Ale: A beer brewed from hops, malt, and top-fermenting yeast. Varies from pale to dark amber in color, texture is smooth, and sweet, flavor is fruity, stronger, and more bitter than beer.
Amber: A beer named for its reddish-brown color, ranging from pale to dark.
Barley wine: A dark, rich, bittersweet beer with higher alcohol content.
Bitter: Amber ale with a fragrant bouquet whose dry, sharp flavor is produced from hops.
Bock: A strong, malty lager varying from pale to dark brown in color with an alcohol content around 6 percent by volume.
Brewpub: A brewery alongside an eatery or pub that sells beer on site.
Brown ale: Nutty, malty ale that’s dark brown in color with flavors ranging from dry to sweet.
Burton: Strong ale that’s dark brown in color with roasty malt flavors.
Hefeweizen: A refreshing, frothy wheat beer that is lighter in body, flavor, and alcohol content.
Holiday beer: A special seasonal brew varying from amber to dark brown in color with sweet flavor and often special spicy, fruity, or herby notes.
India Pale Ale (IPA): A pale ale that is profusely hoppy.
Lager: A crisp, clean beer made with bottom-fermenting yeasts at near freezing temperatures for longer periods of time than ales.
Pale ale: A highly hopped beer made from high-quality malt that’s dry in flavor.
Porter: Ale brewed from well-roasted barley. Dark brown in color, full-bodied in texture, and bittersweet or chocolaty in flavor.
Stout: A rich beer brewed from full-flavored roasted malts and top-fermenting yeast, sometimes with caramel sugar and high hop content. Dark brown in color, full-bodied in texture, and slightly burnt in flavor.
Wheat beer: A beer brewed with wheat malt. Pale in color, medium-bodied in texture, and slightly tart in flavor.
All you Need to Know About Beer Brewing Terms
Additives: Enzymes, antioxidants, and preservatives added to a beer to preserve it or improve its shelf life.
Alcohol: Ethyl alcohol or ethanol, which results naturally from fermentation.
Anaerobic: An organism, or yeast in the case of beer, that thrives without oxygen.
Aroma hops: A hop variety chosen for its enhanced bouquet.
Barley: A grain that is malted for use in the mash during the brew process.
Bottle conditioning: The method of secondary fermenting or maturing in the bottle, which can develop a beer’s complexity.
Bottom-fermenting yeast: One of two strains of yeast used in brewing beer, essentially lagers, that responds best at lower temperatures and ferments more sugars for a cleaner flavor.
Black malt: Partially malted barley that is roasted at high temperatures and used to give beer its dark color and roasty flavor.
Brew kettle: A receptacle in which mash is boiled with hops.
Bright beer tank: See conditioning tank.
Caramel: A less expensive cooked sugar used to add color and alcohol content to a beer.
Caramel malt: A sugary, amber-colored malt used to sweeten beer and increase head retention.
Carbonation: The natural carbon dioxide sparkle or bubble in beer that is produced in fermentation or injected artificially afterward.
Cask: A barrel-like, and often metal, receptacle for holding beer.
Cask conditioning: The method of secondary cask fermenting or maturing, which can develop a beer’s carbonation.
Chill proof: Beers treated to resist chill haze.
Conditioning: The method of warm or cold secondary fermenting or maturing, which can develop a beer’s carbonation or complexity of flavor.
Conditioning tank: A receptacle or vessel used for conditioning beer.
Dextrin: An unfermentable carbohydrate found in malted barley, which gives beer its flavor and mouthfeel.
Dosage: A quantity of yeast and/or sugar added to the bottle or cask to facilitate conditioning.
Dry-hopping: The method of adding dry hops to fermenting or aging beer to increase hop quality or aroma.
Enzymes: The natural grain proteins that convert the malted barley starches to sugars or maltose in the heating phase of mashing.
Ethanol: A type of alcohol formed from yeast during fermentation.
Fermentation: The activation of yeast, which converts sugar into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Filter: The brewing method by which impurities in the wort are removed. Yeast in suspension is often removed.
Final specific gravity: The measurement of a beer’s density after fermentation, as compared to water.
Fining: A substance that attracts suspended particles in beer and provides clarification.
Grist: The mixture of milled grains to be used in a specific brew.
Heat exchanger: A mechanism used to quickly reduce the wort temperature.
Infusion: Mash-making method in which malt is soaked in water and kept at one temperature.
Keg: A barrel or container for beer.
Lauter: The method of extracting malt sugars from the wort by raking through the mash tun.
Lautertun: See mash tun.
Liquor: The water infusion used in malting, mashing, or sparging.
Malt extract: The processed mash now in the form of syrup or powdered sugar, with maltose and dextrins, which is then reactivated with water for fermentation.
Malting: The method of converting barley grain starches to maltose in order to begin fermentation.
Maltose: The fermentable malt sugar, which is water-soluble.
Mash: The resulting mixture that comes from soaking and cooking barley malt in water, wherein the fermentable sugars are released.
Mashing: The process of making mash.
Mash tun: A preparation tank used for turning mash into wort.
Microbrewery: A small brewery that makes its own beer and sells less than 15,000 barrels a year.
Original gravity: See specific gravity.
Pitch: The method of adding yeast to the wort.
Priming: The method of adding sugar to the beer in maturation to promote a secondary fermentation.
Secondary fermentation: The method of warm or cold secondary fermenting or maturing, which can develop a beer’s carbonation or complexity of flavor.
Secondary fermentation: After primary fermentation, which can be very active the beer is “racked” into another vessel for secondary fermentation. This helps remove some of the expired yeast which may give off negative flavors if left in. Secondary fermentation also helps with cl
Sediment: The yeasty substance at the bottom of a bottle of conditioned beer.
Sparge: The method of spraying the grist with hot water at the end of the mash in order to remove soluble sugars.
Specific gravity: The measurement of a beer’s density before fermentation, as compared to water.
Top-fermenting yeast: One of two strains of yeast used in brewing beer, essentially ales, that responds best at warmer temperatures, ferments fewer sugars for a sweeter flavor, and sustains higher alcohol concentrations.
Tun: A large receptacle or vessel used in brewing beer.
Wort: The mixture of grain sugars filtered from the mash tun.
Wort chiller: See heat exchanger.
Yeast: A fungi that is added to wort, which aids in turning fermentable sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
