Among the “this or that” debates of homebrewing, the question of whether to use pellet hops or whole leaf hops is primarily a matter of personal preference. But, there are a few things to consider when deciding what kind of hops to use when brewing.

Pellet Hops vs Whole Leaf

The term “whole leaf” is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to talking about hops. Brewers use the flowering part of the hop plant, often called a cone or a strobile. When hops are harvested, the pinecone-shaped flowers are picked by hand or with a machine. Then the hops are dried in an oast. Next, if the hops are being processed into pellets, the hop cones get milled and pressed into pellets. Finally, the hops are pressed into bales, vacuum packaged, sealed, and stored cold.
One of the main arguments against using pellet hops in your beer is that heat generated during the pelletizing process can degrade the quality of the hops, but most any modern hops farm will take precautions against this. You can be confident that any of the major hop producers you buy from have taken care to prevent any degradation due to pelletizing of the hops.
Without further delay, below are several of the pros and cons of pellet hops vs whole leaf.

Pellet Hops: Pros

• Less plant material means less wort gets lost in the kettle trub, improving brewhouse efficiency.
• Pellet hops offer slightly higher hop utilization, meaning more IBU bang for your buck.
• Pellet hops store well.
• Pellet hops are readily available.

Pellet Hops: Cons

• The processing of the pellets may damage some of the aroma compounds in the hops. That said, with modern harvesting and processing techniques, actual damage is likely negligible. Hop pellets are used by brewers all over the world.
• Since the hop material is shredded, it can sometimes clog spigots and tubing. A bazooka screen can be installed inside the brew kettle to protect against this.

Leaf Hops: Pros

• Whole leaf hops can be used as a filter bed when drawing wort from the brew kettle.
• Whole leaf hops are the best option if brewing a wet hop beer.
• Some think whole leaf hops offer better flavor and aroma characteristics. Sierra Nevada uses exclusively whole leaf hops. Randy Mosher, author of Radical Brewing, also prefers whole leaf hops.

Leaf Hops: Cons

• Whole leaf hops take up more space in storage and in the brewing kettle.
• Whole leaf hops offer slightly less hop utilization than pellet hops.
• Whole leaf hops may not always be available or their selection may be more limited.

There you have it. There are some of the pro’s and con’s of pellet hops vs whole leaf hops. As you can see they are somewhat minor, even thought there is a minority who believe whole leaf is the only way to go. In the end, both can be used to make excellent beer.
So what’s your preference – pellet hops or whole leaf?

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David Ackley is a beer writer, homebrewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

When brewing high gravity beers (i.e. high alcohol beers), the beer yeast needs to work a little harder to convert the extra sugar into alcohol. Not all beer yeast strains are cut out for the job. Some get tired, some can’t handle the extra booze. (Sounds like some people I know!)
Here are five beer yeast strains to consider using when brewing high gravity beers.

High Gravity Yeast Strains

• Wyeast 3787: Liquid Beer Yeast: Trappist High Gravity – Wyeast 3787 is great for brewing high gravity Belgian style beers such as Dubbels, Tripels, and Belgian Strong Ales. This beer yeast strain tolerates alcohol content up to 11-12% ABV or higher and produces the fruity flavors and aromas characteristic of Belgian ales.

• Wyeast 1388: Liquid Beer Yeast: Belgian Strong Ale – Wyeast 1388 is another good option if brewing high gravity Belgian ale beers, especially Golden Strong Ales. It can tolerate up to about 12-13% ABV.

• Mangrove Jack’s: Craft Series Beer Yeast / Workhorse / M10 – Mangrove Jack’s Workhorse can handle up to 9% alcohol by volume and is useful for a wide variety of beer styles. Its clean flavor profile will work well for many American and English ales.

• Wyeast 1728: Liquid Beer Yeast: Scottish Ale – Neutral and clean at the recommended temperature range, Wyeast 1728 is ideal for a malty Scotch ale, but it also works well for Barleywine, Old Ale, Russian Imperial Stout, and other big beers. It’s tolerant up to about 12% ABV.

• Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast – When going where a normal high gravity beer yeast won’t (say, higher than 12% ABV), a champagne or wine yeast can help reach those higher levels of alcohol content. If going for a super high gravity beer, pitch a standard beer yeast strain for the primary fermentation, then add more fermentable ingredients, such as simple syrup or dissolved candi sugar, along with a pack of champagne yeast during secondary fermentation to achieve that higher alcohol content.

Tips for Brewing High Gravity Beers

• As important (if not more so) than picking the right beer yeast strain, is pitching enough healthy yeast to completely ferment the wort. A beer yeast starter will help ensure that there are enough yeast cells to get the job done. Use a yeast pitch calculator to figure out how many packets of yeast or the volume of yeast starter you need.

• Also use yeast nutrient and be sure to aerate the wort well prior to pitching the beer yeast.

• If you’re trying to get above ~10-12% alcohol by volume, consider adding more fermentable ingredients to the secondary fermenter, combined with an additional yeast pitch using a different yeast strain.

Are you brewing high gravity beers? What tips do you have for achieving a higher alcohol content?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder and editor of the Local Beer Blog.

We’re excited to share that we’ve added twelve new homebrew beer kits to our lineup of malt extract beer kits! These kits are very easy to brew – ideal for anyone new to homebrewing or for seasoned homebrewers looking to simplify their brew day.
Each kit is fully hopped and comes with straightforward directions to guide you through the homebrewing process. You’ll just need to add water and 2.2 lbs. of corn sugar to complete the recipe. If you’ve never brewed before, we recommend you browse our “New to Brewing” articles to learn what it takes to get started. These are no-boil kits, so the only equipment you really need is a beermaking starter kit.
The twelve new malt extract beer kits from Black Rock Brewery include:

• Pilsner Blonde – A European-style golden lager. Dry with full hop flavor. 14-18 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.

• Apple Cider – Not a beer of course, this kit is made using New Zealand’s finest apples. 0 IBUS, 2-4 SRM.

• Miner’s Stout – An everyday stout. Dark and roasty with flavors of chocolate and coffee, but not too bitter. 25-35 IBUs, 40+ SRM.
  

• Bock – A German classic, bock is a dark, malt-forward lager with flavors of toast and caramel. 14-18 IBUs, 23-28 SRM.
  

• Nut Brown Ale – An English-style amber ale with flavors of caramel and toffee and a hint of biscuit. This beer kit is a great choice for beginning homebrewers. 19-23 IBUs, 11-14 SRM.
  

• New Zealand Company Bitter – A New Zealand take on the English bitter. Rich, strong, and well-balanced with a pronounced hop character, but not overhopped. A sessionable pale ale. 26-34 IBUs, 11-14 SRM.
  

• Pale Ale – A light, golden ale with a subtle, floral hop character from the finest New Zealand hops. Easy drinking, yet full of flavor. 14-18 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.
  

• Whispering Wheat – An easy-drinking and refreshing wheat ale. Crisp and slightly sweet. A great beer for warmer weather. 14-18 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.
  

• Mexican Lager – A smooth lager in the Mexican style, perfect for your next fiesta. 14-18 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.
  

• Lager – A crisp, clean, pale golden lager. Moderate hop bitterness and aroma. 18-22 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.
  

• Dry Lager – A pale lager with a crisp, dry finish. Not quite as bitter at the lager above. 14-18 IBUs, 2-4 SRM.
  

• Export Pilsner – A Czech-style pilsner lager, similar to Pilsner Urquell, with more hop bitterness than the other lagers listed here. 35-40 IBUs, 6-7 SRM.

 If you’re new to homebrewing, any one of the malt extract beer kits would be a good place to start!

What other kinds of beers are you interested in making?

