Have you ever been curious about blending two yeasts together during fermentation? What would happened if you mixed your favorite Saison and British strains? We’ll look at ways you can blend yeast strains to obtain your optimal fermentation and flavor profiles. We’ll consider the pros and cons of different methods More »

• Speaker(s):
• Kara Taylor

• Location: Ballroom D

How does Founders continue to invent new and exciting beers? Jeremy Kosmicki and Dave “Diamond” Deschaine will discuss recipe formulation, unique ingredients and processes, and how the brewery pushes the boundaries of their beer while still maintaining a delicious balance of flavors.

• Speaker(s):
• Dave "Diamond" Deschaine
• Jeremy Kosmicki

• Location: Ballroom B

The characteristics of sour beers are influenced less by the flavors contributed directly by the malt and more by the ways in which compounds in the wort influence the mixed fermentation. Join Michael Tonsmeire as he discusses practical techniques to control the levels of carbohydrates, acids, phenols, and proteins and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Michael Tonsmeire

• Location: Ballroom A

You’ve got your beer in a keg, but how do you get it out? Learn how to design and balance your draft system for the perfect pour of your beer, cider and mead. We’ll also talk about how and why to clean the lines, finding CO2 leaks (and avoiding them More »

• Speaker(s):
• Tom Schmidlin

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Ever wonder if you’re ruining your beer because of splashing your wort, over-mixing your mash or aggressively sparging? This seminar is the result of an AHA Research & Education Fund project, and will share the results of an experiment designed to test these concepts. Find guidance on which process steps More »

• Speaker(s):
• John Rozborski

• Location: Ballroom C

Do you want to know what Finnish Sahti is and how it is made? Are you familiar with Steinbeer, a German method of brewing beer with heated stones? Join homebrewers Geoff Groff and Mark Pangle as they discuss some of the more obscure as well as older beer styles and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Geoff Groff
• Mark Pangle

• Location: Ballroom D

The word on the street is that Cohumulone is bad, but what if it is just misunderstood? Mike Karnowski has a controversial theory that might change the way we think about the bad boy of alpha acids. Multiple beers brewed with various levels of cohumulone are analyzed to determine if More »

• Speaker(s):
• Mike Karnowski

• Location: Ballroom C

Do you feel like you’re getting inconsistent results from brew to brew? Mike “Tasty” McDole is well known for expounding the benefits of brewing consistency and how consistency matters in making quality, recipe-driven homebrew. This seminar will identify variables that affect consistency and ways to remove or control them.

• Speaker(s):
• Mike "Tasty" McDole

• Location: Ballroom B

Raise a glass to vintage beer! Treat yourself to a tour through time with beer historian/author Ron Pattinson of the blog Shut Up about Barclay Perkins. Ron will share brewing history and representative recipes from 1800 to 1950, from his new book, The Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beer. Ron More »

• Speaker(s):
• Paul Langlie
• Ron Pattinson

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Founders Brewing Co. has been aging beer in bourbon barrels since 2001. This seminar will discuss our process of selecting barrels and the beers to age, with particular attention focused on high-volume brands KBS and Backwoods Bastard. The growth of Founder’s barrel program from a single barrel to the thousands More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brett Kosmicki
• Jason Heystek

• Location: Ballroom A

How were brewing strains chosen to make beer? Douglas will provide Information every homebrewer can use to ensure their beer is properly fermented and does not contain off flavors associated with bad fermentation. We’ll discuss picking proper yeast strains, reusing yeast for multiple batches and storing cultures for future use, More »

• Speaker(s):
• Douglas Gladue

• Location: Ballroom D

Homebrew competitions involve more than just collecting and judging entries and handing out medals. To be successful, they require some vision and strong planning ahead of the judging date. From the entrant’s perspective, there are multiple competitions to choose from. They’re are a great way to gain feedback and tips More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brian Joas
• Bruce Buerger

• Location: Ballroom B

Join Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers co-author Colin Kaminski for a discussion of conditioning and aging beer, including when and how to rack, when and how to use finings, how to carbonate and measure, and steps to improve flavors and minimize problems from the brewhouse.

