Showing all 295 terms
A
- ABV Fermentation and conditioning
- Share of a beer's volume that is ethanol, shown as a percentage. Brewers estimate it from gravity readings with ABV = (OG - FG) x 131.25, using specific gravity. Read the guideAlso: Alcohol by volume
- Acetaldehyde Fermentation and conditioning
- Green apple compound yeast makes on the way to alcohol and normally reabsorbs. Noticeable levels point to beer pulled off yeast too early, under-pitching or oxidation. Read the guide
- Acidulated malt Ingredients
- Malt carrying lactic acid from lactic bacteria grown on it during malting. A few per cent of the grist lowers mash pH into range without adding mineral acid. Read the guideAlso: Sauermalz
- Adjunct Ingredients
- Any unmalted source of fermentable sugar, such as rice, maize or sugar, used alongside malt. Adjuncts lighten body and flavour, lower cost and are common in Indian mainstream lagers. Read the guide
- Age statement Wine and spirits
- Number on a whisky label giving the age of the youngest spirit in the bottle. A 12-year-old can contain older whisky but nothing younger. Read the guide
- Ale Tasting and styles
- Beer fermented with top-fermenting ale yeast at warmer temperatures, often 15 to 22°C (59 to 72°F). Ales tend to show more fruity esters than lagers. Read the guide
- Ale yeast Ingredients
- Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that ferment warm, typically 15 to 24 °C (59 to 75 °F), producing fruity esters. Many rise to the top during fermentation, hence the old name top-fermenting yeast. Read the guideAlso: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Top-fermenting yeast
- Alkalinity Ingredients
- Ability of water to resist a drop in pH, mainly from bicarbonate, expressed as mg/L of calcium carbonate. High alkalinity pushes mash pH up, which suits dark beers more than pale ones. Read the guideAlso: Total alkalinity
- Alpha acids Ingredients
- Resins in hop lupulin that become bitter once isomerised in the boil. The alpha acid percentage on a hop packet is how brewers calculate the dose for a target bitterness. Read the guideAlso: Humulones
- Alpha amylase Brewhouse
- Mash enzyme that chops starch chains at random points, most active around 68 to 72 °C (154 to 162 °F). It liquefies starch quickly, leaving dextrins as well as fermentable sugars. Read the guide
- Aroma Tasting and styles
- What a beer smells like, sensed through the nose before and while drinking. Most of what people call taste is really aroma, so judges assess it first. Read the guide
- Astringency Tasting and styles
- Dry, puckering, tea-like roughness on the palate caused by tannins and other polyphenols. A little suits some roasty beers; too much usually points to harsh husk extraction. Read the guide
- Attenuation Fermentation and conditioning
- Drop in gravity during fermentation, shown as a percentage of the original gravity. Most brewing strains land roughly between 65 and 85 per cent, which shapes body and dryness. Read the guideAlso: Apparent attenuation
B
- Barrel-aged Tasting and styles
- Beer matured in wooden barrels, often ex-bourbon, wine or rum, picking up vanilla, oak, spirit or wine notes. Ageing takes months and the wood can host souring microbes. Read the guide
- Base malt Ingredients
- Pale, highly enzymatic malt such as pilsner or pale ale malt that makes up most of a grist. It provides the bulk of the fermentable extract plus the enzymes to convert it. Read the guide
- Batch code Packaging and quality
- Printed code on a can, bottle or keg that ties it to a brew, tank and packaging run. Without it a recall or complaint investigation becomes guesswork. Read the guideAlso: lot code
- Beer loss Business and India
- Volume lost between brewhouse and sale through tank bottoms, filling waste, breakages and dumped batches. Tracking it stage by stage is one of the cheapest profit gains. Read the guideAlso: yield loss
- Berliner Weisse Tasting and styles
- Low-strength, very pale, sharply tart wheat beer from Berlin, often around 3% ABV. It was traditionally served with flavoured syrups to soften the acidity. Read the guide
- Best before date Packaging and quality
- Date on a label up to which the producer expects the drink to keep its quality when stored as directed. It is a quality promise, not a safety cut-off. Read the guide
- Beta acids Ingredients
- Hop resins that barely isomerise in the boil, so they add little bitterness at first. They can oxidise over time into bitter compounds and they have antibacterial activity. Read the guideAlso: Lupulones
- Beta amylase Brewhouse
- Mash enzyme that snips maltose from the ends of starch chains, most active around 60 to 65 °C (140 to 149 °F). It is heat sensitive, so cooler mashes give drier, more fermentable worts. Read the guide
- Beta-glucan rest Brewhouse
- Rest around 35 to 45 °C (95 to 113 °F) where beta-glucanase breaks down gums from grain cell walls. It eases lautering in grists high in oats, rye or unmalted barley. Read the guide
- Beta-glucanase Brewhouse
- Enzyme that breaks down beta-glucans, the sticky gums in grain cell walls. Without enough of it wort turns viscous, lautering slows and beer can haze or filter poorly. Read the guide
- Biotransformation Ingredients
- Chemical changes yeast makes to hop compounds during fermentation, such as converting geraniol or freeing bound thiols. It is why dry hopping during active fermentation tastes different from dry hopping afterwards. Read the guide
- Bitterness units Packaging and quality
- Lab measure of bitterness made by extracting acidified beer with iso-octane and reading absorbance at 275 nm. It tracks bitter hop compounds, not how bitter a beer actually tastes. Read the guideAlso: BU, IBU measurement
- BJCP Tasting and styles
- US non-profit that writes widely used beer style guidelines and certifies beer judges through tasting exams. Its guidelines are the reference at most homebrew competitions. Read the guideAlso: Beer Judge Certification Program
- Blended whisky Wine and spirits
- Whisky made by mixing different whiskies, typically malt and grain. Many Indian blends also include neutral spirit, which is why labels and definitions differ by market. Read the guide
- Bock Tasting and styles
- Strong German lager, roughly 6 to 7.5% ABV, with rich toasty malt and little hop character. Doppelbock, maibock and eisbock are stronger or seasonal relatives. Read the guide
- Body Tasting and styles
- Perceived weight or fullness of a beer on the palate, from thin and watery to thick and chewy. Residual sugars, proteins and alcohol all add to it. Read the guide
- Boil Brewhouse
- Vigorous boiling of the wort, usually for 60 to 90 minutes. It sterilises the wort, isomerises hop acids, drives off DMS and coagulates protein. Read the guideAlso: Wort boiling
- Bonded warehouse Business and India
- Store where alcohol is held under excise supervision before duty is paid. Duty usually falls due as stock leaves bond, though procedures vary by state. Read the guide
- Bottle Packaging and quality
- Glass container for beer, most often brown because amber glass blocks most of the light that causes skunky flavour. Green and clear glass give little protection. Read the guide
- Bottle conditioning Fermentation and conditioning
- Carbonating beer in the bottle with a small dose of priming sugar plus live yeast. It leaves a fine yeast sediment and the yeast helps mop up oxygen. Read the guide
- Brewhouse capacity Business and India
- Volume of wort a brewhouse can produce per brew, usually given in hectolitres. Annual output also depends on brews per day and how much fermenting space follows. Read the guide
- Brewhouse efficiency Brewhouse
- Share of the malt's potential extract that reaches the fermenter as wort. It is how breweries judge milling, mashing and lautering, since losses show up as wasted malt. Read the guide
- Brewing sugar Ingredients
- Simple sugars such as sucrose, dextrose or invert sugar added in the kettle to raise alcohol without adding body. Belgian brewers use them to keep strong beers dry and drinkable. Read the guideAlso: Dextrose, Candi sugar
- Brewpub Business and India
