What's the right thanksgiving beer?

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massappeal120

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So I would like to start my 2nd batch of homebrew by thursday night. Looking at the time schedule this will be a late november beer, hopefully drinkable by thanksgiving. So what do I do? I was leanin towards a Russian Imperial stout, but now I am thinking thats probably way too heavy an ale to be coupled with thanksgiving gorging. Plus it would be perfect for the batch after as it will be nice and cold by then perfect weather for an ale built for siberia. So what then? IPA seems like an alright fit but I just did an english pale ale and wanted something a lil diff. Porter maybe? Heffe? I dont liek the pumpkin beers that always pop up at this time of year so that is out. If i could do lagers i think a dopplebock would fit nicely inbetween pale ale and imperial. Anyone know of anything dopplebock-esque that is int eh ale category. Flaverful medium to dark beer german or belgian preferably. hmm??? Lemme know.
 
Pumpkin ale is a board favorite, but there are plenty of options. A winter warmer wouldn't be inappropriate, or you could go with something more traditional (pilgrim-esque if you will) - an English mild, brown, or porter.
 
personally i love drinking porters and stouts in the fall.

from what i have read, aparently imperial stouts take very long times to ferment out to be ready for consumption (veterans can chime in here if im wrong) like 5-11 months or something?

you could probably get away with a porter, thats what im doing....
 
If it needs to be ready in 4 weeks or so, you're looking at keeping the OG to something under 1.050, maybe even under 1.046. Also, no "funny stuff" that takes time to mellow out in the bottle --- honey, molasses, spices, etc.

I say brew something like you originally thought, but plan on it for Christmas instead.

Or brew that next week, and do something super fast this week --- like a hefe -- goes down nice on Thanksgiving, even though it's considered more of a summer beer -- think about it, you're stuffed, the house is burning up because of the oven(s), stove(s), steam from cooking food, and the extra people. Refreshing, and very fast to from brewing to serving....
 
well thanks for all the suggestions, i decided on a porter and went and bought a kit from my local shop. hopefully this one turns out better than my pale ale (not that it is bad just not really good). If not then I will have to ditch the kits completely and just figure this all out. My porter kit consits of:

6lb of liquid malt
2 kinds of dry grains (not labled) both have some darker choclatey aromas. one dark in color one medium-light.
a package of northern brewer hops pellets (alpha 7.8%)
a package of fuggle freeze dried hops (4.5 % alpha)
White Labs London Ale yeast.

The worker at the shop suggested maybe adding some spices to give this a lil extra thanks giving pazazz. Any suggestions? Im thinkin cinnamon stick and cloves? I dunno though. I like my beer to taste like beer so I dont wanna fancy it up too much., Just something nice and suttle. so yea any help in this area would be saweeeet. onelove.
 
F these heavy ass ales. Thanksgiving is for BMC. You need a great tasting beer that won't fill you up and never let's you down. Something that tastes great and is less filling.

OK, honestly though, I'd opt for a really low gravity light cream ale or kolsch or wit. Nothing higher than 4.5%. You need room for all that food. Maybe even a hefe.

Now, there's nothing wrong with a pumpkin or zinger for the night before or after or even as an after dinner drink. But I'd stick with a MGD during the day time.
 
Given that Thanksgiving is decidely a "wine" holiday, I'll not make any suggestions except this: ITS FOUR WEEKS TO THANKSGIVING!!! You should be planning your Valentines Day beers ... TG beers should have been brewed in September at the LATEST. Forget lagers ... lagers (to store) need to ... ummm ... be stored.

Revise your brew schedule accordingly.
 
teu1003 said:
Given that Thanksgiving is decidely a "wine" holiday, I'll not make any suggestions except this: ITS FOUR WEEKS TO THANKSGIVING!!! You should be planning your Valentines Day beers ... TG beers should have been brewed in September at the LATEST. Forget lagers ... lagers (to store) need to ... ummm ... be stored.

Revise your brew schedule accordingly.

You could have a hefe ready by then. They only need about 20 days from grain to glass.
 
massappeal120 said:
So I would like to start my 2nd batch of homebrew by thursday night. Looking at the time schedule this will be a late november beer, hopefully drinkable by thanksgiving. So what do I do? I was leanin towards a Russian Imperial stout, but now I am thinking thats probably way too heavy an ale to be coupled with thanksgiving gorging. Plus it would be perfect for the batch after as it will be nice and cold by then perfect weather for an ale built for siberia. So what then? IPA seems like an alright fit but I just did an english pale ale and wanted something a lil diff. Porter maybe? Heffe? I dont liek the pumpkin beers that always pop up at this time of year so that is out. If i could do lagers i think a dopplebock would fit nicely inbetween pale ale and imperial. Anyone know of anything dopplebock-esque that is int eh ale category. Flaverful medium to dark beer german or belgian preferably. hmm??? Lemme know.

I don’t think you have time for anything too heavy or complex.

Like Cheese said, too much food being stuffed down the gullet to lay on a heavy beer.

With four weeks, I’d go with a Blonde Ale, A Belgian Wit (nice and spicy for the cold weather…) or maybe you can even rush a quasi Old Ale like an Old Speckled Hen. It’s a great sipping beer for fireside. Mines right at 4-weeks and very drinkable right now.

A lot also depends on are you bottling or kegging?
 
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