What makes malt go: diastatic power and proteolytic enzymes
I made it through a whole hour-long presentation on malt without once mentioning diastatic power (what it is, how it works) or proteolytic enzymes. Whups. Thank goodness they were at [..]
Category: Brew Science
Pellicle Quest
One word had escaped the etymology dragnet I’ve set up to write my Anglica Brewtannica series: Pellicle. How had I missed pellicle? It sure sounds kinda medieval. Or like one of T.S. [..]
Books for Brewers: Basic List of Books of Modern How-To on Beer and Mead
This is my collection of books of modern how-to on beer and mead – all the books I currently have in my library plus a few. There are even a [..]
Feeding Yeast
Proper yeast nutrition means your brew ferments faster and cleaner, leaving fewer off-flavors that have to age out. We’ll call that a good thing. Yeast is a pretty complex little [..]
Starting Yeast
I’m getting to brew a recipe from last year’s American Homebrewer Association’s national competiton – the Underwood’s “Blasphemy at GobblersRoost” (you’ll need an AHA login to view their Homebrewopedia); it’s a [..]
Thoughts on Gravity and pH
Specific gravity, that magic number that allows us to easily figure how alcoholic our brews are, or are likely to be; how sweet they may be, and something about their [..]
Anti-cancer properties…in ancient beer?!
Biomolecular archaeological evidence examining ancient Egyptian wine jars (circa 3150 BC) found that ancient beer may have had potent anti-cancer agents: “New biomolecular archaeological evidence backed up by increasingly sophisticated [..]
Homebrew Clarifiers
This is a class handout, and rather chatty. You’ve been warned. Clarifiers
The Fermentation Reaction
N.B. This is not my work, it is a file I have kept for several years.l do not know to whom to accredit it. If you recognize it, please send [..]
Average Sugar Content of Honey
I have checked several scientific studies on the sugar breakdown of honey, both in the US and Europe. Most studies doing original measurement have been very consistent. Honey is about [..]
Methode Champagnoise
This is a copy of an email from a man I know in the SCA as Eadric the Potter. I think the information worth sharing. The region of Champagne has been making [..]
Mead fermentation
Recently a new brewer talked to me about fermentation time. He thought his mead should be finished much more quickly than it was. When competition judges tasted his mead, the universal [..]