that pickling lime be added as an option in BeerSmith. I included this in BeerSmith 4 along with the warning that it is best added after the start of the mash to prevent precipitation. Magnesium Chloride (MgCl) was also added as an option for salts though it is less commonly used at the homebrew level.

When matching water salts in a recipe using the Match a Target Water Profile button I included new checkboxes to exclude Pickling Lime or exclude Chalk since it is rare that both are used together, and chalk often dissolves poorly in water. In a recent update I also added a box for excluding Magnesium Chloride when matching water profiles as many homebrewers don’t have access to that.

How to Match a Water Profile Matching a water profile is as simple as adding your base water profile on the water tab with the correct overall volume, and then using the Match a Target Water Profile button to pick a target water profile. BeerSmith 4 will calculate the best fit for that water profile and add the salts needed to the recipe when you press OK. There is a complete video tutorial of the process here if you want to see how it is done.

In the recipe builder there is also a checkbox to hold sparge salts until the boil on the water tab which is something many brewers asked for, as the sparge salts do not substantially affect the mash chemistry. This option will only show up if you have a separate sparge step. For brew in a bag or no-sparge mash profiles the option is hidden as there is no sparge salt to combine.

Water Profiles into the Boil and Fermenter While most all grain brewers are focused on matching a given water profile in the mash to optimize their mash chemistry, BeerSmith 4 now also estimates your mash profile post-boil and also into the fermenter by accounting for boil off and other losses. This is a nice feature for those who want to understand what the water profile looks like in the finished beer.

Water Profiles for Extract, Mead, Cider, Seltzer and Wines Extract brewers often use a neutral base water and rely on the concentrated malt extract to get the water profile about right. However you can now adjust water profiles for extract brews from the water tab to get more control over your beer.

While mead, cider, seltzer and wine makers are not often water-focused, clearly the water you use has a large impact on the finished product. BeerSmith 4 lets you use the same water matching tools an all-grain brewer uses. For these type of beverages, BeerSmith 4 attempts to match the chosen water profile into the fermenter. It therefore estimates the salts needed when making your mead, wine or cider with the goal of achieving that profile in the fermenter. This should correspond well with the water profile in the finished product, other than possible chemical changes brought on by fermentation.

Mash pH and Adjustment Tools The updated water calculations mentioned above all feed directly into the mash pH estimation and mash pH adjustment tools in BeerSmith 4, shown on the mash tab. These tools have been highly simplified so that the estimated pH is calculated automatically and you can adjust to a target pH using one of two buttons: Adjust Acid from Estimated pH and Adjust Acid from pH Measurement.

I have a separate article describing how to use these two buttons in detail here as well as a video tutorial showing mash pH adjustment here, but the new system lets you easily estimate the acid needed for a preliminary and final pH adjustment while mashing. Also I changed the default model for pH estimation and adjustment to the BW Model which has generally been more accurate for most brewers than the older MPH model. You can set the model used in your equipment profile if you want to use one over the other on a consistent basis.

That’s a quick overview of the new water profile updates and features in BeerSmith 4. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Jeff Bloem joins me from Murphy and Rude Malting in Virginia to discuss challenges his business has had producing craft malt, his new partnership with Carolina malts and his craft malt offerings.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (39:25) * This week I welcome back Jeff Bloem. Jeff is the founder and head malster at Murphy & Rude Malting in Charlottesville, VA. Opening in 2018, they are Virginia’s first dedicated commercial specialty malt house producing a wide variety of base, high kiln and specialty malts for brewers and distillers. He has partnered up with Carolina Malt House to produce a number of joint malts. * Jeff ran into a series of difficult challenges with his malting business this Spring. He explains how a production move, and bad batch of malt created unsolvable problems for his business. * We also discuss how he partnered at the last minute with Carolina malting to rescue the business and Jeff tells us how his production partnership works. * Jeff tells us about his partnership with Carolina malt in detail. * I ask about the Craft Beer industry which is under a lot of pressure to cut costs, but he says Craft malting is still doing well. * We talk about the strong business case for locally and artisanal brewing ingredients and Jeff tells us about what these ingredients bring to beer. * Jeff talks about his current production lineup of Craft malts as well as the malt Carolina Malting has brought to the partnership. * We discuss his “GrainStore” shop which is temporarily offline. Jeff is hoping to reopen it shortly if he can find the right partner. * Jeff tells us where you can buy Murphy and Rude and also Carolina malts. * He shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * The podcast is sponsored by BeerSmith 4, and BeerSmith Web. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at malt mills designed for brewing beer and cover some of the major features you should be looking for in a high quality malt mill. A good malt mill for home brewing will likely last you a lifetime, so choosing the right mill is an important step.

Malt Mill vs Grain (Flour) Mill The first thing you need to know when choosing a new malt mill is that a malt mill is not the same as a grain (flour) mill. The mills you buy to make flour crush wheat, rye, oats, corn and other grains into a find powder. There are several variants of grain mills including stone mills that use two circular stones, burr mills which use two steel or ceramic plates, and impact mills that crush the grains.

The problem with using a flour mill to crush your malt is that it leaves a find powder with no intact husks. The husks actually serve as a filter bed for the grains during sparging, so malt crushed to a find flour will often result in a stuck sparge as well as excess grain particles in the boiler. So you really never want to use a traditional flour mill to crush your brewing grains.

Key Brewing Malt Mill Characteristics The best type of malt mill by far is a dual roller mill, typically with both rollers made of steel. The reason you want a dual roller mill is that crushing grains between the two rollers allows you to finely crush the interior of the barley see while still maintaining larger pieces of the husk intact. These husk pieces help form a natural filter bed when you sparge the grain in a traditional system or remove the grain bag/grain filter in a BIAB or all-in-one system.

Here are some of the key characteristics to look for in a good malt mill:

• Dual steel rollers to crush the grain. Most of these have a ‘knurl’ which is a textured finish to aid in pulling the grain through. My mill has a 12 tpi knurl.
• The gap between the rollers should be fully adjustable. I use a 0.039″ (1 mm) gap on mine though you may need to adjust that slightly depending on your malt and exact mill. Ideally you want the interior of the grain well crushed to a fine powder while retaining large pieces of husk intact.
• You should have a 7-15 lb capacity hopper for home use so you can put most of a batch of grain into the hopper at once. Obviously commercial mills have larger capacities.
• The mill should have a solid wood or metal base. For home use typically the mill laid on top of a standard 5 gallon (19 l) bucket so the milled grains fall into the bucket. Its a good idea to mill grains well outside of your normal brewing area as milling can generate a lot of dust and malts have naturally occurring bacteria on them. You don’t want to kick up a big cloud of dust and risk infecting your fermentation or cooling equipment.
• You should have a long metal arm on the mill, or alternately the ability to connect a household drill to motorize it. Some more sophisticated mills actually come with a motor attached to the mill.

A well built steel mill will last most homebrewers a lifetime, and they give you the ability to store grains in a whole form and freshly crush them when needed on brew day.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on grain mills. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Mitch Steele joins me from Abita Brewing to discuss his new position as Director of Operations, Non-Alcoholic (NA) beer brewing and his experience with hop derived products.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:27) * This week I welcome back Mitch Steele. Mitch is author of the book IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale (Amazon affiliate link). Mitch is also the former brewmaster at Stone brewing and is has recently taken a new job as Director of Operations at Abita Brewing. * We start with a discussion about Mitch and his transition this year from New Realm Brewing to Director of Operations at Abita which is a fairly large regional brewery. * I ask Mitch about his brewing career which actually spans Annheuser-Busch, Stone, New Realm and now Abita. * After discussing his career, we switch to talking about Non-Alcoholic (NA) beer. While Mitch was previously using vacuum distillation, he has now switched to instead using a combination of high mash temperatures, maltose negative yeast, and other process changes to make NA beers. * Mitch and I discuss lower alcohol beers (3%) and whether this might be a new trend or just a fad? * We next switch to discussing the many new hop derived products which can be applied to just about any phase of the brewing process to reduce losses, and enhance bitterness and aroma. * Mitch explains the advantages and disadvantages of using many of these new hop products. * We have a short discussion on fruit beers, which are very popular at Abita. Mitch tells us how he best applied fruits to accent his beers. He also explains which fruits work best for providing structure and flavor. * He shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at how to rapidly chill your beer in the shortest time possible so you can enjoy it with friends. We’ve all been there. The party is in an less than an hour and you need to rapidly chill your beer down to serving temperature before the guests arrive. Putting your beer in a typical refrigerator can take as much as 4-6 hours to reach serving temperature. But what is the best way to safely take beer from room temperature to 40F (5 C) quickly?

Why The Freezer is Not The Best Option The first idea that comes to mind for most people is to simply put your beer in the freezer for a short time to chill it down. The freezer has a constant temperature slightly below freezing, so the temperature differential between the beer and freezer should get you there quickly, right?

Unfortunately in the freezer, your bottles or cans emit heat by conduction and convection. This happens through the surface of the bottle or can. However air is not a great conductor of heat, so it can take 30-60 minutes to chill the beer. Using another medium to conduct the heat like water is more efficient and will chill the beer more quickly. Also you run the risk of freezing the beer and bursting the bottles or cans if left too long in a freezer.

The Fastest Option – Salt, Ice and Water – 5 to 7 minutes Water is a good conductor of heat, so immersing your beer in an ice bath will chill it much more quickly than a freezer. If you add a generous handful of salt to your cooler, the solution will chill even more quickly. Salt dissolves the film of liquid water on the surface of ice, effectively lowering the freezing point below that of the ice. So ice that is in direct contact with salty water melts more quickly, absorbing large amounts of heat as it transitions from ice to water.

To make a salt-ice bath, start with a medium size cooler. Add approximately equal parts of ice and water, and then add 2-3 tablespoons of salt per quart (or liter) of water. Stir the mixture until it dissolves and immerse your beer completely in the mixture.

Ice in a salt water bath can chill your beer very rapidly, often in as little as 5 to 7 minutes. If you want them to chill even more quickly you can swirl or mix the ice around the beer to create convection in the ice-water bath. Since the bath won’t easily drop below freezing, you also avoid the risk of freezing the beer.

Water and Ice In A Cooler – 15-20 minutes If you don’t have any salt, but have ice and a cooler, adding water to your cooler can still deliver cold beer quickly. Add enough water to immerse the beer, and its not a bad idea to periodically mix or flip the bottles/cans to get good convection in the cooler. Adding the water is important as it conducts the heat away from the beer and melts the ice more quickly resulting in a significant improvement over ice alone. This method also eliminates the risk of the beer freezing.

Wet Paper Towel in a Freezer – 10-15 minutes If you are lacking rock salt and a cooler, you can still use your freezer to chill your beer quickly. In this case, wrap each beer in a wet paper towel or cloth and put them in the freezer. The water from the towel will rapidly evaporate and also conduct heat away from the beer. This method works about 2-4 times faster than simply putting the beer in the freezer and letting the air around the containers operate.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and check the beer. It should take about 10-15 minutes to reach serving temperature, then remove the beer from the freezer and put it in the fridge. Failing to set a timer and leaving the beer in the freezer too long can lead to the bottles or cans actually freezing, and they could burst, so be sure to closely monitor them while they are in the freezer.

What is the Right Serving Temperature? While you may think colder beer is always better, it turns out that different beer styles actually are best at different serving temperatures. Here are a few popular beer styles and the best serving temperatures:

• Light Lagers and Pilsners: 38 F (4 C) – Colder temperatures generally bring out their crisp, refreshing flavor and accent noble hops.
• Wheat Beers – 40 F (6 C) – This accentuates the phenolics, as well as higher carbonation levels in many wheat beers
• IPAs and Pale Ales: 45 F (7 C) – These styles benefit from a slightly warmer serving temperature which accents the rich hop aromas and flavors.
• Stouts and Porters – 55 F (13 C) – These flavorful complex beers need a warmer serving temperature to unlock the rich malt flavors. Serving them too cold actually hides the depth of the roasted malts.
• Strong Ales and Barley Wines – 55-60 F (13-16 C) – Warmer temperatures accentuate these high ABV beers with rich malt flavors.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on chilling beer quickly. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a look a the fine art of making mead and how modern mead techniques have revolutionized the hobby. In particular I look at how we can take a process that once tool a year or more and cut the timeline down to 30-60 days. Also the average home brewer has about 95% of the equipment needed to make mead.

Mead Making History and Older Techniques Mead is arguably the oldest fermented beverage. Vessels in China dating to 7000 BC have organic compounds consistent with fermented honey, and as you can spontaneously ferment honey mixed with water, it is very likely that mead was enjoyed by hunter-gatherer societies and pre-dates the rise of agriculture. While mead was revered as the “nectar of the Gods” in ancient Greece, and played a central role in a variety of religions and ceremonies it has largely faded to become a niche drink in modern times.

Mead is simply wine made from a honey base. You can literally take honey mixed with water in an open vessel and it will spontaneously ferment from wild yeast. Modern mead styles span a wide range of additional ingredients including melomels from honey and fruit, pyment made with honey and grapes, spiced meads, and braggot which is a combination of mead and beer. Also there are varietal meads made from various varieties of honey which take on the flavor of the underlying honey like mesquite or orange blossom.

The traditional method for mead making is to use honey, water, yeast and if desired fruit or other additives and ferment them in a closed vessel. However honey lacks many nutrients, notably nitrogen, so it can take 12-18 months for a mead made in this way to completely ferment. The results can be great, but many of us in the modern era don’t have a year and a half to wait for our mead to reach maturity.

Modern Mead Making Given the lack of nitrogen in honey, one obvious way to speed up your mead fermentation is by adding nutrients. However, additional techniques have been developed, largely by home mead makers to accelerate the overall process even further and create even a high gravity mead in as little as 60 days. Lower gravity session meads can be fermented for serving in as little as two weeks.

While covering all of the different mead styles, design of mead recipes and possible techniques would easily fill a book, I’m going to cover the making of meads with fruit below. High gravity fruit meads are my favorite mead style, and the one I make the most, so I’m going to cover those. Note that you can use BeerSmith software (version 3 or 4) to formulate your recipes, and I did cover basic mead making in an article here. I also wrote two articles for BYO a few years back one titled Modern Meadmaking and another titled Melomels: Brewing Big Fruit, though both of these are behind the BYO paywall at the moment.

Here are the elements of modern mead making:

• Cold Preparation of Ingredients: Virtually all modern mead makers I’ve interviewed or worked with do not boil their honey or fruit as it can lead to flavor and aroma loss. Instead honey is thinned a bit with water and added directly to the fermenter. Whole fruit is washed and then often frozen to break up the cell walls and then thawed and added to the fermenter. I prefer to use a grain bag to contain the fruit, which also allows me to remove it after a week or so to minimize losses and avoid the fruit going bad. Making mead is simply a matter of mixing honey, water and fruit in the correct proportions for your recipe.
• Proper Yeast Hydration: Most mead makers use dry wine yeast as it has a higher alcohol tolerance. The top yeast, by far, used by mead makers is Lalvin 71B Narbonne dry yeast. This yeast has a very consistent 15.1% alcohol tolerance, works very well with fruit meads, and tastes great. While you do not need to hydrate dry yeast in general, meads with very high starting gravities over 1.100 are subject to an effect called osmotic shock, so if you are making a high gravity mead you need to hydrate your yeast by slowly introducing small amounts of must to the yeast over a period of 30-40 minutes to give the yeast cells time to adjust.
• Aeration of the Must: After mixing your honey, water and fruit together the mixture (called must) benefits from oxygen. Directly add oxygen, much as you would when you aerate beer. The best way to do this is with an oxygen source and aeration wand, just like you would use for beer. For high gravity meads you should give an additional dose of oxygen approximately 12 hours after your initial dose. Unlike beer, the must will rapidly uptake the additional oxygen and use it for the fermentation, so this second dose does not create oxidation issues.
• Staggered Nutrient Additions: I mentioned that honey is lacking in key nutrients that yeast needs, especially nitrogen. Therefore modern mead makers add several nutrient additions in a “staggered” method over several days to promote yeast health and rapid fermentation. The most popular method for staggered additions at the moment is called Tailored Organic Staggered Nutrient Additions 2.0 (TONSA 2). This uses measured amounts of the organic Fermaid-O nutrient in four equal sized additions at 24, 48 and 72 hours after the start of fermentation, with a final fourth addition either at 1 week or when the 2/3 sugar break is reached. You can calculate the mead nutrients needed using BeerSmith software, or any of several online TONSA-2 calculators.
• Degassing the Must During Fermentation: In the early stages of mead making CO2 from fermentation can build up in the must and create carbonic acid. This acid can actually work to inhibit fermention, slowing the overall process. So mead makers degas the must twice a day during active fermentation to get the CO2 out of solution. This is done with an electric drill and a device called a wine whip which is available from most home or wine making shops. Typically I move my fruit bag out of the way, and then vigorously use the drill and wine whip to force the CO2 out of solution. Note that this can create a lot of foam, so its best to use an oversize bucket for the initial fermentation. Some oxygen will be introduced in the must but this is not a problem during mead fermentation as the yeast with rapidly mop it up. If you are using a fruit bag its a good idea to rotate it twice a day as well so the floating fruit does not form mold or other growth on the top. You should degass until about 2/3 of the sugars have been fermented away, which is roughly the first week for a high gravity mead.
• Monitor the Gravity and pH: You need to monitor the gravity of the must as it ferments as you want to know when to add the final staggered nutrient addition as well as when to stop degassing. If you are making a fruit mead, I also recommend monitoring the pH. The pH will drop as fermentation continues and if you are using fruits with high tannins and acidity such as the noble mead fruits, they can drop the pH further. If the pH drops below 3.0 it can actually stop your fermentation. I typically will begin adding small amounts of Potassium-Bicarbonate once the pH drops below 3.4 from the wine or home brew shop as it is alkaline and will raise the pH. My goal is to keep the pH above 3.4 if possible.
• Transfer the Mead for Secondary Fermentation and Use Finings: After the primary fermentation is complete and the gravity has stabilized, I like to move my mead from the plastic bucket I used for fermentation to a secondary fermenter that won’t allow oxygen in. I also remove the fruit bag at this point. The secondary container could be a glass carboy, stainless steel fermenter or a high grade plastic that is impermeable. I will also often add finings at this point to help the mead clear more quickly. I’ve had good luck with “Super-kleer” which is a two part agent of Kieselsol and Chitosan, but you could use unflavored gelatin or other post-fermentation finings to aid in clearing the mead. Low gravity session meads can be ready to drink in as little as 2 weeks, but high gravity fruit meads typically take at least 60 days for the flavor to stabilize and they often get better with age.
• Packaging: How you package the final mead depends a lot on the style of mead. I server my high gravity fruit meads still and store them sometimes for years. I will usually keg these in a stainless keg and use a “stout mix” of 70% nitrogen and 30% CO2 at very low pressure to serve the mead. Many lighter session meads styles are carbonated with either stout mix or CO2. Some lower gravity meads are also backsweetened to add sweetness back in. You can bottle still meads as well as carbonated ones though you should not bottle backsweetened meads. Finally it is very common to add a small quantity of potassium-metabisulfite (aka sulfites) as a preservative for the mead. BeerSmith has both a backsweetening tool and a sulfite tool to help you determine the right amounts to add.

I should mention that I prefer to make extremely high gravity fruit meads which have extremely high starting gravities. If you want to see a few examples here’s my Blackberry Mead recipe made with over 16 lbs of blackberries, and my Tart Cherry Mead made with Knudsen Tart Cherry Juice.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on modern mead making techniques. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Brewing author Drew Beechum joins me this week to discuss homebrewing, his homebrew story, Homebrewcon in Asheville, and the American Homebrewer’s Association.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (42:45) * This week I welcome back Drew Beechum. Drew is the author of Experimental Homebrewing, The Everything Homebrewing Book and Homebrewers Journal (all Amazon affiliate links). Drew joins us to talk about homebrewing topics. * We start with a discussion of the major American Homebrewer’s Association (AHA) spin-off into an independent entity separate from the Brewer’s Association. * Drew shares some of his projects the last 18 months including his involvement with the AHA. * We first discuss the rich history of beer brewing and making beer at home which dates back many thousands of years. As homebrewer’s we are the guardians of brewing and also the training grounds for many thousands of professional brewers. * Drew shares a bit of his story, having started brewing in 1992, and again with a renewed passion in 1999 in Los Angeles. * He explains how home brewing promotes mental wellness and can be good for the soul. * Drew talks about “Defensive Brewing” and how it is still very relevant even in the age of craft brewing because there are still only a small set of beer styles that are commercially viable. * We discuss the homebrewing community, AHA, local clubs and the critical role they play in promoting the hobby. * I ask about the loss of many social gatherings in general post-COVID, and we talk about bringing people back together through homebrew. * Drew talks about how to make brewing less quirky, less technical and more approchable. * He shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at beer color, how it is measured, where it comes from and how color plays a major role in your beer brewing.

The History of Beer Color and Its Measurement As an interesting side note, a large portion of historic beers were very likely dark or even deep brown, as the majority of malts were historically dried over wood until the invention of coke fired kilns in the 1700’s. The lighter colored pilsners, pales, and IPAs are a fairly recent invention.

The first system to measure and characterize beer color was created by J.W. Lovibond in 1883 and bears his name. The Lovibond system used a series of colored slides or glass standards that were compared to beer color to determine the Lovibond color in “degrees Lovibond. This coloring system is still in wide use for measuring malt color, particularly in the USA. The lovibond scale is show in the malt color wheel image below.

In 1950 the American Society of Brewing Chemists adopted the Standard Reference Method (SRM) system for measuring beer color. In this system, a device is used to measure the attenuation of light at 430 nm passing through a couvette containing 1 cm of beer, and then scaling it by a constant value of 12.7. This system was picked to approximately match the old Lovibond scale, so the two scales are roughly equivalent.

Later the European Brewery Convention (EBC) established a separate scale that also measures the absorbance of light with a 430 nm beam in a 1 cm vial, but it uses a constant of 25. Because of this you can easily convert from SRM to EBC using an approximation of 2 or for a more precise result:

EBC =1.97 * SRM SRM = EBC/1.97 The SRM and EBC scales have largely replaced Lovibond with the exception of malt color which is often still expressed in Lovibond. Since all of the systems above measure color as a single number, they can’t really capture the full spectrum of beer color possibilities. If we think of the simple Red-Green-Blue-Alpha system to simulate colors on a computer screen it requires at least four dimensions. As a result these scales can’t really capture the subtle red color of an Irish Red Ale or berry, orange or red color of a fruit beer.

Where Beer Color Comes From Credit: Randy Mosher, Mastering Homebrew The vast majority of the color in our beer comes directly from the malts used. Darker malts lead to darker beer. Randy Mosher has captured the malt wheel to the right which shows malt color in degrees lovibond for the four major malt groups. Also you can easily estimate the color of a finished beer using software like my BeerSmith brewing software or a the Morey formula covered here.

The vast majority of malt used in brewing is base malt which is the palest of malts, with colors for most base malts in the 2-6 lovibond range. Next we have the kilned malts which are kilned at a higher temperature for a longer period than base malt which results in a darker finish. These malts are darkened by the maillard reaction which is similar to the reaction that darkens bread when you toast it or other foods when you cook them.

Caramel and Crystal malts are made in a slightly different way, but provide a similar color range to kilned malts. These malts are kilned wet which results in a slightly different caramelization reaction that darkens the malt via maillard reactions but also leaves residual sweetness from the crystalized sugars inside the grain.

The darkest malt group is the roast/black malt group. These malts are roasted which actually relies on a different chemical process called pyrolysis which as the name implies is basically a burning process that takes place at high temperature. I did a podcast episode with Randy Mosher discussing malt kilning and maillard reactions here if you want to learn more.

Relating Beer Color to Flavor There is no strict guide that ties beer color to a given flavor. If you are creative you can create a fairly dark colored beer that tastes exactly like a pale ale or a beer that is light in color and tastes like a stout. However, in general, darker beers tend to contain more kilned, dark crystal or roast malts which creates the flavors we associate with brown ales, porters and stouts. Similarly lighter colored beers lack a lot of the toasted or roasted hints and instead highlight a clean hoppy or pale finish we associate with lagers, IPAs and ales.

However the actual flavors the various malt groups provide is quite varied. A similarly colored brown and dark crystal malt do not have the same flavor profile, so the same beer made from both will not have the same flavor even if the color is the same. If you want a good starting point to understand the flavors that are associated with the major malt groups I recommend you start with this article as well as the individual articles on each malt group linked into this article. Understanding the flavors that individual malts provide to the whole can really help you develop as a beer designer and brewer.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on the color of beer and malts. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a look at first wort hops, and whether they really do make your beer better. First wort hopping is a brewing technique that is over 100 years old, and widely reported to provide a smoother rounder finish on the beer. However recent studies have shown no detectable sensory difference. So is first wort hopping a waste of time?

What is First Wort Hopping? First wort hopping (FWH) is a method where hops are added to the boil kettle at the very beginning of the sparge step in a traditional all grain mash process. As a result the hops steep for the duration of the sparge as wort is slowly drained from the mash tun. The hops are left in the kettle for the entire boil duration. Several studies below have confirmed this actually slightly raises the finished IBU level of the beer by about 10% as reflected in my BeerSmith software.

The method originated prior to the turn of the 20th century, and was used widely by German, British and Belgian brewers on a wide variety of styles from ales to lagers. It fell from favor commercially in the 1950’s-1970’s though it enjoyed a resurgence of sorts in both the US homebrew and craft beer communities after a 1995 article by Priess, Neuremburg and Mitter (Brauwelt International, Vol IV, p 308). I’ve written twice about first wort hopping here and in a revisited article here.

While at one time promoted as an alternative to late addition aroma hops, in practice few aroma oils survive the very long boil. Instead first wort hopping has been promoted as a way to create a smoother, rounder finish in beer.

Does It Really Make a Difference in Taste? Stan Hieronymus published an article We might have been wrong about first wort hopping on his Appelation Beer blog a few years back. In it he mentions that even though he supported first wort hopping in his book For the Love of Hops, a study from Oregon State University by Shellhammer and Hahn, presented at the International Brewers Symposium in Corvallis (2017), compared a beer with FWH against one with normal boil hops and found that there was “no perceivable difference between the two treatments at a 95% confidence level”.

Stan goes on in his blog post to cover both the recent research and the original 1995 Brauwelt article I cited earlier. While the Brauwelt study had two German breweries create two identical Pilsners with FWH and the other without, they found panelists described the FWH beer as more pleasant tasting and having finer hop aroma.

As a third data point, Brulosophy did an exBEERiment creating two identical beers, one with a first wort hop addition and the other with a traditional 60 minute boil addition. Again, lab tests confirmed that the FWH beer had higher IBUs (15.5 versus 13.5), but in triangle tests his panel was unable to determine which beer had been first wort hopped, or even distinguish one beer from another with any statistical significance.

Author Marshall Schott concludes “With nothing more than hypothesis as to how adding hops to wort prior to boiling actually impacts beer characteristics, the results of this xBmt along with findings from various other experiments leave me even more convinced the only benefit to first wort hopping is that it reduces the likelihood of a boil over. This, admittedly, is the only reason I’ll continue doing it.”

So is First Wort Hopping Worth It? Despite a plethora of articles including my own lauding the benefits of first wort hopping, I have to admit that the evidence to support the technique is growing thin. I myself have used first wort hopping on a variety of beer styles, focusing mainly on styles that are not hop forward. My rationale is that the rounder, smoother hop flavor would benefit a beer that is not hop-centered. I’ve had good results with the beers, but have not yet done an actual sensory experiment as described above.

I do find it interesting that even with the roughly 10% higher IBU level confirmed in the experiments above did not result in a different perception between the two beers in 2 of the 3 studies. Even in the Brauweltarticle, the FWH beer was perceived as less harsh rather than more bitter.

Given that adding the hops earlier in the sparge really adds no cost, I will probably continue to use first wort hopping for beer styles that are not hop forward. Since I’ve largely moved to a single boil hop addition for my beers, there is really no downside to first wort hopping if you have a traditional all grain system.

Note that FWH is difficult to duplicate with an all-in-one or BIAB system as there is no extended sparge period. However some brewers simulate this by leaving first wort hops in the hot wort for 20 minutes or so before applying heat to reach a boil.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on first wort hopping. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Many beer styles rely on a full bodied beer with great head retention, mouthfeel and complex character. Higher body comes from a combination of malt choice, final gravity, hops, tannins and protein in the beer. Below are several tips to help you create a full bodied beer with excellent mouthfeel and head retention.

1. Malt Choices To Enhance Beer Body One of the easiest ways to boost mouthfeel and body in the beer is by choosing the right malts. Malts higher in protein content will naturally have more body. Adjuncts like wheat, oats, and flaked barley have high protein levels. You can also focus on malts that are high in dextrins as these are generally unfermentable sugars that will give the beer body post fermentation. For example Caramel/Crystal malts, Carafoam, Carapils, and others in the Caramel/Crystal malt group are good sources of body and add sweetness.

Darker roasted malts can also enhance body, because the high temperature roasting process substantially reduces the amount of fermentable sugars, again leaving long chains of unfermemtable starches in the finished beer. The roast malt group, including chocolate, black patent, de-husked carafa malts and stout roast all add body and mouthfeel to a finished beer if style appropriate.

1. Use Higher Mash Temperatures Mashing at the higher end of the temperature range in the 158F (70 C) range at a slightly elevated pH of 5.3 to 5.7 can result in more body in the finished beer. The reason for this is that it is the best range for the mash enzyme alpha amylase to operate. Alpha amylase acts randomly to break up sugar chains resulting in longer carbohydrates in the finished beer, many of which are unfermentable. So instead of just getting highly fermentable maltose from the mash you end up with a mix of long and short dextrine chains, resulting in more body in the finished beer.

2. Pick a Low Attenuation Yeast Strain Yeast choice also has a big impact on the finished beer. Attenuation refers to the apparent percent of fermentables that get converted to alcohol during fermentation. Most yeasts are in the 60-80% attenuation range. If you choose a yeast strain on the lower end of the attenuation scale it will ferment fewer sugars, again leaving longer carbohydrate chains untouched, resulting in more body in the finished beer.

Even across similar strains of yeast you can choose yeasts with lower attenuation. For example the White Labs English Ale yeast WLP002 has a minimum attenuation of 63% and the related British Ale yeast WLP005 has an attenuation of 68%. So choosing the WLP002 yeast for a high body Robust Porter would be a better choice as its lower attenuation would leave more body and mouthfeel in the finished beer.

I hope you enjoyed this article on enhancing beer body and mouthfeel in your homebrewed beer! Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Bryan Pietrzak, co-founder of Twelvenote Brewing joins me this week to discuss his new brewery, beer design, and trends in Craft beer.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (43:06) * This week I welcome Bryan Pietrzak, co-founder and Brewmaster at Twelvenote Brewing in Bridgeport, CT. Bryan is a former machinist, welder and touring drummer for a rock band. He is also a Siebel Institute graduate, who founded Twelvenote in 2025. * We start with a bit of Bryan’s background and how he got into brewing. * Bryan tells us about Twelvenote which corresponds to the notes on the scale and how that fits into his music-driven brewery. * We talk about how Twelvenote is different from other breweries. * Bryan shares his philosophy on recipe development and how he designs a new beer from scratch. * We discuss bringing a beer from a concept into full production, including scaling a recipe up from pilot to brewery size batches. * Bryan gives us an example of a popular beer and how it was developed over time. * We talk about some of his most popular offerings including Hazy, his lower alcohol beer line and new lagers. * He shares some unique ingredients and techniques he has used * We discuss opening a Craft brewery in what is a very competitive and declining overall Craft market * Bryan shares his web site, location and where you can find his beers * Bryan gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
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This week I take a look a the major role thiols play in selecting hops for beer brewing, and also examine the difference between free and bound hop thiols.

Thiols in Hops While thiols from grapes have long known to play a central role in wine making, only in the last 10-15 years have the importance of thiols derived from hops in beer brewing come to light. In particular the rise of IPAs in Craft brewing and introduction of fruity IPA styles like Hazy/New England IPAs have driven a lot of experimentation and research into hop thiols.

Thiols are chemically a sulfur based version of alcohol. Alcohol molecules have an -OH group in their structure, but thiols replace that group with an -SH group. In hops, thiols make up a fraction of 1% of the overall aromatic hop oils, and aromatic hop oils themselves are only 0.5-4% of a dried hop cone. However, thiols pack a big punch for their size as the human nose can detect them at levels of nono-grams per liter!

While there are many forms of thiols in hops, brewers tend to focus on the “big four” thiols which make up the majority of the thiol aroma oil. Thiols are associated with desirable fruity aromas in the finished beer:

• 4MSP or 4MMP (4-mercapto-4-methyl-pentan-2-one) – Has the aroma of Boxtree, Ribes, Chives, Tomato plant and Blackcurrants
• 3MHA or 3SH (3 mercaptohexanol) – Aroma of Grapefruit, Citrus, White Grape and Gooseberry
• 3S4MP or 3M4MP (3-mercapto-4-methylpentan) – Passion fruit, Grapefruit and Rhubarb
• 3MHA or 3SHA (3-mercaptohexyl acetate) – Converted to 3MH during fermentation, and can also produce beta-lyase during fermentation – Aroma of Passion fruit and Guava.

I wrote a separate article on hop thiols here which is a good reference if you want to understand more about them.

Free Versus Bound Thiols and Yeast Selection Hop thiols exist in two forms, free and bound. Bound thiols are chrmically bound to amino acids. Free thiols are aromatic from the start, but bound thiols are odorless. During fermentation, some bound thiols can be freed in a process called biotransformation. The free thiols are aromatic, but unfortunately most yeast strains do not do a good job of freeing the non-aromatic bound thiols. Bound thiols are bound to amino acid precoursors that require a specific desulfhysrase β-lyase enzyme to free them.

Many yeast strains have a specific gene called IRC7 that promotes the β-lyase enzyme to release thiols when present, but unfortunately most natural yeast strains have a mutation that effectively disables the gene, rendering it ineffective or only weakly effective. Yeast labs have focused on this problem however, and many labs are now offering genetically modified yeasts that work well on bound thiols.

Omega yeast was one of the first to launch so called thiolized yeaststrains with their Cosmic Punch OLY-402 strain. They have since added variations like Start Party, Lunar Crush and Helio Gazer which are all genetically modified yeast strains designed to activate the IRC7 gene to free more thiols. Other yeast labs have followed suit with Berkeley yeast offering their “Tropics” line including London, Vermonth and Andechs yeast strain. Escarpment lab also has a strain called Thiol Libre.

For those who want to avoid genetically modified yeast, White Labs has their Tropical Yeast Blend (WLP-077) which is a non-GMO yeast blend designed to release bound thiols, and Lallemand did a study showing that their Lalbrew Diamond, Farmhouse, Nottingham, Voss and Verdant strains release some bound thiols.

I wrote an extensive article for BYO Magazine recently covering the use of mash hops to enhance thiols which is an emerging technique. Using a modest amount of hops in the mash along with a thiolized yeast strain can actually result in more free thiols in the finished beer.

Choosing Hops for Thiol Impact Lallemand produced a chart showing the hop varieties highest in thiol content here. I’ve included an extract below:

Hops with high levels of free thiols:

• 3SH/3MH (Grapefruit): ApolloTM, Galaxy®, Simcoe®, Citra®, Mosaic®
• 3S4MP/3M4MP (Rhubarb): Nelson SauvinTM, Ekuanot®, Hallertau Blanc, Mosaic®
• 4MSP/4MMP (Black Currant): Nelson SauvinTM, ApolloTM, Citra®, Galaxy®, Mosaic®, Simcoe®
• 3SHA/3MHA (Passionfruit): None

Hops with high levels of bound thiols:

• 3SH/3MH (Grapefruit): MotuekaTM, Saaz, Cascade, Citra®, Hallertau Blanc
• 3S4MP/3M4MP (Rhubarb): Hallertau Blanc
• 4MSP/4MMP (Black Currant): Nelson SauvinTM, Aramis, Strisselspalt, Mandarina Bavaria, Simcoe®
• 3SHA/3MHA (Passionfruit): None

Separately Scott Janish published a blog post here highlighting the work of Aurealie Roland on bound concentrations of thiols. Scott noted that 3MH/3SH makes up the bulk of the bound thiol aroma oil concentration in most hops, and that many of these hops also had other thiol precursors. So selecting hops that are high in 3MH/3SH either in free or bound form listed above may be a good option.

