2016-05-02 18:12
Stan Hieronymus, the author of “For the Love of Hops” joins me this week to discuss recent trends in hop varieties, hop techniques and brewing better beer with hops.
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Beersmith.com Home Brewing Blog
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The BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog teaches you about making beer, beer recipes, brewing techniques, beer styles and all things homebrewing. Features over 120
2016-04-29 15:43
While water chemistry and adjustments are very important for all grain brewers when mashing grains, extract beer brewers may get their best results using neutral (distilled, deionized) water… Read More
2016-04-21 17:51
I frequently get the question “How to I back up my BeerSmith files?” So this week I’m going to take a look at some of the facilities for backing up and recovering data in B… Read More
2016-04-15 16:00
Michael Tonsmeire, the Mad Fermentationist, joins me this week to talk about embracing homebrewing and shares many of the advantages that home brewers enjoy versus professional beer brewers… Read More
2016-04-12 17:32
This short video shows you how to use the “Brew Log” feature in BeerSmith to keep track of recipes you have brewed, so you can still make changes and revisions to your main recip… Read More
2016-04-07 01:35
A controversial subject in home brewing is whether to treat your sparge water the same as you do your mash water when home brewing beer? This week we look at several competing camps and try… Read More
2016-04-04 22:56
Gary Glass, the Director of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) joins me to discuss trends in homebrewing, the AHA, and this year’s HomebrewCon 2016 conference. Gary is Director… Read More
2016-03-29 20:31
Today I present a 90 second book review on Randy Mosher’s comprehensive home brewing book called “Mastering Homebrew”. I really enjoyed the book and felt it provided a uniq… Read More
2016-03-22 20:36
Wet hops are hops that are freshly harvested and have not yet been dried or processed. These can be used for home brewing beer, but you need to make some adjustments to your recipe and expec… Read More
2016-03-17 23:58
In today’s quick tip, I show you how to use the Recipe Archive feature in BeerSmith desktop to restore old recipes you may have accidentally changed or deleted. The View->Recipe Arc… Read More
2016-03-15 14:37
Jake Keeler and Michael Dawson join me from Brewer Supply Group to discuss some of the new trends in beer brewing ingredients. Jake and Michael are both active in the home brewing industry a… Read More
2016-03-10 23:42
While some commercial low calorie beers have a poor reputation with many brewers, you can brew your own low calorie beer at home in a wide variety of beer styles. For those of us looking to… Read More
2016-03-03 22:48
When brewing high gravity (big) beers, it is important to adjust your brewhouse efficiency down a bit. You simply won’t get the same number of gravity points from a pound or kilogram o… Read More
2016-03-01 22:08
Dr Charles Bamforth, Professor of Malting and Brewing Science at the University of California at Davis joins me this week to discuss boiling your beer and some of the chemical processes invo… Read More
2016-02-26 02:48
In today’s quick tip, I show you how to download and use the 2015 BJCP Beer Style Guide within BeerSmith. The 2015 guide which is being used for all new beer competitions has been avai… Read More
2016-02-23 22:59
This week I take a look at Residual Alkalinity, and what it means for your mash pH for all grain beer brewing. Residual Alkalinity is an important characteristic of your brewing water that y… Read More
2016-02-16 19:00
Today’s tip explains why you should not cover your pot when boiling up a batch of beer. An important function of the boil is to release a number of volatile chemicals including DMS tha… Read More
2016-02-11 21:27
This week I look at the Sulfate to Chloride ratio and how it can have a significant impact on the perceived bitterness of your beer. In fact, it is probably second only to mash pH when we di… Read More
2016-02-09 20:59
In this very short video I show you how to use the Percent Alcohol tool in BeerSmith to find out how many calories are in your home brewed beer. You can get to the tool in BeerSmith from Too… Read More
2016-02-06 01:53
I’m happy to announce a series of new add-ons for BeerSmith Desktop. The new add-ons feature over 170 new yeasts, 32 hop varieties and 48 Misc items plus updates for Avangard, Bairds… Read More
2016-02-05 17:16
Mary Pellettieri, the author of “Quality Management: Essential Planning for Breweries” joins me this week to discuss how to ensure quality in beer including planning, measurement… Read More
2016-02-01 20:05
