OT: Homebrew Wednesdays - Summer Beer
Happy Wednesday! While we anxiously await autumn and the start of a new hope-filled football season, I’d like to know what you are filling your glasses with at home this summer to beat the heat. So…
- What have you been brewing this summer?
- Do you have any go-to summer hops or other ingredients?
Prior topics in the series:
Part 1 – Who Brews?
Part 2 – Your Setup
Part 3 – Best Recipe
Part 4 – Homebrew Wednesdays Returns
August 7th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
I have found myself brewing heavily with citrus this summer, specifically blood orange. Have tried it in a couple saisons as well as a kolsch with great results. I've just juiced the fruit and adding while kegging.
Now, given berries are in season I really need to get at least 1 more sour going with fruit.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^
Kolsch is my absolute favorite type of beer, especially in summer. Is it difficult to home-brew being a somewhat lighter beer?
I think the lighter beers are nice in that you typically are buying fewer ingredients (grain primarily, hops secondarily) so it is a more cost effective brew. There are challenges though as the beer is not going to hide any screw ups, especially if you are adding fruit or other flavors.
All in all I find the lighter beers to be an "easier" brewing process though.
Yeah there's no place to hide in a pilsner or a lager. Every flaw is obvious.
August 7th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
I know hop growing in Michigan has really taken off, are there any Michigan-specific hops that have been created that are worthy and where can they be sourced for the home brewer?
August 7th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
It annoys me beyond belief that Octoberfest beers are already available. I totally understand why they are (maximize profits and it's how retail works), but it still annoys me. Ofest should be September through October and then the winter/Christmas beers should be November through December.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
Couldn't agree more! Was at the liquor store, bought 2 12's of Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, one was left in the cooler. While ringing up, salesperson said "those are the last 3 of the season", so I went and got that one too!
August 7th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
You know what the father of homebrewing, Charlie Papazian says, “relax, and have a homebrew”
Couldn't have said it better! LOL
August 7th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
Finally, a thread I feel confident in offering opinion or input. I'm sorry I missed the earlier threads you linked.
I'm enjoying TurboDog (Williamette hops), a clone I make of an Abita Brewing beer. I brewed it in February and bottled it in April, it is coming into it's own right now.
I lived in Germany for 5 years and I really enjoyed Schwartzbeir, even though TurboDog is an Ale it is light in body and perfect for summer. On the German theme, I also make Apfelwein every year and it is tough to beat in the heat of summer. Crisp, dry and cold, I just have to monitor consumption becuase it is 7 to 8 ABV and sneaks up you fast.
My goto summer hop is Mosaic, it is a lazy man hop though, it always turns out well. I've made two pale ales this spring with Mosaic as the main flavor/dry hop and both are perfect lawnmower beers. Friends and neighbors love it, it's a house beer.
So true on Mosaic...it's actually hard to mess up. No wonder it has been all the rage in the past few years.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
Just mixing Long Road MichiGin with Tonic Water with a touch of Lime.
Not sure if that qualifies as brewing, but that's the most enjoyable mix I've had all summer.
I used to think Leiny's Summer Shandy and Berry Weiss were the top refreshing fruit flavored beers in warm weather. But have to tell y'all - now that I live in Texas, this Karbach Blood Orange Radler is the absolute best summer beer that I have every drank, hands down. If you can find it - try it, you will be pleased with your purchase.
Not a brewer, just a drinker but my new favorite summer drink is the Gose. The fruit ones are good, but my favorites are less fruity and harder to come by, like Mitten's No Pepper.
So there you go, all you home brewers. Now you know what I like, get to it.
Stillwater's Gose Gone Wild is the king of funky goses.
I typically brew a season ahead, so I just brewed my DR DIPA (double-rye double-IPA) for the football season. It's full of citrusy hops and comes in at about 9.5%. The first keg will go on for kickoff and the second will be aged six weeks on oak. I'll also be brewing my pumpkin pie beer soon.
