The Speidel Braumeister was the first of the all-in-one systems that I had ever heard of. Needless to say, I was in love. Even in commercial craft breweries, I had never seen an automatic step-mash control! Of course, I know better now, but at the time my mind was completely blown. I had to see […]
The UK craft beer industry has experienced solid growth in the last ten years. There are now more than 1,400 craft breweries in the United Kingdom, a growth of more than 10% compared to the year before, and more than 30% over the past three years. 204 new breweries have opened in the past 12 […]
There are many kegging systems available to the home brewer, from a mobile picnic cooler and bicycle pump to the glorious in-line chillers used widely across Asia for cold craft beer. For many, a compact and cost-effective system is ideal. Enter the Kegerator A kegerator is essentially a small refrigerator, modified or even purpose built […]
When I first bought a home brewing keg kit it was a quantum leap for my little home brew setup. It was a little tricky though – I tried to do it on the cheap and by myself, so it took a while before I could serve anything on tap! All keg kits share some […]
Yesterday I wrote a guide to filtering beer commercially and at home, with some brief details on the more generally favored models. Today, I want to go into more details for those of you who may be considering giving this a try for yourselves. This is a home brew filter comparison between the cartridge filter […]
Producing a clear beer has been the goal of brewers for eons, despite several examples which call for intentional haze. For the homebrewer this is particularly difficult without the use of a commercial beer filter and packaging line. However, beer filtering equipment (such as beer filtering kits) are out there and can make a huge […]
While brewing in China I quickly realized that common pale ale recipes were not going to do as well as they do in the West due to the particular tastes of the local and expat beer drinking crowds. Continued trial and error led to a new, Chinese inspired pale ale recipe. China consumes more beer […]
An Honest Brewer’s Insight: You may have noticed a lack of negative PicoBrew Zymatic reviews online. If you are already an all-grain brewer, you will likely be able to put the pieces together for yourself, but for everyone else, today I’m going to share the real positive and negative sides of the Zymatic. The Zymatic […]
An All-In-One Brewing System Several all-in-one home brewing systems have hit the market in recent years, notably the Speidel Braumeister, PicoBrew Zymatic, Breweasy and of course, the Grainfather Brewing System. These systems offer easy all-grain brewing, featuring compact designs with electronic temperature controls, and in some cases will automate much of the brewing process. Each […]
A good fermentation plays a major part in the quality of your finished product, and a healthy, active yeast is key to a good fermentation. You want as little lag-time as possible between adding (‘pitching’) the yeast and the yeast becoming active. Using the right beer yeast starter recipe gets your yeast active and hungry, […]