To encourage the biotransformation that free’s bound thiols most brewers add their high-thiol hops in the whirlpool. You can also add them to the mash in moderate quantities as mash hopping along with thiol-boosting yeast has been shown to increase free thiols in the finished beer. The BYO article I mentioned covers mash hopping in detail.

I hope you enjoyed this quick overview of thiols and brewing. I encourage you to read my full BYO article on mash hopping and thiols as well as my blog post on thiols to learn more. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a look at some of the many new hop products available to home and professional brewers.

Important Tips * Most pro brewers recommend using these new hop products in combination with regular (usually T90) hop pellets. Using no natural hops can leave the beer that is lifeless as the hops contain some 500+ flavor compounds. * Many of these hop products are targeted for a specific phase of the brewing process, along with specific dosage, so you need to download and read the specification sheet for the product you are using. * Hop and oil extracts generally cost more, but also reduce beer wastage and provide a time savings versus regular hops. * Some extracts can be added “to taste” into finished beer which lets you adjust bitterness, aroma and flavor very late in the process.

Alpha Acid Extracts (CO2 Extracts) – For the Boil These are concentrated flowable liquid extracts designed primarily to provide clean bittering and alpha acids during the boil. They have a high alpha acid concentration, often 65% or higher and are typically extracted from a single hop variety. They are historically the earliest extracts that hop growers devised for long storage and ease of use for large breweries. They are added directly to the kettle early in the boil.

• CO2 Hop Extract (Yakima Valley) – Sold in syringes, 150g, and 500 g cans by hop variety. Alpha acid content varies by variety from roughly 55-65%. Dosage is driven by alpha acid, so you can calculate the bitterness by using a CO2 extract hop entry with alpha acid set to the percentage on the can.
• Flex (Haas) – A flowable CO2 extract at around 65% alpha acid content. Dosage is driven by alpha acid, so you calculate the equivalent utilization using a 65% alpha acid CO2 extract entry in BeerSmith to target your beer IBU level.
• Isomerized Kettle Extract – IKE (Hopsteiner) – A hybrid isomerized CO2 extract with beta oils and hop oils that is pre-isomerized and is intended for use late in the boil, with the goal of preserving hop aroma as well as adding bitterness. It is advertised as a replacement for regular CO2 extract, but with a higher yield. Dosage is calculated based on isomerized alpha content of the product and desired IBU level in the beer.
• Hop Shot (Artisan Hops) – Small package (10 ml) for home brewers in a syringe. Sold by variety, dosage of 1ml for 60 minutes is approximately 9 IBUs, or alternately use alpha acid content of the extract which is roughly 65%.

Concentrated Hop Powders/Pellets – Whirlpool/Dry Hop These products are made by separating the vegetative matter from the luplin gland leaving a concentrated powder or pellet. The pellet has higher alpha content and a high percentage of hop oils. These are most often used in the whirlpool and dry hopping phases to deliver some bitterness, flavor and aroma with less beer waste.

• Lupomax (Haas) – Concentrated lupulin pellets with alpha acid made using a proprietary process. For use in the whirlpool or dry hopping. Dosage rates vary widely but a good rule of thumb (from Yakima Valley) is to use 70% of your comparable T90 Hop dosage.
• Cryo Hops (Yakima Chief) – Cold concentrated lupulin pellets with resins and aromatic oils. For use primarily in the whirlpool or dry hopping, though they can also be added late in the kettle. Yakima recommends a dosage rate of 50% of your comparable T90 hop rate.
• CGX Hops (Crosby Hops) – Cold concentrated pellets. For use primarily in the whirlpool and dry hop. Crosby recommends dosage rates of 45-50% of your equivalent T90 hop rate.

SuperCritical CO2 Extracts With Alpha Acid – Whirlpool These are flowable liquid extracts tailored for use in the whirlpool. They add both alpha acid (bitterness) and aroma oils to the beer, but significantly reduce waste versus using hop pellets.

• Incognito (Haas) – A flowable CO2 extract with concentrated alpha acids (40-55%) that adds both bitterness and aroma in the whirlpool. Dose directly into the whirlpool at a rate of 40-200 grams/hL which is 59-235 g/bbl or about 0.05-0.27 oz/gal.
• Dynaboost (Yakima Chief) – Flowable hop extract primarily for use in the whirlpool, adding both some bitterness and aroma oils. Yakima recommends a 1:8 to 1:12 replacement rate for T90 hop pellets.

SuperCritical CO2 Extracts Without Alpha Acid – Dry Hopping These are liquid extracts primarily focused on dry hopping though some can also be used in the whirlpool or brite tank.

• Spectrum (Haas) – Dissolvable liquid extract that adds flavor and aroma to your finished beer without waste. Add at 1-2 degrees plato above terminal gravity. Replaces standard T90 pellets at a 1:5 to 1:8 ratio (i.e. 1 gram spectrum for 5-8 grams T90 pellets).
• HyperBoost (Yakima Chief) – Hyperboost is a supercritical oil extract that does contain some alpha acids, but is focused around aroma oils. While it can be used in the whirlpool it is primarily intended for use in dry hopping. For dry hopping they recommend a 1:100 to 1:125 dosage rate relative to T-90 equivalent and also recommend still using T90 pellets for 50-75% of the dry hop total.
• Prysma (Haas) – A flowable extract that can be used in the whirlpool, dry hopping or even post fermentation. Does not contain alpha acids, but does have hop flavor and aroma oils. Dosed at a rate of approximately 1:7 to 1:8 by weight versus regular T90 hop pellets. Also they do not recommend using more than 80% of the load on Prysma (i.e. use at least 20% traditional hops).
• SubZero Hop Kief (Freestyle Hops) – An ethanol (not CO2) lupulin extract designed for dry hopping or the brite tank. Can be added ‘to taste’ during dry hop or in the brite tank. They recommend a dosage rate of approximately 0.2ml per liter. One 275ml bottle is roughly equivalent to a 5kg bag of T-90 hop pellets. As with other products they don’t recommend exceeding 40% of the hop load with Hop Kief.

Isomerized Alpha Hop Extracts for Adding Bitterness – Cold Side These products are typically concentrated isomerized extracts made from CO2 hop extract. They are used primarily for adding bitterness to beers that may have otherwise been under-hopped in the kettle. You can add them anywhere on the cold side, including dry hopping or the brite tank.

• ISOHOP Extract (Haas) – Isomerized alpha extract for addjusting bitterness on the cold side. Standardized at 30% alpha acid content, you can dose to taste or calculate the volume to add based on IBUs needed and a 30% alpha concentration.
• Isomerized Hop Extract (Hopsteiner) – Isomerized extract standardized at 30% alpha concentration. Again you can dose to taste or calculate volume based on a 30% extract addition.

Hop Oil Emulsions and Botanical Extracts – For Finished Beers * Abstrax (Abstrax Hops) – Have two main lines: Quantum: Hop derived and Omni: Botanical as well as lines that are cannabis inspired (BrewGas) and Fruit inspired (Skyfarm). Most brewers prefer the quantum line. Generally you dose to taste starting at 0.065 ml/l or 1 drop per pint (0.25 oz per barrel) and scale up. Typical finished dose rates are 0.3 to 1.0 oz per barrel, with Lagers running lower. Allow 48-72 hours for full integration. * Euphorics (Haas) – A line of flavor oil extracts made from botanicals and hop oils. These are fruit/flavor oriented and not tied to particular hop varieties. Can be added directly to a finished beer “to taste” with recommended dosage rates from 3-6+ ml/bbl depending on desired effect.

And Many More… The above is just a partial list of offerings from hop producers. Some additional products to research include the Salvo line of Aroma oils from Hopsteiner, Lupocore enhance hop pellets from Yakima, Redihop, Tetrahop and Hexahop from Haas, and LLZ and Tetra Iso extract from Hopsteiner. Many of these are specialized products used to enhance foam stability, reduce light-struck flavors, and enhance bitterness and aroma Again I recommend reading the data sheets on these products to determine best application and dosage.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on advanced hop products. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Michael Tonsmeire from Sapwood Cellars joins me to discuss dry hopping techniques and advanced hop products.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:42) * This week I welcome back Michael Tonsmeire. Michael is a founder of the brewery Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, MD. He is the author of the book “American Sour Beers“(Amazon Affiliate Link) as well as the blog The Mad Fermentationist online. He’s also a certified beer judge. * Michael tells us a bit about the new developments at his brewery Sapwood Cellars. * We talk about why advanced hop techniques have become so important for modern IPA brewing. * Michael tells us about the techniques he uses to reduce oxidation when dry hopping. * We discuss using agitation to improve dry hop oil transfer. * Michael talks about some of the tradeoffs made when we dry hop like time versus temperature. * We discuss haze and how you can choose specific yeasts and hops to maximize or minimize the haze in the finished beer. * Michael explains how the techniques, products and ingredients all play a role in the final flavor of the beer. * We talk about some of the many new hop products available to brewers including extracts, concentrated hop pellets, hop oil extracts and more. * Michael explains how all of these products have advantages and disadvantages and why the brewer is ultimately making tradeoffs. * Michael gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

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Dr Axel Goehler, the CEO of Bestmalz joins me this week to provide a global perspective on the beer market and also talk about malts.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (44:19) * This week I welcome back Dr Axel Goehler, the CEO of Bestmalz in Germany. Dr Goehler did his PhD in Switzerland on German family breweries, and worked at Boston Consulting group for 10 years. He is the grandson of the founder of Bestmalz, Max Goehler, and has spearheaded the company’s international expansion since 2014 to over 85 countries. * We start with a brief discussion of some of the developments in the 2 years since I last had Axel on the show. * Dr Goehler gives us his thoughts on the recent Craft Brewer’s Conference (CBC) held in Philadelphia, where Bestmalz was chosen as the malt for the Official Commemorative Beer of CBC 2026! * Axel provides us with his thoughts on the current global beer market, which has faced some challenges in the years since COVID, including the Craft Beer decline here in the US. * We talk about changing consumer preferences including the trend towards less alcohol consumption in the new generation, and shifting consumer preferences. * Axel shares his thoughts on the German beer market which is surprisingly seeing a drop in volume consumed as well as a lot of consolidation in the brewing industry. * In spite of challenges in both the US and many European markets, the overall global beer market is expected to grow by 2030. We discuss which countries are still growing. * Shifting gears we discuss some of the innovations at Bestmalz starting with the new line of smoked malts. * Axel tells us about his new line of Ultra-pale malts which have an incredible sub 3 lovibond color rating, and provide a blank slate for brewers to work with. These malts also comply with the Reinheisgebot (purity laws) in Germany. * Axel has also started a related biotech company to work on new research lines. We discuss this development. * Dr Goehler gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a closer look at the new inventory system in BeerSmith 4 which lets you maintain both local or cloud based inventories of your brewing ingredients.

Summary of New Features Out previous version, BeerSmith 3 stored inventory data in the local ingredients files, which was not an ideal solution as working with inventory often required moving across several views. When the Web based version of BeerSmith was launched several years ago, it was set up with a separate inventory table which was a more flexible approach. However since the web based inventory could not be accessed from the old BeerSmith 3 desktop, you could not easily manage a shared inventory unless everyone used the web version exclusively.

With the new BeerSmith 4 we moved to a SQL database with separate inventory and shopping list tables, and also integrated the cloud based inventory and shopping list into the program so now you can work with that data directly from your desktop program.

This is very powerful for people who want one view of their inventory including individuals who work on multiple devices and small breweries who want to maintain a simple shared view of inventory.

Importing Existing BeerSmith 3 Inventory For those who are just starting with BeerSmith 4, you can import your existing BeerSmith 3 inventory easily:

• Start by going to File->Import BeerSmith 3 or 2 data
• Assuming your data is on the same computer it should locate it. Select Import This Directory assuming it is found. If not you can backup your old computer in BeerSmith 3 with File->Full Backup to Zip and use File->Recover from Zip to recover the data from your old computer.
• Next you want to select just the inventory so use the selective import by clicking the button Open Tables in Separate Tabs
• This will display a list of tables to import. In this case, un-check the recipes and equpment and select on the Inventory table at the bottom
• Press OK and it will import the inventory data and open it in a separate tab
• Next you can copy and paste any data you want from the open inventory tab over to either your Cloud or Local inventory views. Use Edit->Select All to select everything first or alternately you can hold the shift or control keys while selecting to select multiple items.

Cloud Mode vs Local Mode When you started BeerSmith 4, you could select either Cloud or Local mode on startup. The drives your primary storage location though you still have access to either using the Cloud and Local menus and shortcuts. However the selection of Cloud or Local also drives your primary inventory used when you add inventory columns to the design view or ingredient views (see below) as well as the primary inventory for inventory and shopping operations.

For example if you add the inventory column to your recipe design view (see below), it will show cloud based inventory if you are in cloud mode, or local inventory if you are in local mode. Note that you can change modes easily using the Tools->Startup Options dialog.

Adding Extra Inventory Columns to Various Views For simplicity, not all of the inventory fields are turned on by default. For example if want to see matching inventory for a recipe you need to enable the inventory field in recipe design view. To do so, open any recipe in BeerSmith, and then right click on the Ingredients column header. This will bring up a popup menu with a Customize Columns option. If you pick this you can then add the Inventory column and it will now show matching inventory for each ingredient in the recipe. You only need to do this once.

Similarly from Shopping View you can add the columns Inventory and Needed and it will show the quantity of matching items in inventory as well as how many are needed to complete your shopping list. Do this by either right clicking on the column header or going to View->Customize Columns on the menu. The same is true for various ingredient views (Ingredients->Hops for instance). You can add a inventory column to show current inventory for all items in the ingredient view.

Keep in mind, that all of these fields mentioned above are based on either Cloud or Local mode, so the program will show cloud based inventory in cloud mode and local when in local mode.

Working Between Recipes, the Shopping List and Inventory Like BeerSmith 3, you can easily add a recipe’s ingredients to your shopping list, and move items from that shopping list into inventory once you purchase them. Then when you brew a given recipe you can remove the ingredients for the recipe from inventory completing the inventory loop.

One of the most frequent inventory questions I get for BeerSmith 4 is Where did the Inventory buttons go? To simplify the toolbar in design mode, I did move the Add to Shopping List and Remove from Inventory buttons to the main Local/Cloud Recipes views as shown here:

These two buttons along with the Add to Inventory button on the shopping list view let you complete the inventory cycle as shown in the following graphic:

Starting at the beginning, lets supposed I want to brew a recipe like BeerSmith’s Irish Stout. In this case I can go to my Local Recipes listing, select my Irish stout recipe and then click on the Add to Shopping List button on the toolbar which looks like a small shopping cart. This will bring up a dialog similar to the one on the right which lets me decide which items to add to the shopping list. I also have a box for Add to Cloud if I prefer to add them to my cloud based shopping list. If I continue these items will now be added to my shopping list view which I can print out and use when shopping.

After purchasing the items, I can next go to my Shopping List view and click on the Add to Inventory button there. This will add selected items from my shopping list to my inventory. Again you can select which items to add and also select either cloud or local inventory.

Finally when I’ve brewed my Irish Stout I can go back to Local or Cloud Recipe view, select the recipe and pick the Remove from Inventory button which will attempt to match the ingredients in the recipe against inventory and will remove any items currently in inventory.

Working with the Shopping and Inventory Views While the above “inventory cycle” is a convenient way to manage inventory and shopping lists for whole recipes you can, of course, go directly to the inventory and shopping list view and add your own ingredients to the list. For items that don’t neatly fit in any category (like bottle caps) you can create Misc items to cover them.

Both inventory and shopping list views have ingredient buttons that let you add specific ingredients to the list. They also both have the ability to cut/copy/paste items if you need to move items from a local view to a cloud view for instance. They both have print list buttons for printing the shopping or inventory list, and shopping view has the above mentioned Add Items to Inventory button on the right side of the toolbar.

As I mentioned earlier the shopping view columns can be customized to show the Inventory and Needed columns if you prefer to have a real time view of inventory.

The inventory view has a major change in that it does not delete zero inventory items anymore, and also adds a new field for reorder threshold. So you can now keep track of items you may have completely depleted as well as determine items that might be low in quantity and reorder as needed.

I hope you enjoy the many new inventory and shopping list features in BeerSmith 4! Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try the new BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a look at thiol enhancing yeast and its application in brewing fruity IPAs.

Thoils and the Modern IPA With IPAs making up over half of US Craft beer production, there has been a huge surge in interest in understanding hop aromatic compounds, including both hop oils and thiols. Thiols are a tiny fraction of hop oils but play an oversized role in generating aromatics in a finished beer, particularly the fruity flavors desired in many IPA styles like Hazy/New England IPAs. We’ve discussed thiols in a number of podcasts including Hop Thiols with Stan Hieronymus, and Thiols and Fruity IPAs with Morebeer.

Chemically a thiol is a sulfur version of alcohol. They make up a tiny fraction of hop aromatics, but can be detected by humans at levels as low as a few nano-grams per liter! There are a variety of hop thiols, but four main ones drive the majority of thiol aromas which can vary from citrus, white grape, gooseberry, rhubarb, black currant, chive, passion fruit, guava and even sweaty or cat-pee aromas.

Thiols compounds can also be free or bound. Free thiols are the aromatic versions, while bound thiols are odorless precursors that are bound to amino acids. Various hop varieties have different levels of free or bound thiols but the bound ones typically remain bound unless the brewer takes some steps to free them. Some pale malts also contain bound thiols. Some thiols can be freed during fermentation.

We use the term biotransformation to describe chemical processes that take place during fermentation that change one compounds to another. One well known biotransformation takes place when specific hop aromatic compounds like geraniol, linalool and citronellol are transformed into their aromatic form during fermentation. This is why many modern IPAs use seleted hops like Citra, Columbus and Cascade which are high in theses compounds.

Thiols can go through a slightly different biotransformation where a portion of the bound thiols are released to become aromatic free thiols. While some naturally occurring yeast strains can perform this transformation, yeast specifically engineered or selected (so called thiolized yeast) to enhance thiols perform best.

Interestingly, mash hopping in many cases can enhance this effect. So by selecting certain hop varieties, high in bound thiols, and using them in the mash along with thiolized yeast we can achieve a higher percentage of freed thiols. I wrote a recent article for BYO magazine that covers the chemistry and hop selection in more detail.

Thiol Enhancing Yeast With the IPA revolution and push to get more aroma out of our hops, yeast labs have responded by creating so called “thiolized” or thiol enhancing yeast. The work to create these new strains is heavily tied to work started some 20 years ago to understand the yeast genome. Specifically scientists have identified an IRC7 gene in many yeast strains that is largely inactive. That IRC7 gene, once activated, produces beta-lyase which is the key enzyme that frees thiols during fermentation. We discussed this work in some detail in a recent podcast with Dr Chris White and Nick Impellitteri here as well as an earlier podcast with Adam Mills here.

There are two major approaches to activating the IRC7 gene. The first is by natural selection as white labs did with their Cosmic Punch (WLP077 strain). This strain is carefully selected to produce more free thiols. The second approach is to genetically modify the yeast strain to create a new strain with the IRC7 gene activated. This is the approach Omega took with their pioneering Cosmic Punch OLY-402 as well as later Start Party OLY-404, West Coast Ale OLY-004, Lunar Crush OLY-403, and Mexican Lager OLY-113. Other yeast labs have followed with Berkley’s tropics line, Escarpment labs Thiol Libre. Nick Impellitteri mentioned in the podcast above that The Yeast Bay is also working on modified yeast strains.

For those of you looking to learn more I encourage you to listen to the podcasts linked above as well as read my detailed BYO article here on mash hopping.

Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week John Mallett from Bell’s Brewery joins me to discuss his new role as Course Directory of the MBAA, his 30+ year brewing career, malts, and craft brewing.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (41:21) * This week I welcome back John Mallett. John is a former VP and Director of Operations at Bell’s Brewery. He also recently took a new role as Course Director at the MBAA. John is the author of the book “Malt: A Practical Guide from Field to Brewhouse” from Brewer’s Publications. * We start with a brief discussion of John’s hobbies Skiing and Sailing and how they are related to his brewing. * John talks about his new role as Course Director for the MBAA and he shares some of their courses and where you can learn more. * We spend some time discussing John’s long career in brewing which spans some 38 years including the early days in Craft beer. * I focus on his time at Bell’s Brewery and we talk about some of the unique offerings from Bell’s as well as some of the things John learned working there. * John talks about his malt book, how malting has changed and the key role malts plan in brewing beer in spite of the recent focus on hops and IPAs. * We discuss Craft beer on the global stage and how it is rapidly evolving outside of the US. * John shares his thoughts on the recent Craft beer decline as well as the longer slump in home brewing. * He gives us his thoughts on Pilsners and lower alcohol beers, both of which have been growing in the Craft market. * John gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Today I present a quick overview of the new mash pH adjustment tools in BeerSmith 4 which is available now at BeerSmith.com.

The Importance of Mash pH Adjustment for All-Grain Brewing For many years now, brewers have known that mash pH adjustment is important for all grain brewers. Getting the right mash pH can enhance the extraction of sugars, wort viscosity, hop utilization, color and tanin extraction, improve the flavor of the beer and even help with long term stability.

The basic chemistry is not hard to understand. Pure water has a pH of 7.0, though many tap water sources are slightly alkaline with a pH of around 8. As we add grains to the mash, the grains have some acidity and will lower the pH. Darker grains have more acidity and will lower it more than lightly colored grains. The net result is that the mash will settle to a pH between 5.2 and 7.0 depending on the acidity of the base water, acidity of the grains used and also the buffering capacity of the water which is typically measured using a number called Residual Alkalinity.

The ideal mash pH for brewing is generally in the 5.2-5.6 range. While many darker beers can reach that range without adjustment due to the higher acidity of dark grains, most lighter colored beers require the addition of some acid to lower the pH down to the desired range.

To lower the mash pH a variety of acids can be used. The most commonly used are lactic acid, phosphoric acid and acid malt. These are added in small quantities either at mash in or once the mash pH has settled to bring the mash acid to the desired range.

Adjusting Your Mash pH in BeerSmith 4 While the older BeerSmith 3 used a somewhat complex calculator system to determine the acid to add things have been substantially simplified in BeerSmith 4. BeerSmith 4 has two buttons on the Mash tab (show below) that you can use. The first one Adjust acid from Estimated pH lets you calculate how much acid to use based on the pH estimated in BeerSmith. This estimate is calculated based on the adjusted water profile you used, the grain bill for your recipe and also the acid you select.

The second button titled Adjust Acid from pH Measurement instead uses a manual pH measurement you enter. The idea here is that you use a pH meter early in the mash process to determine the actual pH and then it will calculate how much acid to add based on the measurement and your target pH.

Mash pH Adjustment Examples If you have a pH meter you can use either tool depending on how you want to handle your mash pH. I personally recommend making an initial adjustment based on the estimated mash pH and then make a second adjustment if the measured mash pH varies substantially from the target. I have an entire article on the merits of this strategy here.

I should also mention that adjusting your mash pH is the last thing you should do before brewing. If you use the new Run Checks button to check your recipe before brewing you will likely see a reminder to finalize your water profile and mash pH. The reason for this is that any changes to the recipe’s grain bill or water volumes can change your water and pH chemistry, so you should generally finalize your water profile first and then finalize your mash pH last right before brewing to make sure they are up to date.

Here’s an example using the Adjust Acid from Estimated pH button. In this case the software estimates my pH as 5.7 based on my current water profiles and grain bill in the recipe. I’ve entered my target pH, which is the pH I want as 5.2, and I have selected Lactic Acid as the acid I want to use. You can also choose phosphoric or acid malt here.

For the Acid Model I’ve selected the BW model. There are two different models in BeerSmith. The BW model is fairly conservative and assumes the acid added is 100% effective, so it typically recommends a lower amount of acid for adjustment. The second MPH model assumes some chemical buffering takes place so it is more aggressive, resulting in larger acid additions. I actually prefer to use the BW model for an initial adjustment it uses less acid and lowers the risk of me overshooting my target. You can permanently set the pH model in your Equipment profile under Profiles->Equipment if you want to use a particular model for new recipes and also use the Save as Default feature to set up your new recipes to be exactly the way you want them.

You can see that based on my recipe, it recommends the addition of 6.9 ml of lactic acid and also shows the approximate volume which is 0.5 tablespoons. This is the amount I will add to my mash at dough-in to get the pH adjusted quickly up front. There is no sparge addition shown in this case as I was using a BIAB (no sparge) equipment setup but if you had sparge water it would provide a recommendation there as well. When I press the OK button this amount will also be added to my recipe so I have that for future reference.

Next lets assume I used a mash pH to measure the actual pH and it was off, or alternately I did not add mash pH acid up front and instead want to add it based on a measurement. In this case I can use the Adjust Acid from pH Measurement button. Lets say my measured pH came in a 5.6 and I want to adjust it back down to 5.2.

The dialog in this case is shown on the right. Here I need to enter my measured mash pH which I took with a meter at 5.6. Next I can enter my target pH which is still 5.2 and choose an acid type and acid model as was described above.

In this case the calculator estimates I need 5.5 ml of lactic acid to get my mash pH back down to the target pH. If I press OK the software will ask me if I want to add that to my recipe or not. In many cases adjustments from a measurement are not kept in the recipe, but in some cases you might want to retain this addition to remind you that you needed a larger amount than anticipated to reach the target pH.

That is a summary of how to use the new mash pH adjustment tools. If you want to learn more I recommend you read my article on mash pH and residual alkalinity here, as well as my article on When and How to Adjust mash pH here.

Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try the new BeerSmith 4 recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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I’m pleased to announce the release of BeerSmith 4 for Windows and Mac as well as a partial release of new BeerSmith 4 features on BeerSmith Web.

BeerSmith 4 Launched! * You can download BeerSmith 4 for Windows and Mac now for a free 30 day trial on the main download page at BeerSmith.com. We are working on a Linux build which we will publish as soon as it has completed testing. * We’ve also published updates to BeerSmith Web to support the new yeast features, yeast calculator, pH tracking and many other features. However the web version does not have the new water profile calculator or mash pH adjustment which we plan to add in the coming weeks.

Getting your BeerSmith 3 Data Into BeerSmith 4 BeerSmith 4 uses a new SQL based database, so it runs independently of BeerSmith 3. Existing users can import their data into BeerSmith 4.

• I’ve published an article here on Importing your BeerSmith 3 Data into BeerSmith 4 as well as a video on getting started here.
• We strongly recommend selectively importing your recipes and desired equipment profiles as a starting point as described in the article and video. You can import additional custom data later. This involves selecting the tables to open and then copy/pasting the data over to your Local Recipes and Equipment views.
• A lot of the ingredients and profiles in BeerSmith 4 have been updated, so overwriting new yeast and other data with old data may limit many of the new features. That’s why we recommend starting with just your recipes and desired equipment profiles, and perhaps inventory if desired.

BeerSmith 4 Licensing If you don’t own a copy of BeerSmith you can purchase BeerSmith desktop along with BeerSmith Web from our main order page here, starting at $19.95/year. Both the desktop and web versions are available for a free 30 day trial here. BeerSmith 4 uses the same licensing system and terms as we did with BeerSmith 3.

• All Gold, Platinum and Professional Licenses Include BeerSmith 4 – Any of the subscription based licenses include major upgrades as well as the web version, so you can activate BeerSmith 4 with your existing license. As each of the licenses has a limited number of license slots (2, 3 or 5) you may want to run in trial mode for a short period of time until you have your data up and running before activating. If needed you can free up a slot by deactivating your old copies on your license page here.
• Basic Licenses in Most Cases Require an Upgrade – While I grandfathered basic licenses purchased after 1 July 2025, most existing Basic licenses will need to purchase a new license for BeerSmith 4. This is consistent with what we did for the BeerSmith 2 to 3 upgrade, and consistent with the licensing terms. You can continue to use BeerSmith 3 with a BeerSmith 3 basic license but it does not include BeerSmith 4.

BeerSmith 4 Highlights I’ve published a series of videos here focusing on the new features and also have a lot of blog articles now on BeerSmith 4. In addition the full BeerSmith 4 release notes can be found here.

• Cloud and Local Mode: On startup you can select to use either the cloud or your local drive as the primary storage, though both will be accessible. This gives user’s of BeerSmith web the ability to work explicitly from their cloud based recipes, ingredients and profiles across all machines. However I’ve also preserved the local storage option for many businesses and individuals that don’t want their data stored online.
• Improved Brewing Features: (Article) A “Run Checks” button lets you do a quick check of your recipe for possible omissions and errors before brewing. Yeast, water, mash pH, and other brewing models have been updated and improved, and new brewing tools have been added.
• Major Yeast Changes: (Article – Video) You can now use liquid volumes or weights to specify yeast quantities, and the yeast models have been completely rewritten to match best professional practices. You can now adjust pitch rate to match your specific recipe, and all of the yeast addons and models have been updated to reflect yeast lab data and recommendations. Dry yeast starters are supported, dry pitch rate in grams/hecto-liter, pitched cells in cells/ml and more.
• Major Water Changes: (Video) The water profile tools have been completely revamped and reworked to reflect annhydrous salt additions, updated water chemistry, using pickling lime and MgCl, and estimating water profiles not only in the mash but throughout. Also more options were added for targeting specific additions and phases.
• A Cleaner User Interface: Both the Windows and Mac version now support dark mode, and the entire interface has been redesigned to place the most commonly used functions at your fingertips, and reduce clutter. Many operations were streamlined like adjusting water and pH or creating a New Session which involves archiving your old recipe, bumping the version number and resetting the session data all into one operation.
• Completely Rewritten Backend: The program now runs from a SQL database that is passively backed up as you work instead of the old problematic XML files. This results in dramatically improved data security, reliability and the ability to undo mistakes and retrieve archived or old data. Also it will be separate from BeerSmith 3 so you can use both side-by-side.
• New Inventory and Shopping List: The inventory and shopping list features have been rewritten to make it easier to maintain a shared inventory in the cloud as well as selectively move data from recipes to the shopping list, to inventory and then remove them once the recipe is brewed.
• Improvements Across the Board: (Article) Dozens of new tools and features have been added and hundreds of fixes have been added across the platform. A few examples include support for Seltzer recipes, much simpler Mash pH adjustment, proper handling of secondary and tertiary fermentables, new units and much more.

I hope you enjoy using the new features in BeerSmith 4 to make your best Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider and Seltzer. Thanks for your continued support!

Brad Smith, BeerSmith.com

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This is a “quick guide” for BeerSmith 3 users who are looking to upgrade to BeerSmith 4. It provides an guide to get started fast with BeerSmith 4.

Downloading and Installing BeerSmith 4 BeerSmith 4 is installed separately from BeerSmith 3, and installing BeerSmith 4 will not interfere with your existing BeerSmith 3 install. Because BeerSmith 4 has moved to a SQL based database, it is completely separate from your BeerSmith 3 install.

Installing BeerSmith 4 is basically the same process you used for BeerSmith 3.

• Download the Latest version from BeerSmith.com: Here’s the link for the main download page.
• Windows: Run the installer you just downloaded. You will need to install the Windows C++ Runtime the first time which is part of the install package.
• For Mac: Open the DMG file you downloaded and drag the BeerSmith icon to your Application folder. Run the copy from your Application folder after install

Running BeerSmith 4 the First Time On startup you will be faced with this dialog. If you choose “Use Local Storage” then BeerSmith will primarily store your recipe data on the local hard drive, much like BeerSmith 3 did. If you pick “Use the Cloud” then your primary view will be of your cloud based recipes, profiles and ingredients which is a great option if you use the web based version of BeerSmith a lot. If you don’t know which to choose, pick Local as you can change it later under Tools->Startup Options. Then pick if you are using Metric or English units primarily. You can further customize your units using the Tools->Options dialog.

If you picked the Cloud storage option you will be asked for your BeerSmithRecipes.com login information and after entering that the program will begin downloading your web based/cloud recipes. Other data like profiles and ingredients will be downloaded as you access them.

Importing Your BeerSmith 3 Data If you primarily work on the web version, you really don’t need to import anything. All of the web based data is available under the Cloud menu or Cloud shortcuts on the bottom left shortcut window. You can access your cloud based recipes, ingredients, profiles, shopping list and inventory by just opening those views.

On windows, if the program detects older BeerSmith 2 or 3 data it will show a message telling you to go to FIle->Import BeerSmith 3 or 2 Data. Running this command will show the directory found and let you import that directory or choose another directory. Next you will be asked if you want to do a Full or Selective import. We strongly recommend that you choose to do a selective import by picking Open Tables in Separate Tabs. The reason for this is that many of the ingredients and profiles have been updated in BeerSmith 4, so overwriting them with older data will limit your access to new data and features.

After selecting Open Tables in Separate Tabs you will see a list of tables to import. We recommend you start by importing your Recipes and Equipment table. You can then go back later, if needed, to grab additional data like fermentation profiles or specialized ingredients as needed. Each of the tables you select here will open up in a new tab. The program will show basic instructions on how to copy/paste data from the open file tabs to your desired view. For recipes, just select and copy/paste your recipes from the open backup recipe tab and paste them into your Local Recipes view. You can do the same with your equipment profiles. Then close the backup tabs.

If you need some old data in the future, like inventory or a custom mash profile, you can go through the same process. Go to File->Import BeerSmith 3 or 2 Data, then pick Open in Separate Tabs and select the tables you want to open up.

On the Mac the process is similar but you first have to create a backup file in BeerSmith 3. The reason for this is that new Mac applications are sandboxed for security and cannot access the data in the old version directly. So the process in this case requires you to first run BeerSmith 3 and go to File->Full Backup to Zip in BeerSmith 3 to create a zip file of your old data. Then you go to File->Full Recover from Zip to open that zip file. Again we strongly recommend you use the open in separate tabs option so you can control which data gets copied. Pick the tables to import. We recommend starting with the Local Recipes and Equipment tables and follow the instructions to copy/paste your data to your local recipes and local equipment view.

Licensing and Activation If you have a Gold, Platinum or Pro account you can activate BeerSmith 4 using your existing license. If you have a Basic (non subscription) license purchased after July of 2025, you will need to purchase an upgrade to use BeerSmith 4. Activation is much like BeerSmith 3, you just click on the Activate button (or Help->Activate) and use your login and password to activate.

You can try BeerSmith 4 for free for 30 days. If you are an existing user you might want to use the trial period before activating as activating will take up one of your activation slots. All licenses have two or more activation slots, but if you already have BeerSmith 3 on several devices, you may want to wait until you have your program up and running with your data before activating. You can check your existing license and deactivate an old device to free a slot if needed by logging into your BeerSmithRecipes.com account on this license page.

Working with BeerSmith 4 The BeerSmith 4 interface has been streamlined to simplify things where possible, but it maintains a similar layout to BeerSmith 3. The directory tree for recipes is on the top left, showing both local and cloud folders. Shortcuts to the various views and tools are shown on the bottom left. The preview pane at the bottom can also be put to the right or shut off using the View menu.

The layout of buttons has been changed to simplify where possible. For example many whole recipe functions like the inventory and shopping list items have been moved to the Local/Cloud recipes view instead of appearing on the design view. The design views have been streamlined a bit with the adjustment functions on the toolbar, and smaller icons used for less commonly used functions. You can mouse over any button to see a longer version of what it does.

BeerSmith 4 Highlights Here are some of the highlights of new features:

• Improved Brewing Features: A “Run Checks” button lets you do a quick check of your recipe for possible omissions and errors before brewing. Yeast, water, mash pH, and other brewing models have been updated and improved, and new brewing tools have been added.
• Major Yeast Changes: You can now use liquid volumes or weights to specify yeast quantities, and the yeast models have been completely rewritten to match best professional practices. You can now adjust pitch rate to match your specific recipe, and all of the yeast addons and models have been updated to reflect yeast lab data and recommendations. Dry yeast starters are supported, dry pitch rate in grams/hecto-liter, pitched cells in cells/ml and more.
• Major Water Changes: The water profile tools have been completely revamped and reworked to reflect annhydrous salt additions, updated water chemistry, using pickling lime and MgCl, and estimating water profiles not only in the mash but throughout. Also more options were added for targeting specific additions and phases.
• A Cleaner User Interface: Both the Windows and Mac version now support dark mode, and the entire interface has been redesigned to place the most commonly used functions at your fingertips, and reduce clutter. Many operations were streamlined like adjusting water and pH or creating a New Session which involves archiving your old recipe, bumping the version number and resetting the session data all into one operation.
• Completely Rewritten Backend: The program now runs from a SQL database that is passively backed up as you work instead of the old problematic XML files. This results in dramatically improved data security, reliability and the ability to undo mistakes and retrieve archived or old data. Also it will be separate from BeerSmith 3 so you can use both side-by-side.
• New Inventory and Shopping List: The inventory and shopping list features have been rewritten to make it easier to maintain a shared inventory in the cloud as well as selectively move data from recipes to the shopping list, to inventory and then remove them once the recipe is brewed.
• Improvements Across the Board: Dozens of new tools and features have been added and hundreds of fixes have been added across the platform. A few examples include support for Seltzer recipes, much simpler Mash pH adjustment, proper handling of secondary and tertiary fermentables, new units and much more.

