OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2026 | 37 WHAT ARE METHODS OR PRINCIPLES PRO BREWERS STICK TO THAT HOMEBREWERS WOULD DO WELL TO COPY? Almostallofthecoreprinciplesofbrewing science apply equally to homebrewing, such as mash temperatures and times, water chemistry, effective lautering, boiling fundamentals, fermentation management, and cellaring. But what many homebrewers don’t fully realize is how strongly the process of brewing influences the final beer’s flavour and quality. Instead, they often become overly focused on ingredients and recipe development. When judging homebrewed beer or talking with homebrewers, I've noticed that the key process areas where professional brewers tend to excel but homebrewers often overlook include: Getting wort off the grain during lautering, separating wort from trub during whirlpool and transfer, and removing beer from spent yeast and hops are all very crucial to beer quality. Most homebrew systems aren’t naturally designed to do well at this, however. So, brewers need to be especially attentive and deliberate when separating solids from liquids. 01 Solid–liquid separation. Most flawed homebrews I taste show some form of fermentation problem. Beer left on theyeast too long, unhealthy yeast, fermentation that is too warm, or yeast stressed by poor fermentation conditions. Homebrewers can correct that by carefully managing pitch rates and fermentation temperature. It's also important to remove the beer from the yeast immediately once primary fermentation is complete. Most brewing yeasts are not designed to remain on warm beer for extended periods. Ideally, brewers should cold-crash and then store the beer cold once fermentation is finished. 02 Fermentation and yeast health. In my experience, oxidation is often a bottling problem. Filling bottles without purging them introduces significant quantities of dissolved oxygen, which can then create off-flavours before the small amount of yeast used for bottle conditioning is able to absorb it. Sensitivity varies by style, but IPAs in particular lose their shine quickly with oxidation. Oxidation can also occur during dry hopping or transfers to secondary vessels. If you are transferring into an unpurged vessel, doing so while fermentation is still active at least allows yeast to scavenge introduced oxygen, reducing the risk of off-flavours. 03 Oxidation. Check your ingredients' packaging integrity and the production dates of your ingredients. For instance, small volume hop packaging used by homebrewers is often poorly sealed or no longer fresh, which will have a direct impact on your beer's quality. 04 Raw material freshness and quality. WHICH METHODS OR PRINCIPLES USED BY PRO BREWERS DON'T TRANSLATE WELL TO HOMEBREWING? Barrel ageing is a good example. The surface-area-to-volume ratios of small 50 – 100 litre barrels are very different from the 225 litre barrels we use commercially, often leading to excessive wood extraction and uncontrolled micro-oxidation. Achieving balanced results requires both time and managed cellar conditions that are difficult to replicate at small, homebrewing scale. Getting overly granular. Highly granular techniques, such as hot-side aeration control, decoction mashing, or newer hopping methods like cool- pooling or dip hopping (i.e. steeping hops in hot wort inside the fermenter before fermentation begins) often receive a great deal of attention from both pro and homebrewers. But, for most homebrewers (and many commercial brewers too), dialling in the fundamentals will deliver a far greater return in overall beer quality than experimenting with a new trending technique. New homebrewers can easily become fixated on a “secret ingredient” or novel dry-hopping method instead of focusing on process control. Yes, experimentation is great, and part of the joy of homebrewing, but it should come after the fundamentals are already in place. Otherwise, there’s no control variable to evaluate whether the experimental changes you made improved (or harmed) your beer. WHAT IS A GOOD BEER STYLE HOMEBREWERS CAN LEARN FROM? I'm a big fan of brewing XPAs (Extra Pale Ales). These brews act as good test beds for ingredients and brewing technique. XPAs are very clean, simple beers that allow both the ingredients and the process to shine, and have a pronounced hop character that’s important to so many good beers. Creating your own XPA recipe. To construct your own full-grain XPA recipe to use as a basis for your homebrew experiments, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind: