Some people say 2016 was an awful year, peppered with celebrity deaths, political hi-jinks, exploding cell phones, and seemingly rampant terrorism. But when all the dust settles there's always Homebrew Talk, and homebrew conquers all. We even got up and running on a new Wordpress platform for the article area, and posted 72 articles this year, but which ones were the best? Let's take a look at some of the top articles from last year that you may have missed.
mounted temp controller
Full Article by Justinian Hatfield : Justinian wrote a comprehensive guide to temperature controllers. He covered single and dual stage controllers, digital vs. analog, probe placement, and gave a list of available products, prices, and features. If you're looking to get fermentation temperature control nailed down in 2017, this is a great place to start.
Full Article by Brad Probert : Brad wrote several articles throughout the year, most of them comparing different varieties of brewing tools in side-by-side testing. This article in particular was the only one to break the top 10, but many others were very close. For this trial, he took on the task of putting some of the fermentation temperature management tools to the test. Brad covered one of the cool-bag systems where you add / remove frozen water bottles, the Cool Zone system and the Brew Jacket Immersion system. For those of you who like to see data and crunch numbers, be sure to view the lager fermentation trial at the end of the article.
Full Article by Shawn Marchese : Number eight on our top articles features a discussion on all-in-one brewing systems. More specifically the Grainfather and Picobrew are looked in detail.
*Instead of single vessel, the proper label would be all-in-one brewing systems. Head to the comments section of that article to see a great continued discussion on the topic.
Brewing the inaugural batch!
Full Article by Stephen Burch : Stephen put together an extremely well rounded article on his electric brewery build, and the process from start to finish in general. If you are into electric brewing, or are interested in starting, this is not one to miss. This article also has a lengthy extended discussion in the comments section. Pictured above is his finished setup in action.
Full Article by Justin Amaral : A home run out of left field is how I would describe number six on our top articles of 2016. I've always been one for playing around with different brewing methods, and it appears the rest of the community is as well. The article features a little bit of history accompanied with a healthy list of ideas for hop substitutes, recipe research, and an overview of how he made his own gruit. If you're interested in brewing a beer with herbs and spices instead of hops, this gruit article is just what you're looking for.
Full Article by Lonnie Smith : Another winner from the Other Fermentations category (something that doesn't get enough articles in my opinion). This time on cider making instead of gruits. Lonnie covers the basics of cider making, her twist on Edwort's famous recipe, selecting apples for cider, and as a bonus, there is another healthy discussion in the comments section. This article scratches the surface for those interested in making cider, but for even more information, you should visit the cider sub forum to get more info from the homebrewers making it regularly.
If you get lucky, you can get a decent fridge on the cheap or even free.
Full Article by Troy Stouffer : Number four almost didn't exist. I was new to being the Editor here and I hadn't gained much confidence in letting the author know that major revisions were needed on their hard work, especially when I had assigned the topic from our topics list. So the article sat in a dark place in the editors forum for quite a while (2-3 months). The author had done two rounds of revisions already, and it still wasn't where we (myself and the other editors) thought it should be. Before scrapping it all together, I told Troy we were going to try one more round of edits with not guarantee of it passing through to the front page. Troy put even more time into the article and we were able to publish it. Turns out to have been the right decision. Thanks Troy!
Full Article by Pete Geisen : We're down to the top three for 2016. Unlike number four, myself and the other editors had full confidence that this article would succeed (not like we know anything, as is evidenced by #4). Pete compares 3 different yeast banking techniques, provides an in-depth process for each method. If you're into yeast, or keeping a yeast bank, this article is your holy grail. Honestly. Go check it out.
Full Article by Michael Schmidt : We get a couple DIY Chamber type articles each year. This one provides a great step by step process with lots of photos to guide you along. This version take the mini fridge with a larger insulated box built around it approach. The back is left open to release heat (that's an important thing to note).
Full Article by Craft Beer News : This one knocked a lot of people off their feet. Not the article itself but the content and subject of it. There was a thread breaking the news at first. It said an inside source had told someone about the buyout, and that it was to be kept low-key. It was hard to believe, and without any press release or other information online, it was easy to brush aside as false. After all, why would one of our own homebrew supply stores side with the enemy that had mocked craft beer and as an extension, homebrewing, in the past? The news eventually did break, and the original poster's information had been proven to be true. And this has to be on the list of crappiest things to happen in 2016 right?
We're always looking for writers to contribute articles to the front-page of homebrewtalk. You don't need to be a professional, or even semi-professional writer to contribute. Many of these authors are first time writers (for us) and they made it to the top ten. If you know about homebrewing, craft beer, something else that might be interesting, or just want to see what we have on our topics list, message myself (marshmallowblue), or Yooper. After that, I'll get in touch with you with more details! Here's to brewing your 100/200 gallon limit this year!
Cheers.