Hopefully this guide helps you get up and running quickly with your existing data. If you want to learn more about BeerSmith or our web based version please check out our main site at BeerSmith.com as well as the blog and video tutorials linked there.

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Today I present some of the major yeast feature changes in BeerSmith 4. BeerSmith 4 is the new desktop version of BeerSmith.

Yeast Packages, Milliliters and Grams When I first wrote BeerSmith back in 2003, it was primarily written for homebrewers. As a result, the program used “packs” of yeast as the primary measure as the standard back then among homebrewers was a smack pack, small vial or sachet of dry yeast. I never imagined that someday thousands of professional breweries might be using BeerSmith to develop recipes.

Liquid yeast, in reality, is of course measured primarily in milliliters and liters. At the homebrew scale a package often consists of 70-200 ml of yeast, while professional breweries use sizes of 500ml to several liters per package. Various yeast labs also provide slightly different densities when it comes to yeast, usually quoted in billions of cells per ml. Yeast slurry harvested for reuse from a typical fermentation might have around 1 billion cells/ml, while a high end lab like White labs concentrates their yeast to approximately 2.14 billion cells/ml. Multiply the yeast quantity by the yeast density and you get an approximate cell count for the package.

Dry yeast is a bit of a different beast as it is sold by weight. Dry yeast at the homebrew level is sold in packages as small as 5 grams for wine, and often 10-15 grams for beer. Pro packages use 50-500g per pack or more. Dry yeast does not have a consistent cell density so the number of cells/gram can vary widely between strains and is often not even published. Dry yeast labs instead publish a recommended pitch rate, usually in grams per hectoliter (100 liters). A typical ale yeast might have a recommended pitch rate of 75 g/hL, while many lager yeasts use pitch rates in the 150-200 g/hL.

A Better Way to Handle Yeast in BeerSmith BeerSmith 4 adds both liquid volumes and dry yeast weights. The yeast database was completely rewritten to properly handle this, along with the yeast pitch and starter tools. While you can still use the old packages, you can now specify yeast quantities in volumes and weights and all of the strains now include updated cell density, recommended pitch rates and viabilities.

The New Liquid Yeast Calculator I consulted with pro brewers and yeast labs to develop the new yeast calculator. My goal was to reflect the best practices for home and pro brewers. For example here is the top section of the recipe yeast calculator for a simple recipe:

As you can see the yeast is listed in milliliters. A big change is that the yeast pitch rate is now adjustable using a simple slider. While BeerSmith still shows a recommended pitch rate based on the type of yeast and recipe (0.75 million cells/ml deg plato for an ale), you can adjust around that number to slightly under- or over-pitch. Critically the “Est Cells per ml” is shown calculated and shown. This is what most professional brewers are using now as the comparative measure of pitch rate when designing beers. This system gives you more flexibility to adjust pitch rate for the target beer style.

The above image is the bottom half of the yeast tab. The yeast viability model has been updated along with the viability data for various labs, and you now have the option to either calculate viability or not, depending on your needs. At the bottom you can calculate a one or two stage starter size, with or without a stir plate and have the option to use a starter size smaller or larger than recommended if you desire.

New Dry Yeast Calculator Below is the same recipe, but this time using a dry yeast measured in grams. Note that this time the program shows the lab recommended pitch rate for the yeast strain you picked which in this case is 65 g/hL. You can use the slider to adjust the pitch rate and estimate the number of grams of dry yeast needed as well as the approximate pitch rate in cells/ml for the beer.

The new yeast calculator also estimates the cells/ml and yeast cells needed. As mentioned above, the yeast cell count is an approximation as cell counts for dry yeast are not always consistent, but if you are in line with the manufacturers recommended pitch rate in grams/hL, you should get a proper pitch rate into the beer. As with the liquid yeast there is also a section for estimating dry yeast viability and creating a single or two stage yeast starter with dry yeast, a feature that was not available in BeerSmith 3.

I hope you enjoyed this quick overview of the new yeast features in BeerSmith 4. If you want to learn more about BeerSmith or our web based version please check out our main site at BeerSmith.com.

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Today I take a look at just a few of new brewing features in BeerSmith 4. This is part of my series of articles on the new BeerSmith 4 release on 19 March 2026.

Improved Session Handling Its not uncommon for brewers to brew the same beer several times, making only small changes for each batch. Since BeerSmith stores all of the data in a recipe, basically the recipe itself records all the session data. While we’ve had a “Copy to Brew Log” feature to help you store previous beers, the feature was not widely used.

For BeerSmith 4 I decided to encapsulate all of the “new session” features into a single function. From the session tab for any open recipe you can click on the New Session button (also shows as a small icon from Design view) and it will show a dialog as follows:

The idea here is when you have completed a brewing session and recorded any fermentation/measurements and notes you can click this button and it will archive a copy of the recipe to your brew log, reset your measured values to estimated, clear the fermentation data, reset the recipe date to today and finally bump the version number on the recipe to the next version. This way your Brew Log folder has a copy of all of the recipes you have brewed along with correct dates, version numbers and the recorded data.

Fermentation pH Data and Graphing Many users have asked that I include pH data on the age graph so you can record pH entries over time as we do today with temperature and gravity. I have added this in BeerSmith 4, so you can now keep track of your pH drop as your beer, mead or cider ferments.

Recipe Brewing and Consistency Checks BeerSmith 4 also includes a new Run Checks button on the Design and Session tab which let you run a series of checks before brewing. This new feature takes a look at your entire recipe and looks for issues or inconsistencies in the recipe equipment, ingredients and settings.

A sample recipe report looks something like this:

As you can see it is divided into three sections. The first one shows critical issues like a bad brew date, inconsistent or negative volumes, or in this case a mash tun that is too small for the grain bill used. Next are potential problems, like not having enough yeast pitched, or a mash pH that has not been adjusted. The final section has suggestions which are lower priority like the beer being slightly outside the style guidelines.

This new feature is intended to be run just before you brew, so it can offer suggestions and capture potential problems to avoid making a bad batch.

New Unit Settings and Custom Fields A variety of new unit settings have been added including liquid yeast units, dry yeast units, water/grain ratio units, calories, and hop rates. These are used throughout the program so you can now do things like specify carbonation in grams/liters or water ratios in kg/l within BeerSmith.

A variety of custom fields have been added as well and these can be added to the main Local/Cloud Recipes using View->Customize Columns as well as the main design tab for any recipe using the Add More Fields button on the bottom of that tab (under Statistics section). Also a search capability has been added to the custom columns dialog making it much easier to find the field you are looking for.

A few examples of the new fields for recipes include: Est Calories from Carbs, fields for the Boil Hop Rate, Dry Hop Rate, Mash Hop Rate, etc which can now be displayed in hop rate units (adjustable on the Options->Units dialog) like lb/bbl or g/l.

Many Other Improved Brewing Features A ton of other improvements have been made to make BeerSmith more accessible and more powerful:

• Added Seltzer as a recipe type so you can now use BeerSmith with seltzers.
• Brew dates now include a timestamp.
• Program now properly handles secondary and tertiary fermentable additions by calculating a new “Est OG Through Tertiary” ($VIRTUAL_OG) value that is used to estimate the final gravity and ABV. So now you can properly calculate secondary additions.
• Misc ingredients can now be included in the whirlpool.
• Slider controls have been added to the various adjustment dialogs (Color, Gravity, etc…) to make adjusting your recipe quicker.
• Major yeast, mash pH and water changes, documented in separate articles and videos on the blog.

That is a quick summary of just a portion of the new features in BeerSmith 4. To download the trial or learn more please visit our main website at BeerSmith.com.

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Today I present the new cloud mode in BeerSmith 4 as part of my series on new features in the BeerSmith 4 software release scheduled for 19 March 2026.

Cloud and Local Data Storage BeerSmith 1 originally stored data only on your computer. In 2012, the BeerSmithRecipes.com site was launched as a site for sharing beer, mead, cider and wine recipes and also to support transferring data to the mobile version launched that same year. It was expanded greatly when the web based version of BeerSmith was launched in 2021 and now hosts almost 2.1 million recipes.

As popularity of the web version has grown, there are now many brewers who prefer keeping their data online so they can access the web version from the phone, tablet or any computer they are on. However there is another group of brewers including many professional brewers who still want the option to store their data locally on their own computer for privacy and security reasons.

So when I designed BeerSmith 4 I wanted to make the online data fully accessible for those who prefer to store online, while still allowing the option of storing data locally. I also wanted to make it easy to switch between the two as needed.

Cloud Mode When you start BeerSmith 4 the first time you will see a dialog that lets you set your startup options as well as the basic unit settings. It looks like this:

Here you can select whether you prefer to work primarily from the Cloud/Web based storage or use local storage on your own hard drive. You can also select Metric or English units for a quick setup though you can further customize your unit settings on the Tools->Options (BeerSmith4->Preferences on Mac) dialog.

If you select Use the Cloud then the program will ask for your BeerSmithRecipes.com user name and password, and will begin downloading your web based recipes. Also as you start to use ingredients and profiles it will download your cloud based ingredients and profiles on demand. So basically BeerSmith will start up showing your cloud/web data and when you build a recipe it will show the cloud based ingredients, cloud based profiles, and cloud based shopping and inventory. Operations like adding to the shopping list or inventory will work against your cloud based lists by default.

Conversely, if you select Use Local Storage then BeerSmith will use your local hard drive to store recipes, ingredients and profiles. It will work on the local shopping list, inventory, and only items you specifically copy/paste into one of your cloud views will be stored online. Using this option you can still run BeerSmith in a stand-alone mode, without shared data, and the program only needs internet access to activate and if you want to later access your cloud data or new ingredient and profile addons.

Can I Still Access Both Local and Cloud Based Data? Choosing either local or cloud mode does not limit your access to the opposite storage. The only major change is which data set appears at startup and acts as your primary storage. For example, in cloud mode, the shortcut bars on the left show the cloud based listings at the top and local below them as you see here:

The first image above shows the recipe folder listing. In cloud mode, the cloud based recipes show up first, and the program on startup will refresh and show your cloud based listings. However the local recipe folders are shown below that and you can easily move between them by clicking and transfer data by using copy/paste. Also shown in the first images is the menu at the top which gives you access to all of the Cloud and Local views from the Cloud and Local menus including your ingredients and profiles, search views, inventory and shopping list.

The second image shows the lower shortcut bar on the left. When the program is in cloud mode the cloud views appear on top, but you can see that you can easily access any of the data views, either cloud or local, from the shortcuts and again it is easy to move data using copy/paste.

The only views that are somewhat special are the inventory views. If you are in cloud mode, the program will display and primarily work with your cloud based inventory and shopping list. If you are in local mode then it will work with local inventory and shopping list. This comes into play for operations like adding a recipe to the shopping list, displaying current inventory for a recipe or moving/removing items from inventory.

Changing from Cloud to Local View As I mentioned BeerSmith will show the startup dialog allowing you to make a selection the first time you run it. However you can change this at any time using the Tools->Startup Options menu selection. So if at some point you want to work offline or just change your mind you can easily make the change.

That is a quick overview of how to use Cloud and Local modes in BeerSmith 4. If you want to learn more about BeerSmith or our web based version please check out our main site at BeerSmith.com.

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I’m pleased to announce that the long awaited BeerSmith 4 desktop software release is coming this month!

After over 3 years of work and almost 4 months of testing, the BeerSmith 4 desktop release is coming this month. I’ve set a release date of Thursday, 19 March 2026 for the Windows and newer Mac release. Support for Ubuntu Linux and older Mac machines will follow in the weeks after the desktop launch along with a series of updates to the web version to bring matching features online.

BeerSmith 4 Highlights While I will be publishing a series of short articles and videos in the coming weeks here are some of the main highlights for the BeerSmith 4 Desktop launch:

• Cloud and Local Mode: On startup you can select to use either the cloud or your local drive as the primary storage, though both will be accessible. This gives user’s of BeerSmith web the ability to work explicitly from their cloud based recipes, ingredients and profiles across all machines. However I’ve also preserved the local storage option for many businesses and individuals that don’t want their data stored online.
• Improved Brewing Features: A “Run Checks” button lets you do a quick check of your recipe for possible omissions and errors before brewing. Yeast, water, mash pH, and other brewing models have been updated and improved, and new brewing tools have been added.
• Major Yeast Changes: You can now use liquid volumes or weights to specify yeast quantities, and the yeast models have been completely rewritten to match best professional practices. You can now adjust pitch rate to match your specific recipe, and all of the yeast addons and models have been updated to reflect yeast lab data and recommendations. Dry yeast starters are supported, dry pitch rate in grams/hecto-liter, pitched cells in cells/ml and more.
• Major Water Changes: The water profile tools have been completely revamped and reworked to reflect annhydrous salt additions, updated water chemistry, using pickling lime and MgCl, and estimating water profiles not only in the mash but throughout. Also more options were added for targeting specific additions and phases.
• A Cleaner User Interface: Both the Windows and Mac version now support dark mode, and the entire interface has been redesigned to place the most commonly used functions at your fingertips, and reduce clutter. Many operations were streamlined like adjusting water and pH or creating a New Session which involves archiving your old recipe, bumping the version number and resetting the session data all into one operation.
• Completely Rewritten Backend: The program now runs from a SQL database that is passively backed up as you work instead of the old problematic XML files. This results in dramatically improved data security, reliability and the ability to undo mistakes and retrieve archived or old data. Also it will be separate from BeerSmith 3 so you can use both side-by-side.
• New Inventory and Shopping List: The inventory and shopping list features have been rewritten to make it easier to maintain a shared inventory in the cloud as well as selectively move data from recipes to the shopping list, to inventory and then remove them once the recipe is brewed.
• Improvements Across the Board: Dozens of new tools and features have been added and hundreds of fixes have been added across the platform. A few examples include support for Seltzer recipes, much simpler Mash pH adjustment, proper handling of secondary and tertiary fermentables, new units and much more.

Pricing and Preorder As with BeerSmith 3, the new BeerSmith 4 will use the same licensing arrangement. You can choose between the subscription options (Gold, Platinum and Pro) starting at $19.95/year which include the web version and major upgrades or you can purchase the non-subscription BeerSmith Basic ($44.95 which does not include the web version or future major version upgrades).

Buy BeerSmith 3 and 4 Here!Get BeerSmith Desktop and Web Today!

• Existing Gold, Platinum and Pro Level BeerSmith 3 Users: All of the subscription licenses currently include major version upgrades so if you have one of these licenses your existing BeerSmith 3 license will carry over to BeerSmith 4 at no charge. You don’t need to do anything as you will be able to activate BeerSmith 4 with your existing license.
• Existing Basic Level BeerSmith 3 Licenses: As per the terms of your license, the non-subscription BeerSmith 3 Basic license DOES NOT include major version updates so it will not apply to BeerSmith 4. You will have the option of purchasing a separate license for BeerSmith 4 or continuing to use BeerSmith 3. I have also upgraded anyone who purchased a Basic license after 1 July 2025 to version 4 to cover recent buyers. You can check your profile page if you purchased a recent basic license to see if you have been upgraded.
• New Purchases: If you purchase a BeerSmith 3 license at any level starting today you will be able to use BeerSmith 4 when it is launched. All Gold, Platinum and Pro licenses automatically include major version updates, and any Basic level purchases made now will include BeerSmith 4 when released.

I am looking forward to the BeerSmith 4 release and hope you all enjoy trying it out in just a few weeks!

Brad Smith, PhD, BeerSmith LLC

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Max Shafer joins me from Roadhouse Brewing to discuss achieving the perfect IPA balance, using new hop products and perfecting your Hazy IPA.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (35:18) * This week I welcome back Max Shafer from Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Max was previously a brewer at Grand Teton brewing. Max sits on the Hop Research Council, is the Idaho ambassador to the Hop Quality Group, and associate member of the American Malting Barley Association. Max is a graduate of the Siebel Institute and has over 10 years as a professional brewer. * We start with a short discussion of some of the new beers and offerings at Roadhouse Brewing where they continue to innovate. * Max starts the technical discussion with a discussion on hop balance, and what he means by the proper hop balance for a Hazy IPA. * We talk about boil hops which lay the foundation for bitterness, and how his boil hop additions have evolved into a single 60 minute addition combined often with a shorter 20 minute addition. * Max next moves on to whirlpool additions, and we discuss the use of pellets here as well as some of the new hop products like Dynaboost and Incognito. * Next we discuss dry hopping and why pellets are still important here. He also talks about concentrated hop products like Subzero Hop Kief and Abstrax. We discuss the use of isomerized hop products and aroma additions for final tweaking of a beer as well. * Max tells us how he works backward from a finished beer to try to determine the best place to tweak hop balance – be it in the boil, whirlpool or dry hopping. He also makes extensive use of his small pilot brewery. * We next talk about gravity in the context of Hazy IPAs and how there seems to be a sweet spot in terms of the ideal gravity to balance out a Hazy IPA. * Max discusses drinkability as well as the push to lower gravity beers. * He tells us where to visit Roadhouse as well as their website (linked above) and how you can get their products. * He also gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Brewing author Denny Conn joins me this week to discuss brewing Trappist style Abbey ales including their history, ingredients and brewing techniques used.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (37:50) * This week I welcome Denny Conn. Denny is a nationally ranked certified beer judge. He is also co-author of the books Simple Homebrewing, Experimental Brewing and also Home Brewing All Stars (All Amazon Affiliate Links). * We start with a discussion of Denny’s 630 batches of beer over a period of 28 years, and how he is brewing a lot of Trappist/Abbey style Belgian ales now. * Denny provides some of the rich history of Trappist ales which originated in Abbeys primarily around Belgium. * We discuss how the International Trappist Ale association now enforces the term Trappist Ale as only applying to a small number of approved Trappist abbeys. So we now instead use the term Abbey ales or perhaps beers brewed in the Trappist style. * Denny explains the basic styles which are single, dubbel, tripel and quad, though there are variations of each. * Denny discusses how these ales often vary by region and color. * We next move to ingredients and how to brew these styles, starting with the malt bill. Denny explains why he prefers to use primarily Belgian pale malts along with a substantial portion of sugars. We also discuss the tradeoffs between simple sugars and expensive Belgian candi sugars. * Denny explains how these beers are simply hopped, often using local hops and also why they are sometimes more bitter than they appear. * We discuss brewing yeasts and Denny provides his favorite yeast to use. * We discuss brewing techniques and in particular how the mash profile is important for achieving a high attenuation in these styles which makes them more drinkable. * Denny provides advice for brewers looking to make the perfect Belgian ale. * He also gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes You can subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I cover the major hop thiols and how they can be used to increase the aromatic and fruity flavors in beers like IPA.

What are Hop Thiols? Hop thiols, also known as mercaptans are sulfur based organic compounds that are highly aromatic. Thiols are a tiny percentage (< 1%) of the essential oils in hops, but they pack a big punch. They exist in a wide variety of products including fruit, hops, grapes and even grain. Scientifically they were first identified in the wine making industry where they have been exploited for many years to make aromatic wines.

Over the last 10-15 years, scientists have started studying thiols in hops in an effort to support the Craft Beer IPA revolution, as well as the push to get more aromatic and fruity flavors into IPAs. They have found that hops provide the majority of free thiols, with grains and other adjuncts primarily contributing bound thiols. However it is the free thiols that are chemically important for brewers as these produce the largest impact in a finished beer.

While the thiols in hops are much more complex and varied than in grapes, the four major hop-derived thiols include (Ref: Scott Janish):

• 4MSP or 4MMP (4-mercapto-4-methyl-pentan-2-one) – Has the aroma of Boxtree, Ribes, Chives, Tomato plant and Blackcurrants
• 3MHA or 3SH (3 mercaptohexanol) – Aroma of Grapefruit, Citrus, White Grape and Gooseberry
• 3S4MP or 3M4MP (3-mercapto-4-methylpentan) – Passion fruit, Grapefruit and Rhubarb
• 3MHA or 3SHA (3-mercaptohexyl acetate) – Converted to 3MH during fermentation, and can also produce beta-lyase during fermentation – Aroma of Passion fruit and Guava.

The above compounds are actually very common in wines like Reisling and Sauvignon Blanc, even though they don’t occur in grapes. They are developed during fermentation of wine from precursors in the grape must. Interestingly, thiols are also biotransformed in beer as described below.

Analyzing thiols in beer is exceptionally challenging because they make up only parts per trillion in the finished beer, and are also highly reactive. So the equipment and processes needed to isolate them are very expensive. However, our nose can detect thiols even in at a threshold of a few parts per trillion, so they have a big impact on aroma and flavor even though they exist in an infinitely tiny concentration.

I’ve done a number of podcasts over the years focused on thiols. Here are a few if you are interested in learning more: Yeast Biotransformations with Chris White and Nick Impellitteri, Hop Thiols and Varieties with Stan Hieronymus, Thiols and Fruity IPAs with MoreBeer, Thiolized Yeast with Adam Mills.

Thiols and Biotransformations Yeast and hops interact in a complex process during fermentation which we call hop biotransformation. A variety of changes occur during fermentation including (Ref: Hopqueries):

• The modification of terpenes. These include the reduction of popular hop oils like geraniol (floral aroma) and citronellol (citrus/lime-like), Terpenes make up about 80% of the essential oils in hops, so the selection of hops high in geraniol and citronellol can result in more floral and fruity aromas.
• Conversion of Organic Acids into Esters – Yeast converts organic acids into fruity ester compounds. Some yeasts, like many English ale yeasts produce more esters than others, but the classic ester aroma is a product of this process. As hops age during storage, they develop more branch chain acids, so older hops actually produce more esters.
• The Release of Thiols – Thiols exist in two forms – free and bound. Only free thiols produce the rich tropical aromas we desire in beer. Hops like Citra and Mosaic are higher in free thiols, and as a result have become staples in many Craft IPAs. Other hops like Calypso have a higher percentage of bound thiols, but some bound thiols can also be released during fermentation.

Obviously for a transformation to take place, you must have hop aroma oils in the wort while it is fermenting. Since most hop aroma oils are very volatile, you typically need to add them as whirlpool hops or add some dry hops during fermentation. You also want to select hops that are high in thiols or terpenes like geraniol if you want to achieve the desired effect.

To maximize your thiol output you should also select a thiolized or thiol enhancing yeast. These yeast strains are either naturally selected or genetically modified to activate an IRC7 gene in the yeast that works to free bound thiols during fermentation. I covered these strains in the BYO article here, and also in my podcast with Dr Chris White and Nick Impellitteri.

Mash hopping has also been shown to be an effective technique if you select hops high in bound thiols and combine this with thiol enhancing yeast. I wrote a detailed BYO article on this topic here. This article actually covers a lot of ground including hop and yeast selection if you are interested in learning more.

Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This is a quick tip that covers an overlooked feature in BeerSmith. You can open tools recipes in a separate window easily in BeerSmith while not closing the item you were previously working on.

Opening Multiple Windows in BeerSmith Desktop Last week I received a question from a professional brewer asking how he can compare the fermentation graph side by side for two recipes. He was working on two different batches of the same recipe. Surprisingly this is very easy to do!

• By default BeerSmith opens new views in a new tab, and you can switch tabs easily using the notebook tabs at the top of the window
• To open any BeerSmith recipe, tool or view in a separate window simply hold down the shift key while clicking (or double clicking) on it!
• That’s it! The tool or view you selected will open in a new window. If you have a large enough monitor or multiple monitors you can rearrange the windows to place them side by side for comparison. So it becomes easy to compare two different recipes or items side by side.
• Shift-clicking on tools is also handy as this lets you pop up a small tool to do a quick unit conversion or calculation.

What about the Web Version of BeerSmith? While the web version of BeerSmith typically opens new items in the current tab, you can actually easily make any tool or view pop up in a new tab or completely separate window:

• To Open an Item in a New Tab: While in the BeerSmith Web program: Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the tool, recipe or view you want to open. This will open that selection in a new tab in your browser.
• To Open an Item in a New Window: Hold down the shift key while clicking on the tool, view or recipe and it will open in a completely new web browser window.

You can download BeerSmith desktop at BeerSmith.com or try the web based at BeerSmithRecipes.com. Both have free trial periods!

Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Jared Williamson joins me from Shlafly Brewing in St Lous, MO to discuss Shlafly, their strategy for lower alcohol beers and trends in Craft Brewing.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (26:28) * This week I welcome Jared Williamson. Jared is the head brewer at Shlafly Brewery in St Louis MO. Jared has nearly 20 years of brewing experience as a professional brewer, and leads recipe development and ingredient innovation at Shlafly. * We start with a brief history of Jared as a brewer, and how he became head brewer at Shlafly. * Jared explains his Pale Ale and new IPA non-alcoholic (NA) beer offerings and why he thinks NA beer is an important emerging market segment for craft brewing. * We discuss the methods he used to create non-alcoholic beer including high mash temperatures and managed fermentation. He also talks about the changes he had to make to adopt existing recipes to NA beer. * Next we discuss his line of 3% beers which are targeting more casual brewers or those who want to be able to drink a few beers without all of the alcohol. This is another part of Shlafly’s strategy to adopt to the changing beer market. * Jared shares some of the changes he had to make to create his 3% beer lineup. * He shares his advice on those looking to make lower alcohol beers at home. * We talk about the rapidly changing Craft beer market and pressures on many craft breweries as the market has declined since COVID. * Jared discusses his Winter beer offerings including Winter Stout, Oatmeal Stout and Coffee Stout. * He shares where to find Schlafly beers and also their location. * Jared provides his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes you can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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John Palmer joins me this week to discuss brewing smoked beer styles including Grodziski, Rauchbier, Rauchweizen and two recent collaborations he did with local breweries.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (26:28) * This week I welcome back John Palmer. John is the author of the top selling book How to Brew as well as Water and Brewing Classic Styles (full disclosure: Amazon affiliate links used for books). John joins me this week to talk about water in beer. * We start with a short discussion on John’s current brewing projects. * Next we dive into the Grodziski, which is a historical Polish beer style made with smoked malt. John tells a bit about this style. * We next discuss smoked base malts and the history behind smoked malts. Prior to the 1700’s, almost all malts were dried and kilned over wood, but malting evolved significantly with the introduction of coke fired malting in the 1700’s and introduction of lighter malts including pale malt. * John talks about some of the other major beer styles that use smoked malt including Rauchbier, Rauchweizen, Rauchbock and Smoked Altbier. * John talks about two smoked beer collaborations he did recently starting with Smoked Altbier. We discuss the recipe and also how it turned out. * Next we move to a Grodziski collaboration beer that John did including the grain bill and hop schedule. Again John tells us how this turned out. * John shares some of the lessons he learned from his smoked beer collaborations. * John shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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I’m pleased to announce that BeerSmith 4 has entered beta testing for both Mac and Windows, and is progressing towards a release early this Spring. BeerSmith 4 will bring you tighter cloud integration, a secure SQL storage system, improved brewing calculations, a streamlined interface and much more. It will let you choose either web based or local storage as your primary data source, and give you access to both easily. It also incorporates dozens of new features for both home and pro brewers. The update will be free for all Gold, Platinum and Pro license holders. Basic license users will need to upgrade since this is a major version change.

BeerSmith 4 will continue the tradition of providing the most powerful brewing tools to the home and professional brewer.

BeerSmith Price Updates With the new year and upcoming release I’ve decided to adjust pricing. The new baseline Gold yearly license will now be $19.95/year for new licenses, with other levels going up a similar amount. For the time being, I’ve grandfathered existing subscribers, so the vast majority of users on autorenew will not see a price increase.

I’ve not changed the price of BeerSmith since 2018 even after adding the valuable BeerSmith web version for free in 2021 and a number of updates. However, several changes have driven this decision. The homebrew market has been in decline for over 10 years and is now a small fraction of what it was in 2014. Recently the Craft Beer market entered a similar decline. Operating costs have also risen, especially in the years since COVID. My competitors have all raised their prices well above even my new price levels.

Along with the price change, I’ve raised the recipe storage limits for all Gold, Platinum and Pro users in the last few days, recently updated virtually all of the active yeast addons and I’m integrating the key upcoming BeerSmith 4 features into BeerSmith web also.

BeerSmith is an outstanding value. The gold license at $19.95/year ($1.66/month), includes the BeerSmith 3 desktop program with the upcoming BeerSmith 4 release as well as the web based version which you can use from any internet connected device including your tablet or phone. You also get access to 10’s of thousands of shared recipes on BeerSmithRecipes.com as well as the ability to create Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider (and soon Seltzer) recipes anywhere. And you get access to free data updates, a steady stream of new recipes on BeerSmithRecipes.com and new features as they are released. Finally, I am continuing to put out new podcast episodes, interviews, my weekly newsletter and brewing articles on the blog.

Thank you for your continued support!

Brad Smith, PhD, BeerSmith LLC

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Gordon Strong joins me this week to discuss the new BJCP Mead Style Guideline revisions as well as some of his favorite mead styles.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:52) * This week I welcome back Gordon Strong. Gordon is President Emeritus and highest level beer judge in the Beer Judge Certifcation Program and author of the books Modern Homebrew Recipes and Brewing Better Beer (Books links are paid Amazon affiliate links). * We start with a discussion of the BJCP Cider guidelines updated last year as well as a few of Gordons recent projects. * Next we dive into the updated BJCP Mead style guideline that Gordon is currently working on and planning to publish shortly. He explains his goals for the new update. * The guide is divided into four major sections starting with traditional meads. We talk about the traditional mead categories as well as varietal meads and some of Gordons favorite varietals. * Gordon next discusses changes to the fruit mead (Melomel) category and we discuss the expansion of Cyser to include other pomme fruits. * We discuss the fruit mead categories, along with Ken Schramm’s noble fruits though Gordon explains why many tropical fruits also work well with mead. * We talk about spiced meads which covers a wide variety of spices. Gordon tells us why many “winter” spices work well with mead. * Finally we have the specialty mead category which covers meads that don’t otherwise fit in the main categories. Gordon also discusses wood and barrel aged meads which have become popular. * Gordon provides his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Dr Chris White and Nick Impellitteri join me this week to discuss yeast genetics, biotransformations and thiols in beer.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:42) * This week I welcome Dr Chris White and Nick Impellitteri. Chris is President of White Labs Inc, at top provider of brewing yeast worldwide and 2015 winner of the AHA Governing Committee award for a lifetime of achievement in brewing. He is also the author of the book “Yeast” which is the ultimate reference on brewing yeast. * Nick is a biomaterials scientist and genetic engineer who started Yeast Bay in 2013 in the Bay area, a provider of unique brewing yeasts produced in collaboration with White Labs. * We start with a brief discussion with returning guest Chris White about some of the new projects going on at White Labs. * First time guest Nick Impellitteri tells a bit about his story and how he got started as founder of The Yeast Bay. Nick is involved in a collaboration with White Labs where many of his yeasts are produced by White Labs for craft breweries worldwide. * Chris starts by describing a project he worked on several years ago to map the genetic family tree for 96 brewing yeast strains and what we’ve learned from that. * Nick talks about his new lager strain Cream City Lager Yeast and how he is evaluating new yeast strains using modern genetics. * Chris explains how we’re just starting to map specific yeast genes to individual flavors and aromas in beer. * He also describes some interesting results comparing genes from two of the worlds most popular lager yeast strains: Saaz and Frohberg and how one largely dominates large lager production. * Chris discusses the STA1 gene which can in some cases cause diastaticus. Chris tells us why STA1 is important but also the limitations. * Nick explains how biotransformations are really important for many IPA styles. There are two major types of biotransformation important in the process: Terpenes and thiols and Nick tells us about terpene biotransformation of hop aroma compounds like Geraniol and Linalool. Terpenes can be bound or free. * Chris explains the biotransformation of thiols, including both bound and free thiols, and how yeast plays a major role. * Chris tells us why yeast genetics plays an important role in thiol transformation in the form of the IRC7 gene. Again the presence of the gene is not enough, as it must be activated. * Chris tells us about his new yeast strain WPL077, Tropicale Yeast Blend which takes a natural approach. Tropicale is not a genetically modified yeast, but is instead carefully selected to free thiols and produce tropical fruity flavors in a finished beer. This approach is different than many competitors who are using genetically modified yeasts. * Nick joins in to talk about projects he is working on to genetically engineer new yeast strains, along with certain advantages and disadvantages that come from the approach. * Chris and Nick both provide their closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of whirlpool hopping in an effort to better understand the technique.

Whirlpool vs Dry Hopping vs Boil Hops Its important that we start with a short discussion of the three major hop methods. Most brewers are familiar with boil hops, which are primarily used to add bitterness to the beer. Whirlpool and dry hops are not added for bitterness, but instead are used to preserve delicate aroma oils and flavors. Whirlpool hops are added at the end of the boil at temperatures below boiling and typically steeped for a period of time from a few minutes to as long as an hour. Dry hops are added during active fermentation or in the secondary.

In the simplest form, we use whirlpool hops and dry hops in an effort to force aromatic oils, which really don’t like to go into solution, into our beer. Whirlpool hopping uses higher temperatures to force the oils into the beer, while dry hopping uses time (at a lower temperature). The two techniques are better at preserving different hop oils, which is why we most often use both in a modern IPA.

Whirlpool Hopping and its Limitations Whirlpool hops are typically added in the “whirlpool” after the boil on a professional system, or alternately the hops are steeped on a homebrew scale. Typically this is done at high temperature but well below boiling. Most aromatic hop oils have a lot boil/vaporization point so they boil off easy, but the higher temperature in the whirlpool does increase the solubility of the oils to get them into the wort quickly.

The main problem with whirlpool hops is that they are added before fermentation. During fermentation a large amount of CO2 is produced that bubbles up through the beer. This scrubs a substantial portion of the aromatic oils out. Also biotransformations from the yeast acts to enhance and free some aromatic compounds, while inhibiting others. An commercial example is shown in the diagram above from Scott Janish. While this is an extreme example using a centrifuge and pasteurization for commercial beer production, you can still see that fermentation alone does substantially reduce the levels of many of the key hop oils.

Looking at the charts, the sum of floral fraction appears to have a substantial drop in fermentation. Myrcene, which has the piny character from many Pacific NW hops also appears to be hard hit during fermentation. Linalool, in contrast seems to survive well post fermentation and even survives the centrifuge. The lower three oils (sesquiterpenoids, caryophyllene and alpha-humulone seem to survive fermentation but are hard hit in the centrifuge.

Also of interest is the fact that hop oil survivability varies quite a bit between different recipes. A, B and C are different beers with different formulations, but one would expect that the hop oils might have a similar survivabillity rate based on their initial levels. However this is not the case, so clearly there are additional factors in play.

Given both terpenoids and thiols (the bulk of aromatic oils) exist both in a free and bound form, and only the free terpenoids/thiols give off significant aroma, it is likely that the mix of free and bound oils plays a large role here. Further, different yeasts can exhibit different abilities to free both bound terpenoids and thiols, so even simple things like the choice of yeast can affect how well your hop oils biotransform into hop aroma in the finished beer.

Several pros I’ve talked with say they have tried eliminating just the whirlpool hops from known recipes and testing them with a triangle test and they were able to tell the difference. Eliminating the dry hops but leaving the whirlpool had a similar result but in a different way. So ultimately whirlpool and dry hops preserve different aromas and flavors. Still I found the chart above interesting enough to mention, as I had not previously considered the significant loss of oils during fermentation.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on hops. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Richard Yi joins me from Brooklyn Cider House to talk about Cider, the growing Craft Cider industry and how you can make your own cider at home.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (54:23) * This week I welcome Richard Yi. Richard is a second generation Cider maker working for his family’s business Brooklyn Cider House. He specializes in creating ciders with international influence from American heirloom and other rare apples and fruits. * Richard starts by telling us the story of Brooklyn Cider House and how he started the business with his father. * We discuss the history of cider, which was once literally on every table in America in the 1700’s and 1800’s, and how cider fell from grace when prohibition hit. * We talk about some of the major types of cider as well as the wide diversity of cider styles now bring made. * Richard highlights his work in wild, barrel aged and sour ciders which is a bit of a specialty area. We discuss how he has been able to apply many sour beer techniques to ciders. * Craft cider is one of the few alcoholic beverage categories still growing. Richard provides his thoughts on the rise of Craft Cider in the US and why it is growing in popularity. * He shares some of the challenges cider makers have in educating consumers about craft cider and the wide variety of cider styles available. * I ask about heirloom apples, which have different characteristics including more tannins and acidity than typical “eating” varieties. We talk about heirloom apples and some of the challenges getting them grown in quantity. * Richard provides a brief overview of how an average brewer can use existing equipment to make cider at home. He recommends using baking apples that are freshly squeezed instead of working with juice. * We talk about some of the interesting ciders he has been working on. * Richard provides his location, how you can buy Brooklyn Ciders and also his closing thought.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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I recently posted updates to hundreds of yeast ingredients for BeerSmith and BeerSmith Web. I recommend updating your yeast listings in BeerSmith as outlined below to pick up the new yeast strains and features. These ingredients were also updated to be compatible with the upcoming release of BeerSmith 4.

