Homebrewing Abbreviation Slang

Homebrewing For Dummies

Quite a few technical (and wordy) homebrewing terms exist, so to make it easier to read homebrewing recipes and directions, terms have been abbreviated. Here’s a handy guide for homebrewing abbreviations:

Abbreviation	What It Stands For
AAU	Alpha Acid Unit. A measurement of hop bittering potential.
ABV	Alcohol By Volume. One of two methods of expressing alcohol content in beer. (See ABW.)
ABW	Alcohol By Weight. One of two methods of expressing alcohol content in beer. (See ABV.)
BJCP	Beer Judge Certification Program. National organization for official homebrew judges.
DME	Dry Malt Extract. The spray-dried version of liquid malt extract.
DMS	Di-Methyl Sulfide. An off flavor and aroma reminiscent of cooked corn.
ESB	Extra Special Bitter. A medium-high gravity ale of British origin.
FG	Final Gravity. The measurement of gravity taken at the end of fermentation that allows the brewer to compute the alcohol content of beer. (See OG.)
FWH	First Wort Hopping. The practice of introducing bittering hops to the beer during the sparging / lautering phase of the mashing procedure.
HBU	Homebrew Bitterness Unit. A unit of measurement used by homebrewers to denote the amount of bittering in beer.
HSA	Hot Side Aeration. The unintentional exposure of the still-warm wort to oxygen that can lead to problems in your brew, not the least of which is premature staling.
HCU	Homebrew Color Unit. A crude method of measuring beer color devised for homebrewers.
IBU	International Bittering Unit. An international unit of measurement used by professional brewers to denote the amount of bittering in beer.
IPA	India Pale Ale. A highly hopped Pale Ale.
OG	Original Gravity. The measurement of gravity taken at the beginning of fermentation that allows the brewer to compute alcohol content of beer. (See FG.)
pH	Percent Hydrion (also potential hydrogen). A scale used to measure the acidity and alkalinity of a liquid.
RIS	Russian Imperial Stout. High gravity stout brewed for the Russian Imperial Court.
SRM	Standard Reference Measure. A measurement of beer color.
TSP	Tri-Sodium Phosphate. An effective sudsless, powdered cleanser often used to clean brewery equipment.

About This Article

About the book author:

Marty Nachel is a beer educator, an award-winning homebrewer, a BJCP Certified Beer Judge, on the panel of professional beer judges at the Great American Beer Festival, and a former beer evaluator at the Beverage Testing Institute. He is also the founder and administrator of the Ale-Conner Beer Certification Program.