- Restaurant or bar that brews beer on site and serves it there, usually straight from serving tanks. In several Indian states it is the main craft beer model. Read the guide
- Bright beer tank Fermentation and conditioning
- Pressure-rated tank that holds finished, clarified beer ready for packaging or serving. In brewpubs beer is often poured straight from it.Also: BBT, Serving tank
- Brix Brewhouse
- Sugar concentration scale read on refractometers, close to Plato for unfermented wort. Once alcohol is present, refractometer readings need a correction formula.Also: Degrees Brix
- Bulk litre Business and India
- Volume of a drink as measured, whatever its strength. Indian excise often counts beer in bulk litres and spirits in proof litres; methods vary by state. Read the guideAlso: BL
C
- Calcium Ingredients
- Most important brewing mineral, lowering mash pH, protecting enzymes and helping yeast settle. Many brewers aim for at least 50 mg/L in their brewing water. Read the guide
- Can Packaging and quality
- Aluminium container with a thin inner lining, sealed by a lid seamed onto the body. Cans block all light and weigh little, though filling must be tightly controlled to keep oxygen out. Read the guide
- Carbonation Fermentation and conditioning
- Carbon dioxide dissolved in beer, giving fizz, lift to aroma and a livelier mouthfeel. Its level is set by temperature and pressure, whether produced naturally or forced in. Read the guide
- Carbonic bite Tasting and styles
- Prickly, slightly acidic tingle on the tongue as dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid. Higher carbonation makes beer feel lighter and sharper; low carbonation feels softer and fuller. Read the guideAlso: carbonation perception
- Case Business and India
- Standard selling unit of packaged drinks, such as 12 bottles of 650 ml or 24 cans of 500 ml. Case sizes differ, so convert to litres before comparing sales. Read the guide
- Cask Wine and spirits
- Wooden container, usually oak, used to mature spirits and wine. Ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks are the most common for whisky, each shaping colour and flavour. Read the guideAlso: barrel
- Cask ale Packaging and quality
- Unfiltered ale that finishes conditioning in its cask and is served without added gas pressure, usually by hand pump. Once tapped it must be sold within days because air replaces the beer drawn off.Also: real ale
- Cask strength Wine and spirits
- Whisky bottled at the strength it comes out of the cask, without dilution with water, often above 50% ABV. Read the guideAlso: barrel proof
- Centrifuge Fermentation and conditioning
- Machine spinning beer at high speed so yeast and solids are thrown out by centrifugal force. It clarifies quickly with little beer loss, useful for hazy beers that need partial clarity. Read the guide
- Cereal cooker Brewhouse
- Separate vessel that boils rice or maize with a little malt to gelatinise the starch before it joins the main mash. It is standard kit in breweries that brew with rice or maize grits. Read the guideAlso: Adjunct cooker
- Chill haze Fermentation and conditioning
- Cloudiness that appears when beer is cold and clears as it warms, caused by protein and polyphenol complexes. Over time it can turn into permanent haze. Read the guide
- Cicerone Tasting and styles
- Certification programme for beer service and knowledge, running from Certified Beer Server up to Master Cicerone. It focuses on serving, storing, styles and food pairing. Read the guide
- CIP Brewhouse
- Cleaning tanks and pipes by pumping hot caustic, acid and rinse water through fixed spray balls and lines without taking them apart. It is the backbone of brewery hygiene. Read the guideAlso: Cleaning in place
- Cleaning Packaging and quality
- Removing soil, protein, beer stone and other deposits from a surface, usually with caustic or acid detergents. A surface must be clean before it can be sanitised. Read the guide
- Cleaning in place Packaging and quality
- Cleaning tanks and pipework by pumping detergent and rinse cycles through them without taking them apart. Time, temperature, concentration and flow together decide whether it works. Read the guideAlso: CIP
- COGS Business and India
- Direct cost of making the product sold: ingredients, packaging, direct labour and production overheads. Companies treat excise differently within it, so check before comparing figures. Read the guideAlso: cost of goods sold
- Cohumulone Ingredients
- One of the main alpha acid analogues, usually quoted as a percentage of total alpha acids. Many brewers believe high-cohumulone hops give a harsher bitterness, though the evidence is debated. Read the guide
- Cold break Brewhouse
- Fine protein and polyphenol particles that drop out of wort when it is chilled quickly. Fast cooling improves it, giving clearer beer. Read the guide
- Cold crash Fermentation and conditioning
- Rapidly chilling finished beer to near 0 °C (32 °F) to drop yeast, protein and hop particles out of suspension. It speeds clarity before packaging or filtration. Read the guideAlso: Crash cooling
- Cold IPA Tasting and styles
- Crisp, dry IPA fermented with lager yeast at warmer temperatures, often with rice or maize in the grist. It pairs West Coast hop character with lager cleanness. Read the guide
- Column still Wine and spirits
- Tall still that distils continuously over many internal plates, producing a lighter, stronger spirit efficiently. It is used for grain whisky, vodka and most Indian molasses spirit. Read the guideAlso: continuous still, Coffey still
- Conditioning Fermentation and conditioning
- Period after primary fermentation when beer matures, clears and carbonates. Yeast cleans up off-flavours such as diacetyl and acetaldehyde during this time. Read the guideAlso: Maturation, Secondary
- Contract brewing Business and India
- Arrangement where a brand owner pays an established brewery to brew and package its recipe. It lets brands launch without building a plant, though quality depends on the host. Read the guide
- Control chart Packaging and quality
- Time-ordered plot of a measurement with a centre line and statistical control limits. Points outside the limits or unusual runs show a process has shifted and needs attention. Read the guide
- Cork taint Wine and spirits
- Musty, damp cardboard smell caused by trichloroanisole, often from a contaminated cork. Even tiny amounts mute a wine's fruit. Read the guideAlso: TCA
- Cost per litre Business and India
- Total cost of making one litre of finished beer, including ingredients, packaging, energy, labour and overheads. Pricing and margin decisions should start from this number. Read the guide
- Craft beer Tasting and styles
- Beer from smaller, independent breweries that prize flavour, variety and local character. India has no single legal definition, so the term is used loosely. Read the guide
- Crown Packaging and quality
- Crimped metal cap that seals a beer bottle, with a liner that grips the glass. Some liners absorb oxygen, which helps slow staling in the bottle.Also: crown cork, crown cap
- Cryo hops Ingredients
- Lupulin separated from cone material at very low temperature, then pelletised, giving roughly twice the resin content of standard pellets. Less leafy matter means less beer lost to hop debris. Read the guideAlso: Lupulin powder, Lupulin pellets
- Crystal malt Ingredients
- Speciality malt stewed while wet so its starch turns to sugar inside the husk before kilning or roasting. It adds sweetness, body plus caramel to toffee flavours, with colour set by how hard it is roasted. Read the guideAlso: Caramel malt
- Cut points Wine and spirits
- Moments when a distiller switches the spirit run from heads to hearts and from hearts to tails. Only the hearts are kept, so cut timing shapes flavour. Read the guideAlso: heads, hearts and tails
- Cylindroconical fermenter Fermentation and conditioning
- Tall fermenter with a cone at the base where yeast and trub collect. It is standard in modern breweries because yeast is easy to remove and harvest.Also: CCT, Fermentation vessel, FV
D
- Decoction mash Brewhouse
- Mash method where part of the mash is drawn off, boiled then returned to raise the temperature. It deepens malt flavour and colour, the traditional route for many German and Czech lagers. Read the guideAlso: Decoction
