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.
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.
Dry Beer:
Fermentation:
Fermentation Barrel (see also carboy):
Gypsum:
Head:
Hops:
Hop Sock (Grain bag):
Hydrometer:
Malting:
Malted Barley:
Malt extract:
Mashing:
Plato:
Priming:
Sanitizing:
Specific Gravity:
Sparge:
SRM:
Water:
Wort:
Yeast:
Zymurgy:
