Beer Ingredients
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Understanding Beer Ingredients For Beginners

When you start out making beer it can be daunting with the amount of beer ingredients on offer to know what one, or any of them are going to do to your home brew. There are such a wide varieties of malts, hops and yeast alone that will all…
Salifert Test
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Test Your Brewing Water Alkalinity Using A Salifert Test

If you are all grain brewing adjusting your water chemistry can have a significant impact on the quality of your beers. In my previous article about adjusting your water for home brewing I mentioned something called a “Salifert Test”. It…
Oatmeal Pale Ale
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Oatmeal Pale Ale Recipe

  Oatmeal stouts appear to be becoming increasingly popular. There are plenty of options available commercially and there are hundreds of home brew recipes to sift through. When you think about oatmeal, you think porridge. The…
home brewing water treatment
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Simple Home Brewing Water Treatment

  I was recently sent this pH meter by Meterics.com (thanks guys) so what better time to talk about water chemistry. Any article about water chemistry usually starts with the line, “Water chemistry is a complex subject”. So…
Adding Spices to Beer

Adding Spices To Your Home Brew

So the weather is getting colder and now, is the time of year when you start seeing a lot of seasonal winter warmer style beers available in the shops. A lot these beers have in common the addition of spices to add a further layer that really…
bourbon county stout
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Is Your Home Brew Beer Worth $60?

How much is too much to pay for a beer? £5, £8, £12, £20, £40? I would guess everyone would answer differently but there has to be an upper limit, right? A friend told me about the latest release of Goose Islands Rare Bourbon County…
Pumpkin Beer
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Leave The Pumpkin Out of Beer?

  I don't want to ruffle any feathers but I just don't get it. It seems primarily an American tradition but it is definitely something that's creeping over to the UK, people seem to go crazy for pumpkin beers. I'll admit, I have…
Beer Recipes
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Developing Your Own Beer Recipes

When I started brewing I guess I was a stickler for detail. I would read recipes and stick too them rigidly making sure I used all the same malt and hops as the recipe stated. I did this for a year or so and never came up with my own beer, I…
Dry Malt Extract - Spraymalt

Dry Malt Extract and Why You Should Always Have It!

Dry malt extract (DME) is something you should always have in your supplies regardless of whether you brew all grain or not. Obviously extract and partial mash brewers will be making their beers from malt extract of some sort, whether that be…
Improving a Beer Kit
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How To Improve A Beer Kit

I know that a lot of home brewers start out using beer kits and of course it’s easy to see why. You are making good quality beer and brewing beer kits may be a stop gap before brewing with grain, however is there anything you can do to improve…