Author: Marshall Schott

While thinking back on the last year, I was reminded of just how odd and “unprecedented” the year prior was, and how excited all of us at Brülosophy were to get back to normal in 2021. While things have unquestionably improved over the last 12 months, we’re unfortunately still caught up in Covid, which continues to cramp our style.

Thanks to good science, we are beginning to come out of this craziness, which has allowed us to branch out a bit more in terms of data collection. While we’re still not to the point we were prior to March 2020, we are creeping closer, and doing so in a way that ensures contributors and participants remain as safe as possible. 

Whereas our unofficial theme for 2020 was “adaptation,” this year it was more like, “do what you can,” and I’m proud to say we’ve been able to stick to our publication goals thanks to the dedication and commitment of the Brülosophy crew.

| THE BEST OF 2021 |

The Brülosophy Podcast

The feedback we receive about The Brülosophy Podcast, as well as its consistent growth, continues to surprise me. While I’ve certainly a face for radio, I never fancied myself a host, and like many, the sound of my own voice made me cringe. As we approach our 5th year and 220th episode, I still occasionally feel like an imposter and struggle to see the appeal, though the incredibly kind reviews we receive from listeners has helped a ton. The truth is, I love talking about this stuff, and even more, I love knowing that people listening to us blather on about topics like the following, which were the most downloaded episodes over the last year. 

1. Episode 197 | exBEERience: Water Chemistry Adjustments
2. Episode 188 | exBEERience: Off-Flavors In Beer
3. Episode 184 | Short & Shoddy: Double IPA
4. Episode 172 | Sulfate To Chloride Ratios In NEIPA
5. Episode 205 | exBEERience: Designing Beer Recipes

Whereas our xBmt episodes were rated as the most preferred overall in a recent satisfaction survey, only 1 made this list. Interestingly, 3 exBEERience episodes were in the top 5 most downloaded episodes of 2021, which is neat considering we only release one every 6 weeks.  

The Brü Lab

When Cade first proposed the idea of starting a brand new podcast, I was admittedly resistant, as managing both the website and The Brülosophy Podcast already had me spread thin. However, his clear vision and obvious commitment left me feeling confident enough to give it a go, and in March of this year, we dropped the first weekly episode of The Brü Lab.

Having recently quit his career as an attorney to pursue his dream of being a brewing academic, Cade’s idea for The Brü Lab was simple— give the people doing the hard work behind the scenes a platform to discuss their findings in a way that also benefits brewers. And that’s exactly what he has done. In the 43 episodes released this year, listeners have heard directly from the scientists who are changing the way we think about brewing. While the subject matter can get a bit heady at times, Cade has a way of making it palatable for anyone with any experience brewing, which is likely why The Brü Lab regularly ranks in the top 50 of all podcasts in the “food” category.

Since introducing The Brü Lab earlier this year, these are the episodes that were downloaded most:

1. Episode 002 | Comparing Mash Methods w/ Dr. Glen Fox
2. Episode 001 | Diminishing Returns Of Heavy Dry Hopping w/ Dr. Tom Shellhammer
3. Episode 003 | Lactic Acid Producing Yeast w/ Dr. Matt Farber
4. Episode 005 | Hop Degradation After Extended Storage w/ Carlos Silva Ferreira
5. Episode 006 | Exploring Novel Hybrid Yeast Strains w/ Dr. Matt Winans

If you haven’t subscribed yet, go do it now wherever you listen to podcasts so you’re notified when new episodes are released!

exBEERiment Articles

The exBEERiment (aka xBmt) series is what put Brülosophy on the map and continues to be our most popular web content based on the numbers. Here are the 5 xBmt articles that were viewed the most in 2021.

1. The Gelatin Effect | 1/5/15
2. The No-Boil Effect: Evaluating The Impact On New England IPA | 4/5/21
3. The Mash: High vs. Low Temperature | 10/12/15
4. Dry Hop Length: Long vs. Short | 10/26/2015
5. Biotransformation: Impact Of Dry Hopping NEIPA At High Kräusen When Fermented with Imperial Yeast A24 Dry Hop | 3/1/21

While our original xBmt looking at the impact fining a hoppy beer with gelatin has continues to take the top spot (for the 6th year in a row), a couple newcomers also made the list, and unsurprisingly, both were focused on hazy IPA.

