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Basic Brewing Radio™ 2012
December 20, 2012 - Brewing Disasters
James and Steve share tales of woe from listeners in our annual Brewing Disasters episode.
December 13, 2012 - Mitch Steele on IPA
Mitch Steele, brewmaster of Stone Brewing Company, talks about the history of India Pale Ale and shares tips on how to brew it.
December 6, 2012 - Filtering Homebrew
Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, talks about filtering your beer to make it as clear as possible, and he shares his holiday cranberry wheat beer recipe.
November 29, 2012 - Late vs Dry Hopping
Bob Stempski shares his experiment comparing hops added near the end of the boil with hops added in the keg.
November 15, 2012 - Envisioning Holiday Beers
Gordon Strong, author of Brewing Better Beer: Master Lessons for Advanced Homebrewers, shares his latest Christmas beer recipe and walks us through his creative process.
- Gordon's 2012 Holiday Beer (pdf)
November 8, 2012 - ANHC Chilling Experiment
James and Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, join in an experiment at the Australian National Homebrew Conference to test chilling techniques.
November 1, 2012 - New Albion Ale
Sam Adams is re-releasing New Albion Ale, recognized as the first American craft beer. We attend the announcement in Denver.
October 25, 2012 - Sam Adams Longshot
We hear from all the finalists and the winners of the annual Sam Adams Longshot homebrew competition.
October 18, 2012 - Sour GABF
We get a tour of sour and funky beers at the Great American Beer Festival with Michael Tonsmeire, the Mad Fermentationist. We talk to Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave, Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing, Will Meyers of Cambridge Brewing, Patrick Rue of The Bruery, and Christopher McGarvey of Front Street Brewery.
October 4, 2012 - Fossil Cove Brewing Company
Our series on the budding northwest Arkansas craft beer scene continues with Ben Mills of Fossil Cove Brewing Company.
September 27, 2012 - Drying Homegrown Hops
Dan Dettmers of Gorst Valley Hops tells us how to properly harvest, dry and store our homegrown hops.
September 20, 2012 - Brewing with Jack McAuliffe
James and Andy brew up a recipe based on New Albion ale under the supervision of New Albion founder Jack McAuliffe.
September 13, 2012 - Saddlebock Brewing
We continue our series on the emerging craft beer culture in northwest Arkansas with Steve Rehbock of Saddlebock Brewing.
September 6, 2012 - White House Homebrew and Brewing with Seeds
Beer guy Brad Magerkurth talks about getting a homebrew from the President and Chris Colby gives tips on brewing with seeds and nuts.
August 30, 2012 - Late Hops, Different Yeast
Home brewer Tyrone Harris shares his experiment adding a bunch of hops to a wort after the boil, then splitting it and fermenting with six different yeasts.
August 23, 2012 - Gorst Valley Hops Visit
James pays a visit to the experimental hopyard of Gorst Valley Hops in Wisconsin to talk to horticulturist James Altwies.
August 16, 2012 - Great Taste of the Midwest
James travels to Madison, Wisconsin to join Bob Stempski for one of the best beer events in the U.S.
August 9, 2012 - Moonlight Meadery
Michael Fairbrother from Moonlight Meadery shares his experience in going from being a home brewer to the owner of a quickly growing meadery. He also answers your questions.
August 2, 2012 - Chilling Experiment
James, Andy Davison of the Australian National Homebrew Conference, and Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine launch a collaborative experiment to test the effects of different wort chilling methods.
- James' no-chill container (This link is not an endorsement. It's simply an example of a no-chill container.)
July 26, 2012 - Sour Mash Berliner Weisse
Montreal home brewer Sean Coates turns a stinky mash into a refreshing, tart summer brew.
- Sean's blog post and recipe link
July 19, 2012 - Extreme Aging Experiment
Zot O'Connor presents examples from a two-year continuation of our experiment on aging beers in different conditions.
July 12, 2012 - Experimental Hops
Karl Vanevenhoven from Yakima Chief shares some experimental hops and tells us how new hop varieties are born and developed.
July 5, 2012 - No Chill Experiment
Home brewers Bob Stempski and Noam Shalev compare beers brewed with traditional chilling techniques with no-chill batches.
