Acronyms and Abbreviations Used in Beer & Brewing Discussions

Last Updated: 5/7/07

Taken from multiple (outdated) resources and then updated by Bryan Peretto. Feel free to print for personal use. Webmasters are encouraged to link to this page rather than steal it so it can be centrally updated.

A

• AA - alpha acid (expressed as percentage, see also IBU and AAU))
• AA - apparent attenuation
• AA - Alpha Amylase
• AAE - alpha amylase enzyme (not generally used---avoid using)
• AAU - alpha acid unit (1 ounce of 1% alpha containing hops)
• AB - Anheuser Busch
• ABC - alcoholic beverage control (or "commission"), state regulatory agencies
• ABC - Anchor Brewing Company (spell out to avoid confusion with above)
• ABV - alcohol by volume
• ABW - alcohol by weight
• ADF - apparent degree of fermentation.
• AE - Apparant Extract
• AFAIK - As far as I know
• AFAIAC - As far as I am concerned
• AHA - American Homebrewers Association
• AoB - Association of Brewers
• APA - American Pale Ale
• ASAP - as soon as possible
• ASBC - American Society of Brewing Chemists
• ATP - Adenosine TriPhosphate (yeast metabolism compound)
• AW - American Wheat

  B

• B3 - Beer Beer and more Beer homebrew supply. (morebeer.com)
• BA - Beta Amylase
• BA - Beer Advocate (over-rated website with rude, beer snob membership)
• BAA - Beers Across America (a "beer of the month" club)
• BAE - beta amylase enzyme (not generally used---avoid using)
• BATF - Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms
• Bbl - barrel (31 gallons in U.S.)
• BBW - Boston Beer Works
• BJCP - Beer Judge Certification Program
• BLAM - Brew Like a Monk (Book)
• BLC - Beer Line Cleaner
• BMC - Bud/Miller/Coors (see NAIL)
• BOP - brew on Premises
• BOS - best of show
• BP - Brewers Publications (Association of Brewers)
• BP - Brewpub
• BP - Black Patent
• BRF - Beer Recipe Formulator (software)
• BT - Brewing Techniques (defunct magazine)
• BTU - British thermal units
• BTW - by the way
• BYO - Brew Your Own (Magazine)
• BVIP - Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter (Denny Conn)
• BW - Barleywine

  C

• CaCO3 - calcium carbonate (chalk)
• CAMRA - Campaign for Real ale
• CAP - Classic American Pilsner
• CaSO4 - calcium sulfate (gypsum)
• CIP - Clean-In-Place
• CJOHB - Complete Joy Of HomeBrewing (book)
• CF - counterflow (chiller)
• CFR - Code of Federal Regulations
• CO - carbon monoxide
• CO2 - carbon dioxide
• CPVC - chlorinated polyvinyl choloride (plastic)

  D

• DAB - Dortmunder Actien Brauerei
• DAP - DiAmmonium Phosphate (yeast nutrient)
• D/C - DeWolf Cosyns (malting company)
• DC - Denny Conn
• DE - diatamacious earth (filter)
• DE - diastatic enzyme
• DIS - Dry Irish Stout
• DGB - Designing Great Beers (Book: Daniels)
• DME - dry malt extract (*preferred usage)
• DME - dark malt extract (spell out to avoid confusion with above)
• DME - diastatic malt extract (do NOT use this one)
• DMS - dimethyl sulfide
• DMS - diastatic malt syrup (as in Edme DMS extract)
• DMSO - dimethyl sulfoxide
• DO - Dissolved Oxygen
• DWC - DeWolf Cosyns (malting company)

  E

• EBC - European Brewers' Convention (color scale)
• EE - extract efficiency (not generally used, avoid)
• EKG - East Kent Goldings (hops)
• EM - EasyMasher (Jack Schmidling Production)
• ESB - extra special bitter

  F

• FAN - free amino nitrogen
• FAQ - frequently asked question
• F/C - The difference between a lab fine crush percentage and coarse crush percetage of a certain size granule (malt index)
• FB - False Bottom
• FDA - Food & Drug Administration
• FG - final gravity
• FTP - file transfer protocol
• FV - fermentation vessel
• FWH - first wort hopping
• FWIW - for what it's worth

  G

• G - Gallons
• g - grams
• GABF - Great American Beer Festival
• GBBF - Great British Beer Festival
• gpm - gallons per minute

  H

• HBD - Homebrew Digest
• HBU - homebrew bittering unit (same as AAU)
• HDPE - high density poly-ethylene (plastic)
• HERMS - Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System
• HLB - hot liquor bath
• HLT - hot liquor tank
• HR - Head Retention
• HTB - How to Brew (Book)
• HNO3 - nitric acid
• HSA - hot side aeration
• HWBTA - Home Wine & Beer Trade Association

