Glossary

As we come across new terms, we'll update this post with them. We will also try to link some of the not so common words in the posts to the glossary for easy look-ups.

abv (alc/vol): Amount of alcohol in beer in terms of percentage volume of alcohol per volume of beer.

ale: Beers distinguished by use of top fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The top fermenting yeast perform at warmer temperatures than do yeast's used to brew lager beer, and their byproducts are more evident in taste and aroma. Fruitiness and esters are often part of an ale's character.

barley: A cereal grain that is malted for use in the grist that becomes the mash in the brewing of beer.

barrel: A barrel of beer is 31 gallons (117.3L).

brew pub: A brewpub is a restaurant or a pub that brews and sells its beer on premise.

cider: A fermented beverage made from apples.

draught (draft): The process of dispensing beer from a bright tank, cask or, keg, by hand pump, pressure from an air pump or, injected carbon dioxide inserted into the beer container prior to sealing.

FG: Final Specific Gravity. Specific gravity of a beer when fermentation is complete (that is, all fermentable sugars have been fermented).

hops: Hops are the flowering cone of a perennial vining plant that typically thrives in climates similar to the ones that grapes do. Hops are the seasoning of the beer, that ward-off spoilage from bacteria and bring balance to sweet malts. They also lend a hand in head retention, help to clear beer (acting as a natural filter) and please the palate by imparting their unique characters and flavours. Hops put the "bitter" in beer.

IBU: International Bitterness Units.  A system of indicating the hop bitterness in finished beer.

IPA: India pale ale

keg: A keg is 15.5 gallons (58.7L) or half a barrel.

lager: Beers produced with bottom fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces uvarum (or carlsbergensis) at colder fermentation temperatures than ales. This cooler environment inhibits the natural production of esters and other byproducts, creating a crisper tasting product.

mead: Meads are produced by the fermentation of honey, water, yeast and optional ingredients such as fruit, herbs, and/or spices. According to final gravity, they are categorized as: dry; medium; or sweet. Wine, champagne, sherry, mead, ale or lager yeasts may be used.

macro brewery: Untappd defines it as a brewery that "produces more than 6 million barrels/year".

micro brewery: Untappd defines it as a brewery that "produces less than 6 million barrels/year". Brew pub and nano-brewery fall under the micro brewery heading.

nano brewery: a scaled-down microbrewery often run by a solo-entrepreneur, that produces beer in small batches. Untappd defines it as a brewery that "produces less than 200 gallons/year". These brewers might use other, well established breweries facilities to brew their beer. They generally only brew their beer one batch at a time.

OG: Original Gravity. A measurement of the density of fermentable sugars in a mixture of malt and water with which a brewer begins a given batch.

SRM: Standard Reference Method. The SRM colour of beer is measured using a ½” glass cuvette measured by a spectrophotometer at a light wavelength of 430nm. The SRM color is approximately 10 times the amount of absorbance, which is measured on a logarithmic scale. The SRM color is approximately equal to the old lovibond scale in most cases.

SRM	Example	Beer colour
2	Pale lager, Witbier, Pilsner, Berliner Weisse
3	Blonde Ale
4	Weissbier
6	American Pale Ale, India Pale Ale
8	Weissbier, Saison
10	English Bitter
13	Double IPA
17	Vienna lager, Amber Ale
20	Brown Ale, Bock
24	Irish Dry Stout, Porter
29	Stout
35	Foreign Stout, Baltic Porter
40+	Imperial Stout

* borrowed and modified from Wikipedia