I’ve been working on the newest, and largest, addition to our website: Brew U!  Basically, I am putting together an encyclopedia of brewing resources for you home brewers, professional brewers, and beer enthusiasts out there.

You will be able to watch the progress, and begin taking advantage of this resource almost immediately. Just look for the Brew U menu and get to clicking. OK. OK. right now there are just some basic guts published, and there will not be a great deal up there in any kind of hurry. I am still knee-deep in researching and information gathering at the moment. That doesn’t mean there is nothing to do there.

Right now, and over the next few days, weeks, months, I will be working on information about hops, hop varieties, and other general goodies about the magical flower that adds so much character to beer.

Brew U is planned to be constructed in this order:

1. Hops
2. Grain
3. Adjuncts
4. Yeast
5. Water
6. Equipment
7. Brewing Processes
8. Brewing Science

Now, that order may change, but the information will be up there over time.

As I build the site, I am also compiling that same information with even greater detail into a published work for you to keep in your brewer’s library. Sure, this won’t be a free publication, but it won’t be overly expensive. I suspect each volume will be in the sub $15 range depending on the costs of production. The first volume: Hops, should be ready for release around Thanksgiving, but I am hopeful that I can complete it before then.

In the spirit of sharing, and free information, I am linking to a rather interesting paper on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for determining alpha and beta acid levels in hops: You can read it here

That’s all for now. Check Brew U when you have a moment. If you click on the hops link you’ll see a list of some of the hops varieties I am gathering information about. There are perhaps 75 more I have not listed, and of all those listed, only 3 or so are no longer available in any quantity. Others are widely available, common, difficult to find, rare, or darn near impossible to find, but you can find them. You can find them, and you can brew with them!