• Speaker(s):
• Colin Kaminski

• Location: Ballroom A

Brew In A Bag explained! We’ll cover every aspect of this method, including a few tips that will unravel the mystery of water volume and gravity. You will learn about equipment, insulation methods, bag material and uses, lifting techniques, and cooling. To spark ideas, we’ll show photos of rig set More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brian Phad
• Rex Slagel

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

It starts with a recipe and a dream of an award-winning homebrew; it ends with a trip to the emergency room and your spouse selling off all of your brewing equipment. Join Sean Wolfe, homebrewer and senior safety analyst for Lockheed Martin, as we work though some common safety concerns More »

• Speaker(s):
• Sean Wolfe

• Location: Ballroom C

Adam Mills, head brewer at Cranker’s Brewery in Big Rapids, Mich. will discuss the transition from homebrewing to brewing on a professional scale. He will address recipe scale-up, yeast handling and hopping rates with a special focus on whirlpool and dry hopping.

• Speaker(s):
• Adam Mills

• Location: Ballroom B

Have you ever wondered, like many homebrewers, where lager yeast originated and if it can be used to make good beer? Join Bret Baker as we delve into a recent discovery made in Patagonia by Diego Libkind for a lesson in biology, history and practical brewing applications with the father More »

• Speaker(s):
• Bret Baker

• Location: Ballroom C

When Brother Antoine was in charge of brewing at Rochefort, he said: “Two of the pale malts, two of the sugars, two hop varieties, two yeast strains… two of this and two of that… we like to keep it simple.” That approach produces amazingly complex beers. In this session, we’ll More »

• Speaker(s):
• Stan Hieronymus

• Location: Ballroom A

Raise a glass to vintage beer! Treat yourself to a tour through time with beer historian/author Ron Pattinson of the blog Shut Up about Barclay Perkins. Ron will share brewing history and representative recipes from 1800 to 1950, from his new book, The Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beer. Ron More »

• Speaker(s):
• Paul Langlie
• Ron Pattinson

• Location: Balroom D

Twenty years ago, a genuinely new kind of apple cider appeared in Quebec: cidre de glace, or ice cider. Made from frozen apples or juice, ice cider is a wine-strength, sweet drink that showcases the true character of apples. Learn about the breif history of ice cider, commercial production and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Nathan Williams

• Location: Grand Gallery ABCD

The seminar will explore various ways of making hard cider, from simple processes to the more complex, and will dive into how procedures, ingredient selection, creativity, time and patience will prove that you have control over the final outcome. The sky is the limit when it comes to making great More »

• Speaker(s):
• Corey Arrick

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Excellent beer can be made by beginner homebrewers with simple equipment and 10 simple steps to making better beer. By avoiding the most common faults in homebrewing, homebrewers using extract malts on their kitchen stoves can produce high-quality beer. This seminar’s tips will enable beginner to intermediate homebrewer to improve More »

• Speaker(s):
• David Houseman

• Location: Ballroom C

What’s more local than making homebrew with yeast isolated from your own backyard? Come learn how anyone can be a “bootleg” yeast wrangler, using proven homebrew methods, basic-level lab techniques and a paper clip. Jeff Mello from Bootleg Biology will show you easy methods to capture wild yeast, how to More »

• Speaker(s):
• Jeff Mello

• Location: Ballroom D

Mitch Steele, brewmaster of Stone Brewing Co., covers a range of traditional and unconventional techniques in this seminar focused on the use of spice and herbs in beer. Starting with a brief review of historical uses, Mitch will then dive into the use of traditional spices in today’s craft beers. More »