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David Ackley is a writer, brewer, and craft beer marketing consultant. He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

In part 1 of this series, we discussed several of the choices that come up when choosing the right yeast strain for your homebrew: dry yeast vs. liquid yeast, ales strains vs. lagers strains, flavor, attenuation, and flocculation.
In this blog post, I’ll introduce several of the most popular yeast strains used by homebrewers.

 Homebrewing Yeast Style Guide
This is by no means a comprehensive list of every yeast you could use to brew your own beer, simply a guide for some of the most commonly brewed beer styles. Click here to browse our complete selection of homebrewing yeast strains.

German Ale Yeast Options

• Wyeast 1007: German Ale Yeast – A very versatile yeast strain, traditionally used for German Altbier, but often used for American ales; ferments clean with low ester production and finishes dry; requires fairly low fermentation temperature for neutral flavor.

• Wyeast 3056: Bavarian Wheat Blend – Used for brewing German weizen, a wheat beer characterized by yeast-derived banana and clove flavors; this is a relatively neutral strain.

• Wyeast 3068: Weihenstephan Weizen – An alternative to 3056 (above), this strain of weizen yeast is sourced from the Weihenstephan brewery in Germany, which claims to be the oldest brewery in the world. It is a vigorous fermenter producing characteristic banana/clove flavors, which can be controlled by adjustments in fermentation temperature and wort density (high – more banana, low – more clove). A lower pitch rate will enhance banana character.

• Danstar Munich – A dry yeast for brewing Bavarian weizen.

• Wyeast 2565: Kolsch – The preferred yeast for Kolschbier, ferments at cooler temperatures than most top-fermenting ale yeasts, enhancing smooth, lager-like character with a hint of apple. Can also be used to ferment lager styles when temperature control is a challenge.

German Lagers Yeast Options

• Fermentis Saflager S-23 – Dry yeast, deal for Berliner pilsners; also suitable for American lagers.

• Fermentis Saflager 34/70 – Dry yeast, sourced from the Weihenstephan brewery in Germany, produces a malt-forward beer with plenty of body.

• Wyeast 2206: Bavarian Lager – Suitable for malty, German lagers, especially Munich-style beers and Oktoberfest.

Belgian Ales Yeast Options

• Wyeast 1388: Belgian Strong Ale – A high-attenuating, alcohol-tolerant, liquid yeast strain recommended for fermenting golden strong ales. Yields a dry beer with a mild tartness.

• Wyeast 1762: Belgian Abbey II – Temperature- and alcohol- tolerant strain derived from the Trappist brewery Rochefort; produces some dried fruit esters at higher temperatures.

• Wyeast 3787: Trappist High Gravity – Wide temperature range and high alcohol tolerance make this a good strain for abbey-style dubbels, tripels, and quads; great fit for a Westmalle Tripel Clone.

• Mangrove Jack’s M27: Belgian Ale – A dry Belgian ale yeast, tolerant of warmer fermentation temperatures and high alcohol. Use it for saisons, tripels, and quadrupels.

• Wyeast 3942: Belgian Wheat – Produces subtle apple and bubblegum esters, highly recommended for Belgian witbier.

• Wyeast 3278: Belgian Lambic Blend – A blend of yeast and bacteria cultures for the production of Belgian sour beer. For advanced brewers.

American/English/Irish Ales Yeast Options
I lump these strains together because there is a lot of crossover between English and American styles. Indeed, many of the “American” yeast strains we know and love simply migrated from Europe. Where applicable, I’ve provided some more specific guidelines for some of the more distinctive beer styles, like Irish Stout.

• Wyeast 1056: American Ale – Extremely popular style for American pale ales and IPAs, originally sourced from Sierra Nevada Brewery; tends to be very neutral, but may produce citrus notes at the low end of the fermentation temperature range.

• Fermentis Safale US-05 – Same strain as Wyeast 1056, above, but in dry form; sometimes called the “Chico” strain; acceptable for a wide range of American style ales.