- Degrees Plato Packaging and quality
- Brewing scale giving the percentage by weight of dissolved extract in wort or beer, so 12°P means 12 g of extract per 100 g of liquid. Most commercial breweries record gravity this way. Read the guideAlso: °P, Plato
- Depletions Business and India
- Volume a distributor sells on to retailers and bars, a closer signal of real demand than brewery shipments. Comparing the two shows stock building up or running down in the trade. Read the guide
- Dextrins Brewhouse
- Longer chains of glucose that most brewing yeast cannot ferment. They stay in the beer as body with a little sweetness; higher mash temperatures leave more of them. Read the guide
- Diacetyl Fermentation and conditioning
- Buttery, butterscotch compound formed from a yeast by-product during fermentation. Healthy yeast reabsorbs it if given time, so high levels usually mean rushed fermentation or infection. Read the guide
- Diacetyl rest Fermentation and conditioning
- Warming beer a few degrees near the end of fermentation, often to around 16 to 18 °C (61 to 64 °F) for lagers, so yeast clears diacetyl faster. It is standard before lagering. Read the guide
- Diastatic power Ingredients
- Measure of the starch-converting enzyme activity in a malt, given in degrees Lintner or WK. It tells you whether a grist has enough enzymes to convert adjuncts and speciality malts. Read the guideAlso: DP
- Diastaticus Ingredients
- STA1-positive variant of brewing yeast that slowly ferments dextrins and starch. In packaged beer it causes over-carbonation, gushing and burst bottles, so breweries treat it as a serious contaminant. Read the guideAlso: Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus
- Diatomaceous earth Fermentation and conditioning
- Powdered fossil algae used as a filter aid, building a porous cake that traps yeast and haze. It works well but needs careful handling because the dust harms lungs. Read the guideAlso: DE, Kieselguhr
- Dissolved oxygen Fermentation and conditioning
- Oxygen dissolved in finished beer, usually measured in parts per billion. Keeping it low after fermentation is the biggest single guard against stale flavours. Read the guideAlso: DO
- DMS Brewhouse
- Sulphur compound tasting of cooked sweetcorn, formed from SMM in pale malt when wort is heated. A vigorous, uncovered boil drives it off; slow chilling lets more form. Read the guideAlso: Dimethyl sulphide
- Double IPA Tasting and styles
- Stronger, more intensely hopped IPA, typically around 7.5 to 10% ABV. It needs extra malt to carry the hops without tasting harsh. Read the guideAlso: DIPA, imperial IPA
- Draught line cleaning Packaging and quality
- Regular flushing of beer lines, couplers and taps with line cleaner to remove yeast, bacteria and scale. Dirty lines are a common reason good beer tastes bad at the bar. Read the guideAlso: line cleaning
- Dry day Business and India
- Day when the sale of alcohol is banned, such as certain national holidays, election days and some festivals. State governments set the dates, so taprooms plan stock and staff around them. Read the guide
- Dry hopping Fermentation and conditioning
- Adding hops to beer during or after fermentation for aroma without much extra bitterness. Timing, dose and contact time all shape the result. Read the guide
- Dry state Business and India
- State where the sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited, wholly or largely. Prohibition policies change over time, so check the current position state by state. Read the guide
E
- EBC colour Packaging and quality
- European Brewery Convention scale for beer and malt colour, read from light absorbance at 430 nm. EBC values are roughly double SRM values, which helps when comparing recipes. Read the guideAlso: EBC
- Esters Fermentation and conditioning
- Fruity compounds such as isoamyl acetate (banana) and ethyl acetate (pear, solvent) made by yeast. Warmer, higher-gravity fermentations and low pitching rates raise them. Read the guide
- Excise duty Business and India
- Tax charged by a state on alcohol made or sold within it, collected through permits, labels or volume-based charges. Structures and processes vary by state, so brewers need local advice. Read the guide
- Extra neutral alcohol Wine and spirits
- Highly rectified spirit of about 95 to 96% ABV with little flavour of its own. In India it is the base of most mass-market spirits, usually made from molasses or grain. Read the guideAlso: ENA, neutral spirit
- Extract Brewhouse
- Dissolved solids, mostly sugars, in wort or released from malt. Malt specifications list extract as the percentage of dry weight a standard lab mash recovers. Read the guide
F
- FAN Ingredients
- Amino acids and small peptides in wort that yeast uses to build new cells. An all-malt wort usually has plenty; heavy adjunct use dilutes it and can stress the yeast. Read the guideAlso: Free amino nitrogen
- Feni Wine and spirits
- Goan spirit distilled from fermented cashew apple juice or coconut palm toddy, traditionally in small pot stills. Cashew feni holds a geographical indication tag.
- Fermentation Fermentation and conditioning
- Yeast turning wort sugars into alcohol, carbon dioxide and flavour compounds. Controlling its temperature does more for beer quality than almost anything else a brewer does. Read the guide
- Fill height Packaging and quality
- Level to which a bottle or can is filled, checked against the declared volume. Short fills shortchange the drinker and overfills waste beer, so lines check it every shift.Also: fill level
- Filtration Fermentation and conditioning
- Passing beer through a medium such as diatomaceous earth, sheets or membranes to remove yeast and haze. It gives bright, stable beer with a longer shelf life. Read the guide
- Final gravity Fermentation and conditioning
- Gravity once fermentation is complete. Together with original gravity it gives alcohol content through ABV = (OG - FG) x 131.25. Read the guideAlso: FG, Terminal gravity
- Fining (wine) Wine and spirits
- Adding an agent such as bentonite, egg white or gelatin to wine so it binds haze-forming or harsh compounds that then settle out. Some agents make a wine unsuitable for vegans. Read the guide
- Finings Fermentation and conditioning
- Clarifying agents such as isinglass, gelatine or silica sol that bind to yeast or haze particles and drag them down. They speed up clarity without filtration. Read the guide
- Finish Tasting and styles
- Flavours and sensations left after swallowing, described as short or long, dry or sweet, bitter or clean. A good finish invites the next sip. Read the guideAlso: aftertaste
- First runnings Brewhouse
- Strongest, most concentrated wort drained from the mash before sparging begins. Its gravity tells you how well the mash converted. Read the guide
- Flagship beer Business and India
- Core beer a brewery is best known for and sells all year round. Its steady volume usually pays for the seasonal experiments. Read the guide
- Flavour wheel Tasting and styles
- Chart that groups beer flavour terms from broad classes at the centre to specific descriptors at the rim. It gives tasters and brewers a shared vocabulary. Read the guide
- Flocculation Ingredients
- Tendency of yeast cells to clump together then drop out of suspension once fermentation slows. Highly flocculent strains clear quickly but may stop early, while low flocculators stay in suspension longer. Read the guide
- Flor Wine and spirits
- Film of yeast that grows on fino and manzanilla sherry in barrels left part full. It shields the wine from oxygen and gives a tangy, nutty, bread-dough character. Read the guide
- Fobbing Packaging and quality
- Tiny jet of hot water or CO2 squirted into a bottle just before capping so the beer foams up and drives air out of the headspace. It is a cheap way to cut oxygen pickup. Read the guideAlso: jetting
- Forced ageing Packaging and quality
- Test that stores sealed beer warm, commonly at 30°C (86°F) or higher, for days or weeks to predict how it will taste months later on the shelf. Read the guideAlso: accelerated ageing
