Spyglass in Nashua, New Hampshire, may not have the most unique origin story—engineer friends with a knack for homebrewing started the brewery to focus on the styles for which they were tired of driving and trading. But after honing their processes and recipes for the past eight years, and growing into a 20-barrel brewhouse and large-capacity taproom, they’ve grown more comfortable tackling technical brewing problems across the spectrum or hops and ABV.
Whether it’s thicker and more saturated hazy DIPA or lean and light Mexican-style lager, their smart use of grain—with some surprisingly large percentages of specialty malts—helps them find balance, whether the volume is cranked up or dialed down. In the episode, cofounder John Wagner and production director Danny Sump join the podcast to discuss their approaches to each, highlighting the beer ¡A Huevo!, which recently scored a 98 in Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.
In this episode, Wagner and Sump discuss:
- brewing Mexican-style lager with six-row malt and corn
- using chit malt for better foam in light lager
- softening lager with extra calcium chloride, then sharpening with other ingredients
- brewing lager without a diacetyl rest
- cool-pooling Mexican-style lager with Saaz hops
- using 40-plus percent specialty malt in hazy IPA
- never bringing hops above 165°F (74°C) in hazy IPA
- pushing higher pH
- underpitching while over-oxygenating for better haze stability
And more.
Before we dive into today’s episode, a quick word for the brewers out there staring down a broken chiller. You know the pain—warm fermentors, stressed yeast, and that sinking feeling when the repair quote lands in your inbox. With refrigerant regulations changing and the cost of obsolete refrigerants skyrocketing, sometimes the fix costs more than the unit is worth. G&D Chillers is there to help, whether you’re a small brew pub or large full-scale production brewery. Don’t throw good money at bad equipment. Invest in a solution that grows with your brewery—and keeps your tanks cold when it counts. Big thanks to G&D Chillers for supporting this podcast since 2019. Reach out to them at gdhillers.com/podcast to learn how they can support your next six years of growth.
Here’s a brewer’s nightmare. It’s the night before packaging. You walk into the brewery, straight to the tank. You pull a sample to do a forced diacetyl test, and you wait for it in silence. Something feels not quite right. You reach into the water bath and bring the flask to your nose … And it’s a butter bomb. The logistics start running through your head. Do we hold the tank? We have accounts waiting. How many days until it clears? And then you wake up and remember that you use Berkeley Yeast’s FRESH™ Chico. It’s got ALDC inside every cell, so diacetyl can’t even form in the first place. Through primary. Through dry hopping and hop creep. Diacetyl stays ultra-low. So you don’t have to add ALDC or wait for diacetyl to clean up. And most importantly, you don’t have to wake up in a cold sweat, worrying about scary stories like these. FRESH™ Chico is now available in dried bricks for as low as $88 at berkeleyyeast.com.
This episode is sponsored by PakTech—delivering craft-beer multipacking you can trust. Our handles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, helping breweries close the loop and advance the circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable functionality you can rely on, and custom color matching, our carriers help brands stand out while staying sustainable. Trusted by craft brewers nationwide, we offer a smarter, sustainable way to carry your beer. To learn more, visit paktech-opi.com.
Oregon hop country is heaven to world-class lager varieties, and Indie Hops is proud to have introduced Oregon’s newest lager hop, Lórien, in 2022. Lórien is in a growing list of beers that have found their way to the podium and—more importantly—into the hearts of lager lovers across the country. Discover Indie Hops Lórien. (Side effects may include rampant festivity, sales bumps, and exceeded expectations.) Indie Hops—Life Is Short. Let’s Make It Flavorful.
If you’re like many podcast listeners, you’ve got a lot of beers at home, and your regular fridge is at capacity. Enter the Midea 50/50 Flex—the industry’s first dual-compartment three-way convertible freezer. Here’s what all that means for you: options! The 50/50 has the power to be all freezer, all fridge, or a little bit of both. But you’ll probably want to use those 20 cubic feet as a massive, garage-ready beer fridge. You can also change which side the door is on or how you want the shelves to be arranged—the 50/50 totally flexes to fit your life. Plus, it’s designed to maintain a stable temperature even in non-climate-controlled conditions—so you can crack a cold one even on the warmest days in the man cave. Take your garage to the next level! Check out Midea.com/us/ to get more info about this game changer today. Cheers!
Some strains define an era. These three refuse to stay in just one. To kick off our 40th anniversary celebration, we’re celebrating some of our most iconic strains, highlighting the history and impact that each has had on craft brewing. These strains each earned their place in this collection the same way: not by trending, but by staying essential decade after decade, from homebrew benches to commercial brewhouses. 1056 American Ale, 1318 London Ale III, and 2124 Bohemain Lager are the proof, the quiet backbones behind some of craft beer’s most familiar pints. Visit wyeastlab.com/most-iconic to learn more about each of these iconic strains.