Updated Yeast Addons The following yeast addons have received a full update including all of the new strains listed on the various lab’s websites:

• Apex Cultures, Cellar Science, Escarpment Labs, Fermentis/Safeale/DCL, Imperial Yeast, Lallemand/Lalvin, Levteck Yeasts (Brazil), Leveduras Angel Yeast (Brazil), Mangrove Jack’s Yeast, Omega Yeast, RVA Yeast, Red Star Yeast, WHC Labs Yeast, The Yeast bay, White Labs, Wyeast Labs

In addition the following yeast listings had a partial update:

• Cross My Loof Yeast, LeLabo Yeast, Propagate Labs

A Change in Yeast Addon Philosophy and BeerSmith 4 While both BeerSmith 2 and 3 had a “base” set of core yeast listings like White Labs and Wyeast. For BeerSmith Web and the upcoming BeerSmith 4 desktop release we’ve moved to individual downloads for each separate yeast lab. This makes it easier for you to select the labs that are local to your area as well as more easily update yeast listings. This means we won’t publish updates like “Yeast Update 2020” anymore and instead will just update the appropriate lab’s listing. Also some labs like Giga Yeast and East Coast years have closed, so you may want to remove those.

In BeerSmith 4 we will allow the specification of yeast quantities in liters/milliliters for liquid yeast or grams for dry yeast. This meant updating the recommended pitch rates for dry and liquid yeasts as well as a complete rework of the various pitch rate calculators. This work was also done as part of this data update, even though its not visible in the current versions. Going forward this will bring BeerSmith in line with professional brewing practices as well as modern yeast lab’s recommendations for pitching rates.

Updating Your Yeast Listings Here’s how to update the various yeast listings in BeerSmith.

Updating BeerSmith Web Yeast Listings The preloaded yeast listings have been automatically updated in the web version. If you want to add a new yeast lab or remove an old one simply go to Ingredients->Yeast view and click on the button to Manage Preloaded Yeasts. From there you can select which yeast addons to display.

Updating BeerSmith 3 Desktop Note that on the desktop version, deleting and installing a new addon will reset your inventory for those items to zero as the inventory is stored as part of the yeast listing. This is not the case on the web version or the upcoming BeerSmith 4 which stores inventory separately.

Updating an Addon: In most cases you can simply uninstall and install a yeast addon to update it.

• Go to Ingredients->Yeast view
• Click on the Yeast Addons button on the ribbon to bring up the addon listings
• Uninstall and then re-install the listings you want updated

The only exceptions to this are listings in the original “Core” group of yeasts shipped with BeerSmith. Because these listings were part of the “Core” yeast listings and updates, you will need to manually delete the old yeast listings before installing the new ones. Also you may wish to delete some core yeast listing labs that are now defunct or out of business:

• Core Yeast Listings that were Updated: Fermentis, Danstar, Imperial Yeast, Lallemand, Mangrove Jack’s, Omega, Red Star, White Labs and Wyeast Labs
• Core Yeast Listings that can be deleted: Giga Yeast, East Coast Yeast (both are out of business)

Deleting a core yeast listing in BeerSmith 3 – recommended before installing the updated core yeast listings or you will end up with duplicates:

• Go to Ingredients->Yeast view
• Optional: You can use File->Export All from your yeast view to make a backup file of your yeast listings (just in case)
• Type the name of the addon in the search bar, for example “White Labs” or “Giga Yeast”. This will show the yeasts that match.
• Hold down the shift key while mult-selecting the items to be deleted.
• Use the delete button on the large ribbon to remove those items.
• Once this is done, you can clear the search text in the search bar which will display all the remaining yeasts
• Now you can install the new yeast addon using the “Yeast Addons” button as described above. Install the specific lab such as “White Labs” to get their latest listings.

I have additional data updates planned, and BeerSmith 4 will start beta testing shortly. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a look at yeast blends and how you can blend yeast to achieve a unique flavor profile in your finished beer.

Why Blend Yeast? In the last few years, hop blends have become very popular with home and professional brewers. By blending your hops you can not only get unique flavors and aroma but you can also insulate yourself somewhat from season to season variations in hop quality.

But what about yeast? Can I blend two yeast strains to create something new and unique? What happens to the flavor and other characteristics when I blend more than one yeast strain?

I discussed this in a recent podcast with White Labs founder Dr Chris White. Chris has not only done a lot of work with yeast blends but he sells a number of blended yeasts as separate products for use in beer. In fact Chris recently re-launched his “FrankenYeast” blend which is basically a blend of the 96 major yeast strains that White labs makes.

What Happens When you Blend Yeast Strains? Here are some rules of thumb for blending yeast:

• Attenuation: The yeast strain with the highest attenuation will dominate the blend, so if you mix a low attenuating English yeast with a high attenuation California Ale yeast you will finish with a high attenuation and gravity consistent with the California strain. So basically you can take the highest yeast attenuation in the blend and assume that will be the result.
• Phenolics Dominate: If you mix a phenolic yeast (like a Belgian yeast) with a non-phenolic yeast, the finished beer will still have phenolics in it. Therefore the phenolic flavor is dominant and won’t necessarily blend like you might expect.
• Sour Yeast/Bacteria Dominate: If you add a bacteria (bug) like Lactobacillus or Pediococcus, not surprisingly it will dominate and sour your beer even if added in small quantities. Similarly if you add a sour positive yeast like a wild yeast, it too will dominate and produce a sour finish in the beer.
• Kveik Yeasts Dominate: I’ve been told that Kveik yeasts can be aggressive and can often dominate a mix with other yeast. I suspect this is due to fact that these yeasts complete fermentation very fast and can operate at high temperature.
• Alcohol Tolerance: If you are working with very high gravity wort or wine/mead must, alcohol tolerance does come into play. However it generally is a large factor only near the end of fermentation when the limit is reached on one or more strains. So for the bulk of the fermentation, all of the yeasts in the blend will be active. Lower alcohol tolerant yeasts will tend to shut down near the end of fermentation as each of their limits is reached, but typically the highest alcohol tolerant strain will continue to act until their limit is reached.
• Temperature: The yeast temperature range is still a factor if we want to blend something like an ale and lager yeast. If we ferment the blend at ale temperatures, for instance, we can expect the lager yeast will throw off some esters and fusel alcohols as well as possibly other off flavors if it is fermented warm.
• Other Flavors Average: Other compounds like esters, alcoholic, diacetyl, sour/acidic, sulfur and yeasty flavors will tend to average out for the blend. For example an estery English yeast mixed with a neutral California Ale yeast in equal proportions will create a beer that has some esters in it but not as much as you would get using the English yeast alone. So, in general, the flavors tend to average out to be approximately the weighted average for each yeast used.

Reading Yeast Data Sheets How can you better define the results of the finished blend? Many of the better yeast labs publish detailed yeast data on their strains. Ideally the following data should be listed for your yeast:

• Alcohol Tolerance: Shows the maximum alcohol percentage the yeast can tolerate before shutting down.
• Attenuation: The average apparent attenuation (percent of sugars consumed) before fermentation completes
• Temperature: The temperature range where the yeast performs best
• Isoamyl Alcohol/Acetate: The primary ester in beer, and a measure of ester production for the beer.
• Acetaldehyde: A green apple tasting flavor produced during fermentation
• Ethyl Acetate: The strongest of the common esters with flavors like fruits, pears and even solvent if the level is too high
• Pentainedione – A VDK like diacetyl which gives a honey like flavor but is easily detectible in the beer.
• Diacetyl: A buttery popcorn like flavor common in many English ale strains
• 1 Propanol – A fusel alchol that gives off alcoholic odor and a strong solvent like flavor
• Ethanol – Another name for alcohol
• Hours to 50% – The number of hours required to reach 50% completion in the fermentation

So if you are flying blind or using new yeast strains, and can find the detailed yeast data listed above you can get a very good idea of how two yeasts might blend by averaging the values above (with the exception of Alcohol Tolerance, Attenuation and Temperature).

I hope you enjoyed this weeks article on blending yeasts. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes…and youtube…and streaming radio station) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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This week I take a quick look at the major hop alpha acids and the role they play in brewing beer. I also discuss some of the recent research on cohumulone and how higher cohumulone hops may not be as harsh as is widely advertised.

Hop Alpha Acids When you purchase hops, typically the alpha percentage(AA%) is listed somewhere on the package. This is a measure of the total alpha acids by weight in the dried hops you are purchasing. Alpha acids are converted into isomerized alpha acids during the boil phase of the brewing process and this produces the majority of the bitterness we perceive in beer. Brewers typically estimate the post boil bitterness in IBUs which is calculated directly from the hop schedule, boil time, hop quantities and alpha acids. I should note that the IBU level is not typically the level of bitterness in the finished beer due to changes that occur in fermentation as well as dry hopping, but it provides a good guideline for designing recipes.

While we tend to look at alpha acid as a single number, there are actually five hop acid analogs that make up the majority of the alpha acids in a hop code. The five are humulone, cohumulone, adhumulone, prehumulone and posthumulone. The five analogs are similar in their molecular structure, but all are transformed during the boil into iso-alpha acids.

Cohumulone and humulone make up the majority of the alpha acids in a typical hop. Each of these make up between 20 and 50% of the alpha acids. Adhumulone is a fairly consistent 10-15% of alpha acids for almost all hop varieties and the remaining two, prehumulone and posthumulone play a minor role in overall acid content. Each of the compounds isomerizes at a slightly different rate though this effect is not included in IBU estimation equations.

The Cohumulone Controversy You will typically only see cohumulone listed on a hop specification sheet. You can safely assume that aduhumulone levels are near 10-15% and that humulone makes up the vast majority of the remainder of the alpha acids. So it is fairly easy to estimate adhumulone and humulone levels from just the cohumulone number. The highest cohumulone hops like Topaz, Bullion and Vic Secret have cohumulone levels in the 48-54% range. The lowest (hops like Vanguard) have cohumulone levels in the high teens. In general, aroma hops tend to have less cohumulone.

There is an interesting controversy over cohumulone and its effect on bitterness that remains a bit of an open issue (outlined here). A general rule of thumb with brewers is that hops with a higher cohumulone levels have a harsher bitterness. However, recent research has called this assertion into question.

The original research which you can find here was done by Dr Lloyd Rigby, a Canadian scientist way back in 1972. Dr Rigby brewed two beers using equal amounts of humulone and cohumulone and gave them to testers in a simple beer taste test. The testers found that beers made with higher levels of cohumulone were considered harsher, rougher and less pleasant to drink. This led to the rule of thumb above, which drove many craft breweries to seek lower cohumulone hops, and has even driven hop breeding and growing in a direction favoring low cohumulone, aromatic hops over the last 50+ years.

Subsequent research, however, has determined that Dr Rigby’s original experiment may have been flawed. The problem is that cohumulone and humulone actually isomerize at slightly different rates. In addition pH levels during fermentation affect each differently which also affects the perceived bitterness. So using equal amounts of the isolated alpha acids did not actually produce two different samples with the same bitterness level. So it is possible that the “harsh” beer with higher cohumulone simply had much higher bitterness than the one made with just humulone.

Brulosohpy did an experiment in 2016 where they made two identical beers except one used a high cohumulone hop (Chinook) and the other used a low cohumulone hop (Simcoe). In his experiment the tasters were evenly split over which beer they preferred, though the majority could tell the difference between the Simcoe and Chinook hops in a triangle test.

A similar test was presented earlier by Mike Karnowski from Green Man Brewery at the 2014 AHA conference, where he estimated that the original Rigby experiment could have had as much as a 62% difference in IBUs. He subsequently tried brewing beers with Cascade (35% cohumulone) and Simcoe (19% cohumulone) and then measured the actual IBUs. While the beer was estimated at 40 IBUs the Cascade (high cohumulone) beer had 42 IBUs measured and the Simcoe (low couhumulone) beer had 33 IBUs for a 27% difference!

The fact that measured IBUs differ from estimates is not a surprise – I outlined the major limitations of estimating IBUs here and also why the estimated IBUs will rarely matched the measured IBUs in a finished beer. However Mike went on to do more measurements and showed fairly conclusively that high cohumulone hops tend to produce finished beers with higher measured IBU bitterness levels, partially because cohumulone isomerizes at a higher rate, and partially because the isomerized cohumulone survives the pH drop during fermentation better. So with high cohumulone hops, more isomerized acid makes it into the finished beer.

He also went on to create beer samples with high and low cohumulone that had identical lab-measured IBU levels. Like the Brulosophy test, he found that there was not a correlation between higher cohumulone hops and perceived harshness when the IBU levels were actually the same.

So my overall conclusion from more recent literature is that higher cohumulone hops are not necessarily more harsh, but instead tend to produce higher levels of perceived bitterness in the finished beer. The reason for this is that the cohumulone isomerizes at a faster rate than other humulones, and also tends to survive the pH drop during fermentation better. So you can make good beer with higher cohumulone hops, but you may need to moderate the hops slightly to compensate for this effect.

Thank you for joining me on the BeerSmith blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Chris White joins me this week from White Labs to discuss his FrankenStout, FrankenYeast and the use of yeast blends in beer.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (47:14) * Today I welcome Dr Chris White. Chris is the President and founder of White Labs Inc, a top provider of brewing yeast worldwide to both the professional and home brewing markets. * Editors Note: I do apologize for the video quality this week. Chris was having some technical difficulties so the video feed was marginal. However as his schedule has been packed and we rescheduled twice already we decided to proceed. Fortunately the audio and content Chris provided is excellent. * We start with a discussion on what has been happening at White Labs including unfortunately the temporary closure of his location in Asheville, NC due to the hurricane which did tremendous damage. Fortunately his facility was not seriously damaged, though they did suffer loss of power and water for several weeks. Many of his employees faced serious losses, however, and our hearts go out to those recovering in Asheville. * We start with a discussion of stouts and porters and some of the yeast characteristics that make the best stouts, porters and other dark English style beers. * Chris goes into some detail on the yeasts and yeast flavors that work well with stouts and also explains why high attenuation is surprisingly important. * We discuss the White Labs re-release of their legendary “FrankenYeast” blend which is a blend of some 96 yeast strains including both lagers and ales. Chris tells us about this unique strain and some of the flavors it creates in a finished beer. * We also talk about the related re-release of FrankenStout for Halloween which is a dark English style stout made using the FrankenYeast blend. Chris also released a pretty funny video on his website related to the release of the yeast and stout which you can find here: The Return of FrankenStout * Chris explains how the FrankenYeast actually has science behind it and we talk about his earlier work to genotype some 157 yeast strains in an effort to understand the genetic heritage of all of our brewing yeasts. * We transition to a talk about yeast blends and how blending two distinct yeasts manifests itself in the beer. Chris says that in general phenolic yeasts tend to always create phenolics in the finished beer, and also that the lower attenuation yeast will generally finish out the fermentation to a similar attenuation. However with respect to other flavors the blending of yeast also tends to result in a blend of similar flavors in the finished beer. * We talk about Chris’ web site where people can learn more about individual yeast strains as well as FrankenYeast and FrankenStout * Chris shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at how you can use percentages to formulate your grain bill for more efficient beer recipe design. I also explain how to do this using BeerSmith brewing software.

Formulating Your Grain Bill with Percentages Professional brewers often use percentages to specify the malt bill for a recipe. This is done in part because professional recipes are often brewed on different size systems so it is quite common to scale a recipe using software when brewing on a particular equipment setup. However, percentages are also widely used because it gives you a more precise idea of the composition of the grain bill that is easier to work with than pounds, ounces and kilograms. I actually published a video some time back on how you too can build recipes like the pros with BeerSmith.

For example if I say I’ve use 9 lbs 3 oz of pale malt in my grain bill the information is rather meaningless unless I know the size of the batch I’m brewing, style, and overall intent. However if I say 90% of my grain bill is pale malt, I have a pretty good idea that the bulk of the base malt is pale malt, and likely the remaining 10% is specialty malts of various forms.

For example lets take a look at this malt bill:

• 90% English Pale Malt
• 5% Carafoam
• 5% Crystal 30

From the above I can see we are using English Pale Malt as the base, and the use of a small amount of carafoam is likely to enhance the head retention on the beer. The addition of 5% crystal malt will likely add a bit of color and sweetness to the beer. While its hard to place the exact style of the beer without knowing the original gravity, yeast and bitterness, I would quickly guess this is some kind of English Ale style – perhaps a Mild Ale or Pale Ale depending on the strength.

Using percentages also lets me more quickly balance the flavor of the beer, assuming I understand the underlying flavors of the malts used. I can limit harsh zone malt percentages, easily make sure the bulk of my malt is base malt, better control my use of adjuncts and non barley malts and ultimately make a better beer.

Some Rules of Thumb for Working with Percentages I covered the basic principles of recipe design in this summary post here, and I recommend you read it if you want a quick overview. But here are some basic recommendations for working with percentages:

• Base Malts Should Make Up the Vast Majority of the Malt Bill – Malts like Pale Malt, Pilsner Malt, Vienna Malt and occasionally Pilsner should make up around 80-100% of your malt bill. Many classic styles including English IPA were made with 100% pale malt. I personally try to limit my specialty malts to no more than 20% of the malt bill and in many cases it is 10% or less. Adding too many specialty malts in large quantities muddies the flavors you are trying to produce and also can inhibit fermentation and attenuation as darker specialty malts don’t add a lot of fermentables to the beer.
• Specialty Malts Should Be Added with Purpose – While its fun to create a “kitchen sink porter” with whatever happens to be laying around the brewhouse, it won’t come out nearly as well as a properly designed Porter using targeted specialty malts to achieve your goals. Add specialty malts that create a specific flavor, aroma or effect you are looking for and use them in small quantities that achieve those goals. Most of these malts are in the 2%-15% range.
• Limit Harsh Zone Malt Percentages – While harsh zone malts like Special B can be used to enhance many darker beers, they need to be used very sparingly, making up perhaps one to four percent of the grain bill. If you use them in larger quantities they can easily ruin the balance and flavor you are trying to achieve.
• Use Non-Barley Malts in Proper Quantities – Non barley malts like wheat, rice, oats, rye, sorgum, etc… can be used to great effect in a beer, but may require special mashing schedules, enzymes, as well as careful sparging if used in large quantities. Some, like rye, tend to unbalance an otherwise balanced beer. In general the malted, flaked or torrified versions are much easier to use in a standard mash and can be converted far more easily than the raw grains which require special mash schedules such as a cereal mash. For grains like rye and oats I usually limit them to 1-15% of the grain bill much like a specialty malt. For malted wheat you can use it as part of the base grain bill. For example some German beers use as much as 50% wheat though I usually try to keep it well below 40%. Torrified or flaked rice can also be used as part of the base, but be aware that rice and wheat don’t contribute much in the way of enzymes to complete the mash so both require a generous base of pale or pilsner malts to provide the enzymes needed for conversion.
• Keep it Simple – Most commercial beers are made with one to three malts including specialty malts. In fact the vast majority of beer styles can be created using just a base malt and one specialty malt. Only for darker beers do we need to use three or in some cases four malts. At a commercial level this is done not only because its hard to keep a ton of specialty malts in stock all the time, but also because simpler is usually better.

Using Recipe Percentages in BeerSmith Some brewers don’t know that BeerSmith has had the capability to build a grain bill using percentages for many years now. For the desktop version, just open a recipe and click on the Grain Pct button which is in the stack of buttons to the right of the various Add ingredient buttons in BeerSmith 3. From the web version there is a Fermentable Pct button just below the various add ingredient buttons in any open recipe.

This displays the grain percentage dialog which shows your entire grain bill and a percentage for each ingredient. You can edit the percentages directly to set the exact percentage you want for each grain or fermentable and the total will be displayed at the bottom. Pressing OK will adjust the actual quantities in the recipe to match the percentages you set. You can use this in clever ways along with the adjust gravity and bitterness tools to very quickly build a recipe exactly the way you want it as outlined in this video.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on grain percentages. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media and give my BeerSmith software a try if you enjoy brewing your own beer.

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It’s not often I review other software based brewing tools, but I was recently contacted by Enrico Mollica about a web based program called Hop Control that includes a large well thought out hop database as well as some innovative analysis tools that will appeal to hop heads. I’m currently working with them to bring some of these features into a future version of BeerSmith, but I wanted to highlight their system for those interested in doing more detailed hop analysis today.

Hop Control Overview Hop Control is a web-based software is the result of over 10 years of research performed by Italian engineers Enrico and Giulio Mollica. The algorithms behind this software was validated using experimental activities performed in collaboration with partner Italian brewery Birrificio Dada.

Hop Control is divided into two major pieces. The first is a database of currently over 300 hop varieties compiled from industry averages. This includes detailed aroma oil content as well as sensory data for each variety. The second piece lets you enter basic recipe data and do a study of the hop profile for the finished beer. I’ll discuss both in a bit of detail below:

Hop Control Database and Comparison Tool Hop Control currently has some 300 hop varieties in the database but plan to increase that to over 400 in 2025. The data is compiled from industry averages but includes not only the typical alpha/beta acids but also full aroma oil content and sensory data which can be displayed in a color spider chart. While some of this data is available from individual suppliers, having it all in one place at your fingertips is a huge plus.

The hop finder lets you find hops by alpha, beta, and co-humulone percentage, and you can also filter by aromatic profile which can really help you find a desirable hop aroma quickly. Clicking on any variety brings up the sensory spider chart, description and technical data including total oils.

A hop comparison tool lets you compare up to six hop varieties in the database and display their sensory data on an overlayed spider chart along with critical hop data side by side. This can help you answer questions like “What’s the difference between using Fuggles or East Kent Goldings in my brew” or “How do these three hop varieties stack up.”

Hop Studies In addition to the hop database, you can create a “hop study” which is a mini hop recipe to analyze the basic hop character and content for a given hopping schedule. Setting up the study involves entering basic volume, BJCP style, boil density and gravity data along with your hop schedule. Ths hop schedule includes variety, boil time, hop type as well as dry or whirlpool hops.

Once you enter your recipe and hop data, the tool calculates and displays the following for the overall recipe:

• A Spider Chart: for the calculated hop aroma as well as the BJCP style hop aroma. To create this diagram, the algorithm performs a combination of the contents of several essential oils (the effect of thiols, when applicable, is included) contained in the hop additions chosen by the user, taking into account the effect of time, temperature and hop type.
• Bitterness in International Bitterness Untis (IBU before fermentation).
• Overall Bitterness Ratio: (BU/OG ratio) for the beer.
• Overall Humulene/Caryophillene (H/C ratio)
• Total Hoppy Level (THL): which is a macroscopic indicator of the overall hoppy level of the beer (according to the definition provided in Machado’s technical paper)
• Beta to Alpha Ratio: (BA/AA %)
• Bitter Quality Index: this a brand new hop metric created by the developer of HOP CONTROL that provides an estimation of the quality of the bittering (mainly related, as literature suggests, to the overall co-humulone content).
• Main essential oil contents: reported in terms of “normalized diagrams”, i.e. for each essential oil the ratio between its quanity and its perception threshold is graphed. The reported main essential oils are myrcene, humulene, caryophyllene, farnesene, linalool and geraniol

While some of these, like IBUs and bitterness ratio are available in most beer recipe programs, the overal aroma oil content, combined calculated spider chart, quality index and total hoppy level are not widely available in other tools and can be quite useful if you are trying to tweak an IPA to have a particular aroma or bitterness profile.

According to Enrico and Giulio: “The revolutionary methodology of HOP CONTROL allows to optimize the brewing process by starting with a base recipe and immediately identifying the direction for hopping improvement, reducing trial batches and costs. Results from breweries and homebrewers show highly improved hop aroma, increased bitter quality as well as cost reduction.”

After registration at the official website you can test the software with all its functionalities and the complete 300+ hop database, for a free trial period of 7 days. The price for the annual license is less than $20 and includes an unlimited number of saved recipes plus all the new upgrades and hop database extension as new varieties are added. The developers have a discount code BeerSmith_2024 which you can use until 31 December 2024 to get 30% off a pro license.

From my perspective this particular tool would make a good addition for serious brewers looking for more detailed hop selection criteria as well as those who wish to do in-depth analysis on hoppy beers like IPAs. I hope to integrate some of these tools into BeerSmith over time, but Enrico and Giulio have a very nice tool available now for home and pro brewers.

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Dr Brad Smith was named the 2024 American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Governing Committee Recognition Award winner at the National Homebrew Competition Awards ceremony on 10 October 2024 in Denver. The award was presented by AHA Executive Director Julia Herz, who called it the “Highest Award in Homebrewing”.

First issued in 1998, the award is selected by the American Homebrewer’s Governing Committee each year to recognize a lifetime of outstanding service to the community of homebrewers. Brad said “I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this award. I never imagined the little Stout kit I first brewed in 1987 would lead to this. I would like to thank the Governing Committee, AHA and all of the homebrewers out there for your continued support!”

The Complete List of Recognition Award Winners Brad joins a distinguished list of AHA Recognition Award Winners:

• 2024 – Brad Smith (Clifton, VA)
• 2023 – Drew Beechum (Pasadena, CA)
• 2022 – Denny Conn (Noti, OR)
• 2021 – Gary Glass (Longmont, CO)
• 2020 – Jamil Zainasheff (Fairfield, CO)
• 2019 – Chris P. Frey (Hendersonville, NC)
• 2018 – Charlie Papazian (Boulder, CO)
• 2017 – Justin Crossley (Concord, CA)
• 2016 – Janis Gross (Tucson, AZ)
• 2015 – Stan Hieronymus (Saint Louis, MO)
• 2014 – Ken Schramm (Troy, MI)
• 2013 – Chris White (San Diego, CA)
• 2012 – Gordon Strong (Beavercreek, OH)
• 2011 – John Maier (Newport, OR)
• 2010 – Randy Mosher (Chicago, IL)
• 2009 – Ray Daniels (Chicago, IL)
• 2008 – Jim Kock (Boston, MA)
• 2007 – John Palmer (La Crescenta, CA)
• 2006 – Ralph Olson (Yakima, WA)
• 2005 – Joan & Ed Basham (Fort Worth, TX)
• 2004 – Dan Listermann (Cincinnati, OH)
• 2003 – Russ Wigglesworth (Petaluma, CA)
• 2002 – Mary Anne Gruber (Chilton, WI)
• 2001 – Scott Birdwell (Houston, TX)
• 2000 – Pat Babcock & Karl Lutzen (Canton Township, MA & Rolla, MO)
• 1999 – Alberta Rager (Shawnee, KS)
• 1998 – Charlie Olchowski (Greenfield, MA)
• 1997 – Greg Noonan (Burlington, VT)
• 1996 – Dave Miller (Nashville, TN)
• 1995 – Dave Line (England)
• 1994 – Jim Homer (Boulder, CO)
• 1993 – Dave Logsdon (Mount Hood, OR)
• 1992 – Ed Busch (Somerville, NJ)
• 1991 – George Fix (Arlington, TX)
• 1990 – Byron Burch (Santa Rosa, CA)
• 1989 – Pat Baker (Keene, NH)
• 1988 – Fred Eckhardt (Portland, OR)

Thanks again to the AHA for all they do for homebrewing, and a reminder you can join the AHA or renew your membership here! (Affiliate link) or use the discount code BeerSmith when joining or renewing.

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This week I take a look at some of the new no-boil beer kits that have entered the market and have the potential to bring new brewers into the hobby with a much lower time investment at a reasonable price.

It is arguably the best time ever to be a home brewer. The equipment, ingredients and base of knowledge we have access to as homebrewers have never been better, and home brewers have access to basically the same techniques and ingredients that pro brewers use. Despite this, home brewing as a hobby has been in decline since roughly 2014.

The reasons for this are multi-fold including improved Craft beer availability, lasting effects from COVID and demographic and drinking preference changes. However complexity has also played a role, as the majority of brewers have moved to all grain brewing in the last decade, and all grain brewing is neither simple nor easily approachable for new brewers. I started brewing with a bucket and a can of malt extract, and not a three tier all grain brewing system.

Two of my recent podcast guests are trying to change this, and bring simplicity back for new brewers. One is Chris Graham from MoreBeer who appeared on BeerSmith Podcast #309 talking about their new Flash Brewing kits. The other was Danny Monnot, operations manager at Pinter.com who appeared on BeerSmith Podcast #311 discussing his Pinter system.

These brewing systems and kits both offer a simplified no-boil approach to brewing. Basically you just sanitize your equipment, mix a malt/ingredient pouch with water, add yeast and possibly hop extract and ferment the beer for a week or two. This cuts the brew day from several hours to perhaps 15-20 minutes. The Flash Brewing kits are then bottled with their “pop shots” for priming. The Pinter system, which looks like a mini keg is not bottled but instead put in the fridge and served directly from the vessel. The entire process takes perhaps 2-3 weeks for the beer to ferment and age, but takes only an hour or two from the brewer.

Flash Brewing Kits from More Beer The team at MoreBeer has been working to develop their Flash brewing kits for several years now. Chris tells me the idea evolved from “fresh wort kits” popular in Australia but MoreBeer wanted a kit that could be more easily shipped. So they started working with major Malt suppliers to develop a special malt extract that would preserve the advantages and flavor of a malt-extract beer without having to boil. According to Chris it took quite a bit of time to reach the right malt base formula.

The flash kits also leverage the latest developments in hop products. Their kits include isomorized hop extracts and also many use Cryo hops during fermentation to give you not only the bitterness but also the great aroma you would get from a traditional boil and dry hop. MoreBeer also includes the appropriate dry yeast packet for the style of beer you are brewing.

Chris tells me that even though they originally targeted flash brewing towards new brewers, the kits have also become popular with experienced brewers who are looking to get back into the hobby or perhaps are just short on time. The quality of the beer, according to him, has been quite good.

Their flash brewing kits are currently sold in a 5 gallon (19 l) kit size (about 48 bottles of beer), so if you are an existing brewer you probably already have an existing bucket or fermenter that can be used to brew. They also separately do sell a simple equipment kit which is a 7 gallon Fermonster fermenter with a bottling wand and small bottle of sanitizer for first time brewers. The customer needs to provide or purchase about 48 bottles to bottle the beer when finished. To date there are roughly 9 kits available in styles including Pale Ale, Blonde Ale, Irish Red, German Hefeweizen, and a variety of IPAs. MoreBeer is planning to add more kits.

The Pinter Brewing System Pinter (pronounced like a pint of beer) takes a slightly different approach, centered around their “Pinter” vessel which looks like a small plastic keg. This is an “all-in-one” vessel where you mix your ingredients, ferment the beer, and then put it in the fridge to server your beer. The system includes a removable “brewing dock” which lets you remove the yeast and trub during fermentation resulting in a clearer beer. Each batch is smaller than the flash kits, roughly 12 pints or perhaps 16 standard bottles of beer.

The brewing process is simple as well. You sanitize the Pinter vessel, then mix the malt pouch with water and a yeast packet to start fermentation. The boil hop extract appears to be mixed in with the malt packet. They also have a “hopper” attachment with some kits that lets you add dry hops during fermentation. When fermentation is complete you remove the “brewing dock” which also separates the yeast sediment and then put the Pinter vessel in your fridge where you can directly server the beer. They have a phone app that walks you through the process which takes 7-14 days aging and less than 30 minutes invested time.

The Pinter kit is currently sold as a bundle with 2 ingredient kits at a pretty attractive bundle price. They have offered a $100 discount on new systems for a limited time (I get no kickbacks from this) if you use the code ‘BeerSmith49‘ or the link here to order a new Pinter system . As I mentioned makes roughly 12 pint servings in a single batch. They sell additional kits so you can reuse your Pinter vessel. You don’t need to bottle your beer as it is served directly from the Pinter vessel, but you do need space in your fridge to properly store and serve the beer. The Pinter vessel is roughly 9.5″ in diameter and 13.9″ deep, and comes in 3 colors. Currently about 22 kits are available in styles including IPAs, Pale Ales, Bitters, Hefeweizen, Stout, Brown Ale, Lagers, and even some Hard Seltzers and Ciders. They are also adding new kits all the time.

Closing Thoughts Will either of these systems replace my all grain brewing system soon? Probably not, but if you are looking to get a friend started in brewing these kits are a great way to introduce them to brewing. If you are an existing brewer who’s short on time or perhaps just getting back into the hobby these kits may be a good fit for you as well. From all I’ve heard they make reasonably good quality beer with a minimal investment in time – literally sanitize, mix the ingredients and let it ferment until you are ready to bottle or server it.

Thanks for joining me this week on the BeerSmith blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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I had the rare opportunity to travel around Central Europe a few weeks ago and while it was a vacation trip, I did have the chance to sample some of the local lagers and thought I might share my thoughts with you. I’m not a travel blogger, but I did enjoy the wonderful lagers we sampled in the region.

Czech Republic We started our trip in Prague, in an area well known as the home of Czech lagers as well as region where many popular Czech hops like Saaz are grown. We also traveled through the regions of Pilzen and near České Budějovice where Budvar is brewed. Prague features a Pilsner Urquell museum, and the beer was widely available in local restaurants though I opted for a few smaller local lagers instead.

The local pilsners I sampled were all excellent with an extremely clean finish, nice bright noble hop notes and gave homage to their Bavarian brewing roots. We also went to a local brewery in the old city for a beer tasting where we sampled a variety of craft beers. These included a hazy IPA, sour fruit beer, and an IPA based on Idaho-7 hops as well as some local pilsners. Some were excellent, and though a few craft beers had minor flaws it was still a great experience. I was extremely pleased to see not only was there an active Craft Beer movement in the country, but the local brewers were quite passionate about it.

We drove South to Český Krumlov, a cobblestone town and Castle in the southern Czech Republic. There I enjoyed an excellent semi-sweet spiced mead at a local restaurant. Ordering mead is always a somewhat risky endeavor as you never know what you might get, but this one was outstanding.

Slovakia and Vienna We unfortunately hit Vienna in the middle of one of the worst rainstorms in 50 years, so I was not able to venture out as much as I wished. Vienna had a mix of Czech lagers and German beers, but of course I had to order a local Vienna lager. I was somewhat surprised as it was lighter in color than I expected, but it was definitely brewed in the Bavarian style with a very clean finish, fresh noble hop note and high drinkability.

We made a mid-day stop in Bratsaslavia, Slovakia which has another charming cobblestone old town and castle on the Danube river. The local beer on tap here was Urpiner which is a European Pale Lager brewed in Slovakia. This beer had a bit more complexity to it, with some body, light sweetness and a different hop character than the Czech beers. I could not precisely place the hops, but the richer flavor went well with the pork dish I had for lunch.

Hungary and Poland We had only a short time in Budapest, and again the weather worked against us. When I ordered a draft beer at a local restaurant they brought me a Svijany, which is actually a Czech beer. It was light, fresh and had a beautiful hop note like all of the previous Czech lagers I enjoyed. The logos I saw posted reflected that Czech beers were popular here, though some local brands like Draher and Borsod were also present. I hope to get back again someday to explore Hungary more fully in better weather.

Next we spent a few nights in Krakow, Poland, which was the Capitol of Poland for many hundreds of years before it moved to Warsaw. Krakow has a huge old town and square as well as castle and cathedral that was left largely undamaged after WWII. The beer here reflected much of the same European/Czech lager styles we saw in the Czech republic. The beers are refreshing, clean and very drinkable with that nice Saaz noble hops note.

We finished in Warsaw, a city that was almost completely destroyed by Hitler after the Warsaw uprising, but painstakingly reconstructed by Poles after the war. The old town was meticulously rebuilt, including the Palace, two old town squares, churches and royal mile. Having sampled quite a few lagers, I went for a wheat beer on the square. I believe it was a Książęce Złote Pszeniczne based on the glass used. It was served with yeast, and had many of the notes of a Bavarian Weizen, though the banana/clove flavor was slightly more muted than the Bavarian variant and had a slightly darker color. It was very drinkable though.

