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Basic Brewing Radio™:
Annual Disaster Show
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Starter Pilsner
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Basic Brewing Radio™
Find an archive of experiment episodes here.
At Basic Brewing Radio, we're all about home brewing. Each week, we hope to bring to you interesting interviews with people who can shed light on the hobby, share an interesting story, or give expert advice to help us all become better home brewers.
We plan to make each show short and to the point, because we know how precious your time (and bandwidth) can be.
New to podcasting? Check out our guide.
Our Basic Brewing Gallery shows off photos of listeners and viewers wearing our apparel in cool places.
Download Greg O'Grady's Quantity Converter Spreadsheet (Excel document).
December 19, 2024 - Annual Disaster Show
James and Steve read letters of brewing gone wrong by listeners from around the world.
Download your Disaster Show Bingo Card here! (pdf)
December 12, 2024 - Tasting Grape Ales
Homebrewer Scott Housel shares a series of tart and tasty hybrid beers made with wine kit must as an ingredient.
December 5, 2024 - American Weiss Beer
Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing shares a tart historical American beer style as his response to the Mash Your Luck challenge.
November 21, 2024 - Recipe Development, Hoppy Belgian Golden
Author Chris Colby joins James to formulate a recipe for a Strong Belgian Golden Ale with notes of tropical fruity hops.
November 14, 2024 - La Cerveza Oscura del Mundo
Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing, homebrewer Scott Housel, and author Chris Colby taste two beers James brewed to meet his Mash Your Luck challenge: a starter Pilsner and a huge, dark beer with south-of-the-border influences.
November 7, 2024 - Pro-Curious Roundtable
Four professional brewers from across the United States answer listener questions about going pro in today's craft beer world.
October 31, 2024 - Inland Empire Mash Your Luck Competition
Members of the Inland Empire Homebrew Club pit six delicious beers against each other in the first ever Mash Your Luck competition.
October 24, 2024 - Beers with Detlef, Part 2
In the second part of a conversation on Steve Wilkes' porch, we talk to native Bavarian Detlef Koertge about his homebrewing and more on German beer culture. Steve's son, Chase, also chats about beers in NYC.
October 17, 2024 - Beers with Detlef
We sit on Steve Wilkes' porch to have beers and conversation with Detlef Koertge, a homebrewer with roots in Bavaria.
October 10, 2024 - Recipe Development, Peppermint Mocha Stout
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing help James compare his two Honey IPAs, and the group brainstorm on a recipe for Matt's holiday beer.
October 3, 2024 - Recipe Development, Dark "World" Beer
Chris Colby, author of the Homebrew Recipe Bible and Methods of Modern Homebrewing, helps James formulate a giant lager with advanced brewing techniques.
September 26, 2024 - Tasting "Malt Liquor"
James shares his Mash Your Luck "Malt Liquor" with Chris Colby, Adam Ross, and Scott Housel. He rolls the dice again for another challenging beer.
September 19, 2024 - Lichtenhainer
Homebrewer Scott Housel shares his tart and smoky interpretation of a delicious Historical German beer.
September 12, 2024 - A Taste of Honey IPA and Matt's MYL
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing join James to taste his Honey IPA and to plan the next version. Matt also takes the Mash Your Luck challenge.
September 5, 2024 - Tour of Terpenes
Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing shares four beers brewed with terpenes – three with hop terpenes, and one with terpenes from hops' wacky cousin. Scott Housel helps James sample.
August 22, 2024 - Steve's Black Braggot
James is joined by Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing, Scott Housel, and Steve Wilkes as they taste Steve's Mash Your Luck braggot.
August 15, 2024 - Two Mile Brewing Company
Sean Terrill of Two Mile Brewing Company in Leadville, Colorado, talks about serving tourists at the highest altitude brewery in the country and takes his chances at Mash Your Luck.
August 8, 2024 - Smoke and Wine Beers
Scott Housel asks James, along with Adam Ross and Austin Wadkins of Twin Span Brewing, for advice on brewing two fun and obscure beers.
August 1, 2024 - What Is Lager?
Peter Symons, author of True Blue Brews - The Origins of Australian Beer, seeks a looser definition of "lager."
- Find Peter's book here.
July 25, 2024 - Inland Empire Brewers Mash Your Luck
Jason Dunn and Doug Walker from the Inland Empire Brewers homebrew club in California let fate choose the parameters for an upcoming competition.
July 18, 2024 - Recipe Development, Honey IPA
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing Company join James to taste his Double IPA and formulate another hoppy kveik beer.
July 11, 2024 - Mash Your Luck Malt Liquor
Chris Colby joins James to taste the Fruit Stout pasteurization experiment and to formulate a big American Malt Liquor.
