This is a common question for beginner homebrewers and it's a very important one to understand. As we well know, fermentation is the process undertaken by yeast that consumes sugars within the wort - and as a byproduct of this, carbon dioxide (CO2), alcohol and heat are generated, along with other flavours and compounds that give beer it's unique taste.
It's well known that temperature is a critical variable when it comes to fermentation - the magical process performed by brewing yeast that turn wort into beer. The process of fermentation is exothermic - a fancy word meaning it creates heat, so for most homebrewers the simple solution to control the temperature during fermentation is to purchase a new or second hand fridge that the fermenter can be placed into, and then controlled with a temperature controller like an Inkbird or RAPT device. The temperature controller will cycle the fridge on which will cool down the fermenter and fermenting wort inside as required.
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We were in the market for a digital refractometer, as we find regular floating hydrometers cumbersome and wasteful in terms of the amount of fluid required to take a sample. We came across this relatively cheap digital refractometer from AliExpress so we thought we'd give it a try. Read on to find out what it's like.
For those new to the brewing scene, some of the terminology can be daunting and confusing. In this post we'll break down some of the common words and phrases you'll come across at various points in your brewing journey into easy to understand terms.
Most brewers are well aware of the importance of hygiene and sanitation when dealing with our carefully crafted products. Sometimes though it's the parts you cannot see and easily clean that are harboring some of the nasty stuff we try so diligently to avoid. That's what we discovered when we decided to tear down our taps from our kegerator for a thorough cleaning.
KegLand recently released some Duotight integrated ball lock disconnects to their extensive range of fittings and disconnect options. Before this range of disconnects were available, Duotight integration with disconnects was accomplished by attaching a MFL (female) threaded Duotight fitting to a MFL (male) threaded gas or liquid disconnect.
An amber, hoppy, moderate-strength American craft beer with a caramel malty flavour. The balance can vary quite a bit, with some versions being fairly malt and others being aggressively hoppy. Hoppy and bitter versions should not have clashing flavours with the caramel malt profile.
In our previous blog post, we discussed the findings from our research into options and methods for passivating stainless steel. In this post, we wanted to document how we went with actually performing the passivation and a couple of things we learned along the way.
Our latest brew day is for our Vienna Lager recipe which unfortunately didn't go entirely to plan, with our pH meter deciding to pack it in after taking our first sample. Read on to find out more about how it went down.
In the world of homebrewing, there are many techniques and tips that brewers swear by to ensure their beer turns out perfect. One such technique is the idea of a "CO2 blanket" protecting the beer from oxygen ingress and subsequent oxidation. But what exactly is a CO2 blanket, and does the science support this line of thinking?
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There are a number of processes and factors to consider when brewing your own beer. Everyone wants to make the best beer they possibly can, but often want to keep things as simple as possible in the process of doing so. A common question that brewers will ask themselves is "Do I need to rehydrate my dry yeast before pitching it into my wort?"
Looking at purchasing, or have recently purchased one of KegLand's popular FermZilla PET fermenters? Here's a quick list of some helpful hints, tips and tricks from our time using one.
We've made a number of light lagers recently, so in order to continue our quest of continuously trying new and interesting beer styles, we've turned our attention to brewing a Vienna Lager. With more malt character than a regular light lager, the Vienna lager strikes a delicious balance between maltiness and bitterness.
In a recent YouTube video, KegLand had a quick demonstration and run through of the relatively new range of yeasts from CellarScience. This certainly piqued our interest as we're excited by new yeast varieties, particularly dry yeast, as they potentially open up whole new flavour and recipe options to create and hone our favourite beers. In this post, we're going to dig in to see what this Cellar Science yeast is all about.
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Nico from Keg King about their innovative homebrewing products. Here's a quick rundown of our discussion as well as an embedded link to the YouTube video.
