Experimental Brewing

The Brew is Out There! Style Show Party People! We're in Portland, right now, as this is hitting your ears fresh! To keep things flowing smoothly, you know we'll be hitting the sessionable beers frequently and often. What better time to review what makes a session beer great with Jennifer Talley, author of Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance. Sit back, grab a big ole pint and get ready t...

Two big things on today's show as we get ready for HomeBrewCon! The first, we asked you for your Brewday disasters and boy did you deliver. So we're going to run through some of our favorite stories of things gone horribly wrong. And in more positive and hopful news, Drew talks with Richard Smith of Florida Hops, LLC about the challenges of pulling off the improbable - growing hops in the humid he...

The Brew is Out There! Knowledge Show When everything is going right, our fermentations run easily with a smooth transformation of sugar into ethanol and CO2. When things don't go right, well, our beer pays the price. In this episode, we'll look at the most common off-flavors we've encountered, what causes them and how to prevent/fix them. So, sit back, we're going off the rails... Links BrewCraft...

What happens when your pub chain wants a brewery but has no room? You make room! When Brian Herbertson joined the Simmzy's group, that was his challenge. The answer - stick it on the second floor! Together we sit down and discuss just how you put a brewery on the second story, tackling supplying a whole chain with beer from one location and his spin on the summer's new hit style - Brut IPA. We als...

The Brew is Out There! Technique Show Yorkshire Square's Andy Black has opinions. In the episode, Drew sits down with LA's guardian of the cask to discuss session beers, making a beer festival worthy of attending and stretching his equipment with the strangle old method of double or reiterated mashing. Sit back with a proper pint for this episode of the Brew Files Links BrewCraft USA Homebrew Con...

Are you experienced, IPA drinker? Prepare to have your IPA world made more Eclectic as Drew sits talks with the legendary Dick Cantwell about his new book, Eclectic IPA. Together we take a look at where IPA came from, where it is and where Dick thinks it's going. Yes, we even talk about the haze and somehow, improbably, smoked peaches. Who knew? Elsewhere, we tackle water quality, diastaticus and...

The Brew is Out There! This week, as summertime rapidly approaches, so does the need for more beer! Every time we turn around, there's another party, festival, weekend in need of some sudsy love. On this episode we'll walk you through our tips about how to speed up your brew day and shorten the amount of time it takes to go from grain to happy foamy glasses. Sit back, and rest up, we're going to g...

​ SCIENCE TIME! Sit back and relax, it's getting frosty in here! On this episode of the podcast, we breakdown the results of our Cryo/T-90 experiment. And since the results were so "weird" - we brought in some extra help in the form of some of the IGORs who helped with the podcast including Brad Macleod, Eric Pierce and Miguel Loza Brown. Together we talk what went right (and sometimes what went w...

The Brew is Out There! This week, Denny and Drew look back at 100 episodes of the show. What have we learned? What have our IGORs learned? And if you stick around to the very end, we'll give you our four ultimate lessons about how to make a good beer! 100 down! Who knows how many more to go! Links BrewCraft USA Homebrew Con Kick off Party!: https://www.facebook.com/events/172239400103257/ This epi...

​ We're still in New Zealand, but this time we're joined by Denny's better half as she walks us through her experience exploring the beers of New Zealand. What stories did she discover about the breweries (and her thought about their IPAs)? And then Denny hits the fields to discover how hop research is carried out in New Zealand! IN the pub, it's all the news fit to drink to, including Denny's ann...

The Brew is Out There! This week, Drew sits down with Kip Barnes of LA Ale Works in Hawthorne, CA to talk about his experiments running a professional brewery while holding onto his homebrewer spirit. In that vein, we talk about using a cool ship for his next "odd" beer. Links LA Ale Works: http://www.laaleworks.com/ 4" deep Hotel Pan: https://amzn.to/2JWw57U This episode is brought to you by: Bre...

​ Denny's back from New Zealand and boy, the stories he has to tell! And of course, we're back to our usual format - thank you for sticking with us as we planned our way around absences and April Fool's day. In this episode, we cover a rough few weeks in the beer world and some new guidelines for everyone to argue over, look at some lambic myths, Drew's stupid brew day and Denny's recap of the New...

