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Four Brewers: Craft Beer and Homebrew


Aug 29, 2016

Season 3, Episode 35 – Jason’s got Mirkwood.

Another week, another awesome homebrew from Jason. We could get used to this! He’s on a bit of a roll actually, honing his skills on newly upgraded brewing setup and making his versions of New England IPA. His latest brew turned out to be a session IPA. Damn mash efficiency! But, before we get to the homebrew, we’ve got some cans fresh off the line from Almanac Beer Company, and four questions in the 4B Mailbag.

Beers from Almanac and Modern TimesBeers from Almanac and Modern Times

Yeast is THE most important component of beer. Well, fermentables for the yeast to consume are also important, but, yeast is priority one. Poor yeast health and viability can completely ruin an otherwise great beer. Three of the four questions in the mailbag pertain to yeast, two of which are specific to lager yeast. 

The topic of yeast leads right into Jason’s latest beer, his New England session (accidental) IPA called, Mirkwood. The brewday for this beer went relatively well, outside of Jason’s poor wort efficiency. We get into why that may have been, how to fix it, and how important mineral additions are to the finished brew. Jason’s mash pH was also a bit on the low side, around 4.7, (normally, most homebrewers experience pH readings that are too high, which is easy to fix in most cases) and we discuss how to raise it using said mineral additions. 

We finish up with the latest “juicy” release from Modern Times Beer, Attack Frequency. Opinions about this beer are mixed among the group, but all agree that Jason’s brew definitely killed in comparison to this beer. Jason-1, Modem Tones-0. That’s our boy!

Link from the 4B Mailbag:
Brülosophy – LAGER METHOD

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:
Almanac Beer Company – Almanac IPA
Almanac Beer Company – Saison Dolores
Wrath Brewing (homebrew) – Mirkwood
Modern Times Beer – Attack Frequency

Direct audio: MP3

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