Overall Impressions Palace in Warsaw Let me first start by saying, I was incredibly impressed with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Vienna (Austria), Poland and Hungary. While some Americans think of these in terms of the Cold War, the fact is that the Iron Curtain only lasted a little over 40 years, which is a blip in time compared to the vibrant local cultures developed over many hundreds and thousands of years. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which at times covered much of this region, lasted over 800 years and built many of these impressive cities. The people were incredibly friendly, the food was outstanding and not surprisingly the beer was also fantastic. Prices were quite reasonable considering the strength of the dollar compared to local currencies.

As I mentioned this was not really a beer trip, so I did not make a concerted effort to sample a large number of beers, instead ordering whatever was local or on tap. The super clean, super fresh Czech lager styles seemed the dominant beer style in most of these countries, though they also served many Vienna lagers, German lager and wheat styles. In the larger cities, there was a vibrant craft brewing culture growing as well with many offering IPAs, Hazy IPAs, Porters, sours and fruit beers.

I would recommend any of these cities if you are a beer (or food) fan as there is plenty to see, sample and enjoy!

Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media and give my BeerSmith software a try if you enjoy brewing your own beer.

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Professional brewer Danny Monnot joins me this week to discuss Pale Ales and his new project to make home brewing more accessible with the Pinter brewing system.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:40) * Today I welcome Danny Monnot. Danny started in Craft Brewing in 2013, and was the head brewer at Platform Beer Co in Cleveland. After being acquired by Anheuser-Bush, the brewery merged but was eventually shuttered due to recent downsizing. Danny has now joined Pinter creating small easy to use brewing kits for home brewers. Links: Pinter.com | Pinter on Facebook | Instagram: @pinterusa | Youtube * NOTE: Pinter has offered their Pinter kit/package for $100 off to BeerSmith listeners: Use discount code “BEERSMITH49” or this direct link to order. * We start with a bit about Danny’s brewing history including his experience being acquired and eventually shuttered by a large brewing company. We talk about how many breweries were acquired but then later shed by the larger brewers as craft brewing has entered a slowdown. * We discuss the “New Cleveland” Pale Ale, brewed by Platform brewing which won a GABF silver medal. We start with a discussion of Pale Ales which were arguably the breakout beer for many craft breweries before the IPA revolution took over. * Danny explains what makes American Pale Ales unique including their American hops and clean finish California yeast strains. * We talk about how “New Cleveland” was a Pale Pilsner Hybrid which means it did not fit neatly into the American Pale Ale tradition, but instead used pilsner malt and noble hops. * Danny details some other work he’s done on whirlpool and dry hopping and some of the things he’s found about dry hopping. * He provides his tips to make a great Pale Ale * Next we discuss his new job as operations manager at Pinter. Pinter is a new single vessel no-boil brewing system that lets you easily brew beer at home with minimal effort. * Danny shows us the Pinter brewing vessel which lets you mix, ferment and serve from a single vessel and includes an attachment to help remove the fermented yeast and trub from the vessel. * The entire process basically is to sanitize the vessel, add the ingredients and let it ferment for several days. Later you move it into your fridge when you can directly server beer from the unit. The entire process takes roughly 2-3 weeks, and requires no boil or mash. * We talk about how Pinter can help attract new brewers to home brewing and make homebrewing easier for the casual brewer. * Danny shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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We performed a major server upgrade on 25 August 2024 which led to some older Mac’s (OSX 11 or earlier) having problems accessing the BeerSmithRecipes.com web server and also the activation server. Since I’ve had several questions about this in the last few weeks I thought I should post the fix here.

Unfortunately many older Mac OSX 10.x versions have an old version of openSSL dating from 2017 or earlier, which can’t properly validate new SSL certificates for the current web site, and these versions of OSX are no longer being updated by Apple. There is a fix which involves updating the trusted certificate list for the SSL stack (just one file actually):

You can do this from the file finder on the Mac but you need admin permissions:

• Save this attached cert.pem file off to someplace like your Desktop
• Open the Apple File Finder (normal file manager)
• On the Go menu->Go To Folder…
• In the dialog type “/etc/ssl” without the quotes and press OK
• This should take you to the /etc/ssl directory which has the old “cert.pem” file in it.
• You can drag the old cert.pem (in that directory) somewhere else (like your documents folder) if you want to keep a backup copy (not required)
• Then try dragging the new cert.pem (one I sent you) into that folder and overwrite the one that is there
• It will likely ask for a password as that is a protected directory (you need admin permissions)
• If that works try restarting BeerSmith

Note: the “cert.pem” file linked above was extracted from Mozilla Firefox dated 24 Sep 2024. Some users may wish to get a updated version. Libcurl publishes an update periodically here. If you wish to export your own list from a trusted browser or a newer Mac there are sites online describing how to do so.

Thanks,

Brad Smith, BeerSmith.com

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Stan Hieronymus joins me this week to discuss thiols, the World Brewing Congress, new hop varieties and much more.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (57:33) * Today on the show I welcome back Stan Hieronymus. Stan is an expert on hops and author of the books For the Love of Hops, Brew Like a Monk, Brewing Local and Brewing with Wheat (Amazon affiliate links). He is also a certified BJCP beer judge and author of dozens of periodicals on brewing. * We open the show with a discussion about hop thiols and how we are still learning new things about thiols in beer. Stan attended quite a few presentations at the World Beer Congress where they discussed the importance of thiols and their interaction with other compounds in brewing. * Stan mentioned the thiol list of high impact, medium impact and low impact hops for 90 varieties. He has the list in his newsletter here. * Stan also provides his short list of high thiol hops to use including Citra, Mosaic, Equinoc, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy and Nectaron. * We talk about how a homebrewer might exploit high thiol hops along with thiol enhancing yeast and additives to add more fruity aroma and flavor to their IPAs. We also talk about what can happen if you overdo it! * We discuss new hop products including the new Abstrax hop oils. These are interesting as they can be added “to taste” at bottling or even in the glass and they are also made from a unique extract process. * Stan goes into detail on some of the new emerging hops including Krush, Peacherine, Manuta, MacKenzie, Alora and Helios. * We talk about changes to the overall hop market including the current “oversupply” of some hops that is bringing prices down temporarily for some varieties. * Stan offers his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Chris Graham, President of MoreBeer joins me this week to discuss Flash Brewing as well as some new equipment and Abstrax hop products.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (47:43) * Today on the show I welcome back Chris Graham. Chris is President of MoreBeer and has been brewing for over 25 years. Chris has taught at the Siebel institute and is a former board member on the Brewer’s Association Board of Directors and the American Homebrewer’s Association Governing Council. * Chris dives right in with “Flash Brewing” which is a no-boil, no mash method for making beer kits very quickly. * We discuss what Flash Brewing is and what motivated his team to develop them. * Chris explains how the flash brewing kits are different than other no-boil or fast brew kits and how technology has played a big role in making them feasible. * We talk about the brewing process which is basically mixing the kit with water, adding the hop extract and yeast and then letting it ferment. * The process can be completed in 2-3 weeks including fermentation and bottling. * We discuss the equipment needed, and how the kits are becoming popular with even experienced brewers. * Chris talks about how the kits have been received, and what the advantages and limitations are. * We also discuss how Flash Brewing was inspired by an Australian method called “Fresh Wort”. * Chris also discusses the new X3 conical line from Brew Built * We spend a few minutes on the “Abstrax” line of hop extracts which are made in a unique way and can be added “to taste” directly to a finished beer. * Chris offers his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Scott Mast from Hang ‘Em High Hops joins me this week to discuss how to grow and dry hops at home.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (52:51) * This week I welcome back hop farmer Scott Mast. Scott Mast is a hop farmer in Michigan with 10 years in the business and owner of Hang’em High Hops, which sells Great Lakes varieties to professional and home brewers. * We start with a discussion of Scott’s expansion both of his online hop and beer supply offerings and his hop farm in Michigan. * We discuss the basics of growing hops at home and how hops are grown from rhizomes and not seeds. We also talk about why female plants are used and how measures are taken to ensure the purity of a given variety. * Scott explains public versus proprietary licensed hop varieties and how the licensing works for proprietary hops. We also talk about where you can purchase hop rhizomes to grow hops at home. * Next we discuss the ideal soil and environment for hops. They enjoy a wet environment but require good drainage as they do not like to sit in water. We also discuss why the northern states have the best overall climate. * Scott talks about how hops take on the “terroir” or character of their local soil, and why growing hops in the Midwest creates its own combination of flavors. * We talk about how hop bines grow on a trellis and Scott provides some great tips to save time training your hop plants. * Scott explains why it can take several seasons for a hop to reach full commercial production, but he also says you can use your first season hop cones as a homebrewer. * We discuss harvesting the hops and how the decision is made on exactly when to harvest them. * Scott and I talk about fresh or “wet hops” which can be used for brewing but have a very short shelf life. * We also discuss how you can dry your hops at home using a few methods so your hops can be stored and used months from now. * Scott offers his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I continue my series on brewing low alcohol and non alcoholic beers. I’ll cover new low-alcohol yeasts, arrested fermentation and also provide tips on finishing and packaging your low alcohol beer. In Part 1, I covered basic methods and achieving proper beer balance. In part 2, I wrote about boil off, distillation and low fermentability wort methods. Today I’m going to cover low alcohol yeasts, arrested fermentation and carbonation and long term beer stability.

Low Alcohol Yeasts One of the most promising new developments in low alcohol beer brewing is the availability of low alcohol yeasts. These special yeasts are bred or engineered to ferment a beer while producing very low levels of alcohol. I’ve sampled some commercial examples of these beers and they are surprisingly good if you can achieve the right malt/hop/body balance when formulating your recipe.

The key with this method is using “maltotriose negative” yeasts that will easy ferment simple sugars like glucose, fructose and maltose, but these strains have a very limited ability to ferment longer sugar strains like maltotriose and dextrins. This results in much lower levels of alcohol produced in the final beer. Some strians are also maltose-negative, meaning they won’t ferment maltose either. A yeast that is both maltose and maltotriose negative will only ferment simple sugars like glucuse, and will produce the lowest levels of alcohol.

I should also note that often these low alcohol yeasts are combined with the low fermentability wort methods covered in part 2, including using a high temperature mash, and relatively low starting gravity with a matched hop rate to achieve good beer balance and body. A high mash temperature, for instance, will produce more unfermentable sugars and maltotriose which will not ferment with a low alcohol yeast.

Maltotriose and Maltose negative yeasts are a relatively new offering for many yeast labs. Many of these are non-Saccromyces strains, and some are GMO though there are quite a few non-GMO strains available. There are also some challenges with producing these strains commercially as they don’t ferment many common sugars so production yields are lower. As a result they can be more expensive than conventional yeast strains.

Most of these yeast strains produce low levels of 12-15% attenuation, and some require pH adjustment of the wort for best results. Using proper techniques, it is possible to ferment a beer in the 1-2% ABV range or lower using these strains. Care must also be taken with finish and packaging as some strains are prone to further fermentation in the bottle.

Some of the strains available to homebrewers include:

• WLP618 Saccharomycodes Ludwiggi (White Labs) – A neutral strain with some ethyl acetate production, but low maltose and maltotriose consumption.
• WLP603 Torulaspora Delbrueckii (White Labs) – Will not ferment maltose of maltotriose. Fruity, high ester profile suitable for Belgians, Saisons and fruity IPAs.
• WLP686 Zygosaccharomyces Lentus (White Labs) – A neutral strain with partial inability to ferment maltose. However difficult to grow/reproduce.
• SafBrew LA-01 (Fermentis) – A Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. chevalieri variant, this yeast does not ferment maltose or maltotriose. A fairly subtle, neutral aromatic profile for low alcohol beers.
• LalBrew LoNa Hybrid Yeast (Lallemand) – A maltose-negative and maltotriose negative hybrid yeast. A clean fermenting ale yeast with a neutral flavor, no phenolics or aldehydes. They recommend pasteurization of the finished beer for stability.
• SmartBev NEER (CHR-Hansen) – A maltose and maltotriose negative yeast that only metabolizes monasaccharides. Lowers malt profile, and yields a neutral malt profile with good mouthfeel. Produces very low alcohol levels. They recommend using oxygen dosing at start of fermentation. Also you may find my interview with Simon Carlsen from CHR Hanson interesting here.
• WSL-17 Saccharomycodes Ludwigii (Hefebank Weihenstephan) – Another maltose and maltotriose negative strain for lor alcohol beer production.

The list above is in no way comprehensive, as major yeast labs are adding new low alcohol strains all the time. I personally believe that using low alcohol yeast strains along with techniques like higher mash temperatures is probably the easiest way to produce consistent low alcohol beer at home.

Arrested Fermentation The idea behind arrested fermentation is to halt the fermentation when the beer reaches a target alcohol level. At the commercial level, brewers can flash pasteurize a beer to kill of the yeast. You can achieve a similar result by rapidly raising your fermenting beer to 140F (60 C) for about 15 minutes, but in practice this can be difficult for the homebrewer to achieve without transferring the beer to smaller vessels. Ideally you want to transition the temperature very quickly and maintain the elevated temperature for only a short period to pasteurize without adversely affecting the flavor of the beer.

You can also chill beer to near freezing which will deactivate the yeast, and then filter the yeast out using an appropriate filter. This is a practical solution for home brewers who have access to refrigeration and suitable filters.

Finally you can use Potassium Sorbate (sorbate) and potassium metabisulfite (sulfite) to inhibit fermentation. This is widely done in mead and cider production before backsweetening to prevent further fermentation. The problem with this approach is that the sorbate/sulfite combination only prevents further growth and reproduction of the yeast cells and it does not actually halt ongoing fermentation. So fermentation can continue even after the sorbate/sulfites are added. However the sorbate/sulfite combination is an effective preservative if you want to prevent a secondary fermentation after packaging and it provides some level of oxygen protection as well.

Reverse Osmosis, Centrifuge Separation These techniques are used at the commercial level to halt fermentation and separate the yeast from the beer which prevents further fermentation. Except for the cold filtering method (mentioned above under Arrested Fermentation), most of these techniques are not really practical at the homebrew level. Most homebrewers don’t have a centrifuge or osmosis system designed to separate alcohol in their basement.

Carbonating, Packaging and the Stability of Low Alcohol Beer Low alcohol beers present additional challenges when we age, package and store them. Because of the very low alcohol levels and lower hop levels needed to achieve beer balance, these beers are prone to both the restart of fermentation and also infection. Alcohol and hops are key preservatives, so lower levels of both present risks. Also there is the challenge of carbonation, which typically cannot be done naturally with sugar/yeast without risking a restart of fermentation.

To solve the carbonation problem, you are largely restricted to forced carbonation using a keg and CO2. You can later bottle the beer from the keg using something like a beer gun, but it is very difficult to naturally carbonate and bottle these beers without the risk of either a flat beer or bottle bomb.

To reduce the risk of infection and the restart of fermentation, commercial beers use a combination of filtering, pasteurization and preservatives. At the homebrew level, you can purchase suitable filters to remove the yeast by transferring your beer from one keg to another through the filter. You can also pasteurize beer as mentioned above by rapidly heating it to approximately 140 F (60 C) for 10-15 minutes and then rapidly cooling it back down to minimize time exposed. This can be done after bottling, as the smaller bottles transfer the heat better.

For preservatives, the above mentioned potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfate combination is effective at inhibiting further yeast growth and also the sulfites provide some antibiotic and antioxidant protection. Some brewers mention this can alter the flavor slightly, but not necessarily in a negative way. There is a sulfite/sorbate calculator for this purpose in BeerSmith.

Finally I will mention it is best to store these beers cold if you have the capability. Heating your beer ages them rapidly, and since these beers are more susceptible to infection, oxygen and aging it is best to keep them cold to maximize shelf life.

Conclusion Even though this was a three part series, there is still quite a bit more that could be written about low alcohol beers and brewing. In addition to the technical details of the methods above, and the topic of beer balance I touched on in part 1, you can research further topics like controlling pH for these beers, the wide use of whirlpool and dry hopping to create aromatics and much more. However, I hope you enjoyed this three part overview on low alcohol beers.

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This week I continue my series on low alcohol and non alcohol brewing for home brewers. Last week in Part 1, I introduced some of the techniques used and discussed overall strategies for maintaining the proper balance in the beer. This week I’m going to dive into more detail on methods that can be practically used at home, and we’ll cover additional methods in part 3.

The Boil Off/Distillation Method First up is probably the oldest method for making a low alcohol beer at home. In this method you brew and ferment a traditional beer, though you typically make it slightly under-strength. Then you heat the finished beer in an oven or pot at a temperature above 173 F (78 C) but less than the boiling point of water (212 F/100 C). The idea is to boil off the alcohol but leave behind the beer. In a commercial system, this is often done using a vacuum distillation system which boils off the alcohol in a vacuum. Such a system lowers the boiling point so less heating is involved.

While this is arguably the simplest method for an average homebrewer as all it requires is a large pot and reasonable temperature control, there are some significant downsides:

• The Alcohol-Beer Azeotrope – Beer and water form an azeotrope, or mixture that is hard to distill. The reason for this is that as the alcohol is boiled off, the vapor has the same proportions as the unboiled constituents (i.e. alcohol and water). The vapor pressure of the mixture makes it harder to separate, with the net effect of making the entire process take longer. Heating your beer for a long time is not good. Vacuum distillation systems used at the commercial level avoid this problem as the low pressures used mitigate the effect.
• Heating Changes The Flavor – Unfortunately heating the finished beer to near boiling temperatures for an extended period of time affects the beer in negative ways, similar to rapidly aging your beer. In fact many commercial brewers will heat their beer to simulate the effects of aging. Heating also kicks off melanoidin transformations that darken and age the beer further.
• Long Boil Times with Unpredictable Results – Because the azeotrope effect slows the entire process, the amount of time needed to achieve a target alcohol level of, for example, 0.5% is hard to accurately predict. Some homebrew sources say it could take as much as 2-5 hours to reduce the alcohol level to 5-10% of the starting level. So a 5% starting beer might take 2-3 hours of heating to achieve a 0.5% target. And you can’t really measure the final alcohol content without sending a sample to a lab as a hydrometer or refractometer won’t work here.

Low Fermentability Wort Methods For the purpose of simplicity, I’m combining a few methods here that all have the goal of achieving a wort that has low fermentability so when we ferment our beer it ends with a low alcohol level. Typically we’re not going to achieve the 0.5% ABV threshold here, but this method may be suitable for a beer that is only 1-2% or you can combine these methods with a low alcohol yeast (covered in part 3) to achieve the 0.5% ABV threshold. For example, creating a low fermentability wort in the 1.010-1.030 range might give us a finished beer in the 0.5-2% ABV range. Also these methods are often used in combination with other methods. This includes:

• High Temperature Mash: We normally mash our grains in the 143-158 F (62-70 C) range which activates both Alpha and Beta amylase, the two main enzymes used in mashing. Beta amylase cuts short fermentable chains from starches, but is active in the lower part of that range. Alpha amylase, which is active in the higher portion of that temperature range, chops starches into chains of random lengths. As a result it tends to create longer sugar chains that are less fermentable. So if we mash at a high temperature of 162-180 F (72-80 C) we’ll create a beer with more body and relatively few fermentables.
• Cold Steeping/Quick Mash: While not technically a mash, you can “cold steep” your grains in water for anywhere from a few hours to a day. This will extract a lot of the color and flavor from the malt but leave very little in terms of fermentables. One popular variation of this then heats the grains to the high end of normal mashing temperatures rapidly for a short 10-15 minute mash and then moves directly to the boil. This develops just a small amount of fermentables needed to achieve 0.5-3% beer from a low gravity wort. The combination of the long cold steep and very short mash retains the proteins and starches for good body in the beer as well as good head retention.

With either of the above methods you can create a wort that is low in fermentability and then use either standard yeast, low alcohol yeast or an arrested fermentation (covered in part 3) to create a beer with good body.

Next week in part 3 I’m going to discuss some of the new low alcohol yeasts that make great beer but produce very little alcohol as well as arrested fermentation and other considerations for carbonating and finishing your low alcohol beer. So stay tuned for part 3!

Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week Skip Schwartz joins me from Weldwerks Brewing to discuss brewing the perfect Hazy IPA.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (44:23) * This week I welcome back Skip Schwartz, Head Brewer at Weldwerks Brewing. Skip joins us today to discuss Hazy IPAs. * We start with a short discussion of some of the new products coming out at Weldwerks. * Skip provides a description of the Hazy IPA style which is a uniquely American Craft beer style (also called New England IPA). * We discuss a bit about the history of the style and how it became so popular so quickly. * Skip starts with the grain bill and explains how it contributes to a permanent haze in the beer. We also talk about how you achieve the “fluffy” mouthfeel. * Skip explains why water with some Calcium Chloride is important for softening the beer, and how this approach is the opposite of many IPAs. * We talk about the mash schedule he uses. * Skip tells us how he achieves the tropical fruit finish through the generous use of whirlpool and dry hops with no boil hops. * We discuss biotransformations and he explains that they reuse yeast and try to avoid an early dry hop addition for that reason. * Skip tells us about hop creep and we discuss how they maintain the freshness of their beer once its put into cans. * We talk about thiol boosting yeast and other thiol enhancing technologies and his experience with it. * Skip closes with his thoughts on making the perfect Hazy IPA.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or link at the top of the page) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at some popular methods for making low alcohol beer at home. Commercial brewers use similar methods when brewing low alcohol and non-alcoholic beers.

Low Alcohol and Zero Alcohol Beer Here in the US, non-alcoholic beer is defined by the US Food and Drug administration as beers containing alcohol levels of 0.5% ABV or less. Zero or no alcohol beer is defined as having an alcohol level of 0.05% or less, though in practice only a handful of commercial beers in the US are truly 0% alcohol. While state laws vary, non-alcoholic beer may be sold to those under the legal drinking age of 21 in most states.

The UK adds an third level of low alcohol with a higher limit of 1.2% ABV, while much of the EU considers beers below 0.5% ABV as alcohol free.

Traditionally, many low alcohol beers were panned by beer drinkers due to poor quality and taste, but in recent years many improvements have been made in the quality and taste of low-alcohol beers making them a popular option for those who want to enjoy a beer without alcohol. These beers provide a good option for designated drivers, casual drinkers, those with health restrictions and those who choose to avoid alcohol for other reasons.

Methods for Making Low Alcohol Beer Here are the top level methods for making low alcohol beer. Note there are a lot of variations possible and in some cases multiple methods are applied to achieve the desired result:

• Boil Off or Distillation (Vacuum): Brew and ferment a beer that contains alcohol, and then boil off the alcohol while leaving the beer. Alcohol boils off at a around 173 F (78.3 C) so you can boil the alcohol off without boiling off the water in the beer. Commercially this is often done under a vacuum which lowers the boiling point further. The downside of this method is that heating the beer changes the taste of it, often in negative ways.
• Low Starting Gravity with Low Fermentability: You can start with a small grain bill, and then use either very high mash temperatures or a cold mash (steep) to create a wort that is low gravity but also has few fermentables. This can result in very little fermentation though it can be difficult to properly balance flavor of the finished beer.
• Yeast Selection or Arrested Fermentation: There are some new low-alcohol yeast strains which do a great job of fermenting malt while producing very low levels of ethanol (alcohol). Using these yeast strains you can start with a slightly low gravity wort and end up with a well balanced beer that still has low alcohol. I’ve tasted some commercial examples made with these yeasts that were surprisingly good. Similarly you can halt a normal fermentation prematurely to achieve a similar effect using sulfites/sorbates (or similar chemicals).
• Reverse Osmosis, Membrane Filtering and Centrifuge Separation: Though hard to do at home, you can use osmosi, a filter, or centrifuge to separate the alcohol out in a finished beer. This method can produce zero alcohol beers as well as low alcohol beers from a normal finished beer.

In part 2, I’m going to discuss several of the methods above and how they can be applied to homebrewing.

General Principles for Low Alcohol Beers Before I go into detail on the methods above (part 2), I wanted to discuss some general principles for formulating low alcohol beers. Because of the low alcohol levels these beers do require a slightly different approach than a traditional beer.

Achieving Mouthfeel and Body – The first principle that I wanted to discuss is achieving the proper mouthfeel and body in the beer. Because a low alcohol beer has a low starting and finishing gravity, many of these beers taste “thin” in body with little or no malt character. To counteract this you do need to formulate your malt bill to have specialty malts that add malt character and body to the beer. For a lighter beer this might include adding adjuncts like Carafoam, very light crystal/caramel malts or lightly colored kilned malts like Munich, Vienna or even a bit of amber or biscuit malt.

For darker beers, you can add roasted malts, but you should make an effort to avoid tannic and harsh zone malts as the tannins or harshness often has no counterpoint to balance a low alcohol beer. Another trick is to use adjuncts that may not be as fermentable or even steep malts without mashing them which will leave more unfermented starches in the finished beer.

Work with a Low Starting Gravity – No matter what method you choose to reduce the alcohol, most of these beers start with a low starting gravity. If you are working with a special low alcohol yeast, you want to keep the gravity low to avoid too much alcohol byproduct. If you are boiling or distilling the alcohol off you want to minimize the beer’s exposure to heat by again keeping the starting alcohol low. The same is true for other methods.

Balance Hops and Malt – Because your low alcohol beer will in general have a lower starting and finishing gravity, care must also be taken to maintain a proper malt-hop balance. The bitterness ratio is a very good method to achieve the proper balance. For a given style of beer, take a look at a few sample beers from the style and calculate the bitterness ratio (link here explains how). Then try to achieve roughly the same bitterness ratio using your low estimated starting/ending gravity for your low alcohol beer.

That’s a quick overview of low alcohol and non alcohol beer brewing. Next week in part 2 I’ll present some of the methods above in more detail that are practical for a typical homebrewer. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week Jamil Zainasheff joins me to discuss the state of Craft and Home brewing as well as his upcoming book Modern Homebrewing.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:40) * This week I welcome back Jamil Zainasheff. Jamil is an award winning professional and home brewer. Jamil authored the books “Brewing Classic Styles” and “The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation” and also co-hosts the “Brew Strong” podcast on the Brewing Network. * Jamil tells us about his new book “Modern Homebrewing” which he just finished and should be published this coming Fall. * We talk about the recent slowdown in Craft brewing and some of the reasons behind it, including intervention by some of the largest breweries. * Jamil also shares his thoughts on the lasting impact of Craft Beer which has entrenched itself in virtually every city and town in the US. * We also discuss the continued decline in home brewing numbers, though we are both quite certain homebrewing is here to stay. In some ways, homebrewing has evolved significantly over the last 10 years. * Jamil shares why this is perhaps the best time to be a homebrewer due to the wide availability of high quality equipment, ingredients and a huge base of brewing knowledge. * We also talk about the resurgence of many homebrew clubs in the wake of COVID. Though many of them took a hit, some are recovering quickly. * Jamil shares his advice for people looking to enter the hobby. * We talk about homebrewing and how it has been an engine for Craft Beer innovation and will likely continue to do so. * Jamil shares some of the innovative beers he’s had recently, and some trends in beer styles. * We discuss some of the home brewing Jamil has done since leaving the Pro brewing side. * Jamil shares his best advice for brewers, and his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

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Imperial Stout This week I take a look at fermentation considerations when brewing a very high gravity beer such as an Imperial Stout or Barley Wine. Last week in Part 1, I covered several methods for achieving a very high starting gravity.

Selecting Your Yeast Now that you have a high gravity wort, you need to consider how you are going to ferment it in a consistent manner to achieve your target finishing gravity. One of the worst things that can happen with a high gravity brew is a stuck fermentation where the final gravity is too high and you end up with a sickly sweet mess instead of the well balanced beer you were shooting for.

The first step in this is yeast selection. You want to pick a yeast strain that has both a high alcohol tolerance and good attenuation. All yeast strains have a limited alcohol tolerance, and many beer yeast strains can only handle 8-10% alcohol. This is obviously a problem if you are making a 12-15% stout or barley wine. So its time to actually do a bit of research and pull up the yeast specs on the web.

Ideally you want a yeast can handle higher alcohol, something in the 15%-18% range. Many of these yeasts are wine or champagne yeasts, and these yeasts are often quite suitable for beer. However, some Belgian yeasts as well as some California ale yeasts can reach into the 13% range.

Hand in hand with this you should look at the attenuation of the yeast strain. Higher attenuation yeasts will ferment a higher percentage of the available sugars and often do so more cleanly with less stress.

Pitching and Early Fermentation When you pitch yeast into a new environment it takes some time to acclimatize and begin to properly regulate the membrane at the cellular wall. This is particularly true for dry yeast which has to both hydrate and regulate itself in a very short period of time.

At extremely high gravities, another concern is osmotic shock, which I detailed in this article. In very high gravity beers the sugar concentration of the wort can be so high it can actually cause the cell wall to fail before the cell has time to adjust, resulting in a high mortality rate for your pitched yeast. The solution as outlined in the linked article is to take time to hydrate dry yeast and also slowly introduce wort to your yeast so it has time to adjust to the full gravity.

Another consideration is aeration. Because of the high gravity, the yeast needs as much oxygen during early fermentation as possible. I recommend aerating your wort using pure oxygen or an oxygen wand before pitching your yeast. In addition, for beers above 1.080 in starting gravity it is very common to add a second dose of oxygen about 12 hours into the fermentation. The double dose of oxygen aids in rapid yeast expansion during the early growth phase.

Good temperature control is also important, particularly during early fermentation. Because of the high gravity the fermentation can run hot and if you don’t control the temperature it can result in higher production of fusel alcohols, esters and other off-flavors.

Fermentation and Aging Assuming your fermentation went well, the next consideration is aging your beer as most high gravity styles require extensive aging. The first thing you want to do is make sure your fermentation is truly complete with a stable final gravity that does not change over a period of several days. I also like to leave my beer in the primary fermenter until most of the yeast has fallen out. You can aid this precipitation by cold crashing your beer once you are certain fermentation activity has ended.

Once the yeast has fallen out it is important to separate the yeast from the beer, as extended aging over a period of months can lead to off flavors if left on the yeast cake. On a conical fermenter this is as simple as drawing the yeast from the bottom of the vessel, but if you are fermenting in a carboy or bucket you will need to transfer the beer to a secondary fermenter or barrel if you are barrel aging.

HIgh gravity beers often require extensive aging. Ideally you want to avoid any oxygen during aging and maintain a controlled environment for the beer. For barrels it is a good idea to periodically top up the barrels with beer to replace the “angels share” that evaporates through the barrels.

It is very common to add spices or blend the finished beer. Due to the very high finishing gravity, a raw Barley Wine or Imperial Stout can often be too malty or sweet. To achieve proper balance you need tannins and acids from oak, wood, spices and dark malts.

Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Scott Janish joins me this week to discuss mash hopping and steps he takes to control oxygen and enhance long term beer stability.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (40:54) * This week I welcome back Scott Janish. Scott is author of the recent book “The New IPA: A Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor” (Amazon affiliate link) and also co-founder of the Sapwood Cellars brewery in Columbia, Maryland. * Scott starts with a short discussion of his recent activities at Sapwood Cellars. * We begin with mash hopping and why Scott thinks mash hopping with a small amount of hops is a good idea for beer stability. * We discuss how much mash hops to use and what the benefits are from his perspective. * Scott also discusses his thoughts on mash hopping for tropical flavors, though he prefers to use them for beer stability reasons. * We next talk about using pomegranate extract to help improve beer stability and reduce metals in your beer. * Scott dives into minimizing oxygen uptake in a finished beer and several of the steps he’s taken to control oxygen and enhance beer stability. * We discuss how many of these techniques could be carried over to homebrewing. * Scott gives us his closing thoughts on mash hopping and beer stability.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at the brewing of very high gravity beers to include styles like Barley Wines and extreme Imperial Stouts. These beers require somewhat special handling as it can be hard to achieve the very high starting gravity and a good fermentation, and in addition they often require extensive aging.

Very High Gravity Beers I’ve previously covered high gravity brewing in both articles and podcasts. A few notable ones include my articles How to Brew Big, High Gravity Brewing with BeerSmith and my interview with Michael Tonsmeire on very high gravity barrel aged stouts. These covered many of the basic techniques for brewing higher gravity beers, which is generally considered beers that are 1.080 starting gravity and up.

Today I’m going to go into what I might call extreme high gravity beer brewing, which starts at 1.100 and often can go much higher. This primarily encompasses two styles: Barley Wine and Imperial Stouts, though a few other styles fall into this range like Eisbock or Sahti.

The flavor challenge all extreme high gravity beers face is maintaining some balance in the beer. Due to the extreme starting gravities, these beers usually also have a high finishing gravity. This means they will have a lot of malty sweetness that needs to be offset by something else. In the case of Eisbock and Imperial Stout we’re relying on tannins from the dark malts, sometimes combined with tannins from wood aging to offset the sweetness. For the Finnish Sahti style, rye and juniper along with a strong banana-clove flavor provides balance. English Barleywine is the odd man out as it embraces a rich malty finish and compliments it with a generous dose of caramel malts.

Brewing Very High Gravity Beers When we discuss very high gravity beers the first challenge is how to achieve the extreme starting gravity. With some extreme imperial barrel aged stouts starting in the 1.160 OG range, you can’t use a traditional mash on these beers. There is simply not enough space in a standard mash tun and even if there was you would get such poor mash efficiency (due to the low total water/grain ratio) that it would be hopeless.

So we are left with a few options to achieve extreme beer gravities:

• An Extremely Long Boil – Many commercial brewers use two or more separate mashes at merely “high” gravities and then boil them down over a long period of time, often 24 hours or more to achieve their high target gravity. Sometimes the second mash is done while the first one is boiling, with the total wort boiled down even further.
• Malt Extract or Sugar Additions – Both commercial and home brewers can brew a moderately high gravity wort and then directly add malt extract or various sugars to boost the original gravity higher before boiling and fermenting. This is probably the easiest way for a home brewer to achieve very high gravities.
• The Eisbock Method – Eisbock is made not from an extremely high starting gravity but actually by freezing the finished beer and removing the ice that forms, leaving a higher alcohol beer behind. Water freezes at 32 F (0 C) while alcohol has a freezing point of -173 F (-114 C) so chilling separates the two. The process, called “freeze distillation”, is illegal commercially in the US without a distillers license, and some care must be taken as you are also concentrating fusel alcohols like methanol which can be toxic at high concentration.

Overall the malt extract/sugar method is probably the easiest for a home brewer. Simply start with as much grain as you can fit in your mash tun and then add either malt extract (liquid or dry) or sugars as needed to achieve your finishing gravity. Be aware that sugars ferment at a higher rate, so you may get more attenuation during fermentation and a lower finishing gravity if you use sugar.

Next week in Part 2 I will look at some of the fermentation considerations that come into play with very high gravity beers. In particular, you need to ensure a good starting environment and good yeast health or you will end up with a stuck fermentation and very high final gravity leaving a beer that is sickly sweet.

Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I look at methods to reduce oxygen in your finished beer. Oxygen is known to negatively impact beer flavor and long term stability.

While oxygen is widely used at the beginning of fermentation to aid in yeast growth, the yeast effectively scrubs virtually all of the oxygen out of the beer during fermentation. However it is very easy to inadvertently add oxygen during dry hopping, aging, transfers, kegging, bottling and storage. Today we’re going to talk about why oxygen is bad in a finished beer and what you can do to mitigate it.

Why Oxygen is Bad in Finished Beer Free oxygen in a finished beer can easily react with compounds in the beer to create off flavors. Some of the most reactive of these include metals in the beer, which primarily come your base water and from minerals consumed by the malt or hops during growth. There is, in fact, a relatively new branch of brewing research focused on using antioxidant additives to reduce these metals.

However oxygen can also react with other compounds including polyphenols from the malt and hops, creating haze and changing the hop balance. It oxidizes aroma compounds taking the fresh edge off of your hoppy IPA. Oxygen can activate microorganisms like acetobacter creating vinegar. Oxygen also reacts with melanoidins (color compounds) in the beer creating stale sherry like flavors in darker beers and other compounds to create the classic cardboard “stale beer” flavor.

Suffice it to say, that oxygen is bad for your finished beer, and that commercial brewers go to great lengths to minimize the oxygen in their beers.

