Beer Geek 101 Word of the Day - Zymurgy

Not only is this a great scrable word worth a ton of points. It is a term near and dear to the hearts of all home brewers. Zymurgy is the study of fermentation. So many things can affect fermentation that it truly is a science. Some of the things that affect fermentation that are critical for the homebrewer to understand.....
     Temperature: typically warmer temps bring on faster fermentation, but ever yeast strain has a range at which it will reproduce and thrive.
     Yeast strain: see above
     Alcohol content. Some beers can only ever be a certain percent alcohol because going above this percentage is toxic to the yeast and therefore fermentation stops.
     Contamination: If forced to compete with contaminating bacteria the yeast can lose and the outcome is not good (usually), lambics is a type of beer that purposefully introduces a certain bacteria to provide a certain taste. I am a big fan of Frambois - a French lambic.
     Light: the darker the better. A closed room in a basement or a closet are your best bets.

If you have any questions, thoughts or stories about fermentation please comment below, let us at the Pearl City Society of Brewer's know about it, below or at pearlcitysobs@yahoo.com.

Beer Geek 101 - The Basic Nomenclature

Mash
     Mash is the grains soaking in the water, soaking the sugars out of the grain.

Wort
     Sweet Wort = The solution of grain sugars strained from the mash.
     Brewed Wort = During and after the boiling. This is when hops are added, they are added at various times in the boil. Some spices and flavorings can be added at any pont in the boil, but typically at or near the end of the boil
     Fermenting Wort = After the brewed wort is chilled, the addition of yeast and sometimes priming sugar and or olive oil makes a perfect breeding environment for the yeast. The yeast eat the sugar and replicate and give off ethanol and CO2 as byproducts. This can take a few days to several weeks depending on temperature, type of yeast, etc...

Carbonation
     Bottling: Carbonation can be done by the yeast in a bottling system as the fermented wort is siphoned off into bottles then priming sugar added and the bottle capped off. The yeast will make more alcohol and CO2 is a byproduct.
     Forced carbonation, although more expensive than bottling saves quite a bit of time and effort. Place your fermented wort in a keg, pressurize with CO2 and you can be drinking your beer in a few days. This takes special equipment but in my estimation will increase your enjoyment of the process.

Beer!
      To borrow a few descriptors: the fruit of the labor, the nectar of the gods, proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy!

Home brewing is such a beautifully simple thing, we just assign an entirely new language to it and it can be unnecessarily intimidating. Do not let it intimidate you. As Charlie Papazian (Sorry Charlie if I spelled your last name wrong) would say, "relax have a home brew."

As always any questions or concerns or comments are welcome at pearlcitysobs@yahoo.com, or by commenting below.