• Speaker(s):
• Mitch Steele

• Location: Ballroom B

This seminar will present an overview of brewing lager styles, from light and crisp to dark and heavy. It will take professional lager brewing practices and translate them into practical methods for the average homebrewer. Lagers, more than any other beer style, require the brewer to pay attention to the More »

• Speaker(s):
• Jason Oliver
• Warren Haskell

• Location: Ballroom A

What is the perfect keg? For Ian Coutts it was a barrel full of beer he’d made himself. Not from a kit like many homebrewers. Not from industrial malts and yeasts like most commercial brewers. No, from absolute scratch. That meant barley and hops he’d grown, yeast he’d captured in More »

• Speaker(s):
• Ian Coutts

• Location: Ballroom C

Learn more about cider made from dessert apples and cider apples as well as some of the standard techniques used after fermentation to adjust cider to meet consumer expectations. This hands-on session will emphasize basic bench trial techniques along with a conceptual exploration of what it means to make craft More »

• Speaker(s):
• Gary Awdey

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Join Ray Daniels for a discussion of possible job and business opportunities in the beer sector and his take on their prospects for their success. Tapping his knowledge and lessons learned as director of the Cicerone Certification Program®, a co-owner of Revolution Brewing, and instructor of the Siebel Institute course More »

• Speaker(s):
• Ray Daniels

• Location: Ballroom A

Join John Palmer, author of How to Brew, Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers and Brewing Classic Styles, as he dives into the subject of brewing water. Topics include the effect that brewing water chemistry has on mash pH, beer pH and beer flavor. Seminar attendees will sample two beers More »

• Speaker(s):
• John Palmer

• Location: Ballroom B

Have you ever been curious about blending two yeasts together during fermentation? What would happened if you mixed your favorite Saison and British strains? We’ll look at ways you can blend yeast strains to obtain your optimal fermentation and flavor profiles. We’ll consider the pros and cons of different methods More »

• Speaker(s):
• Kara Taylor

• Location: Ballroom D

Bring your questions! This panel discussion will cover all things cider making. Panelists will include Gary Awdey, president of the Great Lakes Cider and Perry Association, Jeff Carlson, four-time AHA Cidermaker of the Year and Paul Vander Heide and Joel Brower of Vandermill Ciders.

• Speaker(s):
• Gary Awdey
• Jay Blanchard
• Jeff Carlson
• Joel Brower

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Humans have been malting grains for use in brewing for many thousands of years. In relative terms, large-scale, industrial operations are recent developments. Prior to the 20th century, most malt was hand made by artisans—often unencumbered with science—who mainly assessed and controlled this natural process by touch, taste and smell. More »

• Speaker(s):
• Andrea Stanley
• John Mallett

• Location: Ballroom D

For homebrewers planning to open a commercial brewery, there are numerous legal steps that should be taken to help protect yourself and the business. Without knowing what you need to do, it can be very easy to run afoul of the law. This seminar will discuss some of the most More »

• Speaker(s):
• Candace Moon

• Location: Ballroom A

Have you ever considered sourcing your malt, hops or even yeast locally? Join Michigan homebrewer Nick Rodammer, hop grower Brian Tennis and malt producer Erik May as they discuss the emerging trend of sourcing locally grown and produced brewing ingredients.

• Speaker(s):
• Brian Tennis
• Erik May
• Nick Rodammer

• Location: Ballroom C

New Holland Brewing Company founder Brett Vanderkamp will discuss his history with barrel aging and the development of New Holland’s signature barrel-aged beer, Dragon’s Milk. Drawing upon his experience as a distiller and founder of New Holland Artisan Spirits, Brett will also discuss the many uses of spirits barrels and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brett Vanderkamp
• Jason Salas

• Location: Ballroom B

The American Society of Brewing Chemists coordinated a collaborative test with 12 breweries on a method to check the coarseness of milling with sieves. This method can also be useful to homebrewers, because a correct mill setting greatly impacts the efficiency of extracting fermentable sugars. We will discuss the More »