What Can a Homebrewer Do to Minimize Oxygen? Most beginning homebrewers are not aware of the damage oxygen can do, and don’t take many precautions. Obviously to some degree you are limited by your equipment, though many modern stainless fermenters allow things like CO2 purging and pressurized transfers. Here are a few things you can do depending on your equipment and experience level:

• Minimize Transfers – Every time you transfer your beer you run the risk of adding oxygen. For this reason I’ve largely stopped transferring my beer to a secondary fermenter unless I’m storing it for a very long time. If you can, bottle or keg directly from your fermenter.
• Reduce Splashing and Siphon/Pump Oxygen – If you use a siphon or pump, you can prime it with distilled water. When siphoning and pumping go slowly at first to minimize the chance of splashing. Also make sure your siphon has a good seal as many of them leak air into the device when transferring.
• Minimize Bottle Headspace – If naturally carbonating your bottles, leave only a small amount of headspace between the beer and bottle cap. This will give the yeast enough oxygen to carbonate the beer without leaving too much free oxygen in the bottle.
• Oxygen Absorbing Bottle Caps – While not a panacea, these can absorb a bit of oxygen from the top of your bottles adding to your level of protection.
• Purge Bottles and Kegs – If you have CO2 gas available, you can purge your kegs and even your bottles with CO2 before you fill them. For kegs, purchase a valve that attaches to the output side of the keg (the one with the siphon tube) and slowly fill the keg from the bottom while releasing air from the top. CO2 is heavier than air and will settle to the bottom of the keg if you give it a few minutes between rounds of purging. If you want to take it farther, you can even fill the keg with water and then use CO2 to push the water out of the keg. You can purge bottles with something like a beer gun hooked to a CO2 tank.
• Pressure Transfers – Many of the newer stainless conical fermenters for homebrewers have the ability to operate under low pressure. This means you can apply CO2 pressure to the tank and do an oxygen free transfer to your purged keg. The CO2 gas will actually push the beer from the fermenter to the keg. Some commercial brewers actually fill the kegs with water, then push the water out with CO2 to assure a complete CO2 purge before then pressure filling them with beer.
• Oxygen Free Dry Hopping: Commercial brewers use a variety of devices to do oxygen free dry hopping as dry hopping can kick up a lot of foam and also the hops carry oxygen with them. Many of the commercial devices place the hops into a small vessel where they can be CO2 purged and then dropped into the fermenter. At the homebrew level, some brewers have been experimenting with hanging their hops in their fermentation vessel above the beer, and then setting up a simple mechanism (magnet or strings) that lets them remotely drop them into the beer. This is rather clever as the hops get purged by CO2 from the fermentation.
• Add Sulfites – Potassium Metabisulfite (aka Campden tablets or powder) are widely used in wine, mead and cider making. These release free sulfites in the finished beverage which are not only antibacterial, but also an effective antioxident. Wines range from 5 ppm to 200 ppm, in sulfite level and the maximum legal level is 350 ppm, but even a modest addition of 30-50 ppm is great insurance against oxidation. BeerSmith actually has a sulfite addition calculator built in (under Tools->Sulfite), which will calculate the addition needed based on your pH and volume. Be aware that some drinkers are sensitive to sulfite (headaches and such), so its probably best to keep it on the lower half of the scale.

Those are a few suggestions for minimizing oxygen in your finished beer. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes…and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.

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Mitch Steele joins us from New Realm Brewing to discuss what has changed in IPA brewing in the 12 years since he wrote his classic book on IPAs.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:21) * Today my guest is Mitch Steele, author of the book IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale (Amazon affiliate link). Mitch is also the former brewmaster at Stone brewing and is COO and Brewmaster at New Realm Brewing Co in Atlanta, Georgia. * Back in 2012 Mitch launched his book on IPAs. I ask Mitch if he anticipated the rapid growth of IPAs over the last 12 years? * We discuss a bit about the history of IPAs from his book starting in the 1700’s. We also cover the Burton IPA and what made it an important historical IPA. * Mitch explains how the IPA almost died as a style around the two world wars and then again in the 1960s and 1980s. * We talk a bit about IPA variations and how some of the best IPAs use a relatively simple formulation. * Mitch tells us about the explosion in new IPA substyles and we discuss both the more successful and less successful IPA variants. * We talk about the explosion in hop knowledge the last 12 years including knowledge about aroma oils, biotransformations, dry hopping, hop creep and more. * We talk about what Mitch might include if he had to write his book now, knowing all that he knows. * Mitch takes a look at what he thinks might be next in IPA styles. * We talk about what a historical IPA drinker might think of a modern American IPA

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

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Dr Keith Villa, the creator of Blue Moon and founder of Ceria Brewing, joins me this week to talk about Blue Moon, the Craft Beer Industry, Ceria, Alcohol Free beers and more.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (58:31) * This week I welcome back Dr Keith Villa. Keith retired from a 32 year career at Miller-Coors where he founded and was brewmaster for Blue Moon. He then retired to found Ceria Brewing which specializes in non-alcoholic and cannabis infused beer. * We briefly discuss the last 18 months and Ceria * Keith shares with us a short summary of his 32 years at Miller-Coors where he launched the famous Blue Moon brand and talks about some of the challenges. * We discuss the wave of acquisitions many of the large brewers made into Craft style beers and how now some of that is being reversed as the Craft market is starting to slow down. * We talk about the intense competition in the Craft beer market where a large number of breweries are competing for <20% of the overall beer market, and how many younger consumers are turning to other beverages. * Keith shares his thoughts on homebrewing and the effective cancellation of the homebrew conference this year. * We discuss his new venture Ceria which produces a unique alcohol free beer. We also talk about the difference between low alcohol, non-alcoholic and alcohol free beer. * Keith talks about his two stules (Grainwave and Indiwave) of alcohol free beer that are now available nationwide. * We discuss his foray into cannabis infused beer and why Ceria decided to move to the sidelines for now in that market, as Federal laws made it impractical at a commercial level. * Keith discusses his book “Brewing with Cannabis”. * He shares his closing thoughts after a lifetime in the brewing industry.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week in part 4, I cover common beer infections including wild yeast and bacteria as well as some equipment and material concerns related to cleaning and sanitation. In Part 1 I provided an introduction to cleaning and sanitation and explained why it is a two step process. Part 2 covered cleaners for home brewing and Part 3 discussed popular sanitizers.

Bacteria, Wild Yeast and Off Flavors Having gone into some detail in the first three parts on how to properly clean and sanitize your equipment, brewers occasionally make mistakes, so things can still go wrong. So how can you tell if your beer has been infected? The strongest indication is in the flavor and aroma of your beer. So lets discuss what some of the most common bacteria and wild yeasts are and what off-flavors are associated with each:

• Lactobacillus – A naturally occurring bacteria on malt and around households. Lactobacillus creates the classic “sour beer” flavor you’ve tasted if you ever bought a sour beer. The sour flavor is a direct result of lactic acid that lactobacillus produces. It can be a persistent bug, continuing to act well after fermentation is complete. It is widely used for sour beer production.
• Pediococcus – Another naturally occurring bacteria that produces a sour lactic acid flavor along with a buttery flavor not unlike diacetyl (buttery popcorn). Pediococcus will sometimes manifest itself with a hazy finish or strands in the beer. Pediococcus is also used in sour beer production.
• Acetobacter – A bacteria strain that produces acetic acid instead of lactic acid and manifests itself as a vinegar flavor in the finished beer. Acetobacter is a less common infection in beer as it requires oxygen to reproduce, so if you have a vinegar flavored beer you may have an oxygen issue as well as an infection.
• Wild Yeasts – Like lactobacillus, wild yeast is a very common infection as it is present on most surfaces in your home. Wild yeasts compete against the yeast you pitch to ferment, but typically produce more off flavors than cultured beer strains. More than half of the off flavors listed on the BJCP score sheet are related to yeast and these include: acetylaldehyde (green apple flavor), high fusel alcohols (moonshine flavors), diacetyl (buttery flavor), esters (fruity), phenolic (clove, spice, band-aid), solvents (paint thinner), sour (lactic), sulfur (rotten egg odor) and yeasty. Wild yeasts can also produce lactic acid so they can sour the beer. While it can be difficult to isolate wild yeast from other yeast problems, I usually look for a bit of sourness plus the presence of another off flavor to indicate a potential wild yeast.

Equipment and Material Considerations

In addition to the cleaning and sanitation process, you also need to maintain your equipment to keep it free from problems. Here are some common problems related to cleaning and sanitation that are specific to certain materials or pieces of equipment.

• Sour Beer Equipment: Some brewers and pros maintain separate fermentation vessels and tools for working with sour beers because the bacteria used can be very hard to completely remove, and they don’t want to run the risk of cross contamination with their regular brewing equipment.
• Plastic Equipment – Plastic equipment has a limited lifetime as it is easily scratched and porous. Bacteria and wild yeast can embed itself in the scratches and crevasses, creating an infection issue. Also as plastics age they tend to break down over time, creating additional risk. I recommend replacing your plastic equipment periodically.
• Gaskets and Tubing – Gaskets that seal your stainless equipment or kegs as well as silicone or plastic tubing suffer from the same weaknesses as plastic equipment. They require thorough cleaning, are easily scratched, are porous and will deteriorate over time. At a minimum you should disassemble gaskets and seals on your equipment when cleaning and sanitizing to include pumps, seals on stainless vessels, gaskets on kegs and tubes. Replace these on a regular basis as they age.
• Aluminum Pots/Pans – Aluminum pots and pans should not be cleaned with PBW, Bleach, Oxi-Clean, One-Step or other acidic cleaners as these will oxidize the aluminum. This is the one exception where you should actually use unscented dish soap to clean your aluminum pots. You should not use aluminum for fermentation vessels.
• Teflon – You should not use Saniclean, Starsan or other acidic cleaners with teflon pans.
• Stainless Steel – Bleach can pit stainless steel. In addition, never store dissimilar metals in your stainless steel pot or fermenter or use metal scouring pads. This can break down the chromium oxide layer that protects the metal and can actually cause it to rust. In addition some cheap stainless equipment is shipped with a thin layer of oil on it and not properly passivated (protected). You can read my article on passivating stainless steel equipment for more information on how to treat and restore stainless steel.

This concludes my four part series on cleaning and sanitation. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I take a look at sanitizers to use for beer brewing. In part 1 I presented an introduction to cleaning and sanitation and the importance of separately cleaning and sanitizing. Part 2 featured the most common cleaners used for beer brewing and their strengths and weaknesses.

Sanitizing Sanitizing is the process of reducing the microorganisms on the surface of your brewing equipment to the point where they do not affect your fermentation or the long term stability of your beer. Sanitation is done after cleaning, since you it is kind of pointless to try to sanitize a surface that still has large organic or inorganic soils on it. Sanitizers are not designed to remove these soils, they are instead designed to kill microorganisms.

Sanitizing should be done with any equipment or surface that comes in contact with your wort or beer after it has been chilled below boiling. So, for example, I would sanitize my wort chiller, all tubing, fermenter, spoons, tools, pumps and everything used during fermentation. You also want to sanitize shortly before use, as organisms from your environment can collect on surfaces over time.

Beer and Pathogens While there are a variety of wild yeasts as well as bacteria that can sour your beer and create an array of off flavors, the good news is that there are no known pathogens that naturally grow in beer. Alcohol, hop compounds, low pH, lack of nutrients, and lack of oxygen inhibit their growth. So while you may be capable of making some really sour, nasty tasting, awful looking beers, you don’t need to worry about actually killing anyone with it. There are two exceptions. The first is beers that lack one of the above protections such as very low alcohol beer, beer with no hops, high pH, etc. For these cases, pasteurization or filtering might be appropriate. The second exception is people with allergies to certain ingredients. For example if you make beer with peanut butter or shellfish, you probably don’t want to give it to someone with those specific allergies.

Common Brewing Sanitizers The ideal sanitizer for home brewing should be non-caustic so it won’t burn your hands. It should be fast acting and you would prefer a no-rinse sanitizer. The problem with rinsing is that the rinse water from your faucet is not strictly sanitized and contains some microorganisms that can contaminate your just sanitized surface. You want a sanitizer that is very effective on bacteria like lactobacillus or pediococcus as these are the most common bacteria that can sour your beer.

• Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorate) – Bleach is cheap and an effective sanitizer, but it has some drawbacks. First, bleach requires rinsing and can leave a strong odor/flavor if you don’t properly rinse it. Second, it can be hard on plastics and even pit stainless steel if left in contact for an extended period of time. Third, it can be somewhat slow to act taking some 15 minutes to sanitize a surface. I don’t personally use bleach as a sanitizer any longer.
• Oxi-Clean or One Step (Sodium Percarbonate) – These are oxidizers that break down into sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water. Many of you are probably familiar with hydrogen peroxide for medical use. While this can be used for both cleaning and sanitation, it does require a thorough rinse, and I don’t generally recommend it for use in bottling or fermentation. The reason is that if you leave any residue on your bottles or fermenter, you are effectively leaving an oxidizer in place. Oxidizers kick off oxygen when combined with other chemicals, and oxygen will spoil your finished beer. These are better used for cleaning than sanitizing.
• Iodophor (Iodine) – Iodine is also widely used in medical applications as a sanitizer and disinfect. Iodophor is technically iodine combined with a solubizer that makes it release free iodine when mixed with water. Iodophor is effective as a sanitizer, and does not require a rinse. Probably the only downside is that it can color plastics over time leaving a brown or burnt orange color.
• Commercial Sanitizers: Professional brewers have access to a variety of sanitizing agents including iodophor, starsan/saniclean, chlorine dioxide, peracetic acid, and other acid and ammonium based compounds. These are effective but not necessarily designed for home use.
• Starsan/Saniclean – (Phosphoric and dodeclybenzenesulfonic acid) – Starsan is a sanitizer designed for brewing. It is no-rinse, fast acting and can even be sprayed onto a surface from a spray bottle. Interestingly, these sanitizers actually break down quickly when the pH rises above 3.5 so the act of merely adding wort or beer to a vessel deactivates the sanitizer. These sanitizers don’t stain equipment either. The only real downside with Starsan is that it does generate a fair amount of harmless foam. Saniclean is a similar product that generates much less foam if you find the Starsan foam distracting.

Given the amount of sanitizer most home brewers use, it is probably best to choose a high quality sanitizer designed for home brewing. If you want to save some money, buy a larger package as most sanitizers have a relatively long shelf life.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on sanitizing your equipment. Next week in the final part 4, I will cover common bacteria and wild yeast flavors related to poor sanitation as well as some additional equipment and material issues related to cleaning and sanitation.

Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I dive into the cleaning process and discuss some of the most popular cleaners used when brewing beer. Last week in Part 1, I explained why cleaning and sanitation is so important for beer and discussed environmental concerns such as where to locate your brewery.

As I discussed in part 1, cleaning and sanitation are two separate steps done to make sure your equipment is free of soil and that microorganisms and bacteria are reduced to a level where they don’t interfere with the fermentation or long term stability of the beer. You want to clean all of your equipment after you use it and you should also clean it again before you brew to remove any soils that have accumulated since your last batch.

Cleaning Your Equipment Cleaning removes soil from the equipment. Soil comes in two types: organic and inorganic. Organic soils include bits of grain, yeast, wild yeast, and other living debris from a surface. These can be left either from previous brewing sessions or dirt and dust present in the environment. Inorganic soils include raw dirt and dust as well as harder minerals like beer stone which forms at the bottom of your boiler when you brew.

While household cleaners can be used, they are often not ideal for brewing. Many household cleaners contain scents and oils that can be left on equipment after cleaning. Also while many do a good job with organic soils, they are often not designed to remove inorganic soils such as beer stone from equipment. Use a good alkaline cleaner that is designed for beer brewing if possible.

Popular Brewing Cleaners * Household Detergents/Dish Soap – These are probably not your best option for cleaning equipment. Unfortunately many dish soaps contain perfumes and oils that can leave a film on the surface after rinsing. They are usually not formulated to remove inorganic soils like beer stone as well. I would only use household soap on an Aluminum pot, and that’s due to the fact that the alkaline cleaners listed below will oxidize aluminum. * Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorate) – While bleach is often used by home brewers for sanitization, its not really ideal for removing soils. It also can break down plastics over time as well as stainless steel. * Oxi-Clean or One Step (Sodium Percarbonate) – These are oxidizers that break down into sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water. Many of you are probably familiar with hydrogen peroxide for medical use. These are effective and environmentally friendly cleaning agents, though you need to make sure you get the “scent free” version of Oxiclean if you go that route. * TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) – An effective cleaner, though semi-caustic. While recommended by some manufacturers for passivating new stainless steel equipment, there are probably better options for that purpose. As a cleaner, it is effective, but it is a harsh acid that can etch some materials, burn your hands if not careful, and also phosphate is not considered good for the environment. * Caustic Cleaners (Lye or Sodium Hydroxide) – Though caustic cleaners are widely used in commercial brewing, they are not a good choice for home brewing as they can easily burn your skin and lead to injury. Commercial systems are set up with touch-free systems to handle the caustic chemicals, but home brewers should look for safer options. * Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW) – Probably the most popular option for home brewers, PBW is effective on both organic and inorganic soils, and also safe and easy to use. A short soak and light brushing will remove almost all of the soils common to brewing.

I personally prefer to use cleaners designed for brewing as they do the best job cleaning both organic and inorganic soils, and the price is not excessive.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on cleaners for beer brewing. Next week in Part 3 I will focus on popular sanitizers. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I dive into the very important topic of cleaning and sanitation for beer brewing and cover some of the basic terms and definitions. In part 2 I’m going to cover the cleaning process and strengths and weaknesses of different cleaners, and in part 3 I will cover sanitation and sanitizers.

Why is Cleaning and Sanitation Important for Beer Several factors make cleaning and sanitation more important for beer than it is for wine, mead and many other types of beverage making:

• Wort is a nearly ideal environment for bacterial growth – If you’ve left wort sitting exposed, you’ll find that unattended wort very quickly sour by itself.
• Bacteria Compete with Yeast – If bacteria are present in large numbers during fermentation they will actually compete with the yeast and may inhibit a healthy fermentation while also souring the beer.
• Beer has a low alcohol level – Unlike wines or hard liquor, the alcohol level in beer is not high enough to preserve it. With the exception of very high gravity beers, the alcohol level is not high enough to prevent souring.
• We rarely add preservatives – While many commercial breweries filter their beer, we don’t use sulfites or other preservatives that are common in wine and mead making
• Hops are a preservative, but they have limits – Hops are antibacterial, so they do help prevent bacteria from souring a beer well after fermentation has completed. However their preservative effect is limited, so if enough bacteria is present the beer will sour over time. So we want to limit the bacteria present in a beer.
• Long Term Stability Risk – Bacteria can continue to act on a beer even after fermentation has completed, so they can sour the beer weeks or months after the beer has fermented.

On the good news side, no known pathogen lives in beer, so while your beer might not taste good it is unlikely to seriously injure anyone if it gets infected.

Cleaning vs Sanitation vs Disinfection vs Sterilization For beer brewing we are primarily concerned with cleaning and sanitation. However some brewers use the wrong terms, so here’s the definitions of each process and what it accomplishes:

• Cleaning: Cleaning is the act of removing soil and dirt from surfaces. Soil comes in two forms: organic and inorganic. Organic soil includes obvious things like yeast, malt bits, and hops. Inorganic soil includes things like beer stone that forms at the bottom of your boiler.
• Sanitization: Reduces the microorganisms on the surface to the point where they won’t harm the beer or impact fermentation. The EPA defines this at a 99.9% level.
• Disinfection: A higher level of cleaning that kills viruses as well as bacteria to a 99.999% level though it does not kill all of the spores that could potentially develop into viruses.
• Sterilization: Removes all microbes and their spores from a surface. This level of cleanliness is typically reserved for surgery and operating rooms and is often done with an autoclave.

For beer brewing, we are concerned with the first two processes: cleaning and sanitation. We need to clean all of our equipment to remove both organic and inorganic soils, and we need to reduce the bacterial level on any surface that touches cooling or chilled wort to a point where it won’t affect our fermentation or long term stability.

The Brewing Location – Where Bacteria Comes From While a lot of brewers take care with their cleaning and sanitation, I wanted to point out that the location where you brew is also important. The bacterias we are primarily concerned with like Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Acetobacter as well as wild yeast are present just about every surface inside and outside our house. So where you brew matters.

The #1 location for home brewing is in the garage, which also happens to be one of the dirtiest locations in your home. The #2 location is your laundry area which also has high concentrations of wild yeast and bacteria from dirty laundry. Similarly outside is not a clean location to brew. So consider choosing a good location as well as taking precautions to protect and keep your clean, sanitized equipment away from soils and contamination while you brew.

Another serious consideration is that malt has high concentrations of both wild yeast and bacteria on its surface. Milling your malts throws up a ton of dust, so I strongly recommend milling your malts well away from where you brew and ferment your beer to minimize throwing malt dust over your entire brewing system.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s short introduction to cleaning and sanitation. Next week in part 2 I will cover the cleaning process and what cleaners to use, and in part 3 I will discuss sanitation and sanitizers. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I cover the topic of osmotic shock in yeast, and how it can impact the fermentation performance of very high gravity beers, meads, wines, and concentrated seltzers.

Osmotic Shock in Yeast Cells I had never heard of the term osmotic shock until I started making very high gravity meads. Some of my large melomels (fruit meads) had starting gravities in the 1.160 (36 Plato) range with alcohol content higher than 15%, which is high enough to create osmotic shock or stress.

Osmotic shock, or osmotic stress occurs when there is a sudden change in the concentration of the solution surrounding a cell (Wikipedia). In the case of high gravity beverages, we are typically introducing either dry or liquid yeast into very high gravity solutions. The difference in sugar concentration inside and outside the cell can cause a very rapid movement of water across the cellular membrane. This rapid change can cause the cell to rapidly shrink or expand, and in extreme cases either burst or die due to compression (apoptosis). This can kill a significant portion of your yeast cells off, resulting in poor yeast viability and poor yeast performance during fermentation.

Single cell organisms like yeast, tend to be more vulnerable to osmotic shock as they are directly exposed to the solution, and lack a hard cellular wall. Introducing dry yeast directly into a high gravity solution can add additional stress as they yeast is simultaneously trying to hydrate and cope with a very high sugar concentration before it has had time to regulate its membrane.

When Osmotic Shock Might be a Concern The risk of osmotic shock is highest for very high gravity solutions such as very high gravity beers, high gravity wines, many meads, ciders and even seltzers which are often fermented at a high sugar concentration and then diluted post fermentation. Examples include barley wines, high gravity stouts, sack meads, big fruit meads, and concentrated seltzers.

As I mentioned earlier if you are direct pitching dry yeast into your wort or must without hydrating it you run a higher risk of shock. However, even liquid yeast can be affected at high gravity wort or must.

Since each yeast strain has a slightly different level of tolerance, it is hard to define a hard cutoff where osmotic shock becomes a factor. My personal experience is that somewhere in the 1.100 (23.7P) original gravity range I start to think about osmotic shock as a factor and take steps to mitigate it.

Mitigating Osmotic Shock Nor surprisingly the yeast cells have mechanisms in place to deal with osmotic shock, and they can regulate significant changes in their environment as long as it is done over a long enough time frame. They key here is to introduce the yeast to the high gravity environment over time rather than shocking it by dumping it in all at once.

1. For dry yeast, this means properly hydrating your yeast up front. If you follow the steps mentioned here, you will give your dry yeast the proper starting environment and a chance to hydrate and regulate their cellular membrane before dropping them in a high gravity solution.
2. Whether you are using dry or liquid yeast, the next step is to SLOWLY introduce the yeast to your wort or must. You do this by adding a small amount of wort or must and mixing it into your yeast starter. Then you let it sit for 5-10 minutes before introducing some more wort or must. You should repeat this several times until the sample has a substantial portion of wort/must and then finally pitch it into your fermenter.

The above process slowly raises the gravity of the yeast starter solution over time, allowing the cellular membranes to properly regulate and balance to avoid osmotic shock.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on osmotic shock in yeast. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Michael Tonsmeire from Sapwood Cellars joins me this week to talk about very high gravity barrel aged stouts.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (40:41) * This week I welcome back Michael Tonsmeire. Michael is a founder of the brewery Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, MD. He is the author of the book “American Sour Beers“(Amazon Affiliate Link) as well as the blog The Mad Fermentationist online. He’s also a certified beer judge. * We briefly discuss what’s new at his brewery Sapwood Cellars. * Michael introduces the style of very high gravity barrel aged stouts, which is largely an extension of the traditional Imperial Stout. * We discuss starting and finishing gravities as well as how you balance the high sweetness/maltiness from the very high finishing gravities. * Michael explains how the mash and boil are done either by using sugars/liquid malt to supplement a regular mash or by doing multiple mashes and an extremely long boil to concentrate it. * We discuss fermentation considerations at these very high gravities including yeast hydration, multiple oxygen additions and also concerns like osmotic shock. * Michael provides his other fermentation tips, including cold aging. * Michael discusses barrel aging, what it adds to the beer and some tips for minimizing oxygen transfer. * We talk about alternatives to barrel aging including wood chips, spirals and mixing with small amounts of spirits. * Michael talks about added flavorings like maple extract, cocoa nibs, and vanilla. * We talk briefly about blending finished beers which is commonly done with these styles. * Michael gives his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Freshly Harvested batch of Cascade Hops Today I published several important hop add-ons to cover new and experimental hop varieties that have become available the last few years. This was a fairly sizeable task spanning several weeks to identify and collect information on the latest hop varieties. The main hop update adds 137 varieties, and there are over 100 additional varieties in the other add-ons.

The new add-ons available are: * Hop Update 2024 – New hops that are being actively produced * Experimental Hops – Experimental varieties that have limited availability * Historical Hops – Hops that are no longer in commercial use * Cryo Hops (updated) – Cryo hop concentrated pellets – updated with latest varieties * Lupomax Hops (updated) – Lupomax concentrated pellets – updated with latest varieties * Hop Update 2020 – This one was updated a few years ago but it is recommended for BeerSmith 3 users since you may be running the 2018 baseline for hops depending on when you installed

Installing from the Desktop and Mobile Versions From the Desktop and Mobile Versions:You can go to File->Addons and then select Hops under the “Show Plugins For” field and it will display the add-ons. Select the add-on on the left side and click the Install button to install it. For the Cryo and Lupomax updates you should uninstall the old add-on and then click Install to install the new one.

You can also access these from the Ingredient->Hops view, and then click on the large Addons button on the big ribbon bar.

Installing from the Web Version For the web version the main Hop Update 2024 has been preloaded into the Base hops so you don’t need to install it. The remaining addons are available if you go to Ingredient->Hop view and click on the Manage Preloaded button where you can check the boxes for the additional add-ons you wish to install.

I hope you enjoy the new hop update, and thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Brad Smith, BeerSmith LLC

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Max Shafer joins me this week to discuss Craft Pilsners, decoction and controlling the pH of your beer during the whirlpool and for dry hopping.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (40:41) * This week I welcome Max Shafer. Max is the brewmaster at Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Max was previously the brewmaster at Grand Teton brewing. Max sits on the Hop Research Council, he is the Idaho Ambassador for the Hop Quality Group, a Bracht Brewer for NZ Hops and an associate member of The American Malting Barley Association. Max is a graduate of the Siebel Institute International course in Munich and has over 10 years experience as a Professional brewer. * Max tells us how he got into brewing and eventually became the head brewer at Roadhouse. * We briefly discuss the Hop Research Council and some of the other hop groups Max is involved with. * Max dives into Craft Pilsners and his Highwayman Pilsner and what makes it unique. * We discuss how he does a single decoction on a large 30 barrel commercial brewing system. * Max also talks about his West Coast pilsner and what makes it different from European styles. * We start a discussion about pH, starting with how he prefers to adjust his mash pH. * Max shares his methods for adjusting pH both during the whirlpool and also for dry hopping and some of the benefits controlling pH throughout the entire fermentation process provides. * We discuss some of the other Roadhouse beer offerings as well as where you can find their beers. * Max shares his closing thoughts on both Pilsners and pH.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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John Palmer joins me this week to discuss the state of the art in homebrewing and also shares his top five homebrewing priorities.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (47:42) * This week I welcome back John Palmer. John is the author of the top selling book How to Brew as well as Water and Brewing Classic Styles (full disclosure: Amazon affiliate links used for books). John joins me this week to talk about water in beer. * John joins me for episode #300, and we briefly discuss his 19 appearances on the podcast, starting way back on episode #3 in 2010! * John introduces the “state of the art” in homebrewing, and we talk briefly about the recent episode with John Blichmann and how both equipment and knowledge in homebrewing has evolved these last 30+ years. * One trend we’re seeing is the move to smaller batches and all-in-one BIAB style systems. John and I discuss why this is happening and what the trend means for homebrewers. * Another trend John discusses is the evolution of adjuncts in beer and also how the use of adjuncts has changed over time in recipe formulation. * We discuss the overuse of caramel/crystal malts and how this too has changed over time. * John talks about Hazy IPAs and shares some tips on making Hazy IPAs. * We talk about the trend to “IPA everything” and how most beer styles are not IPAs and require a different approach to hopping. * John introduces “pseudo lagers” and how lagers are seeing a resurgence both in home and craft brewing. * We discuss John’s five brewing priorities and he goes into each in some detail: 1) Sanitation, 2) Sufficient yeast pitching, 3) Fermentation temperature control, 4) Strong long boil and 5) Good receipt proportions. * John shares that he has a new smaller book coming out in Spanish and we discuss when and where that will be found. * John shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Jeff Bloem from Murphy & Rude malting joins me this week to demystify the various types of malts used in brewing beer.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (54:38) * This week I welcome back Jeff Bloem, the founder and head malster at Murphy & Rude malting, Virginia’s first dedicated craft malting specialty house. Jeff joins us to cut through some of the marketing hype and fancy names from the big malt houses and decode brewing malts. * We start with a quick update from Jeff on the changes at Murphy & Rude in the three years since we last had him on the show. * Jeff explains the value of Craft Malt for both home brewing and commercial brewing and how, if anything, the case has strengthened for craft malt the last few years. * We discuss how large malt suppliers often confuse brewers with branding and fancy names for common malts, and some of the methods you can use to determine what malt you are actually buying. * We talk about the key malt specifications and how they affect brewing. * Jeff tells us about the four basic types of malt, and what differentiates them. * We discuss flavor, color and its importance in malt. * Jeff tells us a bit about how his operations have dramatically expanded the last few years including changes in process. * We talk about his new Grain Store which sells small and large quantities to home brewers and commercial brewers. You can brows his store at this link. * Jeff shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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John Blichmann joins me this week to discuss the evolution of home brewing equipment from the late 1980’s to the current day.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (55:07) * This week I welcome John Blichmann to discuss how homebrew equipment has changed from the late 1980’s to today. John is the President and founder of Blichmann Engineering, a premiere provider of home and professional brewing equipment. * We start with a short discussion of some of John’s new equipment and what has happened since he last appeared on the show. * John explains what his first stove-top brewing setup looked like. * We discuss how brewing with malt extract was the dominant form of home brewing from the legalization of brewing in the US in 1979 until today. * John explains how not only was the equipment limited but also the brewing ingredients and brewing knowledge was extremely limited in the late 80’s and early 1990’s. * He also tells us how home built equipment cobbled together with parts from the hardware store was the norm for the first two decades or so, and that professionally made equipment was rare. * We talk about John’s leap from working as an Engineer with Caterpillar to starting Blichmann Engineering in the early 2000’s and he also shares his first few breakthrough products that made his business a success. * During the early 2000’s we started to see more three tier gravity fed brewing systems that mimicked to some degree what you might see in a professional system, and also all grain brewing became much more common. * Around 2009, home brewing entered a period of double digit growth that lasted until 2013, and we saw the rise of a large number of commercial equipment providers as well as larger and more sophisticated systems. * Around the 2014 timeframe, all grain also became the dominant method in home brewing for the very first time, and now many brewers don’t brew extract at all but leap directly into all grain brewing. * John tells us about how in the middle of the last decade, inexpensive stainless steel systems, most of them imported from overseas began to enter the market. * Finally in the wake of COVID in 2019 there has been another sea change in equipment with the rise of much smaller all-in-one Brew In A Bag (BIAB) style systems, usually in the 5 gallon (19 liter) size or smaller. * We discuss some of the post COVID effects including brewers that are in general brewing less, a home brewing market that is perhaps half the size of its peak from a decade earlier, and also social changes such as smaller in-person homebrew club meetings and smaller social gatherings in general. * We briefly discuss where John sees home brewing going next and John gives his closing thoughts on the hobby.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Andrew Burns joins me this week from Dakota County Technical College to talk about brewing education programs for working professionals.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:15) * This week I welcome Andrew Burns who is a brewing instructor at Dakota County Technical College, where he runs a 1 year brewing science and production certificate program targeting working adults. * Andrew tells us a bit about his brewing experience as a production brewer and head brewer as well as making the transition from home to professional brewer. * We discuss Dakota County Tech which is located near Minneapolis-St Paul, and Andrew introduces us to their one year brewing science certificate program. * We discuss someone young looking to become a pro brewer and how a focused program like this can give you the expertise needed. * Andrew explains the major topics covered in his program and we go into detail on each of them. * We discuss the science of brewing and how that is taught at Dakota County Tech * He talks about their practical and hands-on section and also how he incorporates internships at local breweries as part of the program. * I have Andrew talk a bit about his brewing education and how it compares with his program. * Andrew and I briefly discuss higher level (Bachelors and above) education programs and how certain professionals in the brewing industry can gain from these programs. * We talk about both the cost and return on this type of program and how a relatively small investment in a technical program can deliver a good return in terms of starting at a production brewery. * Andrew shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Dr Charlie Bamforth joins me this week to discuss Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) in beer and how to manage it.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (53:49) * This week I welcome back Dr Charlie Bamforth, Professor Emeritus from the University of California at Davis. Charlie specializes in the study of the wholesomeness of beer including beer perception, polyphenols, foam stability, oxidation and flavor stability. * You can request a copy of the article Charlie refers to in the show by clicking on this link: Dimethyl Sulfide – Significance, Origins, and Control | Request PDF (researchgate.net) * I start with an update of some of Charlie’s activities in the last year including some new book editions he has available. * We begin our talk about Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) which considered an off flavor in many beers. Charlie and I previously discussed this briefly in BeerSmith epsiode #121 on boiling beer. Charlie explains what DMS is and why its important. * We explore the two origins of DMS in beer, one of which is SMM from the malting and the other is from fermentation. * Charlie walks us through the chemistry in malt that leads to SMM and eventually DMS in a finished beer. It is mainly a problem with lighter malts that are highly modified. * We discuss barley selection, and a long rolling boil as potential methods to control DMS on the malt side. * Next Charlie explains DMS production by yeast during fermentation, which is not as well known but still a substantial source of DMS in the finished beer. * We discuss ways to reduce DMS during fermentation. * Charlie summarizes how a brewer can reduce DMS from both sources and control DMS in their finished beer. * Charlie shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Thank you to our sponsor The Barrel Mill, Try putting a twist on tradition with their amazing wood spirals. Visit www.infusionspiral.com for more info. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I thought I would mix things up a bit by presenting a very high gravity Tart Cherry fruit mead made with widely available ingredients.

High Gravity Mead Design I started making high gravity melomels back in 2016 as I have always been fascinated with the style, which I find to be some of the most delicious meads available. Ken Schramm of Schramm’s meadery who I’ve had on the podcast a number of times, makes some of the best commercial examples of these meads and while I lack his experience I’ve spent a lot of time researching how great meads are made.

While I’ve made a number of meads using fresh fruit, this week I’m going to start with a simple mead made only from fruit juice and honey – something any beer brewer can make easily.

Having spent countless hours researching high gravity fruit meads, I’m going to start with a few simple rules of thumb and design concepts.

The first concept is that we’re going to start the mead at an extremely high starting gravity, and then select a yeast with an appropriate alcohol tolerance so that the yeast actually gives up (reaches its limit) before the sugars in the honey are all consumed. This will result in residual sweetness in the finished beer because not all the honey will be consumed. It will also give us a high finishing gravity.

Second, the volume of fruit or juice used should be approximately the same or slightly higher than the volume of honey. We’re also going to select a fruit with a lot of either acidity or tannins to offset the residual sugar in the finished mead. It is this critical balance between the remaining sugar in the mead and tannins/acidity in the fruit that gives the mead its flavor.

Third is that we’re actually going to target the final gravity based on the acidity of the fruit. In this case we’re using Tart Cherry juice which is only moderately acidic, but if we were using a more acidic fruit like black currants we would actually target an even higher finishing gravity.

Finally, we’re going to use a modern staggered nutrient addition with degassing to accelerate the fermentation of the mead. Honey is notoriously nitrogen poor, so it requires additives to ferment rapidly. I personally like the TONSA-3 schedule which is incorporated with BeerSmith and uses four Fermaid-O nutrient additions starting at 24, 48, 72 and then the 1/3 sugar break.

