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Jack_R · 09-20-2014, 01:08 PM

Beer Boys and Beer Girls, I'm starting this thread in conjunction with a New HBT User article I've been working on. Before the article comes out I want to start populating this. It's intended to explain common terms, acronyms, and ideas for both new and old HBTers, and even amateur and professional brewers. What I need from you is suggestions for terms, phrases, acronyms, and corrections to those already posted. When you post below I'll update the OP. And don't feel bad about correcting me - I don't presume to know everything! Also, links to relevant threads are appreciated! So, here's the start:

***Disclaimer*** YA, I KNOW THERE IS A GLOSSARY; I'VE DECIDED IT'S INCOMPLETE, IT'S NOW MY MISSION TO IMPROVE IT AND THIS IS PART OF MY PROCESS.

Quote:

GLOSSARY (Terms and Acronyms you will see and be curious about here on HBT and elsewhere):

AG – All Grain, as in All Grain Brewing, which is the whole enchilada. You heat the water, mash the grains to convert the starch, sparge and lauter the sweet word into the kettle, and then do the boil, hop additions, etc. before bringing the temperature back down to a range acceptable to your yeast, transferring to the fermenter and pitching your glorious little yeasties!

Ale – a beer fermented with “top fermenting yeast” (Top fermenting simply refers to the manner in which the yeast flocculates – see below – top fermenting yeast “floats” to the surface of the beer and forms a crust).

BIAB – Brew In A Bag; any number of variations of brewing in which the barley, hops, etc. are added to a fine mesh bag to help separate wort from the grains. It’s a form of all grain brewing.

Direct Fired - simply refers to any brew rig, or portion thereof, which is heated directly by a flame (like a propane burner or gas stove).

Enzyme – a biocatalyst that (in regard to the process of producing beer) accelerates the conversion and breakdown of starches into sugars, and sugars into smaller sugars, which eventually are consumed by the yeast during fermentation.

Fermentation – process by which yeast convert of sugars (in the general sense) into alcohol and CO2.

Primary Fermentation - initial, robust, fermentation that occurs in the first approximately ten days. The most Yeast activity occurs during this phase. Sometimes referred to as initial fermentation, which may or may not be followed up with a secondary fermentation.

Secondary Fermentation - technically this is a true "second" fermentation that occurs after additional fermentable sugars are added to the beer. However, this term is also commonly used to describe a slow, low-energy fermentation - or none at all - after racking into a secondary fermentation vessel that helps finish and "clean" up, or clarify, the beer.

Flocculation – literally means the “clumping” of the yeast, in brewing terms anyway. Flocculation only occurs after all the consumable sugars in the wort have been consumed.

HERMS - Heat Exchanged Recirculating Mash System; a brew setup where the mash temperature is controlled by recirculating the sweet wort from the MLT through a heat exchanger back to the MLT. There are many (infinite?!) ways this is done.

HLT - Hot Liquor Tank; a kettle/pot which is used to heat and store hot water used for strike water, upward/step infusions, and sparging. Sometimes also used as the heat source for a RIMS/HERMS brew rif.

Hop Spider – essentially a strainer for hop pellets/cones/what have you that allows you to add hops to your boil and then strain them out post boil. Can be easily made DIY style for just a few bucks ($10-15), saves you a lot of mess in cleaning and will improve your brew by reducing the amount of trub that you end up with.

Hot Break – This is that point in your boil (happens with extract, AG, Partial, any brewing method) where your wort becomes a violent foam volcano! THIS IS THE REASON YOU CAN’T WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BREW DURING THE BOIL – at least until you’re past the hot break. It is recommended that you wait until after the hot break to add your hops – also, hops create a “hot break” of their own; of sorts. So be ready for it. You control the hot break with your heat source – turn it down or off to slow/stop the break and turn it up slowly. This is also the reason you want to avoid putting 4.9 gallons of wort into your 5 gallon kettle…among other reasons; fun fact: you’re 90% likely to ignore that last point like the rest of us did!