The Brew is Out There! We're back to the world of historic German beer and this time, Andreas is busting out the research from his book (see link below) to talk through the differences between Bavarian beer and the brown beers of Northern Germany and just what happened to them! Links Andreas' Blog - http://dafteejit.com/ Historic German and Austrian Beers for the Home Brewer (Amazon affliate link)...

It's been nearly 100 episodes of the show and we need a change! To deal with our broader interests - we're moving formats and becoming the Everything Crafted Show! On this episode we're going to explore the world of artisanal water, Drew's love of gin, Denny's love of seafood and how to get the best out of your Colorado/California/Oregon/Washington friendly garden! Join us as we craft up the best...

The Brew is Out There! On this episode of the Brew Files, Drew sits down with Andreas Krennmair to talk his new book - German and Austrain Beers for the Homebrewer. We'll get into Andrea's history as a brewer and what it takes to dig up the forgotten history of one of the world's brewing epicenters! Links Andreas' Blog - http://dafteejit.com/ Historic German and Austrian Beers for the Home Brewer...

​ It's back - it's science time! But first... we hit the feedback back, talk about some elections and other beer news - including Sierra Nevada's throwback beer move and the new beer style that's got people up in arms. In the library we discuss whether or not Prohibition was a good thing for beer and why American versions of British beers seem to fall short - according to the Brits. In the brewery...

The Brew is Out There! The Olympics may be over, but that doesn't mean we're not still pursuing our dreams of winning medals in our favorite sport. To help you get onto the podium, we sit down and talk with Nick Corona of QUAFF and the 2016 American Homebrewers Association's Homebrewer of the Year. He talks his way of planning his entries and the subtle strategy of style choice. Links Barb's Hef -...

​ In a first for the podcast, we have a guest interview. IGOR Eric Pierce brings us a conversation with John Wei of Brewlander & Co in Singapore. How did he get started with good beer? What does it take to find ingredients and why did make the job to go pro? Find out! We also sit down and cover the beer world - Hazy IPA going national, Drew's quixotic LA quest, the notion of courtesy scoring and h...

The Brew is Out There! STYLE SHOW With Session Beer Day right around the corner (April 7th), it's time to visit one of Drew's absolute favorite beer styles - Mild. This blandly named style has a long and interesting history with many variations of what it means to be mild. So how about digging into one of the best beers you can quaff over a long session. Flat caps optional, but awesome beer is man...

You know the rule - when the remainder of the division of an episode number and the number of months in the Gregorian calendar is zero, the sleeper awakens and sounds forth with pronouncements induced by the querying missives of the seekers of truth. *cough* What we mean to say is every 12 episodes, we take your questions and try our best to give you an answer or two or three in some cases. Sit ba...

The Brew is Out There! Last year, Peter Symons led us all through a discussion of early Australian brewing practices and he promised he had more up his sleeve. Get ready to look up his sleeve and we explore the unique Australian take on Prohibition and how the Australian brewing industry modernized in his new book 6 O'Clock Brews Links Peter's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bronzedbrews/...

In our ongoing efforts to try and learn everything - and fail miserably - we revisit Denny's question from Episode 58 about dried lager strains labelled like ale strains. After much listener input, Drew sits down with Bryan Heit of Sui Generis Brewing to get the current scientific picture on yeast genetics. It turns out science makes for really complicated answers! Plus, we talk retirement, rough...

The Brew is Out There! Although the season marches invariably onwards towards the warmer temperatures of Spring and Summer, we still have our nice cool climes and the opportunity to enjoy our cellar treasures. But while we're digging into the cellar for those riches, maybe we should replenish them while long brewing days are still pleasant! In this episode, we'll walk you through our expriences ma...

On this week's episode, it's fully the new years which means it time to see just what we're going to fail at this year! And we're bringing you along for the ride! But first, a Christmas Miracle, some expired LME and being mindful in the pub. In the Brewery, Denny has some questions about dried lager yeast - can you help him out? In the Lab, we get an update on the IBU test Denny's operating throug...

The Brew is Out There! While it's nice and chilly in most of the US, we figured what better time to sit down and talk with Zymurgy editor and Lager afficionado, Dave Carpenter about the wide world of lagers, myths about them and why you should be making them at home. Oh and did we mention Dave has a book about Lager as well? Links Lager: The Definitive Guide to Tasting and Brewing the World's Most...