The Tart Cherry Mead Recipe Building the recipe now is mostly an exercise in selecting our target finishing gravity and then applying the rules above. I built my recipe in BeerSmith using the mead features to calculate gravities as well as the TONSA nutrient additions. I selected a 5 gallon (19 l) batch size, which while not cheap gives you quite a few bottles of finished mead.

Starting with a final gravity target of 1.035 which is a bit on the sweet side, I began building the recipe. I started with 18 lbs of orange blossom honey which has a volume of almost exactly 1.5 gallons. I like orange blossom honey as it has a fairly neutral flowery profile that works well with fruits. I will probably target a slightly lower OG if I make this again.

For tart cherries, I ended up using Knudsen Just Tart Cherry juice which is pasteurized, but has no additives to inhibit fermentation. I used 2 gallons of it which is above the 1:1 ratio of honey to fruit. With a sugar content (measured with a hydrometer) of 14 brix, the tart cherry does contribute about 1/3 of the sugars.

I selected the classic Lalvin 71B Narbonne yeast, which is widely used in melomels by many commercial mead makers. This yeast I’ve used on almost all of my meads, and it has a well defined alcohol tolerance of around 15.1% which translates to about .110 gravity points. So this mead with a starting gravity of 1.145 will finish out around 1.035 (110 gravity points lower) using this yeast.

I used the TONSA Fermaid-O additions of 4 grams each staggered at 24, 48, 72 and the 1/3 sugar break. The mead was degassed twice a day for the first week, and the yeast was treated up front with GoFerm and then slowly raised in gravity with small additions over time before pitching to avoid osmotic shock (due to the very high gravity).

• Brad’s Tart Cherry Mead Recipe – Link to the final recipe

Tart Cherry Mead Results The mead was initially a bit “hot” flavored but it mellowed out nicely after a few months. The tart cherry came through well and though it is a bit on the sweet side the finished mead was very drinkable. If I had to do it again I might adjust a few points lower on the starting/finishing gravity to avoid some of the sweetness. As the mead aged it has continued to improve.

I hope you enjoyed today’s article on fruit mead design. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Dr Axel Goehler, the CEO of Bestmalz joins us to discuss the state of German malting, European Craft Brewing and the recent BRAU 2023 conference.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (53:49) * This week I welcome back Dr Axel Goehler, the CEO of Bestmalz in Germany. Dr Goehler did his PhD in Switzerland on German family breweries, and worked at Boston Consulting group for 10 years. He is the grandson of the founder of Bestmalz, Max Goehler, and has spearheaded the company’s international expansion since 2014 to over 85 countries. * We start with a brief discussion of the last year including some of the challenges we discussed back in episode #267 with malting in Europe. * Axel explains challenges including the high price of natural gas and plans for Germany to transition rapidly to a net zero energy position. * We talk about the difficult 2023 barley crop in Germany and France which was dry at the wrong times and wet when harvesting creating a shortage this year. * Axel describes the state of German Brewing which has challenges from declining demand for beer as a whole. * We talk about how the EU and several countries are working to ban glyphosate which is a broadly used weed killer. While the EU recently approved an extension for its use, other countries are banning it which makes supplying barley a challenge. * Axel covers some challenges with reducing CO2 footprints and we also discuss his recent trip to the 2023 BRAU conference. * Axel gives us his closing thoughts on malting.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at the hops from New Zealand and Australia which have become some of the most desirable IPA hops in the world over the last few years.

Hop Varieties from Australia and New Zealand As the US craft beer industry has grown, many of the varieties from Australia and New Zealand have risen to the top of the list for Craft Brewers. These hops, largely derived from Pacific Northwest hop varieties, have taken on the local terroir and also been selectively bred to deliver fruity and tropical flavors.

New Zealand is rapidly expanding their hop acreage, and their popular varieties include Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Riwaka, Wai-iti, Rakau, Waimea, Superdelic and Rakau. Australia grows Galaxy, Topaz, Enigma, Super Pride, Ella and Helga.

Many of these hops have distinctive personalities that feature apricot, passion fruit, grape, gooseberry, white wine, mango and other fruit flavors. Because they are grown on limited acreage and have many desirable characteristics for IPA styles, they tend to be sold at a premium price here in the US.

Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Hop Use in Beer Both because of their Pacific Northwest heritage and unique fruity flavor profiles, these hops tend to be used in many popular IPA and Craft Beer styles. Like their Pacific Northwest hop parents, they can be adapted to a variety of beer styles including many “Americanized” versions of popular European and British styles. However, in Craft Brewing the ANZ hops have found a home primarily in IPAs and the very popular New England or Hazy IPA styles.

Many of these hops are high in thiols as well as key aroma oils like geraniol and linalool. As a result, the ANZ hops are widely used as whirlpool and dry hops for IPAs. The high level of these hop oils also make them a good candidate for dry hopping with them late in the fermentation cycle which can aid in biotransformations that create fruity, tropical notes in the finished beer.

Some of the New Zealand varieties are now offered in a Cryo-hop (luplin powder) form which are also ideal for whirlpool and dry hop applications.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on Australia and New Zealand hops. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Ron Pattinson joins me this week to discuss his recently published book on British Brewing in World War II (WWII).

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (46:19) * This week I welcome back Ron Pattinson. Ron is the author of dozens of books and articles on historical beer brewing including his most recent effort to document British brewing during World War II. You can find his articles and purchase his books from his blog which is Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. * Ron talks a bit about the projects he has been working on including some books on beer history that he published this year. You can find Ron’s books on his blog at the link above. * We start the WWII discussion with how British beer became “weaker and more expensive”, and also how hours were controlled. * Ron covers overall beer production during the war which managed to grow slightly in spite of shortages and manpower pressures. * Despite production continuing, the strength of beers had a steady decline during the war years due to limited ingredient supplies. Both barley and hops were tightly controlled by the government during the war. * We discuss some of the lasting effects of shortages and government control which lasted until the early 1950’s. * Ron tells us what barley alternatives were used to compensate for shortages in ingredients. * We talk about how malt was in short supply because of barley shortages as well as shortages in the manpower and energy needed to produce the malt. * In his book, Ron covers styles and even individual recipes from the war and discusses how they have changed. We talk about how styles evolved during the war. * Ron covers how the number of breweries changed, and why really no new breweries could be added. We also talk about the post-war period and eventual consolidation that took place in the 1950s. * Ron shares his closing thoughts on brewing in WWII.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I welcome back Colin Kaminski to discuss oxygen in finished beer, hot side aeration and how to minimize oxygen pickup.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (53:21) * This week I welcome Colin Kaminski. Colin is the co-author of the Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers (Amazon affiliate link) as well as a professional brewer with Downtown Joe’s in Napa, California. Colin designs professional brewing equipment at MoreBeer. He has been brewing since 1998. * We start with a discussion of Colin’s activities since he last appeared on the show. * Colin explains the three major areas where oxygen comes into play: hot side aeration, aeration before fermentation and oxygen contamination in a finished beer. * He share his experience using a high end Anton-Paar C box to measure oxygen in finished cans of beer from a canning line. * We talk about Total Packaged Oxygen (TPO) and how it can change over time. Colin explains how some oxygen can be captured by hops and other compounds, but eventually gets released back into the beer. * He shares his thoughts on reducing oxygen pickup during transfers, bottling, kegging and canning. * We talk about dry hopping and how it can introduce additional oxygen into a finished beer. * Colin discusses hot side aeration and how it can affect the malt flavor and brightness in a beer * He shares how you can detect oxygen problems, and his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Freshly Harvested batch of Cascade Hops. Hops are the ingredient in beer that adds bitterness which counteracts the sweetness of the malted grains. This week I examine a group of US hops from the Pacific Northwest. These American hops form the heart of the US Craft Beer revolution and are widely used in American Pale Ale, and the wide array of India Pale Ales (IPAs) that now dominate Craft Beer production in the US.

The Pacific Northwest Hops Group This group of hops includes many of the varieties at the core of the US craft beer revolution. Varieties include Cascade, Centennial, Antanum, Falconer’s Flight, Chinook, Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus, Zythos, Amarillo, Mosaic, Rakau, Simcoe, and Lemondrop. This list continues to grow as new varieties are introduced.

Hops grown in the US Pacific Northwest region account for 96% of US hop production or almost 40% of hop production worldwide. Popular growing regions include the Willamette valley in Oregon and Yakima valley in Washington state. Washington, Idaho and Oregon grow most of the hops in the US.

US hops along with those grown in New Zealand and Australia (which are of US heritage) are desirable because they have more thiols than European hops. They also have unique aromas and flavors as described below. These unique characters have to do with the fact that these hops are derived from hops native to North America.

Pacific Northwest Hop Flavors and Aromas Pacific hops have significant piney and citrusy notes. The piney notes come largely from high levels of Myrcene, an aroma oil in the hops. Citrus and fruity notes come from high levels of other oils such as Linalool and Geraniol. Pacific hops can also have significant herbal notes. The combination of piney, citrus, fruity and herbal aromas all contribute to the unique flavor of Pacific NW hops.

As I mentioned above, these hops are closely tied to the craft beer and IPA revolution, so much so that we can often tie specific hop varieties to specific well known craft beers. For example, Centennial is used in Bell’s Two Hearted IPA, Simcoe is used in Pliny the Elder from Russian River along with CTZ which is short for the Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus varieties. CTZ are often used interchangeably because they are quite similar in character. The classic Cascade is used in many of the traditional American Pale Ales.

Many fruity IPAs and hazy/New England IPAs make broad use of Pacific NW hops. They use a combination of extremely high levels of dry hops along with some hopping during active fermentation to enhance the fruity aromas in the finished beer.

Beer Styles for Pacific NW Hops Pacific NW hops are used in a wide variety of American beers. In fact many of the early craft beers were simply English and European beer styles that were “Americanized” by using US hops and cleaner American yeast. The classic example is the American Pale Ale which is based on an English pale ale but uses Pacific NW hops and American Ale yeast, but dozens of other styles such as American Porters, Stouts, IPAs, Browns, etc… were made using a similar substitution.

As the Craft beer revolution matured, distinct American beer styles emerged. As the IPA revolution took over US craft brewing, Pacific NW hops became even more central to these new beer styles. Dark IPAs, Double IPAs, Triple IPAs, Hazy IPAs, New England IPAs and dozens more were all built to highlight the aroma and flavors of Pacific NW hops.

Therefore when we discuss beer styles associated with these hops they are used in the full spectrum of American craft beer styles, but have also been applied to versions of many traditional English and Continental styles including English ales, Pilsners, German lagers, Belgian beers, Pilsners and many others. While a Pilsner made with Pacific NW hops will not taste the same as one made with a traditional European hops like Saaz, the Craft Pilsner is still treasured for its own unique flavor and taste.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on Pacific NW hops. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I welcome back Randy Mosher to discuss his upcoming book “Your Tasting Brain” and how we taste and judge beer.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (55:16) * This week I welcome back Randy Mosher. Randy is the author of the books Mastering Homebrew, Radical Brewing, and Tasting Beer. (Full disclosure: Amazon affiliate links to books) He’s also partner in two breweries near Chicago Five Rabbit and Forbidden Root. * We start with a short update on Randy’s two breweries as well as how some craft breweries are experiencing competitive pressure now. * Randy describes his upcoming book “Your Tasting Brain” at a high level. * We talk about the sense of taste and smell as well as how they interact with each other. * Randy explains how your sense of smell and taste changes during the day with your mood, environment, and a dozen other factors. * We discuss the olfactory system and how it uses patterns to trigger memories but discards the basic chemical data. * We talk about the various loops that feed up from our basic senses to the cognitive level and how they then generate impressions and stories we can discuss. * Randy shares why beer and wine are fairly complex beverages to sense and taste and how our brain has a hard time dissecting individual components. * We discuss how the smell sense dumps its data like a fire hose directly into the Limbic (emotional) system, directly triggering very strong emotions and memories, often without context. This makes judging smells and flavors much more difficult. * Randy explains how you can become better at judging beer.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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I’m celebrating 20 years of BeerSmith with an Anniversary sale! Get 20% off BeerSmith desktop and web software licenses, including both subscription and non-subscription items.

The Anniversary Sale – 20% Off Desktop and Web Versions From now until Tuesday 28 November, 2023, you can get 20% off BeerSmith desktop and BeerSmith web licenses by clicking on this link. The sale ends at midnight Eastern Standard time on 26 November:

• BeerSmith Gold with Web Version: One year at $11.95 (2 and 3 year options available)
• BeerSmith Platinum with Web Version: One year at $17.49 (2 and 3 year options available)
• BeerSmith Pro with Web Version: One year at $39.95 (2 and 3 year options available)
• BeerSmith Basic: (non subscription) license at $27.95 (regular $34.95) for desktop version only

Get a BeerSmith License on Sale Here!

Twenty Years of BeerSmith Brewing Software In late October of 2003, I launched version 1.0 of BeerSmith to the public. Over the last 20 years, steady improvements and word-of-mouth marketing have made BeerSmith the standard for beer, mead, cider and wine making.

Over the years hundreds of thousands of brewers have used BeerSmith to make great beer, and the BeerSmithRecipes.com recipe site now hosts 1.8 million beer recipes and some 269,000 registered users. Along the way I added the BeerSmith Blog which has over 500 articles on brewing, and BeerSmith podcast which now numbers 291 episodes and several million downloads.

Most importantly, I’ve met hundreds of great friends, and enjoyed some amazing beers, meads and ciders with people from around the world. Thank you again for the opportunity to be a part of the amazing brewing community these last 20 years, andI look forward to many more.

Sincerely,

Brad Smith, PhD, BeerSmith LLC

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This week I welcome back Gordon Strong to discuss lager fermentation, lager yeast flavors, judging beer as well as some trends in craft brewing.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (54:29) * This week I welcome back Gordon Strong. Gordon Strong is the President Emeritus of the Beer Judge Certification Program, its highest rated beer judge, and author of the books Modern Homebrew Recipes and Brewing Better Beer (Books links are paid Amazon affiliate links). * Gordon starts by discussing his recent travels and beer events. * We talk about the basic fermentation character of lagers and how it differs from ales. * Gordon discusses Sulfur, which is a common off flavor in lagers – especially very young lagers as well as methods to mitigate it. * We discuss “Clean Fermentation” and what it means with respect to lagers, as it is slightly different than with ales. Again the difference is larger with fresh lager beers. * Gordon provides some advice for those looking to make a clean, fresh lager with few flaws. * Gordon recently judged at both the Great American Beer Fest and World Beer Cup and he shares some of his observations with regards to both. * We talk about some recent trends he has observed in craft beers and craft breweries. * Gordon shares his tips for pro brewers looking to enter a major beer competition, and how you can position your beer to be a winner. * Gordon closes with his thoughts on making a great lager, as well as craft beer and judging.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Adam Mills joins me this week to discuss the use of Thiol boosting yeast, mash hopping and other techniques to enhance the tropical/fruity flavors in IPAs and New England IPAs.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (48:53) * This week I welcome Adam Mills. Adam is Director of Brewing Operations at Sonder Brewing in Mason, Ohio. Adam is a former teacher who shifted to brewing professionally, and he runs a Youtube channel called “Adam Makes Beer“ * We start with a short discussion of Adam’s brewing experience as a homebrewer, educator and now pro brewer. * Adam introduces thiolized yeast strains and how they enhance fruity flavors in a finished beer. * We discuss the major providers of these yeast and how they are currently genetically modified for the most part. * Adam tells us how malt selection can actually contribute to thiolized yeast fruity flavors, a topic I’ve not seen discussed elsewhere. * We also discuss hops and have an extended discussion of mash hopping, which I’ve previously been skeptical of even though some brewers report success with for enhancing fruity flavors in a finished beer. * Adam shares his thoughts on the use of various alternate hop products such as Cryo ops, salvo, etc which can be used in the whirlpool or dry hopping with less beer loss and less vegetal flavors. * He tells us about achieving the correct balance in a thiolized beer, and why you need to adjust the ingredients and techniques to achieve your goals in a finished beer. * We close with a discussion on clarifying and filtering beer, as well as Adam’s closing thoughts on thiolized yeast use.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA). Join the AHA today! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at the English hop group and what makes these hops unique for English ales.

English Hop Growing The British hops group consists of hop varieties grown in Great Britain. These hops were first grown in the South-East counties of Suffolk, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. A short time later the West Midlands also started growing hops including the counties of Herfordshire and Worchestershire. Today, approximately half of the hops is grown in the Midlands and half in the South East. (source: British Hop Association).

British Hop Varieties and Flavor The traditional English hop varieties include classics like East Kent Goldings, Fuggles, Willamette (a Fuggles derivative), Northdown, Northern Brewer, Goldings, First Gold, Phoenix, Pilgrim, Challenger and Progress, Pallisade, and Bramling Cross. In addition British growers grow some US derivative hops like Cascade (UK) as well as newer varieties like Jester, Mystic and Archer.

For me, East Kent Goldings is perhaps a definitive example of English hops, though Fuggles and Northern Brewer are also consider distinctive classics. Northern Brewer was, for example, the hops used in the now defunct Anchor Steam Beer which was one of the very first US craft beers.

The flavors of British yeast tend to be more complex and less clean than Continental or even US hops. Major flavors include spicy, earthy, herbal, woody, grassy, green and tangy. Some varieties like Fuggles can produce vegetal or green grass notes.

The complexity and earthy/woody notes are at the heart of British hops and at the core of many English and British beer styles. These are not the clean ethereal lagers brewed on the Continent. English ales are rich in flavor that varies from fruity to earthy, woody and grassy. What would be considered an off-flavor in a Continental lager is an important component of many English styles.

British Hops in Beer Styles Not surprisingly, British hops are closely associated with traditional English and Scottish beer styles. These include English Ale, Mild, Bitter, English Strong Ale, Old Ale, English IPAs, Brown Ale, Porter, Barley Wine, and Stout. While many of these styles are only moderately hopped, the earthy flavors of British hops play an important role in creating the overall style.

In the early days of the recent American Craft Beer revolution, British hops were used by many small breweries to recreate British styles. While over time, many of these styles such as IPA were “Americanized” using hops from the Pacific Northwest and cleaner American yeast, the British varieties are still used in some American ales commercially.

English hops are some of my favorite varieties to brew with. I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on hop groups. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Ken Schramm joins me this week to discuss which fruits work best in meads.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:42) * This week I welcome back Ken Schramm from Schramm’s Meadery. Ken literally “wrote the book” on mead making called The Compleat Meadmaker (Amazon affiliate link). Ken was also a founding member of the Mazer cup and has won numerous national awards including a lifetime achievement award from the American Homebrewers Association. His meadery arguably makes some of the highest rated meads in the world from fresh fruit, spices and honey. * We start with a short discussion of Ken’s progress with the farm where he’s growing varieties of fruits specifically for making meads to find out which varieties work best. * We talk about the type of mead that Ken makes – which is basically very high gravity fruit meads (Melomels) with a big flavor impact. * Ken introduces his “Noble” fruits which he believes are the top fruits to use in meads including fruits like tart cherries, raspberries, currants and blackberries. * We discuss how the acidity and tannins provide the flavor and structure needed for a large gravity mead with a substantial amount of residual sweetness. * Ken explains why some acidic fruits like cranberries actually don’t work that well in a fruit mead. * He also tells us why many stone fruits and lighter fruits like peaches, blueberries and strawberries don’t hold up well to fermentation. * We talk about low acid fruits like pears and apples and how they can work with certain mead styles. * Ken talks about the importance of family businesses and how many of the problems he is trying to solve actually could span multiple generations. * He finishes with a description of why mead making is a team sport and requires a lot of people working together.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Hallertauer Mittelfrueh Profile
Src: Hopsteiner This week I take a look at the Noble hop group which are varieties of hops primarily grown in Continental Europe for use in European lagers and ales.

Noble Hops The noble hops group are varieties of hops mainly grown in Central Europe that are characterizes by rich aroma and flavor. They are widely used in German lagers and ales but also in other European styles including many Belgian and Eastern European pilsners.

The original four classic Noble hops are as follows:

• Tettnang
• Saaz
• Spalt
• Hallertauer Mittelfruh

These hops are actually named after the regions where they were traditionally grown. This is a reflection of the fact that the hops take on the “terrior” or character of the region.

There is some confusion as there are a ton of related hops that are not necessarily from the same region or even the same cultivar. For example “Hallertauer Gold” is not the same as “Hallertauer Mittelfruh”. The same is true of “Spalter Select” which is a different variety than Spalt. A hop widely called “Tettnanger” is grown in the Pacific Northwest is not the same as “Tettnang” grown in Germany.

That being said there are many varieties derived from the original four hops that are widely grown worldwide that still make great beer, so you should not discard a variety just because it was not grown in Central Europe, but you do need to be aware that these relatives of the original four are not precisely the same.

To aid in differentiating true Noble hops from those grown elsewhere, noble hop growers will often prefix the name with the area in which the hops are grown. So for example if you purchase “Hallertau Hallertauer” or Tennang Tettnanger” then those are hops that were actually grown in the Hallertau or Tettnang regions.

Flavor and Aroma Profiles These hops tend to have a profile similar to the spider chart shown above for Hallertauer Mittelfrueh. They are low in alpha acid, and bred for their aroma. They tend to be dry, herbacious, somewhat spicy with citrus and piney notes. The Saaz variants are even more spicy and resinous with hints of fruits, lemongrass or other complex aromas.

Noble Hops Usage Noble hops are widely used in almost all of the German beer styles including both lagers and ales. In addition they are widely used for Czech and Vienna pilsners, many Belgian beers and other styles common to Continental Europe.

The low alpha acid and great aroma make noble hops perfect for low to moderately hopped light colored beer styles. They work very well in lager beer styles and in fact classic lagers like the Czech Pilsner use Saaz hops.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on Noble hops. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Dr Greg Casey joins me this week to discuss the interesting history of German Adjunct Lager and how it influenced the rise of American Adjunct Lager here in the US.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:42) * This week I welcome back Dr Greg Casey. Greg has an extensive history in brewing at Annheuser-Bush, Red Star Yeast, Stroh, Coors, Molson and Millers. He has a PhD in Applied Microbiology and was President of the American Society of Brewing Chemists from 2005-2006.barrel aged and innovation programs before becoming head brewer. * Greg starts by telling us about progress on the first 2 volumes of his 5 volume series on the history of American Lager – the first volumes should be published shortly. * We talk about how his study of American Lager history led him to explore the history of Adjunct lagers in Germany, which were brewed quite widely in the 1800s. * We discuss key events in the history of German brewing in the late 1800’s and how adjunct lagers were actually brewed often using two mash vessels during this period. * Greg explains how the Bavarian purity law or Reinheitsgebot came about primarily as a tax in 1906, and in fact the purity term came several years after the law was established. * We discuss the huge impact German Adjunct lager brewing had on the rise of lagers in the US over a short period of about 20 years to become the dominant style in the US, as well as the important role of German brewers who emigrated to the US. * We talk about the impact of WWI on both German and US brewing. * Greg explains how US brewers expanded and perfected the large scale brewing of adjunct lagers prior to prohibition, and this eventually spread worldwide. * Greg tells us where to get his first two volumes. * He shares his closing thoughts.

Important Correction: while Ludwig Haecker was run out of town in Indiana in 1863 when the local German-American community got wind of the use of corn grits as an adjunct in pilot lager beer trials, during the taping I inadvertently referred to “rice beer”, not “corn beer” as the beer which had him exit quickly. The reference to “rice beer” was pertinent to the August 28, 1871 article in Our Home Journal directly below the image of Haecker’s July 1, 1862 United States Patent 35,752 entitled “Improvement In Brewing When Indian Corn Is Used”. Noting both the use of decoction or infusion mashing in his diary, the image depicting Nicholas Baumann’s May 18, 1869 patent represents the earliest period reference I found depicting the quintessentially American double-mash process.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week Skip Schwartz, the head brewer at WeldWerks brewing joins me to discuss brewing barrel aged stouts. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics […]

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This week I welcome Mirella Amato to discuss how you can best pair beer and foods for a great dining experience! Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the […]

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This week I take a look at yeast autolysis which is the decomposition of yeast, and how it affects beer flavor as your beer ages. Yeast Autolysis The word autolysis literally means self-destruction, and yeast autolysis is the final stage for a yeast cell life where the yeast cell wall literally bursts open and releases […]

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This week I welcome Larry Horwitz, the head brewer from Crooked Hammock to discuss Wit Beer and Light Lager brewing. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio […]

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This week I discuss the German Step mash profile and how it can be used for Continental and German beer styles. I’ve also seen this mash referred to as a barbell mash or lager mash. The German Step Mash Profile A German Step mash is a term many of us use to denote a mash […]

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This week I welcome back John Palmer to discuss English and American Pale Ales and IPAs and how water shapes the flavor of these beers. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser […]

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This week I provide an overview of water and its use in beer brewing. While water chemistry is considered by some to be an advanced topic, it makes up 90% of most beers and has a tremendous impact on your finished beer. Why Water Matters In blind tasting tests, changes to the water used in […]

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This week I welcome back Stan Hieronymus to discuss New Zealand hops, new hop varieties and their application in India Pale Ales. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support […]

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This week I welcome Rick Goehring from Walnut River Brewing who shares an interesting story of starting a production brewery with very little money. Rick has the top selling Kansas produced Craft Beer now. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and […]

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This week I welcome Jamil Zainasheff back for another brewing question and answer session. Jamil covers a wide variety of topics from Hazy IPAs to the state of homebrewing. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this […]

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This week I take a look at some of the key process factors when lautering and sparging your all grain beer. Last week in part one, I discussed equipment design and how a filter bed forms around grain husks and creates channels that the wort flows through. I explained why a poorly designed lauter tun can create large channels that hurt your mash and brewhouse efficiency.

Process Considerations for Lautering Probably the most important process step in establishing a good grain bed is the quality of the grain crush. When brewers come to me asking about low mash and brewhouse efficiency, the first question I will ask them is how they crushed their grains.

As I mentioned earlier, properly crushed malt leave a large portion of the grain husk intact and those husks form a filter bed that allows sugars to be extracted from the bulk of the crushed malt without gumming up the bed and creating a stuck sparge.

A two roller grain mill is ideal for crushing your grains as it leaves large pieces of hull intact. However the gap on your mill must be carefully set so it crushes the interior of the malt to a fairly fine powder without destroying the husk.

A note of caution that not all brewing supply shops carefully set their mills, and the mills they use face high volumes, so purchasing pre-crushed grains can sometimes not result in a high quality crush. Also in some cases certain specialty malts require slightly different gap settings to get the best crush.

The second major consideration when mashing and sparging is to get your volumes correct. The volume of water used in the sparge is driven mainly by your desired pre-boil volume. However you need to also take into account the water already in the mash and also volume absorbed and trapped by the grain itself. Most systems also have some deadspace below the lautering filter, so additional losses must be accounted for there.

Starting with the water you add to your mash itself, you must first remove grain absorption which runs about 1 liter/kg (0.96 pts/lb) on average. Brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) systems achieve more compression in a grain bag and typically run about 0.4 to 0.5 liters/kg, or roughly half as much as a regular mash tun, though obviously you do not complete a lauter step with the BIAB system.

Subtracting grain absorption from the water used to mash in, we get the approximate volume of water already in the mash tun before lautering. Next we simply take the desired pre-boil volume and subtract the water absorbed by the grain to determine the lauter volume needed. We also need to add a bit more for losses in the lauter tun, such as any unrecoverable volume below the mash tun filter. This final number will tell us how much water to sparge with.

Lautering Temperatures and the Mash Out Next we need to determine what temperature to heat our sparge water to, and also whether to use a mash-out step.

A mash-out step at a temperature of 168F (75.6 C) or so was traditionally included to “stop” the enzymes during the mash which was thought to help control the conversion process. In reality the enzymes don’t stop at that point but are converting at a much slower level. Now, a mash-out is primarily done to increase the viscosity of the wort to aid its flow through the grain bed.

I personally don’t do a mash-out much anymore unless I’m working with a high percentage of sticky adjuncts like oats or wheat. With a properly designed system and proper grain crush, most barley based beers simply don’t require a mash-out.

You may also find older references that say using hot mash water (above 180 F or 82 C) can result in tannin extraction during the mash. This is not correct. Excess tannin extraction is typically caused by pH problems (see below) in the mash and not simple raising the temperature of the bed too high.

I personally run my lauter/sparge water at about 178F (81 C)as this will raise the temperature of the grain bed and increase viscosity without causing problems.

Lautering Time Given that lautering is primarily a diffusion process, and not a rinsing process you should lauter your grains slowly. Giving the water time in contact with the grains will result in better extraction and a higher original gravity. I typically take a minimum of 20-30 minutes to lauter my grains, and sometimes take longer. You also want to manage the inflow and outflow of the lauter process to maintain a “floating grain bed” and not compact the grains during lautering.

Lautering pH While the subject of mash pH is a complex one I’ve covered before, intermediate and advanced brewers should be using acid of some kind to manage their mash pH during the main conversion mash step. In addition to this, professional brewers also monitor the pH of their runnings. As you flush more alkaline water through your acidic grain bed, the pH of the runnings will rise. So the wort coming out of the grain bed will slowly increase in pH. The rule of thumb is to not allow the pH of your runnings to go above the 6.0 level, as pH readings higher than 6 are associated with high tannin extraction. Too many tannins (a flavor akin to sucking on a tea bag) is not desirable in your beer. Depending on your starting mash pH this can be a problem particularly for lower gravity beers.

Vourlauf and Recirculation Most brewers start their lautering process by doing a vourlauf where a few quarts of the first runnings from the mash tun are collected and added back to the top of the mash tun. This gives your grain bed time to set into a good filter structure, and also reduces the amount of debris in the finished wort.

In addition many newer homebrew systems have a recirculation pump that continuously recirculates and sometimes heats the wort during the mash. Recirculation generally results in clearer wort as it allows the grain bed to settle before lautering. The only downside is that recirculation can set up channels in the grain bed that bypass some of the grain. This is particularly the case when your recirculation returns the wort to a single point on top rather than distributing it across the grain bed, so you need to consider not only the wort being pulled form the bottom, usually through your filter, but also where its going back in at the top.

Lautering appears to be a simple process at first, but a deeper dive demonstrates that there are some significant issues to consider in both equipment design and process when lautering your grains. I hope you enjoyed this week’s article from the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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This week I take a look at the process of lautering or sparging your all grain beer. What appears to be a simple process actually has some interesting complexities to it.

Lautering Lautering would appear to be one of the simplest steps in all grain brewing. Hot water is run through the grain bed to extract wort. Then we boil the wort, chill it and ferment it into beer. However, there are a few things going on under the hood that you need to know about.

When we talk about lautering, often brewers use the term mash efficiency. Mash efficiency is the efficiency of the overall mashing process in extracting gravity points from the grains and getting them into the wort. A related term, called brewhouse efficiency, is also used though brewhouse efficiency includes all losses going into the fermenter, instead of into the boil.

Maximizing mash efficiency depends on several factors including the malt used, grain crush, mash temperatures used, pH, as well as your lauter tun design.

Lauter Tun Design While lautering is usually done in the mash tun, the design of the vessel can have a big impact on your mash efficiency. Ideally we want to extract as much of the color and sugars from the crushed grains as possible. We want a lauter tun that maximizes mash tun efficiency.

The grain bed is composed of particles of the inner grain seed and husks. The husks form a filter bed, so when crushing the grains we want to preserve large pieces of the husk while crushing the interior of the seed to a high degree. That is why double roller mills have become the standard for crushing brewing grains. The two rollers crush the interior of the grain but leave large pieces of husk alone to aid in filtering.

One consideration in design is the height and width of the grain bed. If the grain bed is wide but not deep, water will flow through only a thin layer of grains and not much will be extracted. While a tall grain bed might therefore seem ideal, if the bed is too tall it actually will compact the grains resulting in lower extraction.

The rule of thumb for home-sized units is that the height to width of a vessel should be between 1:2 and 2:1 (John Palmer, How to Brew, Chap 17). For a cylider this means your mash tun diameter and height should be about the same if it was filled to the top with grains. In practice often the height is a bit higher to account for deadspace and varying amounts of grain.

Another factor in lauter tun design is the flow of the wort through the grain bed, and in particular the filtering system at the bottom of the vessel. While the grain husks aid in filtering, channels still form in the bed where it is easier for the water to flow.

This is also true of the vessel filtering system. If we imagine a lauter tun with only a single small hole at the bottom to act as a filter, clearly you will get major channels forming around the hole which will hurt efficiency for most of the bed as little to now water will flow.

In contrast if the filter bed covers the entire bottom of the lauter tun you will get hundreds or thousands of channels forming across the entire grain bed which will improve efficiency. So ideally you want a broad filter layer that covers the entire bottom of the bed. The output from the mash tun is important too as if its not well designed, it can cause channeling around the output itself.

In a similar way, the way you feed your water into the top of the mash tun matters. High end systems use a sparge arm or sprayer to distribute the water broadly across the entire top area of the grain bed. Obviously if you pour the water into a single point at the top of the grain bed, it will channel and cause the same problems as a poorly designed mash filter at the bottom.

That covers the basics of lauter tun design. Next week in part 2 we’ll look at some of the process considerations that go into lautering. I hope you enjoyed this week’s article from the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Dr Chris White joins me this week to talk about yeast viability, harvesting yeast and reusing yeast from batch to batch.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (48:59) * This week I welcome back Dr Chris White, President of White Labs one of the top brewing yeast providers in the world. * We discuss some of the new products coming from White Labs. * Chris starts with a discussion of yeast viability – specifically what it is. * We talk about the factors affecting yeast viability for liquid yeast and how it affects the lifespan for a package of yeast. * Chris shares his thoughts on determining when a packet of yeast is past its prime. * He shares the basic process for harvesting yeast from a fermentation for reuse. * We discuss washing yeast and what that entails. * Chris tells us how to store harvested yeast and when the best time to use it is. * We talk about how much repitched yeast to use and whether a starter is needed. * Chris tells us how many times you can reuse yeast. * He gives his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Alex Wenner joins me this week to discuss starting his brewery Lasting Joy in the Hudson Valley.

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I apologize – we had some audio issues recording this week’s podcast, so the audio is a bit overcompressed, but we should have it sorted out next episode.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:07) * This week I welcome Alex Wenner. Alex is CEO and co-founder of Lasting Joy on the Hudson Valley. Alex previously worked at Cricket Hill, Six Point and Coney Island while earning his degree from the Siebel Institute. Alex co-founded Lasting Joy with his wife to create a Craft Beer experience that is more inviting and inclusive. * We discuss a bit about Alex’s background in brewing for a decade professionally at craft breweries around New York City. * We discuss some of the good and bad things Alex saw working in the Craft Beer industry. * Alex explains why he decided to start Lasting Joy brewery. * We talk about how Alex selected his equipment for the new brewery, as well as some of the larger challenges in getting a brewery off the ground. * Alex shares his design for Lasting Joy and the unique space and environment he and his wife were trying to create. * We discuss his initial beer lineup and how he selected which beers to brew. * Alex has focused on using locally grown New York ingredients. We talk about the emerging craft malt and hop farms popping up in New York State. * Alex shares where he’s going with the business next * We discuss his location, website and closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a closer look at the mashing process and what is actually going on when we mash malted barley and then sparge it to produce wort during the brewing process.

The Purpose of Mashing Mashing is, in its most simple form, a process that breaks longer carbohydrate molecule chains into simpler sugars that can be fermented. Yeast most readily consumes simple sugars like maltose and glucose, and mashing creates the simple sugars yeast needs to ferment and produce alcohol in a finished beer.

Malting and Mashing To understand mashing, we need to take a step back and briefly explain the malting process. Raw barley is simply barley seeds, but brewers rarely work with raw barley. Instead they use malted barley which goes through a process where the seeds are immersed in water, germinate and begin to grow. The process is cut off a few days later when the seeds are kilned or roasted to make malt.

However malting starts the process of converting complex carbohydrates in the grains into a form where they can be broken down to simpler sugars in the mash. Malting also develops the important enzymes that are needed in the mash to break these carbohydrates down further. The two most important of these enzymes are called alpha and beta amylase.

The brewer now takes over where the maltster left off and mashes the malted barley by immersing it in hot water in roughly the 152 F (67 C) range for anywhere from 30-90 minutes. At this temperature the alpha and beta amylase enzymes are active, and work together to break down longer molecule chains into simple sugars that can be fermented.

Alpha and Beta Amylase, pH and Mash Temperature Alpha and Beta Amylase are the primary enzymes in the mash, and they work in different ways and also perform best at different temperatures and pH levels.

