It’s that time again. Time for James Spencer (host of Basic Brewing Radio) and me to announce another BYO/BBR Collaborative Experiment. This time around, we’ve got an experiment that should be of great interest to all-grain homebrewers -- how does your lautering method affect your homebrew? 

James Spencer (host of Basic Brewing Radio)  and I are happy to announce the fourth BYO/BBR Collaborative Brewing Experiment. This time around, we’re asking the question, “How much difference do wort clarifying fining agents such as Irish moss and whirlfloc really make?”

As my last entry outlined, we (BYO and BBR) are looking for homebrewers willing to participate in our pitching rate experiment. The deadline for getting your results to us is September 30th, so you'll need to brew your beers in the next few weeks if you want to participate.

In this blog, I’m happy to announce a collaboration between Brew Your Own, Basic Brewing Radio (www.basicbrewing.com) and homebrewers who are interested in science. We haven’t thought of a cool name for it yet, but it’s a series of experiments designed to put some basic homebrewing wisdom to the test.

For each in the series, we’ll explain the experiment on Basic Brewing Radio and in this blog. Interested homebrewers can then perform the experiment and report their results to us. (We'll be doing the experiment, too.) We’ll compile everyone’s data and present the results in the magazine and on the podcast.

James Spencer (Basic Brewing Radio) and I will choose the experiment each time around, looking for experiments that are relatively easy to do and have the potential to yield a clean, unambiguous result. (We’ll favor experiments that rely on comparing objective data -- OG or FG readings, comparisons of color, etc. -- versus highly subjective types of tasting data.) If you have an idea, please contact us and we’ll consider it.

We realize that most homebrewers don’t have a science lab in their house. Neither will most want to participate in experiments that take tons of work or tie up all their equipment. So, we’ll try to make the experiments quick and doable. As such, sometimes there will be a compromise between the best possible experimental design and our experimental design.

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, so here's a rundown on what I've been up to.