The Hop Chronicles Articles

The Hop Chronicles series is intended to provide brewers with information on individual hop varieties based on the perceptions of regular craft beer drinkers.

1. Talus (2019) | 1/7/21
2. Sorachi Ace (2019) | 2/4/21
3. Sabro (2018) | 5/2/19
4. Chinook (2020) | 4/15/21
5. Barbe Rouge (2019) | 1/21/21

Unfortunately, we put this series on hiatus in 2020 due to Covid-19, but thankfully we were nearly able to achieve our goal of publishing two THC articles per month in 2021!

Short & Shoddy Articles

Originally intended to be an intermittent experimental side-project, the Short & Shoddy series has become a Brülosophy staple, with brewers around the world using the term to describe their own abbreviated brewing processes. These are the 5 Short & Shoddy articles most viewed in 2021:

1. Czech Premium Pale Lager | 4/29/21
2. Weissbier #2 | 3/25/21
3. Red IPA | 9/23/21
4. Dark Mild | 11/25/21
5. Blueberry Wheat Ale | 8/26/21

Interestingly, not a single Short & Shoddy article from a prior year made the list, though the winner was a simple lager arguably similar to German Pils, which topped last year’s list.

Brü It Yourself

We started the Brü It Yourself series as a way to share interesting stuff we’re up to that doesn’t involve data collection. Similar in many ways to the content put out by some of our favorite homebrew blogs, this is our outlet for being bit more creative.

1. H-brü-O Hop Water | 2/11/21
2. Japanese Rice Lager | 5/13/21
3. All Citra, No Brakes Session IPA | 3/11/21
4. BrüClaw Berry Hard Seltzer | 5/14/2020
5. Sparkling Hard Berry Cider | 12/14/2017

Hop water, hard seltzer, and berry cider, oh my! No judgement from us, we’re certainly not married to beer and see the value in trying new things.

Product Reviews

We’re not Consumer Reports and choose only to review products we actually use and think other brewers would find beneficial. For that reason, we publish product review articles quit infrequently, though they still get quite a bit of attention. In 2021, these were the most commonly read Brülosophy product reviews:

1. BrewZilla/Robobrew 120v Electric Brewing System | 6/11/20
2. Ss Brewtech Unitank | 4/25/19
3. The Dry Hopper by Brewer’s Hardware | 6/10/21
4. Clawhammer Supply 120v Electric Brewing System | 8/15/19
5. Clawhammer Supply 240v Electric Brewing System | 8/20/20

Yet again, some of our most popular review articles were of electric all-in-one brewing systems, indicating the continuing trend away from propane. We’re all for it!

Informational Articles

In between xBmts, The Hop Chronicles, Short & Shoddy, and Product Reviews, we occasionally publish other articles of an informational nature.

1. Using A Corny Keg As A Fermentation Vessel | 5/7/20
2. Sparkle & Fizz: Carbonation Methods | 5/12/16
3. 7 Methods For Reducing Cold-Side Oxidation | 5/10/18
4. The Brewing Of Non-Alcoholic and Ultralow Alcohol Beer: Methods Made Simple | 11/11/21
5. DIY BrüBlaster Keg & Carboy Washer | 12/22/16

Made of stainless steel, capable of holding a lot of pressure, and relatively cheap, corny kegs are an excellent alternative to expensive fermenters. Anyone else think it’s interesting that a guest article about brewing non-alcoholic beer made the list, particularly considering it was published less than 2 months ago?

Recipe Pages

While these days, we reserve our private recipes as rewards for Patrons of Brülosophy, we shared a number in the past.

1. Munich Helles
2. Best Blonde Ale
3. Tiny Bottom Pale Ale
4. May The Schwarzbier With You
5. (m)Oktoberfest

Curiously, this list has remained quite consistent over the years, with my unconventional take on Munich Helles taking the top spot yet again.

Pages

We don’t have too many static web pages on the site, but of those that do exist, these were the most viewed of the year:

1. exBEERiments
2. Quick Lager Method
3. The Hop Chronicles
4. The Brülosophy Podcast
5. Short & Shoddy

The only list that went completely unchanged from last year, which I feel gives a good indication of overall reader interest.

On To 2022!

It’d be remiss of me not to point out how all of this was made possible by the support we receive from our readers, sponsors, and especially the Patrons of Brülosophy– thank you all so much. Here’s to a 2022 full of health, cheer, and delicious beer!

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