For the summer I brewed Pale Ale with a lot of late addition Northern Brewer hops (reminds me of camping in northern Michigan) and a new recipe for Cream Ale (because some of my family isn't so crazy about hops). I took half that batch and added Montmorency cherry juice. Just kicked the Pale Ale and the Cream ale just started pouring. Summer here (Tampa) lasts until October - so plenty of time to drink that.
I have yet to age any beer in a barrel. Are you using a full size barrel? Where'd you get it?
I have several times. The first one was a long time ago and I bought a brand new American oak 5 gallon barrel off of Amazon. My brother and I also got one and steeped Tequila in it for 6 months and made a Tequila Barrel-aged dark Mexican Lager in that. We named it Tequila Mockingbird. It was goooood.
Most recently I did a series with some brew club friends in a Dad's Hat bourbon barrel. This was a 30-gallon barrel, so we each brewed 10 gallons and put the beer in there for aging. We won a best in show for the Russian Imperial Stout (B.A.R.I.S Yeltsin) we aged in there. By the fourth run it had gotten wild brett. We brewed a Belgian quad and that beer ended up as a sour - almost like a Flanders Red.
I tend to use the oak spirals now as they are much cheaper and can go in the fire pit when used up. You can soak them in your choice of booze too.
I’m still new to the game, but I brewed my 2nd batch ever recently which was essentially a step-by-step recreation of the Avogadro’s Old Ale recipe from Charlie Papazian’s book. I bottled some after initial fermentation, and so far the returns are...not great, but drinkable. Much like my first batch, it has a stale, yeast-like smell/taste reminiscent of beer that you might find in a beer-pong cup the morning after a party. I will be taking orders so be sure to snatch them up while supplies last!
I suspect my problems are rooted in the fact that I don’t currently have the means for temperature control during fermentation, other than just using a water bath and putting it in a closet. I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building with no AC, and as a result, it got a bit too warm (75-80 degrees) and the yeast went crazy. As an experiment I reserved about half of the fermented wort in a smaller carboy and did a secondary fermentation for about 10 days while I was on vacation, and that is currently in the carbonating process. Hopefully it helps to smooth out the off flavors but I’m not super optimistic.
For those out there who have been at it a while, any ideas for a cheap temperature control setup? Thinking about getting a used chest freezer with a controller, but am open to suggestions.
August 8th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
For a long time, I was using a "swamp cooler" for temp control. Basically filling a bucket with water, setting a fan on it, covering it with a tarp/towel, and swapping in frozen water bottles to dial in the temp. This worked while I was mainly working from home, and in a basement that had relatively mild temps. Not sure it is going to get you down 10 to 15 degrees consistently in your place, though.
Eventually, I went out to Target and got a 7 cu ft chest freezer, with the temp controller plus a heating pad for plant germination. I'm sure you are concerned about space in the apartment. I'm brewing in a condo, but luckily have a small storage area in the basement of the building where the fermentation magic can happen. I really think it is worth it to pick up a chest freezer - you'll be able to dial in temps without worrying about it. Second best upgrade I've made behind kegging!
Thanks for the tip! I think I'm going to take the plunge on a freezer. I did think about attempting the swamp cooler idea, but it seems like more trouble than it's worth. Great idea for the heating element too, I wasn't sure what I should use for that part of the rig.
After about a 1 year hiatus from brewing I plan on brewing 2 beers over the next week.
1. A milk chocolate stout that I'm going to add count chocula cereal to the mash, then when I rack to secondary I'm going to add raspberries. This is a third in a series I have done first was just a chocolate stout, second was chocolate stout with orange.
2. A red wheat ale with cranberries.
Both of these are for the 23rd Homebrew Jamboree in Tamworth NH.
As a side I just purchased my second conical fermentor, I have a SS Brewing one and just got the spike brewing one. I use a glycol chiller to keep temps.