Alpha amylase has higher concentrations in pale malt and 6 row barley malts. It chops long molecules randomly into gluclose chains, some of which may or may not be fermentable. Because it breaks up the chains randomly, it can create both unfermentable dextrins as well as fermentables simple sugars. It has peak activity in the 5.2-5.7 pH range and a temperature of 70 C (158 F). Therefore, mashing at a slightly higher temperature and pH will activate this enzyme, giving you a beer with fewer fermentables but more body.

Beta amylase is the primary fermtable producer. It chops maltose molecules off from the end of longer chains, and can break down the two most popular (amylose and amylopectin) molecules in malt. Since it always produces fermentable maltose when it acts on a molecule, it will give more fermentables than alpha amylase. It reaches its peak activity at a pH of 5.1-5.3 and a temperature of 60-65 C (140-149 F). Therefore mashing at lower temperature and slightly lower pH will give you a beer with more fermentables (alcohol) but lest body in the finished beer.

Sparging and Lautering After the mash has completed converting complex sugars into simple ones, we next need to separate the sugars as well as color and flavor from the grain. This is done by running hot water through the grain bed in a process called lautering. There are several variations to this including BIAB, recirculation, fly sparging, etc… but the basic goal is to extract as much of the sugars, color and flavor from the grain while separating the husk and grain bits from the wort typically using some kind of filter bed.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article from the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.

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Dr Greg Casey joins me this week to discuss the history of lager yeast, and its evolution in brewing.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:07) * This week I welcome back Dr Greg Casey. Greg has an extensive history in brewing at Annheuser-Bush, Red Star Yeast, Stroh, Coors, Molson and Millers. He has a PhD in Applied Microbiology and was President of the American Society of Brewing Chemists from 2005-2006. * We start with a discussion of the status of Greg’s 5 volume set on the history of Adjunct Lager we discussed in episode 248. Greg has two volumes coming out as early as this Fall and is working on the third volume. * We start with a discussion of what lager yeast is and how it is historically and fundamentally different than ale yeasts. * Greg shares what he learned working for an entire career in many of the larger US lager breweries. * We talk about the state of the art in lager yeast brewing back in 1979 when he started his career. * I ask what’s changed in the last 44 years with regard to our understanding of lager yeast. * Greg shares a bit about the genetic and historical origins of lager yeast. * We discuss nature vs nurture and how both have played important roles in lager yeast evolution. * Greg explains the differnce between the Carlsburg and Tubor lager yeasts and how both variations are still used in producing adjunct lagers. * Greg discusses how the rapid gain in genetics and microbiology have shaped how we now look at lager yeast. * We discuss how he’s incorporated much of what he learned into his five volume set on adjunct lagers. * Greg shares his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Dr Greg Casey for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at the recent trend towards lagers in Craft Brewing. While they certainly won’t replace IPAs in the US Craft Beer market, we’re seeing more finely crafted lagers entering the market in the past few years.

Craft Lagers on the Rise IPAs continue to absolutely dominate the Craft Beer market, making up over 50% of sales for most small brewers. However, in the past few years, I’ve noticed a marked rise in the availability of finely crafted Lagers like Pilsners.

Ales have dominated the US Craft Beer market since its inception in the 1980’s. Ales are quick and easy to produce, and a wide variety of styles can be made that are distinct from the typical American Adjunct Lager that the big breweries produce.

Lagers, in contrast, take nearly twice as much timer for an average Craft brewer to make, and often require a larger pitch of yeast as well as additional refrigeration. Add to this the dominance of IPAs in the Craft Beer market, and there was little incentive to make lagers.

However in the last few years, many craft breweries started dabbling in Pilsners and many continental lager styles to accompany their traditional ale offerings. To their surprise, their lagers often sold well as they are light, fresh and drinkable for clientele that may not prefer the bitterness of an IPA or deep flavors of many ales.

This is not to downplay the many great breweries that have specialized in German or other lager styles, but only to highlight that many mainstream Craft Breweries are now offering Craft lagers as well.

Not Your Father’s Lager Not surprisingly, Craft Breweries are not rushing out to create another American Adjunct Lager like Budweiser or Coors. Instead craft brewers are either brewing traditional Continental styles like Czech Pils or German Helles, or putting their own spin on lager beers.

The best breweries also put a real focus on quality, as a Pilsner will show even the slightest flaw in processing or aging. In fact I’ll often order a craft Pilsner when I visit a new brewery to determine how good their head brewer is, as it is easy to detect off flavors like DMS, diacetyl or sulfur in a lager.

Craft Breweries are also innovating with new lager offerings. Not surprisingly, they will often put an American twist on traditional European styles by using US malts, Pacific Northwest hops and even local spices and fruits. Many of these variations make the beer more flavorful, drinkable and unique.

If you have found some really great Craft lagers please leave a comment below! I hope you enjoyed this week’s article from the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send this article to a friend.

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Ron Pattinson joins me to discuss the history of Stouts in the British isles including London Stout, Irish Stout and other variants.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:17) * This week I welcome back Ron Pattinson. Ron is the author of dozens of books and articles on historical beer brewing including his most recent effort to document British brewing during World War II. You can find his articles and purchase his books from his blog which is Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. * Ron discusses the three major books he’s been working on including the upcoming book on Stous. * We talk about some of the historical variations of stout and their regional origins. * Ron explains why “Stout” originally meant strong beer, and did not necessarily denote a beer that was dark in color. * We discuss the earliest stout records we have which are from the 1700’s, as well as what that beer might have looked like. * Ron talks about the invention of Black malt in the early 1800’s and how it revolutionized the production of stouts and porters. * Ron shares his thoughts on some of the exotic 4-5 mash techniques used and we speculate about what the brewers may have been trying to accomplish. * Ron talks about the use of both parti-gyle brewing (more than one batch from one mash) as well as blending the finished beers to deliver a better overall product. * We briefly discuss the rise of lagers in the US which had little impact on England. * Ron explains how stouts were weakened and modified during both WWI and WWII to compensate for very high taxes and severe supply shortages. * We discuss the surviving stouts post-war including sweet stout, milk stout, Irish (dry) stout and others. * Ron closes with a discussion of the popularity of stout today and his final thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Ron Pattinson for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Scott Janish from Sapwood Cellars and Simon Carlsen from CHR Hansen join me this week to discuss using innovative yeasts to create low alcohol and non-alcoholic beers.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (50:40) * This week I welcome back Scott Janish. Scott is author of the recent book “The New IPA: A Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor” (Amazon affiliate link) and also co-founder of the Sapwood Cellars brewery in Columbia, Maryland. * Joining us also is Dr Simon Carlsen from CHR Hansen in Denmark. Simon specializes in using specialized yeast strains for low alcohol beers as well as other food and beverage products. * We start with a short discussion of Scott’s low alcohol beer program at Sapwood Cellars. * Simon talks about CHR Hansen which started in the dairy industry but has branched out to other foods and beverages including wine and beers. * Scott introduces the method he is using to make very low alcoholic (< 0.5%) beers which involves special yeast strains that don’t ferment maltose. * Simon talks in more detail about the yeast strains and how they work. * Scott talks about working with Frozen Liquid Yeast (FLY) which is a new yeast format that extends the life of liquid yeast by storing it at very cold temperatures. He shares his experiences working with it. * Simon tells us a bit about the fruity flavors they are getting from the yeast and potential to experiment with thiol freeing and fruity IPAs using some strains. * Scott and Simon talk about oxygen dosing and how it can potentially drive the alcohol content even lower with certain yeast strains. * Simon discusses packaging and finishing considerations for these NA beers. * Each guest shares their closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Scott Janish and for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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A few weeks ago I launched some new 1, 2 and 3 year license options as part of our BeerSmith checkout system including Venmo, Google Pay and Square options in addition to an upgraded paypal checkout system.

New 1-Year, 2-Year and 3-Year Options For the Gold, Platinum and Pro yearly accounts which now include the BeerSmith Web editor, many people asked for an option to purchase for more than one year without committing to an autorenew subscription. So for these licenses we now offer 1, 2 and 3 year purchases. For the 2 and 3 year options you get a 5% and 10% discount. To select these options, use the drop-down box near the bottom of the page when you are on the page where you select which license to purchase.

Basic Non Subscription Option There is a bit of a myth flying around that BeerSmith went to 100% subscriptions. This is not true, as we still offfer the “Basic” license for the desktop version which has been available since BeerSmith 3 launched. This is being sold under the same terms as the old BeerSmith 2 license. It includes the desktop software with no fixed expiration date and includes minor updates. It does not include the web based version, and also it does not include major version updates such as BeerSmith 4 (someday).

You can use all of the options listed in this article when purchasing a new license using the button below or if you want to renew an existing license you can go to this page, log into your account and click on the Renew Now button next to your license.

If you are new to BeerSmith or want to purchase a new license you can do using this button:

Buy BeerSmith! Square, Google Pay and Venmo Options As part of the rewrite I’ve also added more payment options. While the subscription with autopay is still processed through paypal, you now have other payment options if purchasing a Basic license or any of the Gold, Platinum or Pro licenses that are 1, 2 or 3 years. To access these options select the appropriate license (Basic or Gold+ 1,2,3 year) and then continue with the checkout. You should have both a Square button as well as a Venmo button if those are available in your area. For Google Pay you want to checkout using the Square button.

I am continuing to work on an alternative system with autopay for those that want an alternative to the paypal subscription system, but I hope the new 1, 2 and 3 year and basic options as well as new payment system will make it easier to renew and manage your BeerSmith license.

Thanks for your continued support!

Brad Smith, BeerSmith LLC

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Michael Tonsmeire from Sapwood Cellars joins us this week to discuss some of his recent innovative lager recipes.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:59) * This week I welcome back Michael Tonsmeire. Michael is a founder of the brewery Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, MD. He is also author of the book “American Sour Beers“(Amazon Affiliate Link) as well as the blog The Mad Fermentationist online. He’s a certified beer judge. * We start with a short discussion of the new expansion at Sapwood Cellars in Columbia MD. * Michael and I discuss the recent trend towards high quality Craft Lagers which have become more popular in recent years. * We talk a bit about giving Lagers the same “freedom” that ales have to vary in style, form and flavor. * Michael describes a “thiolized” lager he did with some thiol boosting yeast and selected hops. * We talk about his “Bottle White” which used a Helles base. * Michael discusses his use of hops in lagers and how the hop character comes across in a lager. * We switch over to darker beers including his “Doppelbock Stout” and Schwarzbier variants. * Michal talks about malt bills and how the malt bill focus is a bit different with a lager. * We finish with a discussion of Michael’s soured, barrel aged lagers including one using cherries. * Michael provides his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Michael Tonsmeire for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at how to carbonate your stouts using a stout mix of 70% nitrogen, 30% CO2 gas to get a smooth creamy head on your stout as well as its use in wines, mead and cider.

What is Stout Mix Gas? Most home brewers use carbon dioxide (CO2) gas cylinders to carbonate and serve their beer. However, the famous Guinness stout as well as several other stout brands are not served with CO2 but instead use a nitrogen-CO2 blend and a special stout faucet for serving. This combination gives Guinness their famous creamy nitrogen head on the beer and a unique mouthfeel to the beer.

While you can carbonate and serve beers with regular CO2, you won’t achieve the creamy nitrogen head on the beer without using stout mix.

Stout mix, often also called “Guinness mix” is a mix of either 70% nitrogen and 30% CO2 or 75% nitrogen and 25% CO2. It is commonly sold by beverage gas supply shops in smaller 5 lb cylinders that are rated for nitrogen. Unfortunately you will pay a premium for this gas as it is more expensive to produce than regular CO2.

Equipment Needed for Serving with Stout Mix Nitrogen is stored at a much higher pressure than CO2, so a stout mix cylinder has thicker walls rated for the nitrogen. To use one you will also need to purchase a nitrogen regulator, as the more common CO2 regulators are not rated for the higher pressure.

You will also need to purchase a stout or restrictor faucet, often called a stout faucet. These faucets typically have a restrictor plate which helps to force the CO2 out of solution at the higher pressure these beers are carbonated. Some stout faucets also have a “creamer” function which is activated by pushing the faucet handle back and results in additional agitation to form the white head on the beer.

So to server your stout with nitrogen you need a dedicated stout-mix filled gas cylinder, a nitrogen regulator and a specialized stout faucet. Since none of these are inexpensive, you can see why many brewers never choose to serve their stouts with a nitrogen mix.

Using Stout Mix in Practice Nitrogen is very difficult to force into solution in beer, with only about 1/100th the solubility that CO2 has. Therefore most of the carbonation in your finished beer still comes from the 25% CO2 gas. Also stout mix is really only appropriate for low carbonation beers like stouts (1.2-1.9 volumes of CO2 carbonation level), because higher pressure levels will drive the CO2 into a liquid state leaving the beer flat.

So stout mix beer is carbonated and served at much higher pressures, usually about 4x the pressure used with conventional CO2 beers. When the beer is poured through the restrictor plate in the stout faucet and poured, small nitrogen bubbles are drawn down the side of the glass by convection while CO2 released by the plate bubbles up the center. This “cascade” effect gives draft Guinness a unique appearance when first poured.

To determine the appropriate pressure for carbonating your beer with stout mix, we remember that CO2 is typically 25%-30% of the mix, and nitrogen is only 1% of the carbonation level. So to achieve the same carbonation level as a typical CO2 beer we need to use about 4 times the pressure for a given temperature.

So for example lets look at a stout with 1.9 volumes of carbonation, served at 42 F (5.6 C). For a conventional CO2 beer you would use 6.6 psi (45.5 kpa) of pressure. Since we are using stout mix which has only 1/4 the CO2, we need to up the pressure by a factor of four so 6.6 pxi x 4 = 26.4 psi (182 kpa). So we would set the regulator on our stout mix tank to 26.4 psi (182 kpa) when carbonating and serving the beer at 42 F (5.6 C). For comparison, Guinness serves at around 40 F (4.4 C) using a keg pressure of around 30 psi (206 kpa).

Other Uses for Stout Mix in Wines, Meads and Cider This is not well known, but stout mix is also a good mix for topping off and serving still wines, ciders and meads. I personally have served wines and meads for many years directly from kegs using stout mix. Typically I will only set the regulator to 1-2 psi, which is just enough to force the wine or mead out of the keg.

The reason to use stout mix is that it is better than either CO2 or nitrogen alone. If you use nitrogen it will strip the wine or mead of its remaining CO2 and carbonic acid which changes the flavor balance of the wine, often in a negative way. Similarly using CO2 tends to increase the CO2 content of the wine or mead, creating additional carbonic acid and eventually altering the flavor balance.

Dedicated tap systems to serve wine off a tap use an adjustable CO2-Nitrogen mixer to counter the problem mentioned above. The mix is set depending on the temperature that the wine is served at to maintain the native CO2 balance in the beer. However low pressure stout mix is not that far off the ration you would typically use when serving still wines, so it is my choice for kegging still meads, wines and ciders at home. In this case you can use a traditional tap to serve the wine since it is done at minimal pressure.

I hope you enjoyed today’s article on using stout mix for your beers as well as meads, wines and ciders. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send this article to a friend.

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This week Chris Graham and Vito Delucchi from MoreBeer join me to discuss how to free the thiols in your hops to create fruity IPAs and New England IPAs.

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Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (39:04) * This week I welcome back Chris Graham and Vito Delucchi. Chris is the President of MoreBeer, and has been brewing over 20 years. Vito is the MoreBeer curator of content and a BJCP certified beer judge. * Chris does a short update on some of the new things happening at MoreBeer. * Vito tells us about the importance of thiols which are compounds primarily in hops that have a huge impact on aroma in the finished beer. In particular these compounds can generate desirable tropical fruit flavors in beers like IPAs and New England IPAs. * Chris explains how you can use a combination of techniques and ingredients to really enhance the fruity aroma in your beer. * Cito discusses what to look for in a hop – particularly to use US, New Zealand and Australian varieties that have higher thiol, linalool and geraniol. * Chris tells us a bit about the additives like Phantasm that can increase the free thiol content in a finished beer by freeing thiols in the hops. * Vito discusses the difference between thiol content and free thiols. * Chris discusses certain yeasts that have been modified or bred to enhance the biotransformations that happen during fermentation to create the fruity compounds. * Vito discusses these yeast and who has them. * Chris talks a bit about dry hop additions during active fermentation and how they can have an impact as well. * Vito talks again about hop selection and a few aids you can use to enhance hop selection. * We discuss the results of combining these techniques. * Vito tells us where to learn more. * Both guests provide their closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Chris Graham and Vito Delucchi for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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In an effort to provide better data security, I will be phasing out direct access from within BeerSmith 2 to the BeerSmith Cloud on 1 March 2023. This will affect only BeerSmith 2 users as BeerSmith 3 already uses the latest security protocols.

I have launched a two week upgrade discount program for those who choose to upgrade to BeerSmith 3 and BeerSmith Web – enter your BeerSmith 2 key here for the discount. The upgrade discount will close at midnight Eastern time on the 7th of February.

Can I still use BeerSmith 2? You can continue to use BeerSmith 2 in standalone mode and save recipes locally to your hard drive, but you will not be able to save, share or search cloud based recipes from within the old version after 1 March 2023. Only the cloud based features in BeerSmith 2 will be affected. We recommend that you either upgrade to BeerSmith 3 or copy your cloud folder data to your My Recipes folder before that date, though you can still view them from the web portal.

What are my Upgrade Options? You can upgrade to BeerSmith 3 and BeerSmith Web at a discount by entering your BeerSmith 2 key (from Help->Activate) here. If you purchase a Gold or higher license you also will get full access to BeerSmith Web, our online version which you can use from any browser – even your tablet or phone. BeerSmith 3 can import and use your BeerSmith 2 data. You can find the major BeerSmith Web features here, and BeerSmith 3 features here.

But I don’t want a Subscription? While our BeerSmith 3 gold, platinum and pro licenses start at just $14.95 a year and include the complete web based recipe editor and free upgrades, you can purchase a Basic BeerSmith 3 license which has no renewals at a fixed price if you choose. We are also offering 1, 2 and 3 year gold+ license options now if you just want to pay for the desktop and web version for a few years and don’t want to use auto-renew.

Why are you closing BeerSmith 2 Cloud Access? The original BeerSmith 2 platform was launched in 2011, and had relatively insecure access to our server. The security situation has changed significantly in the last 12 years, and the BeerSmith web sites face daily attacks. The move to updated protocols is needed to secure user accounts as well as protect the server. We intend to secure the server on 1 March, 2023. BeerSmith 3 users will not be affected.

Upgrade to BeerSmith 3 today! The discount I’m offering is the lowest price you will get on BeerSmith 3 and BeerSmith Web as a combined package. It is only available through Feburary 7th. You will need your BeerSmith 2 code (from Help->Activate) to upgrade. For the Basic and Gold+ 1,2 and 3 year options we also now offer Venmo, Square and Google Pay checkout options.

Thank you again for your continued support!

Brad Smith
BeerSmith.com

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Dr Charlie Bamforth joins me this week to discuss health, wellness benefits and risks with beer.

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Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (54:09) * This week I welcome back Dr Charlie Bamforth. Charlie is Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Davis. Charlie joins me this week to discuss the health benefits and risks with beer. * DISCLAIMER: As discussed in the podcast, beer can have some health benefits when consumed in moderation, but obviously you should never drink and drive, or drink to excess which carries significant short term and long term health risks. * We start with a short discussion of Charlie’s recent activities since his retirement from UC Davis. He’s still teaching the master brewing class as well as putting courses onto Coursera, which is an online education platform where many of Charlie’s lectures are now available. * We discuss why talking about health and beer is such a difficult topic because it has become socially unacceptable, as there is a heavy bias against it. * Making things more complex is the fact that its hard to isolate health effects from beer alone as it should only be done in moderation and a lot of other lifestyle factors come into play. * We first discuss calories from alcohol and how the moderate consumption of alcohol can have both positive and negative effects on the body. * We discuss carbohydrates including the obvious fact that in fermented beer, all of the simple carbohydrates have been fermented away so only the more complex carbohydrates are left which are slowly digested by the body. * We discuss proteins, though beer is not a major source of daily protein. * We discuss phenolics which come from both malt and hops and are antioxident compounds. * We discuss vitamins and probiotics from yeast and malt. * Some research has shown that moderate consumption of beer has shown reduction of risk of certain heart risks, hypertension, eye and diabetes problems. * We discuss the obvious risks of drinking too much including drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, heart and long term health problems. Moderation and avoiding drunk driving are very important here. * Charlie gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Dr Charlie Bamforth for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Rarely does a week go by where I don’t receive an email from a user who has had a computer failure, lost laptop or lost phone resulting in BeerSmith data loss. While the BeerSmith Web version and cloud based data is automatically backed up on the sever nightly, your local data is not.

Local (My Recipe) Data vs Cloud (Web) Data Our flagship BeerSmith desktop program stores all of your data in My Recipes locally on your hard drive by default. This is done in part for legacy reasons, but also because many home and commercial users are concerned about their data and don’t want it stored online. So if your recipes are in ‘My Recipes’ then they are stored on your computers hard drive, and you should back them up periodically (see below).

Similarly the local recipe data on our mobile phone app is stored on the phone. Since your phone can be lost or broken, you may want to back it up by coping important recipes to your cloud folder.

Anything stored in the Cloud folder on any version of BeerSmith (including the web version) is stored online as part of your BeerSmithRecipes.com account. This data is kept on the server database and backed up nightly, so it is relatively secure.

Craft Brewing and Commercial Concerns It should be obvious, but your Craft beer recipes are critical data for your business that should be backed up periodically. Unfortunately I regularly receive emails from commercial brewers who have had a hard drive failure. Even more heartbreaking are those breweries who may have fired or removed a brewer only to find that the brewer took their recipe data with them. In some cases disgruntled employees have even deleted their cloud data.

If you are running a commercial brewery, I strongly recommend backing up both your local and cloud recipe data periodically and storing it offsite where it can’t be compromised.

Backing Up Local Desktop Data For the desktop version, your data is stored in the hidden AppData\Roaming\BeerSmith3 directory on Windows or the user’s Library/BeerSmith3 directory (%APPDATA%/BeerSmith3 also hidden) on the Mac. In an ideal world those directories should be included in your regular backups.

However not everyone uses an automated backup program. Fortunately you can backup all of your locally stored data including profiles and ingredients by simply going to File->Full Backup to Zip on the desktop. This will make a full backup and put it in a separate zip file you can store on a thumb drive or external hard drive separate from your computer. There are more details on this process here.

Backing Up Your Cloud and Web Based Data While the cloud based recipes for BeerSmith Web and your cloud folder are stored on our server and backed up nightly, I still recommend backing them up periodically. The reason for this is that your account login and password could still be compromised, and also a disgruntled employee could delete data if they have access to the account.

To back up your cloud based data from the desktop, go to Cloud view and then select File->Export All which will write a single BSMX file containing all of your cloud based data. Store this file on a backup or thumb drive offsite.

Backing Up Your Mobile Application Currently the only method for backing up your BeerSmith mobile app is to copy important recipes to your cloud folder from within the app. Alternately, a lot of users have been using the new web based version of BeerSmith instead by just logging into their cloud account from their mobile browser at BeerSmithRecipes.com. The web based version is full featured and can be accessed from any device even without the mobile app.

Recovering Data From a Backup You can do a full recovery from a zip file using the File->Recover from Zip command on the desktop version. This will replace your existing data, so be sure to make another backup if you need to before proceeding.

Since the backup file is a standard zip file you can also unpack the file and open individual BSMX files if needed to recover a smaller amount of data. There is a detailed article here on working with BSMX files.

Automated Desktop Backups In addition to the manual backups which I recommend above, BeerSmith makes automated backups of the major data files every time you use the program. The first of these is the File->Recover From Auto Backup command. Select the data type you wish to recover, and then I recommend clicking the Open File in a New Tab command which will let you view the backup file in a separate tab. From here you can selectively recover items by copy/pasting back to My Recipes from the open file tab. Alternately you can do a full Recover from Backup Selected which will restore a single backup file but it will overwrite existing data.

Also there is a Recipe Archive on the desktop version that stores major changes to all recipes. This can be used to recover recent changes to individual cloud and local recipes. To access it, go to Recipe->Recipe Archive. From here you can view old recipes and recover a copy as outlined in this video.

Note that since both the recipe archive and auto backups are stored on your hard drive they are not a replacement for offsite/cloud based data storage since you can still lose your computer or hard drive.

I also have additional information on backing up and recovering data here. hope you enjoyed this week’s article from the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send this article to a friend.

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Mitch Steele joins me this week to discuss Craft Beer supply chain issues, non-alcoholic beer, new yeast strains and more.

Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play

Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:30) * This week I welcome back Mitch Steele. Mitch is the COO and Brewmaster at New Realm Brewing and a former Brewmaster at Stone. Mitch wrote the book on IPAs called: IPA Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale. (Note: Amazon Affiliate Link). * We start with a discussion of some of the new things happening at New Realm brewing. * Mitch tells us about his foray into non-alcoholic beer which he is brewing using a vacuum-distillation method. * We discuss some of the challenges as well as what drove him to pursue non-alcoholic beer. * Mitch explains the large number of supply chain and inflation issues putting pressure on small breweries and making it difficult to maintain steady production. Particularly hard hit is European supplied malts. * We talk about the impact inflation, COVID and the supply chain have had on Craft brewing. * We switch topics to talking about new yeast strains. Mitch tells us about his experiences with yeasts that are modified to enhance thiols and promote fruity IPA flavors. * We also discuss Kviek yeast and how he has incorporated it into some of his IPAs. * Mitch discusses the recent shakeout in Craft brewing and why some breweries survived where others failed. * Mitch gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Mitch Steele for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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Randy Mosher joins me this week to discuss the wide variety of processes and flavors developed while kilning and roasting malt. This includes the Maillard reaction, carmelization and Pyrolisis.

Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play

Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in This Week’s Episode (49:30) * This week I welcome back Randy Mosher. Randy is the author of the books Mastering Homebrew, Radical Brewing, and Tasting Beer. (Full disclosure: Amazon affiliate links to books) He’s also partner in two breweries near Chicago Five Rabbit and Forbidden Root. * Randy briefly discusses his two breweries and the new book on tasting he is working on. * He introduces today’s topic which is the important flavors developed during three major processes that occur during malting: Carmelization, the Maillard reaction and Pyrolysis * We start with a bit on carmelization which is a process that mainly takes place in Crystal/Caramel malts which have a high percentage of simple sugars. * Next we discuss the Maillard reaction which is a dominant process in cooked foods as well as kilned malts. * We talk about some of the flavors generated and how they pile up on each other to create complex flavors in the beer. * Randy introduces pyrolysis which as the name implies is essentially a burning process that takes place during roasting at high temperature. Pyrolysis produces many of the roast flavors we associate with very dark malts. * We talk a bit about the compounds produced as well as the flavors from each. * Randy explains why roast barley (stout roast) is a different type of malt as it is made from unmalted barley. * We discuss the harsh zone, which is a region between roughly 70 and 200L where very few malts are produced due to the harsh flavors in this region. * Randy explains where astringency in very dark malts comes from. * He gives us his closing thoughts.

Sponsors * Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine! * And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime. * Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Web, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.

Thanks to Randy Mosher for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast? Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

• Audio feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/content/feed/podcast)
• Video feed on iTunes – (direct: http://beersmith.com/tv/category/podcast/feed/ )
• Audio podcast on Google Play here

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

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This week I take a look at the role of the calcium ion in your beer brewing water and how it affects the structure of your beer. Calcium plays an interesting role in brewing. First and foremost, it does acidify the mash, driving the pH down which is typically needed for many lighter beers where […]

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John Blichmann joins me this week to discuss professional brewing equipment and many of the equipment options a new Craft brewer faces when setting up a brewery. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. […]

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This week I present a design case study for developing a Marzen beer recipe. Along the way I describe my thought processes as I work through creating and brewing a new recipe. Designing a Marzen Beer Before I start a new beer, I sit down and describe what I’m trying to accomplish. This beer was […]

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Colin Kaminski joins me this week to discuss his experiences with professional brewing process control and how it applies to the home brewer. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not […]

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Matthias Trum, Brewmaster at Shlenkerla brewery in Bamberg, Germany joins me this week to discuss smoked beer history, styles and brewing Rauchbier. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support […]

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Dr Axel Goehler, the CEO of Bestmalz joins me this week to discuss malts and Craft brewing. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in […]

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This week I take a look at how to perfect a single beer recipe, and why this is important for brewers. When I first started brewing back in 1987, I wanted to brew everything. The Craft Beer revolution had not happened yet, so there were few examples of most styles, and we often learned about […]

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This week I take a close look at malts, the four major malt groups and how malts are best used in beer brewing. This is a summary article which incorporates links to more detailed articles on each malt group. The Four Major Malt Groups All of the barley malts used in brewing can be effectively […]

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Gordon Strong joins me this week to discuss the 2021 BJCP Beer Style Guide as well as judging beer. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. […]

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This week I take a close look at the roast malt group, and explain when and why you would want to use these malts in your beer. The Roast Malt Group The roast malt group includes pale chocolate, chocolate malt, carafa I, II and III, black patent malt, red malt and stout roast. These are […]

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This week I describe base malts and their use in beer brewing. The Base Malt Group Base malts are the most widely used in beer brewing as they make up the vast majority of any malt bill. Many beer styles like IPA were traditionally made with only base malts, and you can brew a large […]

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This week I take a look at the kilned malt group, and explain when and why you would want to use kilned malts in your beer brewing recipes. The Kilned Malt Group As I explained in my earlier article on malting and malt groups, kilned malts are made using the same basic malting process as […]

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Dr Keith Villa joins me this week to discuss his long career with Blue Moon and his new business brewing non-alcoholic beer. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support […]

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This week I take a look at the technical nature of beer brewing and how it differs from making other beverages like wine, cider or mead. Beer Brewing and Technology I often open my designing beer presentations with a description of the technical nature of brewing. Beer brewing is a much more technical hobby than […]

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John Palmer joins me to discuss his upcoming book as well as hold a general beer brewing question and answer session. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the […]

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This week Michael Fairbrother joins me from Moonlight Meadery to talk about Cider which has become his top selling beverage. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio […]

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Over the weekend I completed a long overdue revision of the BeerSmith forum. I moved to a new forum software platform, which adds a ton of new features. I also secured the main BeerSmith web site, blog, forum and recipes site so they all redirect to our secure server now. This resolved a series of […]

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This week I take a look at the concept of mixed yeast fermentation – using more than one strain of yeast to brew your beer as well as some of the strengths and pitfalls. Mixed Yeast Fermentation History Thanks to modern science, most of us use a single strain of yeast when we brew our […]

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This week I though I would share a case study in beer recipe design to explore how I approach beer recipe design and some of the critical decisions made along the way. I will be designing a robust porter, which is one of my favorite beer styles. Defining the Robust Porter Before I start on […]

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This week I look at the malting process, how we commonly group malts and the impacts for beer brewing. The Malting Process The malting process starts with raw barley grain, harvested from the field. The grain is dry when brought into the malt house, but the first step is to immerse the grain into water […]

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Ken Schramm joins me from Schramm’s Meadery to discuss growing fruit for use in his big fruit meads. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics […]

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This week I cover some of the changes you need to make to brew a high gravity beer using BeerSmith software. High gravity beers (generally over 1.060 or so) do require some minor changes to your recipe and equipment profile as well as some process changes for brewing. High Gravity Brewing Considerations I’ve written a […]

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James Spencer from Basic Brewing Radio joins me to discuss 17 years of beer podcasting as well as some of his recent brewing experiments. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does […]

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This week I take a look at what type of water is best for extract beer brewers. I make the case that distilled or RO water may be the best choice for extract brewing. Water Chemistry for Extract Brewers Advanced all grain brewers go through a lot of effort to get their water profiles right […]

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Scott Mast from Hang’em High Hops and Chris Vogel from Great Lakes hops join me this week to discuss growing and producing hops in Michigan. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser […]

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Stan Hieronymus joins me this week to discuss new hop varieties, hop products including Cryo hops, and further discussion on thiols, thiol-freeing yeast and hop survivability for IPAs. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 […]

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This week I take a look at the very important topic of blending traditional sour and barrel aged beers. Traditional sour beer brewing, where fermentation is done before the souring, as well as many barrel aged beers can be hard to get right the first time. Both involve very long maturation cycles, relatively high alcohol […]

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This week I take a look at the rapid rise of all-in-one BIAB style brewing systems for all grain brewing. These affordable, compact systems have quickly become the favorite of beginner and experienced brewers alike. All-in-One Brewing Systems Only a few years ago, most serious homebrewers had full-size three tier brewing systems for their all […]

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Jamil Zainasheff from Heretic Brewing joins me this week for a beer brewing question and answer session. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in […]

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This week I take a look at the Dunkles Bock beer style from Northern Germany and examine its history and how to brew one. Dunkles Bock is a dark, strong, malty German lager. Dunkles Bock History Bock beer traces its history to Einbeck, a small German town between Kassel and Hannover. Brewing records mentioning bock […]

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This week I’m going to cover how you can run BeerSmith desktop in a variety of languages using the language files available online. With the worldwide popularity of our BeerSmith software, I often get users asking if it is available in non-English versions. Fortunately the software was designed with this in mind, so there are […]

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Ron Pattinson joins me this week to discuss the interesting history of the Berliner Weisse sour beer style and how its popularity rose and fell in its native Germany. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this […]

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This week I take a look at the reason why most beer brewers have moved to a single boil addition instead of having short duration flavor and aroma hop additions in the boil. The History of Short Duration Boil Additions When I started brewing back in 1987 it was very common to use short duration, […]

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This week I show you how to do an iodine test to see if your mash has completed and the starches in the mash have been fully converted to sugars. The Iodine Test for Mash Completion How does an all grain brewer know when the mash is complete? It turns out there is a very […]

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Chris White joins me this week to discuss the use of mixed yeast strains when making beer. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in […]

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This week I take a look at how to incorporate separately steeped dark grains with BeerSmith, a technique often used to minimize burnt, harsh roast grain flavors in the finished beer. Steeping/Sparging vs Mashing Dark Grains As I covered in this original article on the topic, all grain brewers can be well served by separately […]

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Michael Tonsmeire joins me this week to discuss sour beer brewing and his experiences creating sour Craft beers. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics […]

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This week I take a look at the key components of a brewing yeast data sheet and how to apply them when brewing beer. Yeast Data Sheets With the explosion of information available to home brewers, many yeast labs are now providing detailed data on the performance of their yeast strains. Virtually all yeast labs […]

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Randy Mosher, the author of Radical Brewing and Mastering Homebrew, joins me this week to discuss lager yeast flavors and tips. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the […]

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Mitch Steele joins me from New Realm Brewing to discuss Lager brewing, supply chains and the evolving world of Craft Brewing. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the […]

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In part 2 of this series I will cover the traditional method for making sour beers. Last week in part 1, I covered Kettle Souring which is a relatively quick way to make many sour beer styles. Last week I covered the “Kettle Sour” method where you add the bacteria to your wort up front, […]

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This week I’m going to cover the two major methods (in two parts) used to create sour beers at a home brew level. While sour beer brewing is considered a more advanced brewing technique, it is possible for even a beginning homebrewer to create great sour beers using these methods. Sour Beer Basics Sour beers […]

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This week I take a look at the shopping list and inventory features available on BeerSmith Web. These features were added in March of 2022 to the web based version which you can try for free on BeerSmithRecipes.com from any computer, tablet or phone. The web based version provides a common view of inventory and […]

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Dr Charlie Bamforth joins me this week to discuss the use of non-barley adjuncts in beer brewing. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not support the audio element. Topics in […]

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This week I take a look at “dry hop creep”, what it is, how it affects beer and how to prevent it. This is my second article on the topic, and you can find the earlier article on dry hop creep here. What is Dry Hop Creep? At the basic level, dry hop creep is […]

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This week Mark Edelson joins me from Iron Hill brewery to discuss how he makes operational decisions across his 19 Craft brewery locations. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not […]

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This week I take a look at some of the factors affecting how bitterness in beer is perceived and how they interact in a finished beer. Bitterness Perception in Beer For many years, I thought that the International Bitterness Units (IBU) level drove the overall bitterness level in a finished beer. As I matured as […]

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This week Chris Graham, President of MoreBeer joins me to discuss what is popular in home brewing including recent trends and new equipment. Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file. Your browser does not […]

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This week I take a look at how yeast ferments wort into beer by looking at a simple graph from White Labs on the fermentation timeline. Fermentation Over Time Most of us know the basics of fermentation where yeast consumes simple sugars from the wort, chiefly maltose, and converts them into alcohol, carbon dioxide gas […]