- Noam's Recipe and Brewing Notes (PDF)
June 28, 2012 - Fruit Mead Experiment
Home brewer Tim Leber shares his experiment comparing fruit added to a mead in the primary and in the secondary.
- Tim Leber's data sheet (PDF)
June 13, 2012 - Extra: Kim Lutz of Maui Brewing
James takes a break from vacation to interview Kim Lutz, lead brewer of the Maui Brewing Company brewpub.
May 24, 2012 - Secondary Experiment Results
James and Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, take a look at the results of the BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment testing the effect of racking to a secondary fermenter.
- Photos of the Belgian Fermenters (pdf)
May 17, 2012 - Sasquatch Ale
Mark Emiley of the Washington Homebrewers Association gives us a preview of the Seattle American Homebrewers Conference and tells us what Sasquatch would drink.
- AHA Conference Site
- WAHA Sasquatch competition page
May 10, 2012 - Jack McAuliffe and New Albion
Craft brewing pioneer Jack McAuliffe shares the story of his founding America's first microbrewery - New Albion of Sonoma, California.
May 3, 2012 - Really Old Milwaukee
Kevin Cullen and Paul Mech of Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin tell us about their program to bring ancient brewing recipes back to life.
April 26, 2012 - Tanglewood Branch Beer Company
We continue our series on the emerging local beer scene in northwest Arkansas with a visit to Tanglewood Branch Beer Company and owner J.T. Wampler.
April 19, 2012 - Andy's Barrel
Andy Sparks talks about his new eight-gallon bourbon barrel and his plans for the first beer to go inside it.
April 12, 2012 - Hop Bursting IBU Test
Home Brewer Kim Odland from Norway brewed a beer with an enormous amount of hops added at the end of the boil. Brad Sturgeon from Monmouth College puts it through his lab to look at its IBUs.
April 5, 2012 - Solera Tasting Pt. 2
The Mad Fermentationist, Michael Tonsmeire, and fellow brewer Nathan Zeender share some more barrel-aged sour beers with blended ingredients. Also, Kyle Clark reports on Wisconsin homebrew legislation.
March 29, 2012 - Reverse Mashing
Brewer Sean Terrill joins us to share the results of his experiment comparing step mashing and reverse mashing in producing fermentable worts.
- Sean's experiment blog post
March 15, 2012 - Secondary Experiment and Fast All Grain Brewing
Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, joins James to launch the BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment on secondary fermenters. They also talk about trimming time off your all grain brew day.
March 8, 2012 - Solera Tasting Pt. 1
The Mad Fermentationist, Michael Tonsmeire, and fellow brewer Nathan Zeender share some barrel-aged sour beers with blended ingredients.
-Mike's recipe and brewing notes
March 1, 2012 - Hop Infused Vodka
Home brewer Bob Stempski shares his technique for infusing vodka with hops to explore different varieties and add some punch to homebrew and commercial beers.
February 23, 2012 - Trub Experiment Results
James and Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, go over the results of the BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment on kettle trub in the fermenter.
February 16, 2012 - Cold Brewing
Ottawa, Canada home brewer Pete Hickey joins us to tell us how he brews in the extremely cold Canadian winter.
February 9, 2012 - Triangle Zombie
It's a trifecta: We have a triangle test of a fermenter experiment, sample our Zombie Apocalypse beer, and hear about brewing on a frozen Wisconsin lake.
February 2, 2012 - Bourbon Stout Experiment
Home Brewer Patrick Bresnahan shares his bourbon stout experiment, trying to find the proper amount of bourbon to add to the beer.
January 26, 2012 - Kentucky Belgians
Home Brewer Christopher Owen shares the Belgian yeast experiment he conducted with the Louisville, Kentucky LAGERS club.
- Christopher's data report and form (pdf)
January 19, 2012 - Core Brewing
Jesse Core of Core Brewing in Springdale, Arkansas, tells us about his jump into pro brewing.
January 12, 2012 - Sour Blend Experiment
Matt Becker of New Brew Thursday shares his experiment brewing and blending beers made with commercial and homemade sour culture blends.
January 5, 2012 - Trub Experiment Intro
Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, starts the year off with a new collaborative experiment and tips on tweaking your process.