Brewing, Distilling & Food Production

This section covers the raw grains, hops, botanicals, and chemical compounds added to a recipe.

• Adjunct
  An unmalted grain or fermentable carbohydrate added to a mash to supplement the primary malt.
• Adjunctive
  Serving as a supplementary ingredient or additive in a brewing or food production process.
• Alpha acid
  A class of chemical compounds in hop resin that provides the primary bittering agent in beer.
• FAN
  Free amino nitrogen, a measure of the amino acids and small peptides available for yeast nutrition.
• Gruit
  A traditional blend of herbs and botanicals used to bitter and flavour beer before the widespread adoption of hops.

Here you will find the terminology for microbial cultures and the biological conversion of sugars into alcohol.

• Attenuate
  To consume dissolved sugars during fermentation and convert them into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
• Attenuation
  The percentage of original sugars in a wort or must that yeast has converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
• Attenuative
  Describing a yeast strain's inherent capability to ferment a high proportion of available sugars.
• Bottom fermentation
  A brewing process where yeast ferments at cold temperatures and settles at the base of the tank.
• Brewer's yeast
  The specific strains of yeast cultivated for fermenting beer, or the inactive byproduct sold as a supplement.
• Kräusenalso krausening
  To carbonate and condition beer by adding a small amount of actively fermenting wort.
• Oberhefealso top yeast
  A traditional German term for top-fermenting ale yeast.
• Ragialso ragi tape
  A dry starter culture of molds and yeasts used to ferment rice wines and spirits.
• Top fermentation
  A brewing process where yeast cells rise to the surface of the liquid during active fermentation.
• Turbo yeast
  A specialized blend of highly alcohol-tolerant yeast and chemical nutrients designed for rapid fermentation.
• Unterhefealso bottom yeast, lager yeast
  A German term for bottom-fermenting yeast used primarily in the production of lagers.

These entries define the physical and thermal steps used to extract, boil, and cool liquids on the production floor.

• Back-sweetenalso backsweeten
  To add sugar, juice, or unfermented must to a beverage after primary fermentation is complete.
• Burtonize
  To treat brewing water with sulfate salts to mimic the hard water of Burton upon Trent.
• Couch
  A thick layer of steeped grain spread out to begin germination during the malting process.
• Lautering
  The process of separating sweet liquid wort from the spent grain solids after mashing.
• Malaxationalso kneading
  The slow, continuous mixing of milled fruit or seeds to encourage oil droplets to merge.
• Mash
  A hot mixture of crushed malt and water where enzymes convert grain starches into fermentable sugars.
• Mashoutalso mash-out
  The process of raising the mash temperature to halt enzymatic activity before lautering.
• Rework
  Off-spec or leftover food product that is safely blended back into a new production batch.
• Whirlpooling
  The process of spinning hot wort in a circular motion to force solid particles into a compact cone at the center.

This category explains the specific tanks, heat exchangers, and mechanical devices used to process food and beverages.

• Blowoffalso blow-off tube
  A tube or assembly used to vent excess foam, yeast, and carbon dioxide from an actively fermenting vessel.
• Calandria
  A high-efficiency tubular heat exchanger used to boil wort inside a brew kettle.
• Flighter
  A mechanical scraper or rotating vane used to agitate cooling wort in traditional brewing.
• Hopback
  A sealed vessel placed between the brew kettle and the chiller to extract volatile hop aromatics.
• Keelalso coolship
  A broad, shallow vessel traditionally used for cooling hot liquids in a brewery.
• Keelfatalso keel, coolship
  A traditional shallow vessel used to rapidly cool hot wort before fermentation.
• Mash tun
  An insulated or heated vessel where crushed grains and hot water are mixed to convert starches to sugars.
• Masheralso mashing machine, Steel's masher
  A mechanical device or vessel component used to mix milled grain and water.
• Penstaff
  A vertical plug or rod used to control the drain valve at the bottom of a mash tun.
• Pin
  A small brewery cask holding 4.5 Imperial gallons, equal to half a firkin.
• Polypin
  A flexible plastic container in a cardboard box used to transport and serve 4.5 gallons of ale.
• Underbackalso grant, wort grant
  A collection vessel located below the mash tun that receives the sweet wort as it drains.

These terms describe the transitional liquids and leftover solids generated during manufacturing.

• Beerwortalso wort, sweet wort
  The sweet, unfermented liquid extracted from the mashing of malted grains.
• Blue john
  An old brewing term for thin, low-density afterwort or partially fermented wort. Shop talk
• Mashwort
  The unseparated mixture of sweet liquid and spent grains present during the mashing process.
• Trubalso break material, lees
  The layer of sediment that settles at the bottom of a brewing vessel after boiling or fermentation.
• Wortalso sweet wort, hopped wort
  The sweet, unfermented liquid extracted from mashed grains that serves as the basis for beer or whisky.

This section details the off-flavors, visual flaws, and biological contaminations that ruin a finished product.

• Hazealso turbidity, cloudiness
  A cloudy or turbid appearance in a beverage caused by suspended particles.
• Spoilage
  The degradation of food or beverage products making them unfit for consumption.
• Yeast-bittenalso autolyzed
  Describing a beer that has taken on harsh, bitter, or meaty off-flavors from prolonged contact with dead yeast. Shop talk

Here are the informal phrases workers use to describe broken equipment, stressful shifts, and factory areas.

• Blowed upalso blown up, in the weeds
  A state of being completely overwhelmed by a sudden rush of tasks or a cascade of equipment failures. Shop talk
• Boneyard
  An outdoor storage area where decommissioned equipment and spare parts are kept. Shop talk
• Knacker's yardalso boneyard
  A rendering plant or the specific area of a slaughterhouse where inedible animal byproducts are processed. Shop talk