• Speaker(s):
• Jennifer Helber

• Location: Ballroom C

First wort hopping is a method many homebrewers use with the idea that it adds a smoother bitterness and a unique flavor contribution to their beer. Mash hopping is avoided by many brewers because it is commonly thought to be a waste of good hops. David Curtis of Bell’s Brewery’s More »

• Speaker(s):
• David Curtis

• Location: Ballroom D

Sake is a beverage that unlike beer, wine, cider—and more recently mead—has neither a strong cultural tradition nor a large, knowledgeable hobbyist collective in the U.S. That said, the process of making sake shares many similarities with Western fermentables. This seminar will demystify sake and make it accessible to the More »

• Speaker(s):
• Edward Hoskin

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

How does Founders continue to invent new and exciting beers? Jeremy Kosmicki and Dave “Diamond” Deschaine will discuss recipe formulation, unique ingredients and processes, and how the brewery pushes the boundaries of their beer while still maintaining a delicious balance of flavors.

• Speaker(s):
• Dave "Diamond" Deschaine
• Jeremy Kosmicki

• Location: Ballroom B

The characteristics of sour beers are influenced less by the flavors contributed directly by the malt and more by the ways in which compounds in the wort influence the mixed fermentation. Join Michael Tonsmeire as he discusses practical techniques to control the levels of carbohydrates, acids, phenols, and proteins and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Michael Tonsmeire

• Location: Ballroom A

Drew Beechum and Denny Conn discuss concepts from their upcoming book, Experimental Homebrewing. They’ll cover why you should experiment and how to set up and evaluate your experiments, as well as give tips on equipment, recipes and ingredients for fruitful experimentation.

• Speaker(s):
• Denny Conn
• Drew Beechum

• Location: Ballroom A

Many homebrewers would make meads and use honey in their homebrew if they could get it more cheaply. Backyard beekeeping is the solution! Learn how to start in the beekeeping hobby and how to use your honey in your own meads, wines, ciders and beers.

• Speaker(s):
• Eric Kramer
• Michael Mullins

• Location: Ballroom C

Homebrewers are gaining access to more and more new hop varieties such as Mosaic, El Dorado, Belma, Azacca, Saphir, Apollo and Galaxy. Many of these have an interesting signature hop potential that differs from what Amarillo, Simcoe and Citra have to offer. This seminar will discuss how to get more More »

• Speaker(s):
• Nathan Smith

• Location: Ballroom B

We will show you 40 tips, tricks, techniques and tweaks in 40 rapid-fire, interactive minutes. Don’t blink as Barry and Mike tackle rescuing failed fermentations, brewing resources, ingredients, beer styles, DIY, networking, competitions, hopping techniques, gadgets and technology, software, blending, off-flavors, clarifying, carbonating, homebrewing laws, clubs, brewing techniques, fun adjuncts, More »

• Speaker(s):
• Barry Mulso
• Michael Spears

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Ever heard someone say, “You never need to do a decoction?” Today we might say, “You may never absolutely need to do a decoction, but you should embrace it as another available technique.” Join us as we take a fresh look at the decoction process, including tips for making this More »

• Speaker(s):
• John Van Itallie

• Location: Ballroom D

Brewing a balanced beer with no boil hops—is it possible? As part of the AHA’s Research & Education Fund, a unique method of using hops in the brewing process was utilized to add clean bitterness to beer. Matthew Brown will describe the history of the idea and how the beer More »

• Speaker(s):
• Matthew Brown

• Location: Ballroom D

Jamie will begin this seminar by teaching the sensory technique for evaluation that is used in sensory labs as well as for judging. He will then discuss sensory evaluation in the commercial brewery and at home, and finish with a discussion of judging homebrew competitions. If you have ever wanted More »

• Speaker(s):
• Jamie Floyd

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

You’ve got your beer in a keg, but how do you get it out? Learn how to design and balance your draft system for the perfect pour of your beer, cider and mead. We’ll also talk about how and why to clean the lines, finding CO2 leaks (and avoiding them More »

