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 un ..read more

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 surroundi ..read more

Michael Tonsmeire from Sapwood Cellars joins me this week to talk about very high gravity 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 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 al ..read more

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 a ..read more

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. 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 (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 Idah ..read more

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

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

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

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

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 mead ..read more