This week I tell you why using conventional dish soaps on your beer glasses is bad for foam retention. Instead you should wash your beer glasses using a beer cleaning agent or other cleaning… Read More
2016-01-28 18:30
In today’s quick tip, I show you how to recover your activation key for BeerSmith desktop. There is a nice little tool that can help you locate your key if you have lost it and need to… Read More
2016-01-26 21:27
This week we look at ice baths and fermentation chilers for brewing lager beer. Brewing a lager can be a frustrating experience for many home brewers who lack a separate fermentation refrige… Read More
2016-01-20 21:59
Michael Fairbrother, award winning mead maker and CEO of Moonlight Meadery joins me this week to discuss making fruit meads and melomels. Michael uses fruit in many of his top selling meads… Read More
2016-01-18 19:01
The autosiphon is a great tool for beer brewers, but many brewers have found that the siphon seal can leak air while siphoning. The quick fix is to use some distilled water as outlined here… Read More
2016-01-13 19:03
Even the best brewers occasionally miss their target mash temperature. Whether its due to a calculation error, water temperatures being off or perhaps just a cold mash tun it eventually happ… Read More
2016-01-06 22:19
Christian Krzykwa from Industrial Test Systems joins me to discuss how to measure your beer brewing water, understanding a water report and also managing your mash pH. With the introduction… Read More
2015-12-23 20:59
This week I wanted to share how you can work just a bit faster using BeerSmith 2 by managing your views, shortcuts and folders. BeerSmith has quite a few customizable tools for adjusting how… Read More
2015-12-14 22:31
John Blichmann from Blichmann Engineering joins me this week to discuss brewing “big” high gravity beers. John covers some of the special challenges including reduced mash effici… Read More
2015-12-08 13:47
Before you take on the challenge of making craft beers at home, you should get as much information as you can. The internet is filled with various tips and ideas on how to make beer. But to… Read More
2015-12-04 21:42
With the holiday season approaching, its a great opportunity to experiment with a festive beer. Spices, fruits and hop additions can all be combined to brew the perfect holiday ale or lager… Read More
2015-11-30 21:05
Author John Palmer joins me this week to discuss German Wheat Beer styles and beer brewing. John just returned from a trip to Germany and he shares some of his tips for brewing the perfect W… Read More
2015-11-19 01:09
This week I provide a quick tip on brewing gluten-free (technically gluten reduced) beer by using enzymes to break down the gluten in the finished beer. Many people are gluten sensitive, but… Read More
2015-11-15 17:48
Randy Mosher tells us why almost everything we’ve been told about the history of beer is wrong. In a wide ranging interview, Randy shares why many of our beer stories are actually myth… Read More
2015-11-06 16:07
Berliner Weisse is a light, refreshing sour wheat beer originally brewed by just a handful of breweries around Berlin. I recently had a chance to interview Michael Dawson for Podcast 108, an… Read More
2015-10-29 17:20
Dr Pat Hayes, Professor of Barley Breeding at Oregon State University, is my guest this week to discuss advances in barley breeding, genetics and what beer brewers can look forward to from f… Read More
2015-10-25 18:41
Astringency, which is a dry, vinegar like off-flavor in your beer, can be caused by oversparging or sparging your grains too hot while brewing. This week I take a look at astringency, oversp… Read More
2015-10-15 18:10
Chris Lohring, the founder of Notch Brewing joins me this week to discuss brewing Czech Lagers. Chris has been brewing Czech Lagers as session beers since 2010 and has some interesting insig… Read More
2015-10-09 21:13
Scaling a beer recipe is a powerful feature in BeerSmith that can be used for adapting another recipe to your equipment, creating a larger or smaller recipe or even adjusting your efficiency… Read More
2015-09-29 15:16
CJ Shamas joins me this week to discuss his barrel aged sour beer program. CJ has come up with a method to schedule his beers to maximize the flavor and utilization of oak barrels for making… Read More
2015-09-26 22:16
UPDATE: “BeerSmith Mobile” 2.2.59 was released on 2 October 2015 and corrects this issue – please update your app via the app store. “BeerSmith Lite” version 2… Read More
2015-09-24 11:11
Hops and spent hops are poisonous to dogs. Last week I received another heartbreaking note from an owner who had lost their dog after it consumed some spent hops left in a compost pile. Over… Read More
2015-09-18 21:18
