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Homebrewing: Ingredients
Yeast
Taking the plunge
Your dry yeast works fine. It's easy. It's cheap. It's nearly foolproof. Why would anyone want to mess with yeast in a seemingly expensive and temperamental liquid form?
For quite a few reasons, the most important being taste and control.
Yeast culturing practices for small-scale brewers
High-quality yeast cultures and culturing kits are available, but how do you use them? Here's an overview of one successful method.
The frugal yeastmaster
Parallel culturing allows you to create a six pack of yeast starters.
A resource for taking the big step
Book review: For those brewers who are determined to improve their brewing by controlling their yeast, First Steps in Yeast Culture
provides an excellent resource.
Hops
The role of hops
Without hops, fine balanced and complex beers cannot be crafted. Malted grains, water and yeast also are important ingredients, but the importance of hops is often overlooked.
Grow your own hops
You don't need a huge tract of land to grow hops, although to grow enough to brew year-round you'll probably find that you will be planting a large crop.
Figuring bitterness
It wasn’t too many years ago when most recipes that referred to adding hops usually only mentioned the variety of hops used, the amount, and not much else. But as the hobby evolved and became more sophisticated, a better, more precise way to calculate potential bitterness in a homebrew recipe has evolved.
How to keep your hops' optimum value
Simple calculations can help brewers predict the vital a-acid levels in their hops at any point in time.
Malt
Belgian malts: Some practical observations
Belgian malts offer qualities and performance profiles that differ markedly from their North American and British counterparts.
Brewing with rye
Rye, an often overlooked grain with a distinctive flavor, kindles interest among microbrewers, home brewers, and beer drinkers alike.
Other ingredients
Adding spice
For many, brewing a special holiday beer includes adding a little spice to the recipe. There are essentially five different ways to add flavorings to your brew. Each gives different effects with different spices. Featuring several recipes, including Winter Solstice Red Ale.
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