Brewing-Related Acronyms

To give credit where credit is due, I found this on the BrewBoard Forums, originally posted by cj in j

Thought this might help out us beginners... :rockin:


AA - Alpha Acid
AAU - Alpha Acid Unit (the same as HBU)
ABV - Alcohol By Volume
ABW - Alcohol By Weight
AG - All-Grain
AHA - American Homebrewers Association
APA - American Pale Ale
B - Brix or Balling (a measure of sugar)
B3 - Beer, Beer, and More Beer
BBBOT (or 3BOT) - Big-Bore Blowoff Tube
BJCP - Beer Judge Certification Program
BMC - Bud Miller Coors
BOP - Brew on Premises
BTU - British Thermal Unit
BYO - Brew Your Own magazine
BW - Barleywine
C&S - Crankandstein, a maker of malt mills
CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale (a Britain’s organization for the preservation of cask-conditioned ales)
CAP - Classic American Pilsner
CFC - Counterflow Chiller
CPBF - Counter-Pressure Bottle Filler (same as CPF)
CPF - Counter-Pressure Filler (same as CPBF)
CPVC - Chlorinated PolyVinyl Choloride
DME - Dry Malt Extract
DMS - Dimethyl Sulphide (produces cooked corn aroma in wort that isn't cooled quickly enough)
EKG - East Kent Goldings
FG - Final Gravity
FWH - First Wort Hopping
GU - Gravity Unit (the two numbers of gravity reading; 1.062 = 62 GU)
HBA - HomeBrew Adventures
HBS - HomeBrew Store
HBU - Homebrew Bittering Units (Hop Ounces * Hop Alpha Acids)
HERMS - Heat Exchange Recirculation Mash System
HLT - Hot Liquor Tank
HSA - Hot Side Aeration
IBU - International Bitterness Units
IC - Immersion Chiller
IIPA - Imperial India Pale Ale
IPA - India Pale Ale
JPA - Japan Pale Ale (special IPA kit available at HBA)
L (*L) - Lovibond
LHBS - Local Homebrew Supply Store
LME - Liquid Malt Extract
LT - Lauter tun
MLT - Mash/Lauter Tun
MO - Maris Otter
MPS - Mass Produced Swill
MT - Mash Tun
NB - Northern Brewer
O2 - Oxygen
OG - Original Gravity
P - Plato (a measure of sugar)
PBW - Powdered Brewery Wash
pH - Potential Hydrogen; The Power of Hydrogen
PPM - Parts Per Million
PPPG - potential point per gallon
PVC - PolyVinyl Choloride
QD - Quick Disconnect
RDWHAHB - Relax, Don't Worry, Have A HomeBrew
RIMS - Recirculating Infusion Mash System
RO - Reverse Osmosis
SG - Specific Gravity
SRM - Standard Reverence Method (Same as Lovibond)
SS - Stainless Steel
Swill - Refers to tasteless mass-produced lager, such as Bud Miller Coors
TG - Terminal Gravity (same as Final Gravity)
WLP - White Labs yeast (eg, WLP-001 = California Ale)

Chemical Symbols
Al - Aluminum
Ca - Calcium
CaCl2 - Calcium Chloride
CaCO3 - Chalk
CaSO4 - Gypsum
Cl - Cloride
HCO3 - Bicarbonates
Mg - Magnesium
MgSO4 - Epsom Salt
Na - Sodium
NaCl - Canning Salt
NaHCO3 - Baking Soda
SO4 - Sulfate

Other Acronyms
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
bttt - Back To The Top [used when bumping a post]
BTW - By The Way
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW - For What It's Worth
IIRC - If I Recall/Remember Correctly
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMNTLBHO - In My Not The Least Bit Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
PITA - Pain In The Ass
PUI - Posting Under the Influence
ROT - Rule Of Thumb
SWMBO - She Who Must Be Obeyed
TIA - Thanks In Advance
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary
WTF - What The F**k ?


Hope this helps out some...

Sweet, someone should put this in the Handy Acronyms thread.

*cough* mods *cough*

I saw that thread, but by and large it was not a BREWING ACRONYM related thread. It was more FORUM related thread...

That is basically why I started this thread. But by all means post it in the other thread if you would like. No problem there....

What about WTF ????

I use that a lot when I brew

Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., perhaps we should keep the P.C. on the Q.T. or else it could leak out to the V.C. and then we'd all end up on K.P.

Truble said:

What about WTF ????

I use that a lot when I brew

Click to expand...

added :rockin:

Not brewing-specific, but http://www.acronymfinder.com/ is a great resource.

How about HBS (homebrew store)

loopmd said:

How about HBS (homebrew store)

Click to expand...

added :rockin:

Technically speaking, "swill" is not an acronym!