From Lactose to Zymurgy: Homebrewing Terms

More of The Peculiar Vernacular of Those Who Brew Beer at Home

Mar 19, 2009

In order to speak the language of those who brew their own beer at home -or at least understand those who do-- it helps to know the vocabulary.

Here are some terms that describe the ingredients, equipment and processes necessary to make beer at home.

Lactose: Milk sugar unfermentable by beer yeast. Often used to make Sweet Stout.

Lauter(ing): From the German word that means to clarify; separating the wort from the grain by using a straining apparatus (a lauter tun).

Lovibond: A system of color measure-ment for grain, wort, and beer that assigns numbers to color depth; the scale runs from 0 to 500+. It’s gradually being replaced by the Standard Reference Method (SRM).

Malt extract: Sweet wort that’s reduced and concentrated to syrup or powder by dehydration.

Mashing: The process of infusing malted grain with hot water to extract the soluble sugars and proteins needed to make beer. The syrupy-sweet liquid that results from mashing the grain is called wort.

Modification: The degree to which grain is malted; the more modified the grain is, the more starches are available for conversion to sugars during the mashing process.

Noble hops: Varieties from Germany and central Europe, including Hallertauer, Tettnanger, Styrian, Saaz, and Spalt.

pH: Stands for parts hydrogen/percent hydrion (take your pick). A 14-point logarithmic scale used to express the level of acidity or alkalinity in liquids. (A pH of 7 is neutral.)

Plato: The liquid-density scale invented by Carl Balling was later corrected and modified by a Dr. Plato of the German Imperial Commission; the Balling scale now reads in degrees Plato.

Prime(ing): Adding additional fermentable material (usually corn sugar) to an enclosed vessel to induce a secondary fermentation and carbonation.

Propagate: To multiply by natural reproduction; to increase in number, as in yeast propagation.

Protein: Complex organic molecules found in all living things. Proteins break down and precipitate during the mashing, boiling, and cooling phases of the brewing process.

Protein rest: A temperature rest during the mashing process that you use to eliminate chill haze in the finished beer (typically 20 minutes at 125° F).

Racking: Transferring beer from one vessel to another to avoid off-flavors caused by yeast and trub.

Runnings: Diluted wort that you drain from the grain bed during the sparging process (first runnings, second runnings, and so on).

Runoff: The wort that you drain from the mash at the beginning of the sparging process.

Slurry: A suspension of a solid in a liquid; a high concentration of yeast cells in solution.

Sparge(ing): Spraying hot water on the grain bed to recover malt sugars remaining in grain husks.

Specialty grain: Grains that you use to add flavor and color enhancements to beer without adding measurable fermentable sugars. Without specialty grains, few individual beer styles would exist.

Specific Gravity: One of two basic scales found on hydrometers, which you use to measure the density of beer. Abbreviation: sp. gr. (See also Balling.)

SRM: Standard Reference Method. A measurement of beer color achieved by using a spectrophotometer (similar to, but more precise than, the old Lovibond scale).

Starch: Complex carbohydrates converted to sugar during the mashing process.

Trub: Coagulated protein, oils, and tannins produced during the boiling and cooling phases of beer production. Also called hot break and cold break.

Underlet: Adding water below the grain bed during the sparging process to facilitate a more controlled and thorough sparge. Underletting keeps the grain bed from compacting down upon itself by causing the grain to float.

Wort: The syrupy-sweet liquid that results from mashing the grain; unfermented beer.

The copyright of the article From Lactose to Zymurgy: Homebrewing Terms in Beer Brewing is owned by Marty Nachel. Permission to republish From Lactose to Zymurgy: Homebrewing Terms in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.