- Forced carbonation Fermentation and conditioning
- Adding CO2 under pressure to cold beer in a tank or keg. It is faster and more controllable than natural carbonation. Read the guideAlso: Force carbonation
- Fortification Wine and spirits
- Adding grape spirit to wine during or after fermentation, raising alcohol to roughly 15 to 22% ABV. Port, sherry and Madeira are made this way. Read the guideAlso: fortified wine
- FSSAI Business and India
- India's national food regulator, which sets standards for alcoholic drinks covering composition, additives and labelling. Breweries need its licence alongside state excise approvals. Read the guideAlso: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
- Fusel alcohols Fermentation and conditioning
- Heavier alcohols made by yeast that give hot, solvent-like warmth. Fermenting too warm or under-pitching increases them. Read the guideAlso: Higher alcohols, Fusels
G
- Gelatinisation Brewhouse
- Swelling and bursting of starch granules in hot water, which opens the starch to enzyme attack. Barley malt starch gelatinises at normal mash temperatures, whereas rice and maize need more heat. Read the guide
- Gin botanicals Wine and spirits
- Plant ingredients that flavour gin, led by juniper, which must dominate, plus coriander, citrus peel, angelica and many others. Indian gins often add local spices. Read the guideAlso: botanicals
- Glycol Fermentation and conditioning
- Food-grade coolant chilled and pumped through tank jackets to hold fermentation and storage temperatures. A properly sized glycol system is essential in hot Indian conditions. Read the guideAlso: Glycol chiller
- Gose Tasting and styles
- Tart German wheat beer brewed with salt and coriander, first from Goslar and later Leipzig. Light and refreshing, it suits hot weather. Read the guide
- Grist Brewhouse
- Mixture of milled malt and other grains ready for mashing. The grist bill lists each grain with its share, usually given in recipes as percentages. Read the guideAlso: Grain bill, Grist bill
- Gross margin Business and India
- Revenue minus cost of goods sold, often shown as a percentage of revenue. It shows how much each sale contributes towards overheads and profit. Read the guide
- Growth phase Fermentation and conditioning
- Stage after the lag phase when yeast multiplies rapidly and ferments most of the sugar. Much of the beer's ester and fusel character forms here, so temperature control matters most. Read the guideAlso: Exponential phase, Log phase
- Gueuze Tasting and styles
- Blend of young and old lambic, bottled so the young beer referments and builds a lively sparkle. It is dry, sour and complex. Read the guide
- Gypsum Ingredients
- Brewing salt that adds calcium plus sulphate, lowering mash pH and giving a crisper, drier hop finish. It is the classic addition for Burton-style pale ales. Read the guideAlso: Calcium sulphate
- Gypsy brewing Business and India
- Brewing by a brand or brewer with no plant of its own, renting spare capacity at other breweries batch by batch. It is a common way to test demand before investing. Read the guideAlso: cuckoo brewing, nomad brewing
H
- Hardness Ingredients
- Total calcium and magnesium in water, usually given as mg/L of calcium carbonate. Calcium in particular helps enzymes, yeast flocculation and beer clarity. Read the guideAlso: Water hardness
- Haze Packaging and quality
- Cloudiness in beer from protein, polyphenols, yeast, starch or bacteria. Some styles want it; in a beer meant to be bright it is a stability fault. Read the guide
- Head retention Tasting and styles
- How long the foam on a poured beer lasts before collapsing. Grease, detergent residue on glasses or poor foam proteins can kill it quickly. Read the guide
- Headspace Packaging and quality
- Gas space between the beer and the closure in a bottle or can. Air left there is a major source of package oxygen, so fillers work hard to push it out. Read the guide
- Heat exchanger Brewhouse
- Stack of metal plates that cools hot wort against cold water or glycol flowing the other way. It brings wort to pitching temperature in one pass while recovering hot water. Read the guideAlso: Plate chiller, Wort cooler
- Hectolitre Business and India
- Unit of 100 litres, the standard way breweries express batch size, tank volume and annual output. A 10 hl brewhouse makes about 1,000 litres per brew. Read the guideAlso: hl
- Hefeweizen Tasting and styles
- Unfiltered Bavarian wheat beer with banana and clove aromas from its special yeast. It is usually at least half wheat malt and served cloudy in a tall vase-shaped glass. Read the guideAlso: Weissbier
- Helles Tasting and styles
- Pale Munich lager that leans towards soft, bready malt rather than hop bitterness. Clean and gentle, it was created in 1894 as Bavaria's answer to pilsner. Read the guide
- High krausen Fermentation and conditioning
- Peak of fermentation, when the krausen is tallest and activity most vigorous. Brewers often time dry hopping, krausening and temperature changes around it. Read the guide
- Hop burn Fermentation and conditioning
- Harsh, scratchy, peppery feeling from hop particles left in suspension in heavily dry-hopped beers. Cold crashing and time help them settle. Read the guide
- Hop creep Fermentation and conditioning
- Renewed fermentation set off when enzymes in dry hops break dextrins into fermentable sugars. It can raise ABV, diacetyl and pressure in tanks or packages. Read the guide
- Hop extract Ingredients
- Hop resins and oils pulled out of the cone, usually with liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide. It gives precise, consistent bitterness with almost no vegetal loss in the kettle. Read the guideAlso: CO2 extract
- Hop oils Ingredients
- Volatile compounds in lupulin, a small fraction of the cone's weight, that carry most hop aroma. They boil off easily, which is why aroma hops go in late or after the boil. Read the guideAlso: Essential oils
- Hop pellets Ingredients
- Hops milled into powder then pressed into small pellets, usually labelled T90. They store better and take less space than whole cones, which is why most breweries use them. Read the guideAlso: T90 pellets
- Hop utilisation Brewhouse
- Share of the alpha acids added that end up as iso-alpha acids in finished beer, typically well under half. Boil time, wort gravity and losses to trub and yeast all affect it. Read the guide
- Hops Ingredients
- Cone-shaped flowers of the female hop plant, used for bitterness, aroma and flavour. Their resins also help protect beer against some spoilage bacteria. Read the guideAlso: Humulus lupulus
- Hot break Brewhouse
- Clumps of protein and polyphenol that coagulate early in the boil, often after a foamy surge. A good hot break helps clarity and flavour stability. Read the guide
- Hot liquor tank Brewhouse
- Insulated vessel that heats and stores brewing water for mashing in and sparging. Its size and reheat time often limit how many brews a day a brewhouse can run. Read the guideAlso: HLT
- Hydrometer Packaging and quality
- Weighted glass float that measures the density of wort or beer by how deep it sinks. Brewers use it to track fermentation and work out alcohol content. Read the guide
I
- IBU Brewhouse
- Lab measure of bitterness roughly equal to milligrams of iso-alpha acids per litre. It tracks bitter compounds but not how bitter a beer tastes against its malt. Read the guideAlso: International Bitterness Units
- Imperial Tasting and styles
- Label word for a stronger, more intense version of a style, as in imperial stout or imperial IPA. It signals more malt, more alcohol and usually more of everything. Read the guide
- Imperial stout Tasting and styles
- Strong, rich, dark stout, often 8 to 12% ABV, with intense roast, dark fruit and chocolate notes. It was historically brewed in London for export to the Russian court. Read the guideAlso: Russian imperial stout
- Infusion mash Brewhouse
- Mash held at a single temperature, usually somewhere in the 62 to 70 °C (144 to 158 °F) range, reached by adding hot water. It suits well-modified modern malts and is the simplest method. Read the guideAlso: Single infusion mash
- IPA Tasting and styles
