Alpha
Acid - the acids in hops that affect their bitterness. Shown as a
percentage.
Beta
Acid - the acids in hops that help inhibit bacterial growth and
spoilage. Not usually a big factor in most home brews.
Hop
Utilization - how efficiently your wort is dissolving the
alpha acids from your hops into solution.
AAU/HBU
– the potential bitterness from hops derived from the Alpha
Acids in the hops. One ounce of hops with 1 percent alpha acids
contain 1AAU. One ounce of hops with 2 percent alpha acids contain
2AAUs. Similarly, HBUs can be used the same way. Two ounces of hops
with 10 percent alpha acids would equal 20HBUs. Because the Alpha
Acids change with every harvest, most beer recipes will specify how
many HBUs or AAUs of hops are needed.
IBU
- International Bittering Units is a measurement gauging the
bitterness of your final beer. If you know your boil time and
potential hop utilization you can predict your IBUs form the total
AAUs/HBUs in your recipe. For a quick understanding of the IBU scale,
Blondes can be 10-20 IBUs, Pale Ales can be 20-40 IBUs, IPAs
can be 40-80 IBUs, and Imperial IPAs can be 60-120+ IBUs.
Wet
Hops - fresh hops right off the vine. You need 6 times the amount
of we hops to equal that of dried leaf or pellet hops.
Dry Hopping - adding hops to your secondary fermenter to boost the
hop aroma of your beer.
ABV/ABW - alcohol by volume and alcohol by weight. The alcohol in most beer in most parts of the world is measured by volume. ABV is the easiest and most popular way to measure alcohol in home brewing also. Utah measures alcohol by weight which is a bit confusing for many since it appears lower than when measured by volume. 3.2%abw beer in Utah is the same as 4.0%abv beer everywhere else.
Grain
Bill - the type and amount of grain used in your beer. The grain
part of a beer recipe.
Lovebond
- this is a measurement of the color of grain after it is kilned
or roasted.
SRM
- this is a measurement of color in your final beer.
Trub
- the gross and often smelly stuff at the bottom of your beer
after fermentation. This is a mixture of yeast, hops, and grain
particulates along with heavy proteins that have been pulled or
fallen out of suspension over time.
Cold
Crashing - cooling down your fermented beer for a short period of
time, usually less than 24 hrs, before bottling with the intention of
forcing more particulates to fall out of suspension making for a
clearer final product.
Fining
- making your beer, mead, cider, or wine clear.
Lagering
- cold aging beer.
Ale
- warm fermented beer.
Lager
- cold fermented beer.
Sour
Beer - this refers to beer that has been intentionally infected
with specific strains of bacteria or wild yeast to impart a sour or
tart flavor.
Pellicle
-
a lumpy, or slimy film that looks much like mold that forms when wild
yeast or bacteria like brettanomyces is introduced to your beer. This
can be intentional or by accident, but either way you will want to
isolate any equipment you use with this contaminated beer and use it
only for sour beers.
Diacetyl
Rest - the act of warming your cold fermented beer just before
lagering to reduce the amount of diacetyl (butter flavor) in the
final beer. Raising the fermentation temp at the end of primary
fermentation to 60°F for a couple days before cold aging your beer
gives yeast a chance to consume the diacetyl.
Primary
Fermentation - the aggressive yeast activity that does much of
the work converting sugar to alcohol.
Secondary
Fermentation - transferring your beer to a different vessel after
primary fermentation. This is where your beer will age and clear in
the absence of most of the trub that is produced during primary
fermentation. This can also be the time to dry hop or start another
kind of fermentation by adding either fruit or other fermentables or
by adding bacteria.
Tertiary
fermentation - a
fancy word for Third fermentation, this is where you age and clear
your beer if you started up fermentation again during your secondary
fermentation.
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