#10: Idiots Guide to Temperature Controllers
Full Article by Justinian Hatfield : Justinian wrote a comprehensive guide to temperature controllers. He covered single and dual stage controllers, digital vs. analog, probe placement, and gave a list of available products, prices, and features. If you're looking to get fermentation temperature control nailed down in 2017, this is a great place to start.
#9: Fermentation Chiller Systems & Findings
Full Article by Brad Probert : Brad wrote several articles throughout the year, most of them comparing different varieties of brewing tools in side-by-side testing. This article in particular was the only one to break the top 10, but many others were very close. For this trial, he took on the task of putting some of the fermentation temperature management tools to the test. Brad covered one of the cool-bag systems where you add / remove frozen water bottles, the Cool Zone system and the Brew Jacket Immersion system. For those of you who like to see data and crunch numbers, be sure to view the lager fermentation trial at the end of the article.
#8: Benefits and Disadvantages of Single Vessel* Brewing Systems
Full Article by Shawn Marchese : Number eight on our top articles features a discussion on all-in-one brewing systems. More specifically the Grainfather and Picobrew are looked in detail.
*Instead of single vessel, the proper label would be all-in-one brewing systems. Head to the comments section of that article to see a great continued discussion on the topic.
#7: Electric Brewery Build
Full Article by Stephen Burch : Stephen put together an extremely well rounded article on his electric brewery build, and the process from start to finish in general. If you are into electric brewing, or are interested in starting, this is not one to miss. This article also has a lengthy extended discussion in the comments section. Pictured above is his finished setup in action.
#6: Rise of the Gruit
Full Article by Justin Amaral : A home run out of left field is how I would describe number six on our top articles of 2016. I've always been one for playing around with different brewing methods, and it appears the rest of the community is as well. The article features a little bit of history accompanied with a healthy list of ideas for hop substitutes, recipe research, and an overview of how he made his own gruit. If you're interested in brewing a beer with herbs and spices instead of hops, this gruit article is just what you're looking for.
#5: The Cider Making No-Brainer
Full Article by Lonnie Smith : Another winner from the Other Fermentations category (something that doesn't get enough articles in my opinion). This time on cider making instead of gruits. Lonnie covers the basics of cider making, her twist on Edwort's famous recipe, selecting apples for cider, and as a bonus, there is another healthy discussion in the comments section. This article scratches the surface for those interested in making cider, but for even more information, you should visit the cider sub forum to get more info from the homebrewers making it regularly.
#4: New or Used Fridge for a Fermentation Chamber?
Full Article by Troy Stouffer : Number four almost didn't exist. I was new to being the Editor here and I hadn't gained much confidence in letting the author know that major revisions were needed on their hard work, especially when I had assigned the topic from our topics list. So the article sat in a dark place in the editors forum for quite a while (2-3 months). The author had done two rounds of revisions already, and it still wasn't where we (myself and the other editors) thought it should be. Before scrapping it all together, I told Troy we were going to try one more round of edits with not guarantee of it passing through to the front page. Troy put even more time into the article and we were able to publish it. Turns out to have been the right decision. Thanks Troy!
#3: Maintaining a Healthy Yeast Bank Long Term
Full Article by Pete Geisen : We're down to the top three for 2016. Unlike number four, myself and the other editors had full confidence that this article would succeed (not like we know anything, as is evidenced by #4). Pete compares 3 different yeast banking techniques, provides an in-depth process for each method. If you're into yeast, or keeping a yeast bank, this article is your holy grail. Honestly. Go check it out.
#2: DIY Fermentation Chamber
Full Article by Michael Schmidt : We get a couple DIY Chamber type articles each year. This one provides a great step by step process with lots of photos to guide you along. This version take the mini fridge with a larger insulated box built around it approach. The back is left open to release heat (that's an important thing to note).
#1: AB Inbev Acquires Northern Brewer
Full Article by Craft Beer News : This one knocked a lot of people off their feet. Not the article itself but the content and subject of it. There was a thread breaking the news at first. It said an inside source had told someone about the buyout, and that it was to be kept low-key. It was hard to believe, and without any press release or other information online, it was easy to brush aside as false. After all, why would one of our own homebrew supply stores side with the enemy that had mocked craft beer and as an extension, homebrewing, in the past? The news eventually did break, and the original poster's information had been proven to be true. And this has to be on the list of crappiest things to happen in 2016 right?
Want to Make This List Next Year?
We're always looking for writers to contribute articles to the front-page of homebrewtalk. You don't need to be a professional, or even semi-professional writer to contribute. Many of these authors are first time writers (for us) and they made it to the top ten. If you know about homebrewing, craft beer, something else that might be interesting, or just want to see what we have on our topics list, message myself (marshmallowblue), or Yooper. After that, I'll get in touch with you with more details! Here's to brewing your 100/200 gallon limit this year!
Cheers.