• Wyeast 1272: American Ale II – An alternative American yeast strain; accentuates the citrus notes of hoppy American pale ales and IPAs.

• Wyeast 1084: Irish Ale – the classic strain for Irish stouts, this yeast has a slightly lower attenuation, making it ideal for full-bodied beers.

• Danstar Nottingham – A versatile, fast-working, high-flocculating, high-attenuating dry ale yeast; many homebrewers’ go-to strain for American and English ales; tolerance at lower temperatures allows it to be used for lagers.

• Fermentis Safale S-04 – Dry yeast; classic English ale strain with neutral flavor characteristics; works quickly and flocculates well.

• Wyeast 1099: Whitbread – Liquid yeast version of Safale S-04 (above); ideal for a range of British ales.

 
Cider Yeast Options

• Mangrove Jack’s M02 – Dry yeast for fermenting apple cider; high attenuation and flocculation. Imparts fruity esters to give cider depth of flavor and enhance fruit character.

• Wyeast 3766: Cider – Liquid strain of cider yeast for fermenting a crisp, dry cider. Also works well for pear and peach wine.

These are some of the most popular strains of homebrewing yeast – what are some of your favorites?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder and editor of the Local Beer Blog.

Tim from One Mind Brewing shares some tips and tricks about working with his favorite brewing ingredient: yeast.
My name is Tim, and I’m a brewaholic. I love beer, I love brewing beer, and I love everything about the process. Today I want to ramble about the most important ingredient. What is it you ask? Well, to get there first we must ask a simple question.

What makes beer?
The single most important ingredient when it comes to making beer is yeast. To those who might argue and say that without water there is no beer, my retort is simple: With water and no yeast you still have no beer, so to me, the yeast is the most important ingredient!

Getting the Most From Your Beer Yeast – Pitching Rates
The beer yeast is a huge part of what makes beer. Without adequately pitched yeast, flavor profile and alcohol content are difficult to control at best, and horrific at worst.
You may have noticed the word “adequately” in there. It’s probably the most important word, because without an adequate yeast pitch it’s entirely possible you’ll still end up with beer — even likely. But it’s much harder to get the exact result you want without consistent yeast pitching across all of your homebrew batches.
But what is adequate, exactly? Well, there are a few sources online to help with that. My go-to source for preparing a dry yeast starter is Mr Malty, because there is a dry yeast option. For preparing liquid beer yeast starters though, I prefer yeastcalculator.com. Both options are fairly intuitive, but I’ll share some tips below.

Preparing a Beer Yeast Starter – Parameters
If you’re new to calculating pitch rates, don’t worry about the additional “steps” as mentioned in the calculators. It’s not really necessary if you’re using fresh yeast and making a moderate gravity brew. The important parts here are: the date on the beer yeast to determine viability; the starting specific gravity of your beer (OG, as measured with a Hydrometer or Refractometer); the volume of the starter; and the aeration method of the starter. There is also a starter calculator off to the left to help you with how much DME to use for your starter, though that becomes rote quickly if you do the same size starters regularly.

Do I Have to Have a Stir Plate?
It is important to note that you do not absolutely need a stir plate or any specialized equipment other than a jug or a growler to do a yeast starter in. However, you will get far better results out of a stir plate.

Preparing a Beer Yeast Starter – Aeration
Back to the calculator. The first two options for “Method of Aeration” are pretty self-explanatory. If you’re not going to shake the starter periodically, put none. If you are, then select “intermittent shaking.” Then you’ve got Troester vs. Zainasheff. My understanding is that Zainasheff’s method is to scale up from unstirred starters, while Troester’s method was devised with science. Cell counts from stir plate starters, rather than guesswork based on unstirred. If you’re ready for a headache or have a much better understanding of it than I do, read more about it here. That said, I opt for the Troester method with my stir plate.