- Hop-forward pale beer with more bitterness and hop aroma than a standard pale ale. Born in England, it now spans English, West Coast, hazy and double versions. Read the guideAlso: India pale ale
- Isomerisation Brewhouse
- Chemical rearrangement of hop alpha acids into bitter, soluble iso-alpha acids during the boil. Longer boiling increases it, which is why bittering hops go in early. Read the guide
K
- Keg Packaging and quality
- Sealed stainless steel container, commonly 20, 30 or 50 litres, that holds pressurised beer for draught dispense. Kegs protect beer from light and air far better than open vessels. Read the guide
- Kettle Brewhouse
- Vessel where wort is boiled with hops, heated by steam jacket, internal calandria or direct fire. Many modern kettles double as whirlpools. Read the guideAlso: Copper, Brew kettle
- Kilning Ingredients
- Drying germinated grain with hot air to halt growth and develop colour and flavour. Low temperatures give pale base malts; higher temperatures give Munich, Vienna and darker malts. Read the guide
- Knockout Brewhouse
- Moment the boil ends and wort is sent through the heat exchanger into the fermenter. Knockout temperature should match the yeast's pitching temperature. Read the guideAlso: Casting
- Kolsch Tasting and styles
- Pale, delicate beer from Cologne fermented with ale yeast at cool temperatures, then cold-conditioned. In Europe only Cologne-area brewers may use the name. Read the guideAlso: Kölsch
- Krausen Fermentation and conditioning
- Rocky head of foam, yeast and hop resin that forms on top of fermenting wort. It rises, peaks then falls back as fermentation moves through its phases. Read the guide
- Kveik Ingredients
- Norwegian farmhouse yeast cultures that ferment quickly and fairly cleanly at unusually high temperatures, often 30 to 40 °C (86 to 104 °F). They suit Indian breweries short on cooling capacity. Read the guide
L
- Label approval Business and India
- Process of getting a drink's label approved by the state excise department before sale. Each state reviews labels separately and requirements vary, so multi-state launches take time. Read the guideAlso: label registration
- Lacing Tasting and styles
- Rings of foam that cling to the inside of the glass as the beer is drunk. Good lacing suggests healthy foam proteins and a properly cleaned glass. Read the guideAlso: Brussels lace
- Lag phase Fermentation and conditioning
- Quiet period after pitching while yeast absorbs oxygen and nutrients before visible activity starts. A long lag gives wild microbes time to get established. Read the guide
- Lager Tasting and styles
- Beer fermented with bottom-fermenting lager yeast at cool temperatures, then cold-conditioned. Lagers are usually crisp and clean; most beer sold in India is lager. Read the guide
- Lager yeast Ingredients
- Strains of Saccharomyces pastorianus that ferment cool, usually 8 to 13 °C (46 to 55 °F), for a clean profile with few esters. They tend to settle at the bottom of the fermenter. Read the guideAlso: Saccharomyces pastorianus, Bottom-fermenting yeast
- Lagering Fermentation and conditioning
- Cold storage of beer near freezing, often for weeks, after fermentation. It settles yeast and haze, smooths flavour and gives lagers their clean, crisp finish. Read the guide
- Lambic Tasting and styles
- Spontaneously fermented wheat beer from the Brussels region, cooled in open vessels so wild microbes settle in, then aged in wooden barrels for months or years. It is tart, funky and usually still. Read the guide
- Lauter tun Brewhouse
- Wide, false-bottomed vessel where wort is separated from the grain bed, often with rotating rakes to keep the bed open. Its shape is built for clear, efficient runoff. Read the guide
- Lautering Brewhouse
- Separating the sweet wort from spent grain, using the husk bed as a filter. A slow, even runoff gives clear wort with good extract. Read the guideAlso: Wort separation
- Lees Wine and spirits
- Dead yeast and other sediment that settle after fermentation. Ageing wine on its lees, called sur lie, adds texture and bready complexity. Read the guide
- Licence fee Business and India
- Annual or one-off fee paid to the state for the right to brew, store or sell alcohol. Licence categories, fees and renewal cycles vary by state. Read the guide
- Light strike Packaging and quality
- Damage caused when blue and ultraviolet light breaks down hop bitter compounds in beer, creating a skunky smell. In clear or green glass it can happen within minutes in sunlight. Read the guideAlso: lightstruck
- Limit of attenuation Fermentation and conditioning
- Lowest gravity a wort can reach, found by fermenting a sample warm with plenty of yeast. Comparing it with the tank shows whether a fermentation has truly finished.Also: Forced fermentation test, Fermentability
- Linalool Ingredients
- Floral, citrusy hop alcohol found in most aroma hops, linked to orange and lavender notes. It survives fermentation better than many hop oils, making it a useful marker of hop aroma. Read the guide
- London dry gin Wine and spirits
- Gin style where all flavour comes from botanicals distilled with the spirit, with only water and a trace of sugar allowed afterwards. The name describes a method, not a place. Read the guide
- Lupulin Ingredients
- Yellow, sticky glands inside the hop cone that hold the alpha acids, beta acids and essential oils. Almost everything a brewer wants from a hop sits in this powder. Read the guide
M
- Maize Ingredients
- Adjunct used as grits or flakes that lightens body while leaving a soft, faintly sweet corn note. Grits need cooking to gelatinise the starch; pre-gelatinised flakes can go straight into the mash. Read the guideAlso: Corn, Maize grits
- Malolactic fermentation Wine and spirits
- Conversion of sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid by bacteria, usually after the main ferment. It softens acidity and can add buttery notes to reds and some whites. Read the guideAlso: MLF, malo
- Malt Ingredients
- Grain, usually barley, that has been steeped, germinated and kilned so its starch and enzymes are ready for the mash. It supplies most of the sugar, colour and flavour in beer. Read the guide
- Malting Ingredients
- Controlled steeping, germination and kilning of grain to develop enzymes and soften the kernel. How the maltster runs it decides colour, flavour and how easily the malt converts in the mash. Read the guide
- Mash Brewhouse
- Mixture of grist and hot water held at set temperatures so malt enzymes convert starch into sugars. Mash temperature and pH largely decide how fermentable the wort will be. Read the guide
- Mash out Brewhouse
- Raising the mash to about 76 to 78 °C (169 to 172 °F) at the end of mashing. It slows enzyme activity and thins the wort for an easier runoff. Read the guide
- Mash pH Brewhouse
- Acidity of the mash, measured on a cooled sample, with 5.2 to 5.6 the standard target range. Within it enzymes work well, tannin extraction stays low and beer tastes cleaner. Read the guide
- Mash tun Brewhouse
- Vessel where grist and hot water are mixed and held for conversion. In simpler two-vessel brewhouses it also serves as the lauter tun. Read the guide
- Maturation Wine and spirits
- Time a spirit or wine spends ageing in cask, drawing flavour from the wood, oxidising gently and losing harsh notes. Heat speeds the process up. Read the guide
- Metallic Packaging and quality
- Tinny, blood-like or coin-like taste, usually from iron or other metal ions picked up from water, worn equipment or poorly passivated stainless steel. Read the guide
- Microbrewery Business and India
- Small brewery producing limited volumes, often with its own bar. In India the word often means an on-premise brewing licence; its exact meaning and rules vary by state. Read the guide
- Milling Brewhouse
- Crushing malt to crack the husk and expose the starchy interior while keeping husks largely whole. A good crush balances extract against a smooth, fast lauter. Read the guideAlso: Crushing
- Modification Ingredients
- Extent to which malting has broken down the cell walls and proteins inside the grain. Well-modified modern malts convert easily in a single infusion mash, while undermodified malts benefit from step or decoction mashing. Read the guide
