Experimental Brewing

Podcast People! Plug your ears up and listen to Denny and Drew yammer on about the wackiness of beer science and the science of beer wackiness!

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Podcast Feed: http://experimentalbrew.com/podcast.rss
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If you have questions, leave a comment or send us an email at [email protected]! Seriously, we want feedback because we're rank amateurs at this whole thing and want to get better!

If you have questions you want us to answer on the show (we're almost set to take callers to the air) - drop us a q at [email protected]!

If you want to help us with experiments - Join the IGOR crew - [email protected]

Episode 86 - Resolving The Secret Of The Hop

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We've survived the PGPDF and are back and catching back up! We've got a whole slew of feedback, news stories, brew sessions, hop science, micro-resolutions (aka things we think we can do), a listener's brewing experience and... the juicy story of why you can buy Columbus, Tomahawk or Zeus in the hop freezer - sit back for a lesson in farm spying!

Show note - ~34 minutes, Denny says "gypsum, chloride". He meant "gypsum, calcium chloride"

Episode 85 - Attack of the Peruvian Guinea Pig Death Flu

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It's finally happened! Denny and Drew have simultaneously been felled by the specter of Peruvian Guinea Pig Death Flu!

     In light of our incapcitation, we offer you these choice revists to topics we're still talking about today! Don't fret - episode 86 is being prepped and should be a grand return to form!

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Brew Files - Episode 54 - Where's There Smoke

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The Brew is Out There!  

In every beer lovers curve of beer love, there comes a moment when they discover the world of smoked beers. Drew sits down with Devon Randall of Imperial Western Beer Company to discuss her approach to making both subtle and in your face smoked beers!

Devon's Smoke Guidelines:

Subtle: 3-5% 

Balanced: 6-15%

OVert: 16-100%

Brew Files - Episode 53 - Anniversaries & Enzymes with Eagle Rock

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The Brew is Out There!  

It's officially been two years of Brew Files! (Ok, fine, two more days - the first episode dropped on Jan 11th, 2017) That puts me in the mood to talk Anniversaries and with my local, Eagle Rock Brewery, hitting their 9th Anniversary, I sat down with Jeremy Raub to talk about designing an Anniversary beer and the new and interesting uses they're finding for Amlyase enzymes - it's not just for Brut IPA's anymore!

Brew Files - Episode 52 - Getting Back to Brewing

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The Brew is Out There!  

New Years is right around the corner which means so is the era of Resolutions. The most common resolution for brewers? I'm going to brew more! It's also one of the most failed. We're here to give you our tips for fighting the forces that stymie you so you can get back to what we all love - brewing!

This episode is brought to you by: 

Brew Files - Episode 51 - Real Time Recipe Challenge

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The Brew is Out There!  

We asked our listeners to challenge us - give us a beer idea you want us to design and prepare to make. Out of the pile of suggestions we each chose one recipe to challenge the other with. In this inaugural challenge, we only find out what recipe we're supposed to formulate right then. Listen to us walk you through how we'd tackle these challenges.

Brew Files - Episode 49 - Starting Off Right

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The Brew is Out There!  

We know that we need good yeast to make great beer and we need to treat them right. Somehow we've managed to go through 48 episodes of this show without talking methods of treating your yeast right. On this show, we'll walk through how we used to do things and why we changed and Denny will even challenge Drew to get uncomfortable!

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Brew Files - Episode 48 - The Ice House

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The Brew is Out There!  

 

As the weather turns colder and the nights are spookier, our thoughts turn to stronger beers and what better way to get a stronger beer than to take advantage of the cold. So let's get cold and freeze our beer to make the smoothest strong beer you can. It's time to get really frosty.

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This episode is brought to you by: 

Brew Files - Episode 47 - The Bays of Portland

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The Brew is Out There!  

One of our favorite yeast people is back and he's got big news! Nick Impelitteri is going full time and moving to Beervana - aka Portland - aka the new "Bay" City? In addition we talk about new toys he's bringing to bear including a nectar loving critter that might change how you experience hops. 

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Brew Files - Episode 46 - The Little Beer That Could

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The Brew is Out There!  RECIPE SHOW

Just how many curveballs can you throw at a brew and still make an award winning beer? Today we find out as we talk with IGOR Eric Pierce and explore all the craziness around his 2018 Sam Adams Longshot winning Grisette. Sit back and learn how a beer can come together!

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Brew Files - Episode 45 - Water, Water Everywhere

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The Brew is Out There!  TECHNIQUE SHOW

Water is an important chemical - without it we wouldn't have beer! And for something that comprises so much of our beer, the chemistry we need to know to brew our best beer is Daunting - with a capital D. Drew sits down with Martin Brungard, creator of Bru'n Water, to demystify water chemistry and realize the functionality of Martin's mathmagical spreadsheet. 

Episode 75 - What's Hoppening

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It's no secret that craft brewers and homebrewers alike love their hops. On this weeks episode, Denny sits down with our friends at Yakima Chief Hops and talks what's coming for us to play with! And then we get the whole run down of Hop & Brew School and why you should get to Yakima next year! Oh and plans for Australia! (Listen to the show!)

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Brew Files - Episode 44 - A Crumby Stout

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The Brew is Out There!  

Every year the Maltose Falcons help the Los Angeles County Fair with their homemade beer competition. This year's winner Mike Hale of the High Desert Home Brewers Anonymous won for his beer called Crue's Crumbs, a Pecan Coffee Cake Imperial Stout. We sit down and try his beer, break down the recipe and break down the hype train that is the Pastry Stout.

