The world of brewing has it's language of abbreviations and shortcuts that can aggravate the newcomer. Some of the more common abbreviations are defined here. If you see unfamilar words that you want to look up, use the Association of Brewers' Glossary or Dave Miller's Glossary from Storey Publishing's web
site.
| A |
| AA | alpha acid (expressed as percentage, see also IBU and AAU)) |
| 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 |
| AHA | American Homebrewers Association |
| AoB | Association of Brewers |
| ASAP | as soon as possible |
| ASBC | American Society of Brewing Chemists |
| B |
| 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 |
| BBC | Boston Beer Company |
| BBC | Baltimore Brewing Company |
| Bbl | barrel (31 gallons in U.S.) |
| BBW | Boston Beer Works |
| BJCP | Beer Judge Certification Program |
| BOS | best of show |
| BP | Brewers Publications (Association of Brewers) |
| BP | brewpub |
| BRF | Beer Recipe Formulator (software) |
| BT | Brewing Techniques (magazine) |
| BTU | British thermal units |
| BTW | by the way |
| C |
| CaCO3 | calcium carbonate (chalk) |
| CAMRA | Campaign for Real Ale |
| CaSO4 | calcium sulfate (gypsum) |
| CF | counterflow (chiller) |
| CFR | Code of Federal Regulations |
| CM | Cat's Meow (recipe collection) |
| CO | carbon monoxide |
| CO2 | carbon dioxide |
| CP | Charlie Papazian |
| CPVC | chlorinated polyvinyl choloride (plastic) |
| D |
| DAB | Dortmunder Actien Brauerei |
| DE | diatamacious earth (filter) |
| DE | diastatic enzyme |
| DM | Dave Miller |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| HLB | hot liquor bath |
| HNO3 | nitric acid |
| HSA | hot side aeration |
| HWBTA | Home Wine & Beer Trade Association |
| I |
| 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 |
| IMHO | in my humble opinion |
| IMO | in my opinion |
| IOW | in other words |
| IPA | India pale ale |
| IRC | Internet Relay Chat (beer tasting sessions Tuesday nights, channel '#tasting') |
| L |
| L | degree Lovibond (measure of color) |
| L | degree Lintner (spell out to avoid confusion with above) |
| LA | low alcohol |
| LPG | liquid propane gas |
| LT | lauter tun |
| M |
| MASB | Mid-Atlantic Small Brewers |
| MBAA | Master Brewers Association of America |
| 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 |
| MM | malt mill |
| MSDS | Material Safety Data Sheet |
| MT | mash tun |
| N |
| N2 | nitrogen |
| NA | non-alcoholic |
| NaCHO3 | sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) |
| NaCl | sodium chloride (table salt) |
| NB | Northern Brewer (hops) |
| NE | northeast (or New England---same region) |
| NG | natural gas |
| NHC | National Homebrew Competition |
| O |
| O2 | oxygen |
| OD | outer diameter |
| OG | original gravity |
| P |
| P | Plato (density measurement, see also SG) |
| pH | potential hydrogen (acidity) |
| PET | polyethylene (plastic) |
| PITA | pain in the ass |
| PNW | Pacific Northwest |
| ppg | points per gallon (extract efficiency) |
| ppm | part per million (mg/l) |
| psi | per square inch |
| P-U | Pilsner Urquell (preferred use is to spell out) |
| PVC | polyvinyl choloride (plastic) |
| R |
| 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 fucking manual (usually used in computer discussions) |
| S |
| SA | Samuel Adams |
| SCP | Sanctioned Competition Program |
| SG | specific gravity (density measurement, i.e., dissolved sugar) |
| 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 |
| SWBN | Southwest Brewing News |
| T |
| TCHBOHB | The Complete Hand Book of Home Brewing (Miller) |
| TIA | thanks in advance |
| TNCJOHB | The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing (Papazian) |
| TSP | trisodium phosphate |
| U |
| URL | uniform resource locator (address in WWW) |
| W |
| WK | Windisch Kolbach (also W-K), measure of diastatic power |
| WWW | world wide web |
| Y |
| YMMV | your mileage may vary |