- Mouthfeel Tasting and styles
- Physical sensations a beer gives in the mouth, such as body, carbonation, warmth, creaminess and astringency. It shapes how refreshing or rich a beer seems. Read the guide
- MRP Business and India
- Highest price at which a packaged product may be sold to consumers in India, printed on the pack. For alcohol it is also shaped by state excise pricing rules. Read the guideAlso: maximum retail price
- Munich malt Ingredients
- Kilned base malt with deeper colour plus rich bready, toasty flavour, while keeping enough enzymes to convert itself. It adds malt depth to bock, Märzen and dunkel. Read the guide
- Must Wine and spirits
- Freshly crushed grape juice with its skins, seeds and pulp, before or during fermentation. Red wine takes its colour from fermenting with the skins in the must. Read the guide
- Myrcene Ingredients
- Usually the most abundant oil in hops, giving green, resinous and herbal aroma. It is very volatile, so it survives mainly in dry-hopped beers. Read the guide
N
- NEIPA Tasting and styles
- Hazy, juicy IPA with soft bitterness, a full mouthfeel and heavy late hop additions. It stales quickly, so it is best drunk fresh and kept cold. Read the guideAlso: New England IPA, hazy IPA
- New make spirit Wine and spirits
- Clear spirit straight off the still before any cask ageing. Its quality sets the ceiling for the finished whisky. Read the guideAlso: new make
- Nitro Tasting and styles
- Beer served with a nitrogen and CO2 gas mix through a restrictor tap, giving tiny bubbles, a cascading pour and a creamy head. Dry stout is the classic example. Read the guideAlso: nitrogenated beer
- Noble hops Ingredients
- Traditional European aroma varieties, usually Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Tettnang, Spalt and Saaz, prized for soft floral and spicy character. They define classic German and Czech lagers. Read the guide
O
- OEE Packaging and quality
- Packaging line score that multiplies availability, performance and quality into one percentage. It shows how much theoretical output actually becomes good, saleable product. Read the guideAlso: overall equipment effectiveness
- Off-flavour Packaging and quality
- Any aroma or taste that does not belong in a beer or its style, caused by faults in ingredients, process, hygiene or packaging. Learning to name them is the core of brewery QC. Read the guideAlso: fault
- Off-trade Business and India
- Sales of packaged drinks to take away and drink elsewhere, mainly through licensed liquor shops in India. Rules on who may sell vary by state. Read the guideAlso: off-premise
- On-trade Business and India
- Sales of drinks for consumption where they are bought, such as bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels. Margins and brand building work very differently here than in retail. Read the guideAlso: on-premise
- Original gravity Brewhouse
- Gravity of wort before fermentation starts, showing how much sugar the yeast has to work with. It largely sets the potential strength of the beer. Read the guideAlso: OG
- Oxidation Fermentation and conditioning
- Ageing of beer by oxygen, bringing papery, cardboard or sherry flavours while hop aroma fades. Low oxygen pickup with cold storage slows it. Read the guideAlso: Staling
- Oxidised Packaging and quality
- Stale flavours of wet cardboard, paper, honey or sherry that develop as beer reacts with oxygen. Hoppy beers also lose their aroma and can turn dull or darker. Read the guideAlso: stale
- Oxygen pickup Packaging and quality
- Oxygen that gets into beer during transfers, centrifuging or packaging. Each step adds a little, so breweries measure before and after each one to find the leak. Read the guide
P
- Pale ale Tasting and styles
- Golden to amber ale of moderate strength with a balance of malt and hops. It is the parent of the IPA and a common flagship for new breweries. Read the guide
- Pasteurisation Fermentation and conditioning
- Heating beer to kill spoilage microbes and extend shelf life. Flash pasteurisation heats beer in bulk before filling; tunnel pasteurisation heats sealed bottles or cans. Read the guide
- Pasteurisation unit Fermentation and conditioning
- Measure of heat dose in pasteurisation: one PU equals one minute at 60 °C (140 °F). Too many units dull flavour, so breweries set a target dose for each beer. Read the guideAlso: PU
- Pasteurisation units Packaging and quality
- Measure of heat treatment where one unit equals one minute at 60°C (140°F). Breweries target a PU range that kills spoilage organisms without cooking the beer. Read the guideAlso: PU
- Peat Wine and spirits
- Partly decayed vegetation burned to dry malted barley, giving smoky, medicinal flavours measured in phenol parts per million. Islay whiskies are the best-known peated style. Read the guide
- pH Ingredients
- Scale of acidity from 0 to 14, where 7 is neutral and lower numbers are more acidic. Brewers track it at every stage because enzymes, hop bitterness, yeast health and flavour all depend on it. Read the guide
- pH meter Packaging and quality
- Electronic probe that measures acidity. Brewers check pH in the brewhouse and in finished beer because it affects flavour, stability and microbial safety. Read the guide
- Phenolic Packaging and quality
- Clove, smoky, plastic or medicinal flavours from phenol compounds. Expected in hefeweizen and some Belgian ales, they are a fault elsewhere, often from wild yeast or chlorine. Read the guide
- Pilsner Tasting and styles
- Pale, crisp, hop-accented lager first brewed in Plzen, Bohemia, in 1842. German versions are drier and more bitter; Czech versions are rounder and maltier. Read the guideAlso: Pils, Pilsener
- Pilsner malt Ingredients
- Very pale base malt kilned at low temperature, giving light colour with a clean, grainy sweetness. It is the standard foundation for pilsner, helles and many pale lagers. Read the guideAlso: Pils malt
- Pitching Fermentation and conditioning
- Adding yeast to cooled, aerated wort to start fermentation. The amount and health of yeast pitched decide how quickly and cleanly the beer ferments. Read the guide
- Pitching rate Ingredients
- Number of yeast cells added per millilitre of wort per degree Plato. Common guides are about 0.75 million cells for ales and 1.5 million for lagers; under-pitching invites off-flavours. Read the guide
- Plato Brewhouse
- Percentage by weight of dissolved extract in wort, so 12 °P means 12 g of extract per 100 g of wort. It is the standard gravity unit in professional brewing. Read the guideAlso: Degrees Plato, °P
- Porter Tasting and styles
- Dark brown ale from 18th-century London with chocolate, caramel and toast flavours, usually softer in roast than stout. The line between the two has always been blurry. Read the guide
- Pot still Wine and spirits
- Copper still run in batches, usually twice for malt whisky, giving a heavier, more flavourful spirit. The copper also strips out sulphur compounds. Read the guide
- Primary fermentation Fermentation and conditioning
- Main fermentation, when yeast consumes most of the sugar, usually lasting a few days to two weeks depending on style and temperature. Most flavour compounds form here. Read the guideAlso: Primary
- Priming sugar Fermentation and conditioning
- Measured sugar added before bottling or kegging so the remaining yeast produces the right carbonation. Too much can cause gushing or burst bottles. Read the guide
- Proof Wine and spirits
- Older measure of alcohol strength. US proof is twice the ABV, so 40% ABV is 80 proof; British proof differs, with 100 proof equal to about 57.1% ABV. Read the guideAlso: ABV versus proof
- Protease Brewhouse
- Group of enzymes that break proteins into smaller pieces, including amino acids yeast can use. Most of this work happens during malting rather than in the mash. Read the guideAlso: Proteolytic enzymes
- Protein rest Brewhouse
- Rest around 45 to 55 °C (113 to 131 °F) where protein-degrading enzymes work. Useful with undermodified malt, it can thin body and foam with modern malts if overdone. Read the guide
- PVPP Fermentation and conditioning