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Episode 74 - The Season for Review

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It's Hop & Brew School time in Yakima! Naturally this means Denny's on the road, so it's time for a brief review of some our previous lab segments. First we start with feedback before digging into Drew's favorite - Saison Under Pressure and then into an appropriate revist to Glenn Tinseth, Dana Garves and "The IBU is a Lie"

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Brew Files - Episode 43 - An Old Secret

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The Brew is Out There!  

On this week's episode, while last week we explored the new, this week we're taking a look at one of Denny's favorite "old" styles - Altbier. Come join as we try and explain exactly what makes an alt, an alt and how you can brew what we think is one of the best beers for the pending fall even if sometimes it's a secret.

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Episode 73 - Click, Clack and Klickitat

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As summer wends it's way to it's end - sometime around the fifth of never here in Los Angeles - we start thinking about bigger, better beers for those cold winter days. Friend of the podcast,  Jim Leininger, joins us (after our usual shenanigans) to talk about making his very amazing Imperial Stout with reiterated mashing. But first, the news...

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Episode 72 - Questing for Answers

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ALL Q&A!

It's time for us to answer a bunch of questions to the best of our ability (and our ability to research). Sit back and relax we've got 32 questions and about 63 answers! We'll cover your Fermentation, Ingredient, Packaging, Recipe and Technique questions. (Don't forget you can always drop us a line and get questions answered in a regular episode)

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Brew Files - Episode 40 - Session Mead with Kiley Gwynn

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The Brew is Out There!  

We're continuing the session theme, but this time we're going the honey route, because sometimes you want something other than a beer. Kiley Gwynn of the Cascade Brewers Society walks us through her process and thoughts about how to make a session mead that goes from honey to glass in 2-4 weeks! Sit back and learn all the fun things you can make with just a bit of the bee stuff.

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Brew Files - Episode 39 - Having A Session with Jennifer Talley

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The Brew is Out There!  

Style Show 

Party People! We're in Portland, right now, as this is hitting your ears fresh! To keep things flowing smoothly, you know we'll be hitting the sessionable beers frequently and often. What better time to review what makes a session beer great with Jennifer Talley, author of Session Beers: Brewing for Flavor and Balance. Sit back, grab a big ole pint and get ready to start sessioning your beer.

Brew Files - Episode 38 - Going Off

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Knowledge Show 

When everything is going right, our fermentations run easily with a smooth transformation of sugar into ethanol and CO2. When things don't go right, well, our beer pays the price. In this episode, we'll look at the most common off-flavors we've encountered, what causes them and how to prevent/fix them. So, sit back, we're going off the rails...

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Brew Files - Episode 37 - Andy Black Doubles Down

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The Brew is Out There!  

Technique Show 

Yorkshire Square's Andy Black has opinions. In the episode, Drew sits down with LA's guardian of the cask to discuss session beers, making a beer festival worthy of attending and stretching his equipment with the strangle old method of double or reiterated mashing. Sit back with a proper pint for this episode of the Brew Files

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Brew Files - Episode 36 - Speedy Brewing

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The Brew is Out There!  

This week, as summertime rapidly approaches, so does the need for more beer! Every time we turn around, there's another party, festival, weekend in need of some sudsy love. On this episode we'll walk you through our tips about how to speed up your brew day and shorten the amount of time it takes to go from grain to happy foamy glasses. 

Sit back, and rest up, we're going to get speedy!

Episode 66 - Flash Frozen Homebrew

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SCIENCE TIME!

Sit back and relax, it's getting frosty in here! On this episode of the podcast, we breakdown the results of our Cryo/T-90 experiment. And since the results were so "weird" - we brought in some extra help in the form of some of the IGORs who helped with the podcast including Brad Macleod, Eric Pierce and Miguel Loza Brown. Together we talk what went right (and sometimes what went wrong with the brew days) and what we all thought of the Cryo beers (including some numbers courtesy of White Labs). 

Brew Files - Episode 34 - Getting Cool With Kip

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The Brew is Out There!  

This week, Drew sits down with Kip Barnes of LA Ale Works in Hawthorne, CA to talk about his experiments running a professional brewery while holding onto his homebrewer spirit. In that vein, we talk about using a cool ship for his next "odd" beer.

Links

LA Ale Works: http://www.laaleworks.com/

Brew Files - Episode 33 - Bavarian vs. Northern German Beer with Andreas

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The Brew is Out There!  

We're back to the world of historic German beer and this time, Andreas is busting out the research from his book (see link below) to talk through the differences between Bavarian beer and the brown beers of Northern Germany and just what happened to them!
 

Links

Andreas' Blog - http://dafteejit.com/

Episode 63 - The Everything Crafted Show

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It's been nearly 100 episodes of the show and we need a change! To deal with our broader interests - we're moving formats and becoming the Everything Crafted Show! On this episode we're going to explore the world of artisanal water, Drew's love of gin, Denny's love of seafood and how to get the best out of your Colorado/California/Oregon/Washington friendly garden! Join us as we craft up the best of everything for you!

Brew Files - Episode 32 - German Beer History with Andreas

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The Brew is Out There!  

On this episode of the Brew Files, Drew sits down with Andreas Krennmair to talk his new book - German and Austrain Beers for the Homebrewer. We'll get into Andrea's history as a brewer and what it takes to dig up the forgotten history of one of the world's brewing epicenters!
 

Links

Andreas' Blog - http://dafteejit.com/

Brew Files - Episode 31 - Going for Gold with Nick

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The Brew is Out There!  

The Olympics may be over, but that doesn't mean we're not still pursuing our dreams of winning medals in our favorite sport. To help you get onto the podium, we sit down and talk with Nick Corona of QUAFF and the 2016 American Homebrewers Association's Homebrewer of the Year. He talks his way of planning his entries and the subtle strategy of style choice.

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