Beer Forum

I have started working on the next edition of How To Brew.
Among the topics I am considering adding are: Kegging, Cask Ales, Brewing Sours, and Brew in a Bag.
What else would you all like to see?
Thanks,
John

Many brewing books and most brewing software have charts showing water chemistry profiles for famous brewing cities. However, it is difficult to believe that breweries in those area don't modify their water in some way. I don't bother to use those profiles for that reason. What would be much more helpful would be a chart that would list some "optimal" water profiles for some general types of beer. Zymurgy published such a chart years ago but it did not take ph into consideration. An update to that chart would be greatly appreciated by homebrewers everywhere.

+1 Boog. There's a couple handy ones to tweak on Martin's site, but the 2 I use are ones I've developed from trial/error... and I'd like a 3rd one for a couple instances, but the idea from starting over keeps pushing it to the back burner. I've always assumed the same thing which makes the city profile list essentially useless info. Adjusting that same list for what the local brewers are doing to that water for their traditional style(s) is a great idea.

howtobrew wrote:I have started working on the next edition of How To Brew.
Among the topics I am considering adding are: Kegging, Cask Ales, Brewing Sours, and Brew in a Bag.
What else would you all like to see?
Thanks,
John

I think the Brewing Sours and Brew in a Bag are excellent topics. The Kegging and Cask Ales not as much as they are not "How to Brew", they are more "How to Drink".

There is a ton of kegging info on the web already and the cask ale thing is so very expensive to get in to. To get a single beer engine is like $500.00, I know you can build one out of RV hand water pumps and such. but to go with a decent setup like you would see in a pub is very difficult for the average brewer to get into.

How about small batch brewing, both extract and all grain. One of the larger constraints for me when I brew is the mind set that EVERYTHING about home-brewing is based on the 5 gallon batch. I've been playing with some numbers in my recipes and found that three gallon batches are much more practical since everything needed to do an all grain, full boil batch can be done on my kitchen range and sink, giving more flexibility for both summer and winter brewing.

Alan

How about some information on working with oak barrels, particularly the ~5 gal barrels available from distilleries?

BIAB please. I am going to this until I can get a mash run and stuff. Living in Japan makes it harder to get cool stuff.

How bout how to do a black IPA, with tips on making the recipe and junk, should it be at all malt forward or should it just be black in color and otherwise like a west coast IPA or what?

I think it would make for a fun show folks.