The American Homebrewers Association launched an interesting project yesterday. They selected one beer from one brewery in each state and did a Secrets of Master Brewers thing: a full recipe and formulation. Where possible, the AHA has tried to track down a classic beer.
Read MoreAs the last post in Homebrew Week, I offer you a complete chapter from The Secrets of Master Brewers. Whether you want to brew this beer or not, it will give you the sense of this book and what you'll find inside. It's great for homebrewers or people just interested in fully understanding beer styles.
Read MoreThe following few paragraphs will take you through the process of making all-grain beer, from mashing through bottling. Just one session of brewing will illuminate more about the process—the chemistry, the variables, and the ingredients—than the most elegant description. When you’re done, you’ll have eight 500 ml swing-top bottles (or ten regular bottles) full of a classic American pale ale.
Read MoreRodney Kibzey, a local homebrewer, got things started by pouring us his excellent grodziskie. I moved to a pre-prohibition lager, had a dalliance with cider makers, located some great farmhouse ales, moved on to the meads and then ... wait a second, is something missing?
Read MoreMost of the homebrewing world is geared to introduce newbies to homebrewing by a method called “extract brewing.” I'm an unusual partisan here: I have absolutely no problem with extract brewing as a method of making beer. With the products available today, you can make fine beer that way. What I'd like to argue, though, is that when you start, you should start with all-grain
Read MoreThe reason homebrewers brew, and the reason non-homebrewers fail to understand why, has nothing to do with the finished product. It has everything to do with the process. We create because we can’t help it.
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