A list of terms used in brewing

Adjuncts - Apart from barley beer can obtain fermentable sugars from other grains such as maize (corn), rice, sorghum, wheat, cane sugar and glucose.

Ale - Mainly made in the UK and Ireland. Flavours come from well modified and biscuity flavoured malts which are sometimes highly coloured, sometimes very bitter and uses a top fermenting yeast. Ales come in various forms bitters, pales and mild beers.

Beer - Alcoholic beverage produced from cereal grains.

Bright Beer - Clear beer resulting from the filtration process.

Centrifuge - Equipment used in commercial breweries to remove yeast from the beer after fermentation.

Chill Haze - Results from precipitated proteins that are visible in the beer, making it appear cloudy.

CIP (Cleaning In Place) - The process of cleaning tanks and lines, commonly with hot caustic.

Fermentation - The process of changing simple sugars into alcohol and CO2

Filtration - Process whereby haze and particulate matter is removed from the beer.

Grist - The resulting malt crush after passing malt grain through a mill.

Kettle - Vessel used to boil wort and place to add hops and adjuncts.

Lager - Biggest proportion of beer sold. Has a delicate flavour which comes from relatively under-modified and lightly kilned malt, has a relatively low bitterness, uses a bottom fermenting yeast and a cold maturation.

Lauter Tun - Vessel which has a false bottom consisting of fine slits or holes (strainer) used to separate wort from the grain husks.

Liquor (Hot and Cold) - Water used in the mashing or cooling process.

Mashing - The combining of hot water (liquor) and grist in a mash tun to release sugars.

Mash Tun - Vessel used to enzymatically convert starches into simple sugars in preparation for yeast fermentation.

Maturation - Term used for ameliorating (make better) flavours and maturing the beer resulting in clean, flavoursome beer.

Pasteurisation - Process of heating beer to 'kill' micro-organisms in beer.

Pitching - Term used to inoculate yeast into wort, adding yeast to wort.

Sparging (Lautering) - is done at the end of the mash process, before the boil. The purpose is to extract the sugars created by the mashing process and dissolve them into hot water to form wort.

Stabilisation - Process whereby haze, particulate matter and flavour are stabilized.

Stuck Fermentation - occurs in brewing beer or winemaking when the yeast become dormant before the fermentation has completed.

Stuck Mash - Mash that will not filter properly in a lauter tun. Stuck mashes are usually caused by some issue with the grain bed or the wort collection system that will not filter properly.

Trub - A fluffy product produced by the boiling of wort, proteins separate from the wort during boiling. Trub also refers to layer of sediment that appears at the bottom of the fermenter after yeast has completed the bulk of the fermentation.

Whirlpool - Vessel used for spinning the wort to help in separation and settling of trub.

Wort - (wûrt, wôrt) Liquid produced after mashing and separation of husk in the lauter tun.