Putting Your Yeast Starter to the Test
The real fun part about yeast starters is learning (trial and error means you get to brew MORE!) what pitch rates result in what flavor profiles. While there are some resources online to assist, you really do have to try it to know for sure with your own setup what works best for you. For example, I wanted a Hefeweizen with a more pronounced banana flavor/aroma. After a bit of research, I stumbled upon this lovely thread regarding open fermentation to get more ester production. I blogged about it on my blog and used WLP300 for that one. I’m going to try open fermenting with WLP565 (Belgian Saison) in the near future as well as a few others, though those aren’t set in stone just yet. There are many, many ways to experiment with beer yeast and flavor profiles. Your only limit is your imagination. Well, that and your bank account I suppose.
To really be able to appreciate it, experimentation needs to be done in a controlled way. The best way to control it is to do things in reproducible ways. The most important variable is controlling your yeast pitch rates and the fermentation temperature. If you have a fermentation chamber, great. If not, a simple swamp cooler will suffice. The hard part is really going to be reproducible yeast pitch rates for new brewers.
Without doing yeast cell counts in a lab, the best we can do on a homebrew scale is to keep the way we are preparing our beer yeast starter consistent and use the same equipment every time. Your exact numbers may not match what the calculators say, but as long as you’re consistent within your process, the results will be reproducible on your system. That’s the important part for experimentation, at least as far as I and my taste buds are concerned.
Remember: The difference between science and screwing around is writing it down. So don’t forget to take notes while you brew!
So know you should have enough information for preparing your own beer yeast starter. If you have any questions about yeast starters, feel free to reach out!
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Tim Daniel is a brew blogger from One Mind Brewing. He’s an avid brewer who loves sharing tips and tricks with others. You can visit him on Facebook, as well.

Every homebrewer gets the urge at some point to add a little something special to their beer. I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that you can easily find a stout at the store, but a mint chocolate stout? Now that’s something special!
One popular way of adding flavors to homebrew is what Randy Mosher calls a potion. This is essentially a mixture of alcohol and whatever flavoring ingredient you want in your beer. Another term for this is an extract. That’s what this post is about, how to make and use these potions or extract to flavor your homebrews.
So what kinds of potions can you make?
Though you can make a potion out of just about anything, here are a few of the most common:

• vanilla
• cacao/chocolate
• orange peel
• mint
• cardamom
• coffee
• licorice

The main benefit of using a potion or extract is that it’s easy to adjust how much of the flavor you want in the beer. It can be difficult, for example, to figure out how much flavor three vanilla beans might bring to your vanilla porter. With an extract of vanilla bean, all you have to do is take a sample of beer and use a dropper to measure how much of the potion is needed to reach the intensity of flavor you want. Then you scale up to figure out how much to add to your batch.
The main drawback of using a potion is that it takes some foresight. To fully extract the flavor from your ingredient of choice, you will need to let it soak in alcohol for at least a week, ideally three or four. This means that if you plan to add your potion at bottling time, it should be prepared on brew day or even several days before. Just be sure to use a digital scale to measure how much of the ingredient you added to the jar. Save this information in your brewing notes so you can recreate the potion if you want to.

How to Add a Potion to Your Homebrew

1. Choose a flavoring ingredient that will blend well with your beer style.
2. Buy some cheap vodka or similar alcohol.
3. Put the ingredient in a mason jar and pour in enough liquor to fully cover the ingredient.
4. Let sit for about three weeks.
5. When it’s time to add the potion to your beer (usually bottling day), take a measured sample of beer for a taste test.
6. Use a measured dropper or pipette (ideally in fractions of a milliliter) to add small amounts of potion to the beer until desired flavor is reached.
7. Scale up to figure out how much potion to add to your homebrew.

Example:
Let’s say you find that 1 mL of potion is ideal for eight ounces of beer. There are 80, eight-ounce servings in five gallons of beer, so add 80 mL of potion to your homebrew.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Making flavor extracts for your homebrew is just one more way to add a lot of fun to the process. It’s one more avenue for a lot of creativity. What kind of beer would you make with your homemade potion?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, homebrewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.