  I

• I2PA - Imperial India pale ale (IIPA)
• IBS - Institute for Brewing Studies (Association of Brewers)
• IBU - international bittering unit, the IBU value is sometimes called "EBU". The value is (grams * alpha acid * % utilization) / (litres * 10)
• ID - inner diameter
• IIRC - If I remember (recall) correctly
• IM - Irish Moss
• IMBR? - Is My Beer Ruined?
• IMHO - in my humble opinion
• IMO - in my opinion
• IOB - Institute of Brewing
• IOW - in other words
• IPA - India pale ale
• IIPA - Imperial India pale ale (I2PA)
• IRA - Irish red ale
• IRC - Internet Relay Chat (beer tasting sessions Tuesday nights, channel '#tasting')

  J

• JK - Just Kidding

  K

• KotMF - Knights of the Mashing Fork (brewing guild)

  L

• L - degree Lovibond (measure of color)
• L - degree Lintner (spell out to avoid confusion with above)
• LA - low alcohol
• LDPE - Low-Density PolyEthylene (plastic)
• LHBS - Local HomeBrew Store
• LP - liquid propane
• LPG - liquid propane gas
• LSF - Light Struck Flavor (aka skunking)
• LT - lauter tun

  M

• MASB - Mid-Atlantic Small Brewers
• MBAA - Master Brewers Association of America
• M&BS - Malting & Brewing Science
• MD - malto-dextrine (or M-D)
• M&F - Munton & Fison
• MgSO4 - magnesium sulfate (epsom salt)
• MGD - Miller Genuine Draft
• MJ - Michael Jackson
• MBAA - Master Brewers Association of America
• MLD - Mead Lover's Digest
• MLT - Mash lauter tun
• MM - malt mill
• MO - Maris Otter (British 2-row)
• MSDS - Material Safety Data Sheet
• MT - mash tun

  N

• N2 - nitrogen
• NA - non-alcoholic
• NaCHO3 - sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
• NaCl - sodium chloride (table salt)
• NAIL - North American Industrial Lager (ie Bud/Miller/Coors)
• NAYY - No affiliation, yada yada
• NB - Northern Brewer (hops)
• NBLB - New Brewing Lager Beer (Book)
• NCJOHB - New Complete Joy Of HomeBrewing (book)
• NCM - North Country Malt (Grain/Hop seller)
• NE - northeast (or New England---same region)
• NG - natural gas
• NHC - National Homebrew Competition
• NSB - No Sparge Brew(ing)

  O

• O2 - oxygen
• OD - outer diameter
• OG - original gravity

  P

• P - Plato (density measurement, see also SG)
• PBW - Powdered Brewery Wash (Cleaner)
• PDX - Portland, OR / PNW
• pH - potential hydrogen (acidity)
• PET - PolyEthylene Terephthalate (aka polyester) (plastic)
• PITA - pain in the ass
• PNW - Pacific Northwest
• ppg - points per gallon (extract efficiency)
• ppm - part per million (mg/l)
• PRV - Pressure Relief Valve (generally on corny keg lid)
• psi - per square inch
• PU - Pilsner Urquell (preferred use is to spell out)
• PUI - Posting (a message to an online forum) Under the Influence
• PVC - polyvinyl choloride (plastic)

  R

• RA - real attenuation
• RB - Roasted Barley
• RDF - real degree of fermentation
• RCB - rec.crafts.brewing (also r.c.b.)
• RDWHAHB - relax, don't worry, have a homebrew
• RFC - request for comment
• RFDB - rec.food.drink.beer (also r.f.d.b.)
• RIMS - recirculating infusion mash system
• RIS - Russian imperial stout
• RO - reverse osmosis (filtering approach)
• RTFM - read the phvcking manual (usually used in computer discussions)
• RyePA - Rye IPA (see IPA)

  S

• SA - Samuel Adams
• SCP - Sanctioned Competition Program
• SG - specific gravity (density measurement, i.e., dissolved sugar)
• SG - starting gravity (Use OG - Original Gravity)
• SMM - S-methyl methionine
• SNPA - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• SO - significant other (husband/wife)
• SRM - American Standard Reference Method (color scale, 0 is water, over 50 is very dark, 20 is copper)
• SS - stainless steel
• SWMBO - She who must be obeyed (the wife/gf/so of a brewer)

  T

• TB - TastyBrew (tastybrew.com)
• TCHBOHB - The Complete Hand Book of Home Brewing (Miller)
• TIA - thanks in advance
• TNCJOHB - The New Complete Joy Of HomeBrewing (book)
• TSP - trisodium phosphate
• TSN - Total Soluble Nitrogen (malt index)

  U

• URL - uniform resource locator (address in WWW)

  V

• VM - Valley Mill

  W

• WAG - wild assed guess
• WK - Windisch Kolbach (also W-K), measure of diastatic power
• WWW - world wide web

  Y

• YMMV - your mileage may vary