Lager – a beer brewed with “bottom fermenting yeast”. (Bottom fermenting refers to yeast that fall out of suspension and flocculate on the bottom of the fermenter forming the “yeast cake”).

Lautering - process by which sweet wort is seperated from the mash grains by draining the liquid through the grain bed.

Mashing - "steeping" milled grains in hot water allowing enzymes to convert the starches to fermentable sugars. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/ind...tegory:Mashing

MLT - mash lauter tun, a pot/kettle where the mashing is done.

OP – Original Post; the post that started the thread, sometimes the individual who authored the original post. Usually used in context of referencing the original thread topic or, more often, to bring the thread back to the actual topic being discussed.

Reinheitsgebot – German decree made in the 15th century, often called the “German Purity Laws” which forbid the production of beer with any ingredients other than water, barley, and hops (yeast had yet to be discovered). In addition it limited the months in which beer could be brewed based on an understanding that beer brewed in the summer tended to be of lower quality. For more info look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/ind...Reinheitsgebot

RIMS - Recirculating Infusion Mash System; a brew setup where the sweet wort is recirculated from output of the MLT back to the top of the grain bed. Often used to prevent scorching in direct fired AG setups.

SG – Specific Gravity, essentially a measurement of the sugars, and other substances, in a solution of water.

FG – Final Gravity, this is the formal name for a Specific Gravity measurement taken of your finished beer once all fermentation is complete.

OG – Original Gravity, this is the formal name for a Specific Gravity measurement taken of your wort PRIOR TO pitching the yeast.

Sparge - this is the process of continuously adding hot fresh hot water to the top of the grain bed in the MLT while lautering. This is done to extract as much of the sugars from the grain bed as possible. It also increases the initial boil volume. May also help to increase the efficiency of the brewhouse.

Batch Sparging -

Fly Sparging -

Vorlauf – A German word that translates more or less to “flow” and refers to the practice, in AG brewing, of slowly recirculating sweet wort from the output of the Mash/Lauter Tun back to the top of the mash. The purpose of this practice is to allow your grain bed to “set” while simultaneously filtering the solids from the runnings so that when the sparge/lauter process begins there are minimal solids transferred to the boil kettle. Gee whiz info – comes from the phrase “vorlauf und Rucklauf” – flow and return.

Yeast – single cell microorganisms which breakdown sugars for energy, creating CO2 and alcohol as a byproduct. Syn. – yeasties, yeasts, microscopic brewmonsters, many other cute pet names. And everything you wanted to know about it: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Yeast

Yeast Starter – this is essentially a small beer! You make it to increase your yeast population prior to pitching. Especially helpful for big brews (as in high OG brews – how high is debatable and contentious and you’re welcome to explore the many threads here to decide for yourself) or getting your dry yeast nice and healthy pre-pitch. Additionally this is not a bad practice to get into in general. Pitching an appropriate quantity of healthy yeast for your brew should help minimize undesired effects/outcomes and get that crazy initial fermentation and krausen started that we all love.

Yeast Washing – method of decanting “pure” yeast off of trub and other undesired particles so that you can save it to make a starter with for a future brew.

**unionrdr** · 09-20-2014, 01:41 PM

Well, I came up with a few delineations of my own since I've been here.
AE- All Extract. Beers brewed with nothing but extract malts, hops, water & yeast.
E/SG- Extract with Steeping Grains. Steeped crystal, roasted, etc grains that aren't base grains & can be merely steeped for more color & flavor.
PB/PM BIAB- Partial Boil, Partial Mash Brew In A Bag- Beers that use base grains as well as crystal, roasted, etc grains that need to be mashed. Extract added to get OG up to recipe gravity. A partial boil style of brewing for those that still use a 5 gallon kettle or otherwise can't do full boils & don't have another way to mash the grains. Brew in a bag works well this way too!
Initial Fermentation- My new term that replaces Primary Fermentation. I thought a while back that since many of us don't secondary average beers anymore, that initial fermentation would be the more accurate term for that time when most of the fermentation happens.

