Knights of the Mashing Fork

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Taken from multiple (outdated) resources and then updated by Bryan Peretto .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