Beer Brewing

Acidulated malt (Sauermalz) was the water chemistry addition that made mash acidification practical for me as a beginner — instead of measuring out fractions of a millilitre of liquid acid, I could simply weigh out grams of grain and add …

Lactic acid vs. phosphoric acid was a choice I spent more time than necessary agonising over until I realised the practical difference for most brewing scenarios is small — but for lagers and very clean beers where trace flavour matters, …

Chalk vs. slaked lime is one of the more confusing corners of water chemistry for homebrewers — both are used to raise alkalinity, both provide calcium, but they behave so differently in water that treating them as interchangeable produces completely

Baking soda in brewing is the water addition that addresses a specific problem — raising the pH of the mash or sparge water in high-roasted dark beer recipes — and understanding exactly when to use it versus when to avoid …

Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is the water addition that I use most sparingly — it contributes both magnesium and sulfate, but the magnesium at moderate levels has a noticeable laxative character that makes it the water salt where “less is …

Calcium chloride is the water salt I reach for when I want to make a beer taste rounder and fuller without changing its hop bitterness — understanding the chloride ion’s specific effect on malt character was the insight that let …

Gypsum (calcium sulfate) was the water chemistry addition that clicked water science into place for me — understanding why it makes hop character crisper and more pronounced, rather than simply “adjusting pH,” is the insight that turned water chemist

Spruce tips are the brewing ingredient that connects modern craft beer most directly to the earliest European and North American brewing traditions — spruce beer was consumed by Indigenous peoples of North America for centuries and was used by Captai

Chili in brewing was my most nervous first experiment with any ingredient — the irreversibility of over-spicing a 20-litre batch felt genuinely risky, and the experience of getting it right (and then, once, getting it badly wrong) gave me more …

Coffee in brewing is one of the most rewarding adjunct experiments I’ve done because coffee and roasted malt share underlying Maillard chemistry — they are natural partners — but the method of coffee addition (cold brew vs. dry whole bean …