Jonas Rembert

Cooling wort for beginning homebrewers is a modest challenge.  It takes time, ice, and patience.  Cool your wort quickly and efficiently or face unwanted consequences. Many things could go wrong in waiting overnight.  There are cooling contraptions for advanced brewers or for the beginner, the handy 8 lb. bag of ice bought from the Quick-Pick. […]

Fermentation is a tricky business.  Sometimes the yeast prematurely rests on the bottom.  Activity all but stops.  What to do!!??  One is tempted to stir it. Once in the fermentor, the wort shouldn’t be stirred. The beer is vulnerable, so moving or touching it could introduce oxygen or bacteria that could spoil the beer.  If

Yeast is often an overlooked and underappreciated component to our passionately created homebrews. Dry yeast is a smart and simple place to begin when first making beer.  It has its merits and limitations. Dry yeast offers a reliable fermentation media and while already resilient, rehydration helps to kickstart it. It adds more volume to the

Fermentation is the essential facet within the transformation of sugar to beer. It’s perhaps the most mysterious process for beginning brewers. The fermentation vessels and environment must be clean – correction – ultra-clean, meaning sanitary.  No contaminants nor microorganisms must be present or introduced to the fermenter. The lid of a fermenter may be open

Sparging sets the stage for the boil and is 1/3 of the critical steps needed for wort production: mashing, sparging, and the boil.  It releases all of the sweet wort from the mash and with added hot water extracts every last ounce of sugary goodness. Do it well, do it right. Fly Sparging – Sparging-

Strike temp refers to the heated hot water to begin a mash.  This is largely the domain of advanced to intermediate brewers, however, this foundational information will make extract and partial mash experiments run smoother. Heat strike water accurately, with a 1 – 2° F (1° C) differential at most. A mash temperature is set