- Fine plastic powder that binds haze-forming polyphenols and is removed with them. Dosed before filtration, it improves haze stability and shelf life. Read the guideAlso: Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone
Q
- Quality agreement Business and India
- Written contract between a brand owner and a host brewery setting out specifications, testing, sign-off and who pays for failed batches. It prevents arguments when a batch goes wrong. Read the guide
R
- Real attenuation Fermentation and conditioning
- Share of extract truly fermented, correcting for alcohol being lighter than water, which flatters hydrometer readings. It is always lower than apparent attenuation, roughly 0.8 times it. Read the guide
- Refractometer Packaging and quality
- Handheld instrument that reads sugar content from how much a drop of liquid bends light. It is quick for wort, but alcohol distorts readings once fermentation starts, so a correction is needed. Read the guide
- Residual alkalinity Ingredients
- Alkalinity left over once calcium and magnesium have offset part of it in the mash. It predicts how a water will shift mash pH, so it shows which beer colours that water suits. Read the guideAlso: RA
- Returnable bottle Packaging and quality
- Glass bottle collected after use, washed and refilled. Common in Indian mass-market beer, it cuts packaging cost but needs careful inspection for chips, residue and scuffing. Read the guide
- Rice Ingredients
- Adjunct that gives a very light, crisp, dry beer with almost no flavour of its own. Its starch gelatinises at high temperature, so it is usually cooked in a cereal cooker before joining the mash. Read the guideAlso: Broken rice, Rice grits
- RO water Ingredients
- Water forced through a fine membrane that strips out almost all dissolved minerals. It gives brewers a blank slate to rebuild with salts, useful where borewell water is hard or variable. Read the guideAlso: Reverse osmosis water
- Roasted malt Ingredients
- Malt roasted at high temperature to give dark colour plus coffee, chocolate or burnt flavours. Used in small amounts, it defines porters and stouts but brings no usable enzymes. Read the guideAlso: Chocolate malt, Black malt
- Route to market Business and India
- Path a product takes from brewery to drinker through depots, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. In India state rules often decide who may buy from whom. Read the guide
S
- Saccharification rest Brewhouse
- Main conversion rest, usually 62 to 72 °C (144 to 162 °F), where amylases turn starch into sugars. Lower temperatures make a more fermentable wort, higher ones a fuller-bodied beer. Read the guideAlso: Conversion rest
- Saison Tasting and styles
- Dry, spicy, highly carbonated Belgian farmhouse ale with peppery and fruity yeast character. It was originally brewed for seasonal farm workers in Wallonia. Read the guideAlso: farmhouse ale
- Sanitising Packaging and quality
- Reducing microbes on an already clean surface to a safe level with chemicals such as peracetic acid or with hot water. Sanitising a dirty surface does little because soil shields bacteria. Read the guide
- Sensory panel Packaging and quality
- Trained group of tasters who assess beer by agreed methods, checking flavour, faults and trueness to brand. Their scores are QC data, just like lab numbers. Read the guide
- Serving temperature Tasting and styles
- Temperature at which a beer shows its best. Light lagers suit about 3 to 5°C (37 to 41°F), while strong dark ales open up nearer 10 to 13°C (50 to 55°F). Read the guide
- Session beer Tasting and styles
- Lower-alcohol beer, usually under about 5% ABV, built so several can be enjoyed in one sitting. A good one still needs flavour and balance. Read the guide
- Shelf life Packaging and quality
- How long a packaged beer stays within its intended flavour, set by the brewery from forced ageing and real-time tasting. Heat in Indian supply chains can shorten it sharply. Read the guide
- Shipments Business and India
- Volume a brewery sends to distributors or depots, recorded at the factory gate. Shipments can rise while real consumer sales fall, so they are read alongside depletions. Read the guide
- Single malt Wine and spirits
- Whisky made only from malted barley at a single distillery. Scotch single malt must also be distilled in pot stills and aged at least three years in oak. Read the guide
- Skunky Packaging and quality
- Pungent smell like a skunk, burnt rubber or cannabis from 3-MBT, a sulphur compound formed when light hits hop compounds. Brown glass and cans prevent it. Read the guideAlso: 3-MBT
- Solera Wine and spirits
- Fractional blending system of barrel tiers used for sherry, where wine for bottling comes from the oldest tier and is topped up from younger ones. Each bottle holds a little very old wine. Read the guide
- Sour beer Tasting and styles
- Any beer with deliberate tartness from lactic or acetic acid, made with bacteria such as Lactobacillus or Pediococcus or by blending. Methods range from quick kettle souring to years in barrels. Read the guide
- Sour infection Packaging and quality
- Unwanted sourness from lactic or acetic acid bacteria, often with haze, ropiness or vinegar notes. It usually traces back to a hygiene gap in hoses, heat exchangers or packaging. Read the guide
- Sparging Brewhouse
- Rinsing the grain bed with hot water, usually around 75 to 78 °C (167 to 172 °F), to wash out remaining sugar. Over-sparging pulls tannins once runnings get thin and pH rises. Read the guideAlso: Sparge
- Speciality malt Ingredients
- Any malt used in small amounts for colour, flavour or body rather than fermentable extract, including crystal, roasted and smoked malts. Most have little or no enzyme power. Read the guideAlso: Specialty malt
- Specific gravity Brewhouse
- Density of wort or beer relative to water, which reads 1.000. A 12 °P wort is about 1.048; brewers use it to track fermentation and work out alcohol. Read the guideAlso: SG
- Spectrophotometer Packaging and quality
- Lab instrument that measures how much light a sample absorbs at a set wavelength. Breweries use it for colour, bitterness units and other standard methods. Read the guide
- Spent grain Brewhouse
- Wet husks and grain residue left after lautering. It is usually sold or given away as cattle feed. Read the guideAlso: Brewers' grains
- Spunding Fermentation and conditioning
- Closing a fermenter near the end of fermentation so its own CO2 builds pressure and carbonates the beer. A spunding valve releases gas above the set pressure. Read the guideAlso: Spunding valve
- SRM Tasting and styles
- American scale for beer colour, measured from light absorbance at 430 nm. Pale lagers sit around 2 to 4 while stouts reach 40 or more. Read the guideAlso: Standard Reference Method
- STA1 Ingredients
- Gene that lets some yeast make glucoamylase, an enzyme that breaks down dextrins most brewing yeast cannot ferment. STA1-positive strains over-attenuate and are a gushing risk if they reach packaged beer. Read the guideAlso: STA1 gene
- Staling Packaging and quality
- Slow loss of fresh character as beer ages, driven by oxygen, heat and time. Hop aroma fades first; papery, honey or sherry notes follow. Read the guide
- Stationary phase Fermentation and conditioning
- Stage when yeast stops multiplying as sugar runs low and begins to settle. It is also when yeast reabsorbs diacetyl and acetaldehyde. Read the guide
- Step mash Brewhouse
- Mash raised through several temperature rests, for example a protein rest, saccharification rests and mash out. It helps with undermodified malts or grists high in adjuncts. Read the guideAlso: Step mashing, Temperature-programmed mash
- Stout Tasting and styles
- Dark, roasty ale made with roasted barley or dark malts, with coffee and dark chocolate flavours. Styles range from dry Irish stout to sweet milk stout and strong imperial versions. Read the guide
- Stuck fermentation Fermentation and conditioning
- Fermentation that stops before reaching the expected final gravity. Common causes are under-pitching, too little oxygen, a sudden temperature drop or a poorly fermentable wort. Read the guide
- Stuck mash Brewhouse