Jack_R · 09-21-2014, 07:54 AM

unionrdr, thanks for the input! I added your "initial fermentation" as a caveat to primary! I am going to hold out on the other suggestions as I personally have not heard of those terms as of yet - which doesn't mean all that much! - so I'm going to wait to get some confirmation from the rest of our HBT cohorts to support the terms and definitions. I hope that is alright by you!

**ChshreCat** · 09-21-2014, 08:47 AM

I've seen and used PB and PM quite often. Might throw in AA (Alpha Acids), Water Profile and Cold Crash to the list.

**ChshreCat** · 09-21-2014, 08:47 AM

...and Attenuation.

**ChshreCat** · 09-21-2014, 09:16 AM

ABV, Tun/Mash tun, Krausen, Wort, IBU's, Trub, Fusel Alcohol

Jack_R · 09-21-2014, 11:39 AM

Perfect, any suggested definitions for those?

**tmendick** · 09-21-2014, 12:52 PM

BIAB is not "somewhere in-between Partial Mash and All-Grain" it is all grain.

**unionrdr** · 09-21-2014, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack_R

unionrdr, thanks for the input! I added your "initial fermentation" as a caveat to primary! I am going to hold out on the other suggestions as I personally have not heard of those terms as of yet - which doesn't mean all that much! - so I'm going to wait to get some confirmation from the rest of our HBT cohorts to support the terms and definitions. I hope that is alright by you!

I started suggesting those other ones a few months ago or more. word travels slowly with changes sometimes. I thought that since we have "AG" for all grain, then why not "AE" for all extract, for example. Stick around & you'll learn things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChshreCat

ABV, Tun/Mash tun, Krausen, Wort, IBU's, Trub, Fusel Alcohol

ABV- Alcohol by Volume, expressed as a percentage of total volume.
Tun/mash tun- The kettle, cooler, etc you mash your grains in.
BK/MT- My BIAB version of the above, the Brew Kettle/ Mash tun which are one & the same in brew in a bag brewing.
Krausen- Yeast foam found on top of ales, which use top fermenting yeast & observed during initial fermentation.
Wort- The sweet, as yet unfermented beer
IBU's- International Bittering Units. Usually expressed as a percentage of Alpha Acids. This expression delineates the hop's bittering ability. The higher the percentage, the more bittering ability.
Trub- Yeast poop, grain silt, hop debris, etc that usually settles out first in the primary fermenter.
Fusel alcohols- Another by-product of fermentation that can provide that warm feeling in high gravity beers in small amounts. In larger amounts, can taste like hot solvent. High gravity worts are prone to this, as they stress the yeast. Ale yeast's are more prone to this due to their higher ferment temps than lager yeasts. Keeping ferment temps to the lower end of a yeast's sweet spot, especially during initial fermentation, will keep this off-flavor down to where it can't be sensed, or very little in the case of high-gravity beers. Especially true during the lag phase when most of the yeast growth happens.
Hope this helps.

ericbw · 09-21-2014, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unionrdr

Well, I came up with a few delineations of my own since I've been here.

AE- All Extract. Beers brewed with nothing but extract malts, hops, water & yeast.

E/SG- Extract with Steeping Grains. Steeped crystal, roasted, etc grains that aren't base grains & can be merely steeped for more color & flavor.

PB/PM BIAB- Partial Boil, Partial Mash Brew In A Bag- Beers that use base grains as well as crystal, roasted, etc grains that need to be mashed. Extract added to get OG up to recipe gravity. A partial boil style of brewing for those that still use a 5 gallon kettle or otherwise can't do full boils & don't have another way to mash the grains. Brew in a bag works well this way too!

Initial Fermentation- My new term that replaces Primary Fermentation. I thought a while back that since many of us don't secondary average beers anymore, that initial fermentation would be the more accurate term for that time when most of the fermentation happens.

He's collecting terms, not attempting to create new terms or build a following for terms hardly anyone uses. AE, etc. aren't really used. That's

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