I’ve extended my sale on Barley Crusher malt mills as well as the “How to Brew” video series I shot with John Palmer until Wednesday, 23 Sep at midnight Eastern time. This… Read More
2015-09-18 18:48
Mary Izett, author of the new book “Speed Brewing” joins me this week to discuss rapid brewing of all grain beer as well as mead, cider, Buch and Kefir beer. She provides some gr… Read More
2015-09-14 12:53
Aerating your wort with oxygen after the boil to promote a healthy fermentation is standard practice in the brewing industry. However, over the last ten years a small group of commercial and… Read More
2015-08-31 16:15
John Blichmann, President of Blichmann Engineering joins me this week to discuss starting a nano-brewery including equipment options as well as many of the business considerations that come… Read More
2015-08-22 23:19
This week I take a look at ways to brew great beer while cutting down the time needed for fermentation and aging. A few weeks ago in part 1, I covered how to save time during your all grain… Read More
2015-08-13 22:12
Adam Shake joins me this week to discuss making beer with electric brewing systems, and we cover a wide variety of equipment topics including heating elements, pumps and different types of c… Read More
2015-08-04 14:39
I’m offering the “How to Brew All Grain” and “How to Brew Extract” DVDs on sale for $14.95 when you order from Amazon Prime through 1 September 2015. This is an… Read More
2015-08-02 16:09
Creating an equipment profile for your particular brewing system is an important first step for new users of BeerSmith brewing software. The equipment profile is used throughout the program… Read More
2015-07-24 15:45
Michael Dawson, former cohost of Brewing TV joins me this week to discuss brewing the perfect sour beer. Michael shares some amazing tips for quickly brewing a Berliner Weisse as well as Lam… Read More
2015-07-21 19:48
Brewers often ask me which hop varieties to use for their home brewed beer recipes? The short answer is to use the variety that fits the style of beer you are brewing and also the one you en… Read More
2015-07-10 19:32
Chris Graham, the President of MoreBeer joins me this week to discuss methods for rapidly chilling your wort when home brewing beer. Chris discusses immersion chillers, counter-flow chillers… Read More
2015-07-02 17:58
We’re all incredibly busy these days and many of us are short on time to brew. So this week in part 1 I take a look at ways to shorten your all grain brewing session so you can brew mo… Read More
2015-06-26 15:53
Stan Hieronymus, brewing author and most recent winner of the AHA Governing Committee award, joins me this week to discuss hops and emerging beer styles. Stan is the author of “For the… Read More
2015-06-18 17:29
Commercial brewers go to extreme lengths to reduce the amount of oxygen in their finished beers, and as a home brewer you should be concerned about oxygen as well. Oxygen can spoil the long… Read More
2015-06-09 15:27
Dr Charlie Bamforth, Distinguished Professor of Brewing Science from the University of California at Davis joins me this week to discuss malted barley, its alternatives and the huge impact m… Read More
2015-06-05 17:58
Controlling your mash pH is a critical concern for all brewers using all-grain, but can be a special concern for those using Brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) or decoction mashes with high water to grain… Read More
2015-05-29 21:44
BJCP President Gordon Strong joins me to discuss the 2015 BJCP Beer Style Guide update that was just released by the Beer Judge Certification Program. The new, expanded style guide is used w… Read More
2015-05-22 19:51
Parti-Gyle brewing, sometimes incorrectly called party-gyle brewing, is an ancient technique where more than one beer is made from multiple runnings of a single mash. This week we’re g… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
This week three members from the Maltose Falcons homebrew club join me to talk about Baltic Porter. We discuss the Baltic Porter style, how to brew it and also their recent Baltic Porter con… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Last week I presented my first five tips for all grain beer brewing. This week I add five more tips to help you make your all grain beer even better. 1. Know What You Are Brewing, and Keep i… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
This week Jake Keeler joins me to discuss how to Brew in a Bag (BIAB). Brew-in-a-bag is a popular alternative to traditional all grain beer brewing methods and saves on both time and equipme… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
This week we look at some good tips for all grain brewers. One of my first posts to this blog (way back in 2008) was a short article on Ten Tips for Home Brewing. It was popular at the time… Read More
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