Glossary Of Home Brewing Terms

If you’re new to the process of home brew, you’re going to be reading many
words and terms that will be unfamiliar to you. While you don’t need to know
what they all mean, it will be helpful to have a general idea of what most of
them mean.
Keep in mind that some of these terms may be used in larger breweries
rather than in your home brewing process. While there are many other
brewing terms, these are the most common ones you will hear in your home
brewing.

Additives

These substances such as preservatives, enzymes or antioxidants may
be added to your home brew to add to the shelf life or simplify the
brewing process.

Adjunct

This is a fermentable material used to make a cheaper or lighterbodied beer and is a substitute for the traditional grains.

Alcohol

This may refer to either ethyl alcohol or ethanol. When the yeast
works with the sugar in the malt, you get a certain alcohol content,
which makes it intoxicating. Others describe it as the result of
fermentation.

Alcohol by volume

This means the amount of alcohol that’s in your beer as a percentage
of the volume of beer. If a bottle states it’s 2.5% alcohol by weight, it
means it has 2.5 grams of alcohol for every 100 centimeters of beer.

Ale

This is a type of beer resulting from the use of malted barley and the
top-fermenting types of brewers yeast. Most ale you’ll find will have
hops in them, which balances out the flavor.

All-malt

This is a beer that is made from all barley malt and no adjuncts.

Alpha acids

These are the bittering compounds in hops, which are extracted when
the hops is boiled with the wort. The higher the alpha acid content, the
more bitter the taste will be.

Barley

This is a cereal grain, which once malted, is used as mash when
brewing beer.

Barrel

This is a unit of measure used to store beer. In the U.S., a barrel is
equal to 31.5 gallons and 36 imperial gallons in Britain.

Beer

This term refers to the beverages that are flavored from hops and
contain alcohol from fermenting grain such as malt.

Body

Body describes the thickness and property of your beer, either full or
thin bodied.

Bottle capper

This is a device used to put your crown caps on your bottles. They can
be used for home brewed beer or soda.

Bottling Bucket

This bucket, made of food grade plastic, has a spigot on the bottom for
your convenience. The priming sugar is put in these buckets prior to
bottling so they’re sometimes referred to as priming vessels.

Bottom-fermenting yeast

This is one of the two types of yeasts that are used in brewing. Also
known as “lager yeast”, it’s best when used at low temperatures and
produces a clean crisp taste because it ferments with more sugars.

Brew kettle

This is the vessel where the wort that comes from the mash is boiled
with the hops.

Carbonation

This is the sparkle created by the fermentation and caused by carbon
dioxide.

Carboy Brush

If you use a carboy, this brush is a necessity for cleaning. It’s perfect
for getting to the inside of the carboy, which you’ll have to do to clean
it thoroughly.

Conditioning tank

This is the tank where the beer is stored after the initial fermentation.
This is where it matures and becomes carbonated from the secondary
fermentation.

Dry-hopping

This is when you add more hops to the aging or fermenting beer to
increase the aroma or character of the hop.

Glass Carboy

These glass containers, which are also called fermentors, are used to
store the beer while it ferments. The most common size is 5 gallons,
although they come in a variety of sizes.

Hops

This is the female cone of the hop plant, which is used as a stability
and flavoring agent in beer and other beverages.

Hydrometer

This instrument is used to measure the weight of the liquid (fermented
or unfermented) in relation to the volume of water.

Lager

This term is used to describe a style of beer.

Malt

This is a grain, usually barley, which is soaked in water to get it to a
certain moisture level. It then is germinated and then roasted to be
used in the making of beer. The amount of roasting determines how
light or dark the beer will be. They are used as adjuncts.

Racking cane

This is hard plastic tubing used when you’re transferring the beer from
the fermenting kettle to the bottling bucket or kettle. It bends on one
end with a cap on the other end, which lets liquid flow through with
the littlest amount of sediment.

Sanitizer

This is a special type of cleaner needed to sanitize (not just clean) all
your equipment so it is sterile and will not promote bacteria. Some
people use unscented bleach for this.

Siphon hose

This hose is used to get the beer from the vessel or barrel into the
bottles, where it will be stored.

Sparge Bags

These bags re used to steep the specialty grains or hops in the
brewing kettle. You can get reusable or disposable ones. They are
steeped like tea bags.

Tubing

You’ll need both small tubing (3/8″ or ½” inside diameter) and large
tubing (1″ inside diameter) for your home brewing. The small tubing is
used to get the beer out of the fermenter and for bottling. This large
tubing is used during the initial fermentation process. Both size tubing
are made of heavy-duty plastic.

Vessel

This is the container where the beer will be kept during the
fermentation period.

Wort

This term is used to describe the mixture of the boiled water and malt
after the hops has been added and before it’s fermented.

Wort chiller

This is used to quickly chill the boiling wort to help the yeast pitch
much quicker, which helps prevent the risk of infection. It’s not a
necessity, but makes things go much quicker and smoother. Some
choose to make their own with a tubing bender and copper tubing.

Yeast

This ingredient helps with the fermentation in your home brew. While
some people may try to use baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast will work
much better.