15th May 2017
Making Sense of Judging FeedbackBy Greig McGillHaving been on both sides of the scoresheet, so to speak, I thought it could be useful to create a practical guide to interpreting what can occasionally…
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12th Apr 2017
Recipe BuildingBy Greig McGillSo ya wanna brew a beer? Where do you start? Are you trying to clone (or approximate) something you love? Come up with a new beer you’ve tasted in your dreams? Or simply…
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9th Feb 2017
It's All About the FermentationBy Greig McGillIn my recent post on brewing for competition, it might have surprised people that I didn’t specifically mention the F-word. Fermentation (that’s what you…
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5th Dec 2016
Brewing Beer for CompetitionBy Greig McGillIf you’re reading this, you may already know what a great and rewarding hobby home brewing is. There’s always more to learn, to try, to think about, and to d…
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6th Oct 2016
Interview with Sebastian Burke of Burkes BrewingWhat made you decide to follow a life in beer?I was encouraged by friends after many tasting sessions and some great competition results. As well, I saw…
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4th Feb 2016
Yeast, that often highly underrated ingredient we use in brewing – the turner of wort into beer. Sometimes it just doesn’t follow what we have planned for our beer. We’ve all experienced fermentation…
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1st May 2015
You have undoubtedly come across dextrose in your travels. This sugar, which is also known as glucose, is fundamental to almost all forms of life on the planet.Also known as brewer's sugar, dextrose i…
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14th Feb 2015
Yeast might make the beer, but it needs a brewer to create the wort. In the wort is a mélange of sugars most of which are derived from starch during the mash. A bit of knowledge of the different sugar…
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15th Jul 2014
As you will have discovered by now, the essential oils from hops impart much of the flavor in beer. Over recent years hop pellets have largely replaced the use of hop cones, having better storage prop…
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10th Jul 2014
How to use hops is the biggest question new brewers have when making the transition from pre-hopped beer kits to all-grain or extract brewing. An important skill to have is predicting how the hop addi…
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17th Jun 2014
Your refractometer is the perfect instrument for quick gravity measurements on brew-day.With one of these, there is no more need for large sample volumes, no waiting for the wort to cool or correcting…
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3rd Jun 2014
1. Brew an ale rather than a lagerWhile many branded starter equipment kits include a lager, they require a bit more attention and are less forgiving than brewing ales. They need to be brewed cooler a…
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