Jon Griffin’s Blog

These instructions take into account your boil size. Since most new brewers only have small pots to boil in, it is important to take into account the specific gravity of your wort….

Recipe by Jon Griffin

Makes 5 Gallons
A spicy, fruity moderate strength English Style Xmas Ale. This is based on an English bitter base. I would advise not increasing the spice amounts. People that have tried that have found the flavor to be to overbearing. You can also change the fruit additions. I have used mango and peach in the secondary with no apple, and it is also wonderful.

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I love making beers that are hard to get in Las Vegas. This Schwarzbier (Black Beer), falls into category 4C of the BJCP. This recipe is an awesome example of this style. Plenty of roasted malt aroma, beautiful ruby highlights and a nice dry finish. It also has good hints of unsweetened chocolate, a subtle hint of noble hop flavor from the Hallertauer hops and of course the clean pallete of a German Lager.

This style comes from Thuringia which borders on the German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria and Hesse.

I will give two examples, my original all grain recipe, and an extract version for those who aren’t into all grain yet. Both of these use the special Zurich Lager platinum strain from White Labs which is available only in November and December. …

By Jon Griffin

What is Beer?

Beer in its basic form is an alcoholic beverage made from barley, hops, water and yeast. In fact the Reinheitsgebot German Purity Law adopted in 1516, states “the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be barley, hops, yeast and water“. This is the oldest provision that protects consumers in the world.

Before and even after that time outside of Germany, many other ingredients were added to beer and some of them were poison. Many of these optional ingredients are still used today in other styles of beer and are called “adjuncts”. Some common adjuncts used are sugar, rice, corn and molasses. Wheat is also technically an adjunct and the Reinheitsgebot has been amended to allow this adjunct.

Ale v Lager

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