June 27, 2024 - Mash Your Luck Partigyle Stouts
Scott Housel shares two beers - one big and one small - based on the Mash Your Luck challenge of Steve Wilkes.
June 20, 2024 - White IPA Roundup
James is joined by Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Swim University and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota, as they compare their White IPAs.
June 13, 2024 - Recipe Development, Pasteurized Fruit Stout
Chris Colby and Steve Wilkes join James to taste Steve's Kölsch and to formulate an experimental beer using pasteurization to preserve fruit flavor.
June 6, 2024 - Recipe Development, Double IPA
Matt Giovanisci and Josh Secaur join James to formulate a big, hoppy beer and to sample homebrew from Matt.
May 30, 2024 - Keg Fill Priming Experiment
James and Steve evaluate an experiment adding priming sugar to beers bottled from a keg.
May 23, 2024 - Sapwood Cellars Hoppy Sours
Mike Tonsmeire, the Mad Fermentationist and co-founder of Sapwood Cellars, shares three hoppy sours and tips on working with hops, barrels, and blending.
May 16, 2024 - Rice Malting Experiment
Scott Lafontaine, flavor chemist and assistant professor in food science at the University of Arkansas, shares ground-breaking research in malting rice for brewing.
May 9, 2024 - Saison - Pale Ale Split Batch
Homebrewer Scott Housell shares his experiment that split a wort into a Saison and a hoppy Pale Ale. Adam Ross of Twin Span also talks about CBC in Vegas.
May 2, 2024 - Recipe Development, White IPA
James gets together with Matt from Brew Cabin and Josh from Gambit Brewing to formulate a 100% Wheat Raw White IPA.
April 25, 2024 - Recipe Development, Bochet Braggot
Steve Wilkes joins James to formulate a recipe for a big, black, bitter British Braggot.
April 18, 2024 - Recipe Development, Kölsch
Chris Colby, author of the Homebrew Recipe Bible, joins James to taste the Hoppy Raw Ale and to formulate a Kölsch for Steve Wilkes.
April 11, 2024 - Recipe Development, Hoppy Raw Ale
Chris Colby joins James to taste their Belgian Single and to formulate a Hoppy Raw Ale.
April 4, 2024 - Whirlpool Hopping Experiment
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin shares a whirlpool hopping experiment in his quest to brew the perfect hazy IPA.
March 28, 2024 - Mead Hop Sampler
Garrett Freeman from Man Made Mead shares a mead hop sampler with James and Steve that shows off five tasty hops.
March 21, 2024 - Mash Your Luck and Food Safety
Scott Housel shares his Mash Your Luck beer with Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing and James, and they talk about food safety with low- and non-alcohol beers.
March 14, 2024 - Recipe Development, Saison
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing join James to taste the Fresca Shandler and formulate a saison recipe.
March 7, 2024 - American Craft Sake Festival
Ben Bell of Origami Sake gives James a tour of the tasting tent at the annual gathering of the North American sake industry.
February 29, 2024 - Tasting Brü Club Mash Your Luck
Haven Schultz joins James and Steve as they taste the beers of Brü Club members that met the Mash Your Luck challenge.
February 22, 2024 - Hoppy Raw Ale
From Finland, Mika Laitinen, author of Viking Age Brew, tells us how to skip the boil to brew a delicious hoppy beer using historic techniques.
February 15, 2024 - Canning Homebrew
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and James get metal as they talk about canning your homebrew.
February 8, 2024 - Recipe Development, Belgian Single
Chris Colby joins James to formulate the recipe for a delicious Belgian-inspired beer and to taste James' Oat Malt Stout.
February 1, 2024 - Recipe Development, Grapefruit Soda Shandler
Matt Giovanisci of Brew Cabin and Josh Secaur of Gambit Brewing join James to formulate a refreshing hybrid brew and to sample Matt's Gingerbread Wit.
January 25, 2024 - Mash Your Luck, Anglo Imperial Lager
Homebrewer Scott Housel helps James evaluate the Mash Your Luck beer from Adam Ross of Twin Span Brewing - a UK-inspired high gravity lager.
January 18, 2024 - Pink Dry Hopping Experiment
James and Steve taste an experiment comparing dry hops floating on top of and sunk into a pale ale.
January 11, 2024 - Formal Brewing Education
James talks to Andrew Burns of Dakota County Technical College in Minnesota about his course to bring homebrewers to the professional level.
January 4, 2024 - Moist January
James and Steve sit down with Desiree and Dave from High Gravity in Tulsa to sip delicious beers and talk homebrew past, present, and future.