• Speaker(s):
• Tom Schmidlin

• Location: Ballroom C

Honey is a remarkable substance: it’s hygroscopic, has intense osmotic pressure, weighs in at a specific gravity of 1.425, and can remain edible for centuries without preservative measures. This seminar explores honey’s composition, varieties, key flavor and aroma elements, handling, acquisition, and the metabolic details of honey fermentation. It addresses More »

• Speaker(s):
• Ken Schramm

• Location: Ballroom B

Cloudy beer got you down? Brad Smith, author and podcast host, presents the causes and solutions for this problem. We’ll discuss the many potential contributors to cloudiness in beer including proteins, polyphenols, tannins and yeast. Brad will also explain the full range of products and techniques to improve clarity and More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brad Smith

• Location: Ballroom A

This talk will compare both the technical and perceived differences between homebrew and commercial hop utilization, hop flavor and aromas. We’ll look at several beers made both commercially and homebrewed using the same wort and hops, varying the hop additions. Lab comparisons documenting the bittering units will be presented along More »

• Speaker(s):
• Eric Bean
• Frank Barickman

• Location: Ballroom D

Homebrewers are not just into beer, you’re also into food! Fellow foodies unite in this seminar breaking down the complex topic of pairing. We’ll talk about beer and food pairing principles, along with palate tricks and tips garnered through years of tasty research.

• Speaker(s):
• Julia Herz

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

The sour beer world has exploded, but what about sour meads? In this seminar you will learn about using Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces and other funky tricks to make specialty meads that are tart and dank. Michael will share what he has learned about what works, what doesn’t, how much time is More »

• Speaker(s):
• Michael Fairbrother

• Location: Ballroom B

Ever wonder if you’re ruining your beer because of splashing your wort, over-mixing your mash or aggressively sparging? This seminar is the result of an AHA Research & Education Fund project, and will share the results of an experiment designed to test these concepts. Find guidance on which process steps More »

• Speaker(s):
• John Rozborski

• Location: Ballroom C

Gordon Strong, Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) president and author of Brewing Better Beer, will explain the updated 2014 BJCP style guidelines.

• Speaker(s):
• Gordon Strong

• Location: Ballroom A

While barrel aging is popular at the pro level, it can be intimidating for homebrewers. Not understanding nuances specific to barrel aging can create uncertainty for homebrewers and potentially leads to avoidance of these traditional flavor- and aroma- enhancing vessels. This seminar is practically focused, with a minimum of science. More »

• Speaker(s):
• Chris Frey

• Location: Ballroom D

All brewers use sensory evaluation as at least the primary, if not only, method to analyze their beer and determine how to improve it the next time they brew. For many, the palate sensitivity and/or vocabulary to evaluate and describe a beer is the limiting factor in determining how to More »

• Speaker(s):
• Brian Joas
• Bruce Buerger

• Location: Grand Gallery A-D

Randy Mosher offers insights and practical tools for recipe formulation based on his long experience in homebrewing and more recently as a team member at two award-winning breweries. Each category of ingredient, especially malt and hops, has its own unique chemistry and vocabulary, and it is essential for brewers to More »

• Speaker(s):
• Randy Mosher

• Location: Ballroom A

There are several advantages to brewing smaller batches. This seminar will take a look at the reasons to go small, the equipment needed for smaller brews, sample recipes that have been proven on the small scale, and how to scale up (or down) recipes once they are successful.

• Speaker(s):
• James Spencer

• Location: Ballroom C

Berniece Van Der Berg of Moonlight Meadery reflects on the history of mead, the ancestor of fermented beverages, as well as modern mead-making practices. Berniece will discuss honey, plus a variety of current professional practices and innovations.

• Speaker(s):
• Berniece Van Der Berg

• Location: Ballroom B