Beersmith Home And Beer Brewing Podcast

This week my guest is Mike Mraz, an award winning homebrewer who joins us to talk about brewing sour beer styles. Mike will tell you how to brew those distinctive sour beers like Belgian Flanders, Lambics or Sours at home. We also discuss using Brett and Lacto to sour your homebrew. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode are here.

This week my guest is Jason Perrault, a fourth generation hop grower from Perrault Farms. Jason joins us to talk about how to grow hops at home, and along the way we also talk about how to store and use fresh hops to enhance your homebrew. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode can be found here.

This week my guest is Erik Schmid from "The Brewmeister" home brew shop. Erik is going to teach us how to brew the perfect Pilsner beer this week, and has extensive experience with brewing lager beers. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode can be found here.

This week my guest is Gordon Strong, three time Ninkasi award winner (best in the US) and a Grandmaster Beer Judge. We discuss advanced homebrewing techniques - specifically for all grain brewers who have the basics of beer brewing down but want to do more. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode can be found here.

This week my guest is James Altwies, the President of Gorst Valley Hops. James is an expert in hop chemistry and this week we're going to discuss what alpha acids, beta acids and hop aroma oils are and how they can help you make better beer. James also shares how you can maximize your hop aroma and flavor in beer. NOTE: The full episode video and show notes can be found here.

This week my guest is Stan Hieronymous - the author of "Brew Like a Monk". Stan joins us to talk about brewing Belgian beers, the history of Belgian Abbey and Trappist ales, and how to brew them at home. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode can be found here.

This week I invite Drew Beechum back to talk about the merits of homebrew clubs. Drew was president of the Maltose Falcons and is active in the American Homebrewers Association, and provides a unique perspective on what clubs have to offer to homebrewers. NOTE: The full video and show notes for the episode can be found here.

This week I invite Bob Hansen from Briess malting and ingredients company to talk about beer brewing, malts, malting your own grain and also malt extract. Bob provides a great overview of how malted barley is grain, how specialty grains are made and even how they make malt extract. NOTE: The full video and show notes for this episode are linked here.

This week I invite Justin Crossley from the Brewing Network to talk a bit about his journey in beer broadcasting, some of his shows and his recent journey into television. Justin is the popular host of the Session (a podcast) and runs a network of several shows centered around homebrewing. NOTE: The full video and show notes are linked here.

This week I invite John Palmer back to talk about brewing high gravity "big" beers. John shares some of his tips on getting the most from your high gravity mash, scaling recipes up to higher gravities, balancing your big beer and fermentation and aging.  High gravity beers provide a special challenge for many extract and all grain brewers. NOTE: The full episode video and show notes can be found here.

This week we talk about American hop varieties and developing new hops.  Al Haunold, a retired genetic engineer from USDA and Dave Wills from Freshops.com are my guests as we talk about how some of the most popular US hop varieties came about, how high alpha varieties are used now and how hops are grown. NOTE: The video and show notes for this complete episode can be found here.

Dr Charles Bamforth, Professor of Brewing Science from the University of California is my guest on this week's show and he shares with us a detailed look at diacetyl (an off flavor) and how to control it in your beer.  Charlie provides insights into the source, and also how to reduce diacetyl. Join us for a detailed look at this interesting bit of home brewing science. NOTE: The full video and show notes can be found here.

This week, we discuss designing beer with brewing author Randy Mosher. Randy shares with us the process he uses for designing beer and also gives us a sneak peek into the new book he's working on. Randy provides some great insights into beer design. NOTE: The full episode video and show notes can be found here.

This week I invite a panel of three of the top home brewers together to talk about beer brewing myths for an extended holiday edition of the BeerSmith podcast. My panel includes John Palmer, Gordon Strong and Denny Conn in a wide-ranging discussion of beer brewing techniques and myths. NOTE: The full episode with video and show notes can be found here.

John Blichmann of Blichmann Engineering makes some of the highest quality equipment for homebrewing including pots, three-tier systems, high end RIMS and HERMS systems and also his very popular Beer Gun. This week I interview John about everything from simple stainless pots to high end pump and temperature control systems. NOTE: The full episode video and show notes can be found here.

Batch sparging has become a popular technique for all grain home brewers to save time and money. This week I invite Denny Conn who is an expert in batch sparging to provide his advice on the best way to batch sparge your home brewed beer. NOTE: The full episode with video and show notes can be found here.

Porter beer recipes and brewing Porter is the subject of this week's interview with Grandmaster Beer Judge Gordon Strong. Beer author and BJCP President Gordon shares some of his top tips for brewing an award winning Porter beer at home. NOTE: The full episode with show notes and video can be found here.

This week my guest is Jamil Zainasheff from Heretic Brewing. Jamil is an icon in the homebrewing community - author of two books, a podcast of his own and very active in the AHA and other home brewing organizations. Last year Jamil quit his day job in software to found his own brewery called Heretic Brewing Company. He talks today about his experience in the first year as a pro-brewer. NOTE: The full episode with show notes can be found here.

This week I interview Dan Morey and we talk about how to brew Abbey and Trappist Ales.Trappist (or Abbey Ales) are a popular Belgian style that has become very popular and is widely duplicated by microbreweries here in the United States. Dan walks us through the variations of the Trappist styles, their character and how to brew them at home. NOTE: The full episode with show notes can be found here.

Beer foam and head retention are the topics for this week's podcast with Dr Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Known as "the Pope of Foam", Charlie has been studying beer foam since 1979. He provides a complete overview of carbonation, how foam forms in a beer, how you can enhance the head retention in a beer, and much more. NOTE: The complete show notes for this episode can be found here.