"Soft Crashing" is a relatively new concept that we first heard about when reading up on Lallemand's Verdant IPA yeast. James Heffron from Verdant Brewing Co mentioned that it's something they implement as part of their fermentation schedule to try and avoid hop creep - a phenomenon that causes over attenuation during fermentation as a result of (usually large) dry hops increasing the amount of fermentable sugars within your wort as a result of enzymatic changes from hops breaking down long chain unfermentable dextrins and making them fermentable.
We recently purchased a new stainless steel fermenter. Cheeky Peak Brewery, the manufacturer, recommend passivation of their equipment before first use. This got us wondering about what passivation actually is and why we need to do it, so in this article we'll be outlining our findings.
These mini gauges are a upgrade part for KegLand's range of inline regulators and spunding valves. Check out our in depth review to see how they perform and if they're a worthwhile upgrade.
The FermZilla All Rounder is a relatively simple, yet versatile pressure capable plastic fermenter. It's popularity is largely due to it's simple design, especially in comparison to it's more complicated brother, the FermZilla Conical.
American Pale Ale would have to be one of the most craft popular beer styles, and in this post we'll be taking a deep dive into what makes them, and what you need to include in your own homebrew recipe to make your best version of the style.
After several years of ownership of our KegLand BrewZilla 3.1.1, we wanted to do an in-depth review of our experience with the 3.1.1 version after a number of successful brew days. Read on to find out everything you need to know about one of the worlds most popular all-in-one electric brewing systems.
Once you dive into the world of pressure fermentation, it opens the doors to loads of options and possibilities for achieving things when brewing and fermenting. In this post we're going to look at how you can pressurize and purge your kegs with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas created during fermentation, saving you from wasting precious CO2 from your gas bottle.
Duotight is a range of push in fittings for gas and liquid connections often used in homebrewing keg/draught system setups such as kegerators for connecting beer and CO2 gas lines to and from regulators, kegs, taps and other bits of equipment. The range was first released by KegLand in 2018, with a design update/revision in 2020.
Hop creep is a phenomenon that refers to beer becoming over-attenuated due to additional diastase enzymes being introduced to the wort/beer when quantities of hops are added for dry hopping. These enzymes can cause the conversion of long-chain unfermentable dextrin's into fermentable sugars.
LalBrew® Verdant IPA was specially selected in collaboration with Verdant Brewing Co. (UK) for its ability to produce a variety of hop-forward and malty beers. Prominent notes of apricot and undertones of tropical fruit and citrus merge seamlessly with hop aromas. With medium-high attenuation, LalBrew® Verdant IPA leaves a soft and balanced malt profile with slightly more body than a typical American IPA yeast strain. This highly versatile strain is well suited for a variety of beer styles including NEIPA, English IPA, American Pale, English Bitter, Sweet Stout and Sours.
Hydrometers are a simple but incredibly important piece of equipment for professional brewers and homebrewers alike. They are used to measure the specific gravity of a fluid, which gives a reading on the density of that fluid. In this Homebrew School lesson, we'll take a look at why hydrometers are important and how to easily test their accuracy to ensure you're getting the most out of yours.
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When starting out, most homebrewers opt to package their finished beers into bottles. It's almost inevitable that at some point down the track, most will start looking into options for kegging their beer - to save time and the hassle of endlessly cleaning bottles.
If you're using a single vessel brewing system like the BrewZilla and like incorporating ingredients like wheat and oats into your grain bill, there's a good chance you're going to experience a stuck mash or a stuck sparge. In this article, we'll take a look at exactly what these are, and what you can do to save your brew day if it happens to you.
SMaSH beers are a fantastic way for homebrewers to explore the unique characteristics of individual malts and hops. This brewing method simplifies the recipe, allowing the true flavors of the ingredients to shine.
Most homebrew recipes, books, and other literature reference a 60-minute boil time. For decades, this has been the standard boil time. However, we're seeing an increasing number of recipes calling for shorter boil times, typically 30 minutes. This prompted us to dive deeper into this topic: what are the pros and cons of shorter or longer boil times, and do we still need to do a 60-minute boil when brewing beer?
