Many of us treat brewing like a solitary act and can’t see intruding on someone else’s session. Remember though, for most of history, brewing was taught through apprenticeship. Showing is a massively effective way to teach the craft.
Here’s something homebrewers can do that the pros typically can’t: fortify. Winemakers have categories of “fortified wines,” like Port, where the addition of a spirit stops fermentation short.
The rise (or rumor) of aspiring-professional brewers serving without proper certification will make any state ABC turn a jaundiced eye to the motivations of a homebrewer. So if you’re thinking about serving your homebrew semi-commercially, realize that you’ll be impacting the rest of your community.
Colorado’s recreational marijuana dispensaries, which set up shop in January, seemed to open the door to legal and responsible use of marijuana by the public. But while folks enjoy the plant’s effects when smoked or eaten, a commercial beer brewed to give a high won’t be happening anytime soon.
Most of our hobby’s engineers and sciencey types futz over sculptures and process controls. But biology nerds? They get yeast obsessed. The truly crazy are expanding commercial frontiers with hyper-local yeast companies. San Francisco’s The Yeast Bay is one of the newest.
Through a device and cloud-based platform known as Electric Imp, BeerBug wirelessly transmits the status of your beer, cider or wine’s fermentation progress to a cloud, which you can then tap into and track on your smartphone or through the BeerBug’s website.
The heat from this Thai Chile Basil IPA is tamed with a caramel cracker base, while a fruity punch of hops melds with lime leaves and a minty blast of Thai basil.
Droughts force California brewers to reevaluate water sources; Southeastern politicians seek to reinforce three-tier system; Shanghai beer festival spotlights China’s growing craft scene; and Cigar City’s Joey Redner on Hunahpu’s snafu.
Got a hazy IPA that needs to be served in several days? Try a combination of unflavored gelatin or a two-part clarifier like Super-Kleer KC Finings and 31°F storage and make it shine like a crazy diamond.
The story of the world’s first Leafcutter Ant Saison starts in the days leading up to São Paulo, Brazil’s O Mercado, an epic gastronomy fair that brings together more than 20,000 foodies, chefs, restaurateurs and a handful of brewers.
What to do when your slaved-over Macadamia Nut Brittle Brown ends up as something more appropriately named “Nutty Mud Slide.” Fortunately, there are some simple tools to achieve clarity.
Here’s how the “Chip Shot Coffee Porter” came to be: Smog City brewer Chris Walowski found himself one night in a little dive bar in Bakersfield, Calif. Talk turned to coffee cocktails, including the Chip Shot, a blend of coffee, Tuaca and Bailey’s.
Like all good fairy tales, the story of Grimm Artisanal Ales starts with a moment of enchantment. One night in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University students Lauren and Joe Grimm attended a talk on wild fermentation that left them spellbound.
In the Maltose Falcons homebrew club, we resurrected a moribund tradition: “Troubleshooter’s Corner.” It’s simple: Several veteran brewers take over a space, and brewers can bring beer they have questions about.
Just a bit bigger than a microwave oven, PicoBrew is designed to fit under your kitchen cabinets and promises to crank out pro-brewery-quality beer with minimal effort.
Brian Trout’s homebrewed DIPA is rich, and coats the tongue with hop flavors; playful, with the mango-pineapple of Citra, and bitter enough to remind you that it means business without being obnoxiously teeth rattling. He calls it a “San Diego Sunset Golden.”
This recipe is all about the PB&J sandwich. It’s based around a Brown Ale, with rye and aromatic malt for toasty bread, and yeast that gives us an English “fruity jam.” Then after fermentation, a helping of powdered peanut butter.
The trick to a good apple beer is finding the balance between apple juice’s simple-sugar dryness and the meaty notes of malt—all while trying to retain a noticeable apple character that doesn’t taste like a poorly executed fermentation or a cesspool of apple extract.
If you purchase your meat, dairy or produce from a local market, you’re likely familiar with community-supported agriculture. While CSA projects in America’s food culture came about in the 1980s, the craft beer world’s version is only just starting to take shape.
Annie Johnson, who lives in Sacramento, Calif., became the first woman in 30 years to be named Homebrewer of the Year by the American Homebrewers Association. Her Lite American Lager swept 25 categories at the 2013 National Homebrewers Conference.
In their quest to push the boundaries of brewing and redefine craft beer styles, American brewers are deep into experimenting with brewing’s most fickle ingredient: wild yeast. And as demand for Brett and other wild strains skyrockets, lab geeks like Dmitri Serjanov are stepping up to meet it.