- Mash or lauter that stops draining because the grain bed has compacted or clogged. Too fine a crush, sticky grains and drawing wort off too fast are common causes. Read the guideAlso: Set mash
- Sulphate to chloride ratio Ingredients
- Balance between sulphate, which sharpens hop bitterness and dryness, against chloride, which rounds out malt and body. Ratios above 2:1 lean hoppy while ratios below 1:1 lean malty. Read the guideAlso: SO4:Cl ratio
- Sulphites Wine and spirits
- Sulphur dioxide added to wine to protect it from oxidation and spoilage microbes. Most wines contain some, which is why many markets require a sulphite warning on the label. Read the guideAlso: SO2, sulphur dioxide
- Sulphur Packaging and quality
- Rotten egg or struck match aroma from hydrogen sulphide and related compounds made by yeast. A trace in young lager often fades with conditioning; persistent sulphur suggests stressed yeast. Read the guideAlso: H2S
T
- Tannin Wine and spirits
- Polyphenols from grape skins, seeds, stems and oak that give red wine its drying grip. Tannin softens with age and helps a wine last. Read the guide
- Tannins Brewhouse
- Astringent compounds from husks and hops. Over-sparging, hot or alkaline sparge water and a very fine crush extract more of them, giving a harsh, drying finish. Read the guideAlso: Polyphenols
- Taproom Business and India
- Bar attached to a production brewery where its own beer is poured fresh. It earns the full retail margin and builds the brand directly with drinkers. Read the guide
- Terroir Wine and spirits
- Combined effect of site, soil, climate and slope on the character of a wine. It explains why the same grape tastes different from different vineyards. Read the guide
- Thiols Ingredients
- Sulphur compounds giving intense tropical, passion fruit and grapefruit aromas at extremely low concentrations. Much of their potential sits locked in bound forms that certain yeasts can release. Read the guide
- Total package oxygen Packaging and quality
- All the oxygen in a sealed package: the dissolved oxygen in the beer plus the oxygen in the headspace. It is the figure that best predicts how fast a packaged beer will stale. Read the guideAlso: TPO
- Traditional method Wine and spirits
- Sparkling wine method where a second fermentation happens in the bottle, followed by ageing on lees, riddling and disgorging. Champagne is made this way. Read the guideAlso: méthode traditionnelle
- Transport permit Business and India
- Document issued by the state excise department to move alcohol from a brewery to a warehouse, retailer or another state. Requirements and processes vary by state. Read the guideAlso: excise pass
- Triangle test Packaging and quality
- Sensory test where tasters get three samples, two identical and one different, then must pick the odd one. It shows whether a process change makes a detectable difference. Read the guide
- Trub Brewhouse
- Sediment of coagulated protein, hop debris and fats left after the boil or at the bottom of a fermenter. Separating it gives a cleaner fermentation. Read the guide
- True to type Packaging and quality
- Sensory check of whether a batch tastes as the brand should, judged against a fresh reference sample. It catches drift that lab numbers alone can miss. Read the guideAlso: TTT
- Tunnel pasteuriser Packaging and quality
- Long machine that sprays filled bottles or cans with water in warming, holding and cooling zones as they travel through. It treats the beer inside the sealed pack. Read the guide
U
- Unitank Fermentation and conditioning
- Pressure-rated cylindroconical tank that can ferment, condition and carbonate beer in one vessel. Its cone lets yeast be dumped or harvested, saving transfers and oxygen pickup. Read the guide
V
- Vapour infusion Wine and spirits
- Gin method where botanicals sit in a basket above the boiling spirit so the rising vapour extracts their aroma. It gives a lighter, more delicate result than soaking the botanicals in the spirit. Read the guide
- VDK Fermentation and conditioning
- Diacetyl plus 2,3-pentanedione, measured together in the lab. Many breweries cool a beer only once VDK falls below their set limit. Read the guideAlso: Vicinal diketones
- Viability Ingredients
- Percentage of yeast cells in a slurry or pack that are alive, usually checked with a stain such as methylene blue under a microscope. It decides how much yeast you actually need to pitch. Read the guideAlso: Yeast viability
- Vintage Wine and spirits
- Year the grapes were harvested, printed on many wine labels. Weather that year shapes quality, so vintage matters most in marginal climates. Read the guide
- Vitality Ingredients
- Metabolic fitness of living yeast cells, or how ready they are to ferment strongly. Viable but stressed yeast can still give a slow start and off-flavours. Read the guideAlso: Yeast vitality
- Volumes of CO2 Fermentation and conditioning
- Unit of carbonation where one volume means the beer holds its own volume of CO2 at standard temperature and pressure. Most lagers sit around 2.5 to 2.8 volumes, British cask ales much lower. Read the guideAlso: Vols
- Vorlauf Brewhouse
- Recirculating the first cloudy runnings back over the grain bed until the wort runs clear. It sets the filter bed before collection into the kettle starts. Read the guideAlso: Recirculation
W
- Wash Wine and spirits
- Fermented liquid, much like an unhopped beer, that a distiller feeds into the still. For malt whisky it is usually around 7 to 9% ABV. Read the guide
- West Coast IPA Tasting and styles
- American IPA that is clear, dry and assertively bitter, with piney, resinous and citrus hop character. It grew up in California and the Pacific Northwest. Read the guide
- Wheat beer Tasting and styles
- Beer brewed with a large share of wheat, often half the grist or more, giving a soft body and good foam. Styles include hefeweizen, witbier and American wheat. Read the guide
- Wheat malt Ingredients
- Malted wheat, which has no husk and carries more protein than barley malt. It boosts foam and body, making it essential in hefeweizen and common in other wheat beers. Read the guide
- Whirlpool Brewhouse
- Swirling hot wort after the boil so trub and hop debris collect in a cone at the centre of the vessel. Brewers also add whirlpool hops here for aroma. Read the guide
- Whole cone hops Ingredients
- Dried hop cones left otherwise unprocessed. They are bulky and oxidise faster than pellets, yet some brewers prefer their gentler aroma and they work as a filter bed in a hop back. Read the guideAlso: Leaf hops, Whole hops
- Wort Brewhouse
- Sweet liquid drained from the mash that becomes beer once it is boiled, hopped and fermented. Pronounced 'wurt', it is the brewer's main product until the yeast goes in. Read the guide
- Wort aeration Brewhouse
- Adding oxygen to cooled wort so yeast can build healthy cell membranes. It is the only point in brewing where oxygen is wanted; later it causes staling. Read the guideAlso: Oxygenation
- WSET Tasting and styles
- London-based education body offering graded qualifications in wine, spirits, sake and beer through approved course providers worldwide, including in India. Read the guideAlso: Wine and Spirit Education Trust
Y
- Yeast Ingredients
- Single-celled fungus that ferments wort sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide while producing many flavour compounds. Brewing strains are mostly Saccharomyces species, chosen for flavour and reliability. Read the guide
- Yeast harvesting Fermentation and conditioning
- Collecting healthy yeast from a fermenter cone to pitch into a later batch. Breweries track generations and viability so they know when to start fresh. Read the guideAlso: Yeast cropping, Repitching
- Yield Brewhouse
- Amount of extract or wort obtained from a given weight of malt. Brewers track it every brew because a small drop adds up to large malt costs over a year. Read the guideAlso: Brewhouse yield
Z
- Zinc Ingredients
- Trace mineral yeast needs for healthy enzyme activity and growth. Wort is often short of it, so brewers commonly add a small dose of around 0.1 to 0.2 mg/L to the kettle. Read the guide
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