Difference between revisions of "Beer Making Glossary"

Brewing, while very simple in principle, is actually very complex in practice. Knowing common brewing and beer terminology will help brewers understand brewing/beer literature, and allow them to communicate easily with other brewers. Using complex terminology also allows brewers to comes across as knowledgeable professionals in the presence of non-brewers.

A

Aftertaste: The overriding taste that you are left with after you swallow the beer.

Airlock: (Fermentation Lock): A one-way water trap fitted to a fermenter to allow CO2 out, without allowing air outside air (and the contaminants it contains) in.

Aroma:

B

Balance: Achieving balance in a beer means that no one factor (bitterness, alcohol, sweetness) overpowers the others.

Balling: A scale measuring sugar in solution. Figures are given as a percentage of sugar by weight. A reading of 10 means the solution is 10% sugar by weight. Scale is interchangable with Brix.

Bitter:

Bittering Hops: Hops that are added at the beginning of the boil, and thus exert more bitterness than flavor or aroma.

Blow-off Tube: A tube that is inserted directly into the neck of a carboy, or attached to a carboy cap or rubber stopper, while the other end is immersed in water. Similar in concept to an airlock, while allowing extremely large krausens to evacuate the fermenter without explosive results.

Body: A beer's "body" refers to its weight on the palate, or how thick/thin it feels in your mouth. Body is generally dictated by how much unfermented sugar remains in the finished beer; the more sugar, the heavier the body.

Brew Kit: Beginner brewers often opt to purchase these kits, which typically include all the necessary equipment to get started from scratch.

Brew Kettle: The vessel in which the wort is boiled. It is typically made from aluminum, stainless steel, or enameled steel.

C

Craft Beers:

Carboy: A large glass container with a small neck, typically used in brewing as a fermentation vessel and secondary clarification/conditioning vessel. Usually fitted with a carboy cap or rubber stopper, and an airlock.

Carboy Cap: A rubber/plastic cap that fits over the lip of a carboy, and has two differently-size nipples to which airlocks and/or small-diameter blow-off tubes can be attached.

D

Dry Beer:

E

EAC : A secret honoury term bestowed on an Elite group of homebrewers.  :)

F

FWH (First Wort Hop)

Fermentation:

Fermentation Barrel (see also carboy):

G

Gypsum:

H

Head: The layer of foam on top of the beer, created by carbonation after pouring.

Hops: A vine-based plant that lends bitterness, flavor, aroma and preservative qualities to beer. Typically, the flowers are harvested from the vine and dried. Also available in pelletized form. Botanical name: Humulus Lupulus

Hop Sock (Grain bag):

Hydrometer: A device for measuring the density of a liquid. The hydrometer floats higher in a more dense solution. Wort is a sugar solution that is more dense than water. During fermentation alcohol is produced, which is less dense than water. By taking a hydrometer reading before and after fermentation, the amount of alcohol in solution can be obtained. Hydrometers are commonly calibrated to read a Specific Gravity of 1.000 in pure water at 60 degrees f. Triple Scale Hydrometers read Specific Gravity, Balling and Potential Alcohol %.

I

J

K

L

M

Malting:

Malted Barley:

Malt extract:

Mashing:

N

O

P

Plato:

Priming:

Q

R

Real Ale

S

Sanitizing:

Specific Gravity:

Sparge:

SRM:

T

Thermometer: Measures the temperature of the wort/beer.

U

V

W

Water:

Wort:

X

Y

Yeast:

Z

Zymurgy: