West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog
An ester is chemical flavor compound that is created during the fermentation process. Ester formation is primarily dependent on the yeast strain.
In some cases, excess esters are considered an off flavor, and in other instances, it is desired—like in the case of a Bavarian hefeweizen where banana and clove tasting esters are expected. Esters are typically described as fruity, flowery, or spicy scents and flavors in a beer.
A beer’s grist is the milled or crushed malt and grain that comprises the grain bill prior to the mashing process. An example description of a beer’s grist would be: crushed American two-row malted barley, German pilsner malt, and some white wheat malt.
Wet hopping or fresh hopping a beer is when freshly picked\undried hops are added to a beer at some point of the brewing, fermenting, or conditioning process. These hops are typically added to the beer within a day or two of being picked to maximize the unique flavors extracted from a freshly picked hop. A fresh or wet hop is typically less predictable than a dried hop and will usually impart a lower amount of bitterness than the same weight of dry hops due to the additional moisture weight in the wet hop.
Below is a photo of some cascade hops nearly ready to be picked and used for fresh hopping\wet hopping.
Cascade hops ready to be used for fresh hopping or wet hopping.Calcium sulfate or CaSO4 is also known as gypsum. It can be used to boost sulfate or add permanent hardness to a mash. You will want to verify with your vendor, but one gram per gallon typically adds 62 ppm calcium,147 ppm sulfate, and 153.5 ppm to the permanent hardness.
Calcium Sulfate
The process of adding, mixing or injecting air or oxygen into the cooled wort immediately before or after the yeast has been pitched. When aerating your wort, it is critical to keep its temperature under 80 F in order to avoid hot side aeration which will oxidize the wort and potentially cause off flavors in your finished beer.
There are several different ways to aerate your wort. The typical methods include injection and agitation.
The image below is a carboy filled with wort that is being aerated.
Yeast Pitching and Aeration just prior to fermentation
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