Basic Brewing Radio

We hear from two homebrew experiments: William Tope, a high school student from Houston, Texas, delves into whether alpha acid levels of hops affect fermentation rates, and the Hot Side Aeration experiment continues with Brian Warren and John Holder.

We talk brewing water with Greg Noonan, author of "New Brewing Lager Beer" and other noted brewing books. Greg is also owner and brewer at the Vermont Pub and Brewery in Burlington.

We preview the National Homebrewers Conference with Gary Glass of the American Homebrewers Association.

Steve Wilkes joins James to talk about flavoring the Great Mead Experiment from the video side of Basic Brewing. James and Steve also answer listener e-mail.

We continue our look at the foundation of making beer at home: good equipment. In this episode, Andy Sparks helps us look at gear that goes beyond the absolute necessities.

We take a look at the foundation of making beer at home: good equipment. In this episode, Andy Sparks joins James to start with what is absolutely necessary to make an extract batch.

Tess and Mark Szamatulski, authors of Clone Brews and Beer Captured, help us make sense of the wide variety of hops and give us tips on the most effective hop schedules.

Tony Simmons of Pagosa Brewing Company, creator of Poor Richard's Ale, joins us to talk about his historic brew and the challenges of getting a new brewery off the ground.

Stan Hieronymus, author of Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them, tells us about his book and gives us tips on how to brew wonderful Belgian beers at home.

From grain to glass in one week? Chris Colby from BYO magazine tells us how to brew a finished, drinkable beer in seven days.

Kevin DeLange of The Brew Hut and Drydock Brewing Company helps us clear up the process of mini-mashing and what makes it different from steeping in an extract batch.

Dave Wills of Freshops walks us through the process of planting, growing, and harvesting our own hoppy goodness at home.

We get help from Gary Glass of the American Homebrewers Association to answer a listener's question about putting too much of a good thing into our brews.

Gary Glass of the AHA joins us to talk about how and why to enter the National Homebrew Competition.

We travel to Austin, Texas to taste the results of Brian Warren's experiment on Hot Side Aeration.

Tess and Mark Szamatulski, authors of Clone Brews and Beer Captured join us to talk about making copies of our favorite brews.

Andy Sparks joins us to talk about adjuncts - those fermentable ingredients we add to beer in addition to water, yeast, barley malt, and hops.

Our man in the field, Brian Warren, recaps the recent mead festival in Boulder, Colorado, and bring us interviews with commercial mead makers.

We continue our night of bad beer tastes as we dive into part two of our trying the FlavorActive Enthusiast beer taste troubleshooting kit.

We talk to Chris Colby of Brew Your Own magazine about one of our favorite styles - American Pale Ales. Great taste and easy to brew.

David Myers, Chairman of the Mead for Redstone Meadery, joins us to talk about the beginnings of Redstone, the International Mead Festival, and brewing mead at home.

Andy Sparks, Steve Wilkes, and Chris Milum join James to take the FlavorActiv Enthusiast beer taste troubleshooting kit for a test run. The group tastes off flavors that could be found in homebrew and talks about how to prevent them.

John Palmer, author of How to Brew, joins us to talk about lagering at home. John also defends his choice of aluminum for brewpots.

James Spencer and Steve Wilkes brew an experimental six pack's worth of extract IPA on the stovetop.

Ray Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers joins us to talk about hop bitterness and the factors in brewing that affect it.