Any Seasonal Brewers Out There?

I see all these people with kegerators and stuff and, I tell myself that I just don't have the space for it and I don't want to run up the electricity bill. But I think the truth is actually something else. I think it has to do with tradition.

Somewhere, deep in the back of my brain, I have this intuitive feeling that the thing that is cool about making your own beer is that it connects you with the past. It connects you with a certain history. Part of that history is the "seasonal" brews. Sure, every company makes seasonal brews, but really, they are merely seasonal in name and recipe. With all the fancy equipment, refrigeration techniques, etc, we can brew lagers year round. Nothing, except the fear of being viewed as odd, is keeping someone from producing a Christmas beer in July. Any beer style can be made anytime. But I feel like I want something else from my beer-brewing experience. I want to get in touch with the seasonal changes that actually created all of these different styles of beer. No refrigeration or heat, just do it the old fashioned way.

We have a 60's bomb shelter that is now a wine cellar. Right now, it's 55 degrees outside here in Chicago and my cellar is 50 degrees. That's about as hot as it gets down there in the winter time and it's because of the unseasonably warm weather. Usually, once the temps are dropping into the sub-zeros, I crack the door a little bit to keep the temps hovering around 42 or so.


So does anybody else do true seasonal brewing? Brew your light lagers in the winter and the ales in the warmer summer? I think that if you get into this mindset, it will also help you age your brews for longer periods and could easily result in better finished products. What say you?

Are there any problems or worries to concern yourself with when doing this? What about lager yeast? How tolerant are they of temperature swings within their proper operating range?

Any other Comments? Questions? Insults?

i made an ice box for lagers so i can only brew them in the winter when my basement is around 60 degrees.
2 frozen 1 litre bottles in the ice box with the carboy holds the temp between 49 and 51 degrees as long as i swap bottles morning and night.
when i go to the lagering phase i use 1 frozen 10 litre bottle and 2-4 1 litre bottles that keep the temp in the mid 30's.
have a batch of fathers moustache(pre-prohibition american lager) on the go now
i hope santa brings me a small freezer so i can stop playng with the ice twice a day but i have my doubts it will happen

Seems to me like, if I start just after Christmas, it'll be about the right time to brew a Maibock as, come January and February, my cellar temps will be perfect and steady enough for a lager. I suppose the tradition is that you start it earlier than that, but well, this is the Midwest, not Germany, so our temperatures and growing seasons are a bit different and things must be adjusted to accomodate that.

So what varieties have a traditional season for brewing and drinking? I'm thinking something like...

January- A Maibock in early January, high grav, to be bottled sometime in march when the temps in the cellar start to hint at getting warmer.

February- A light lager in February, take advantage of the cold cellar temps while I can to get something smooth for the peak of summer.

March- Brew the oktoberfest so it can age a long time. It's supposed to be a special beer, right?

April-June... A bitter, ESB, nut brown, regular old ales.

May.... Maybe an IPA for July or August.

June make a wheat beer in anticipation of the dog days of late July and August.

July- ??? Time to start working on the barleywine?

August- Imperial Stout for winter consumption

September- A porter or stout

July-November- make fruit beers as they come in season. Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, and Apple should all be obtainable from local farms.

August/September- time to start the fall beers.

October- A Christmas Ale

November- ???

December- ???

rod said:

i made an ice box for lagers so i can only brew them in the winter when my basement is around 60 degrees.
2 frozen 1 litre bottles in the ice box with the carboy holds the temp between 49 and 51 degrees as long as i swap bottles morning and night.
when i go to the lagering phase i use 1 frozen 10 litre bottle and 2-4 1 litre bottles that keep the temp in the mid 30's.
have a batch of fathers moustache(pre-prohibition american lager) on the go now
i hope santa brings me a small freezer so i can stop playng with the ice twice a day but i have my doubts it will happen

Click to expand...

I would definitely have to muck around with ice to keep anything in the mid 30's. And I'd rather not worry so much. It seems I should be able to keep my lagering temps around 40-45 in the heart of winter and think that will be adequate(?). And traditional. And allow for an authentic midwestern "seasonal" experience. Do people really think it's necessary to get a lager down that cold?

Ice was used in the lagering caves. The Big breweries in Milwaukee used it before refridgeration.

My Great Great Grandfather cut ice on the Wisconsin River and cellared it with straw so ice could be used year round.

If I had a basement, I'd go no frills like you.

If I had to follow tradition, I'd be making Chica or Pulque or Tequila. My brew cycle wouldn't exist May - October with out AC or Fridge.

I find myself in a similar situation, but 180 degrees off. I brew my lagers in the summer because I have a fridge in the garage and no AC in the house, then my ales in the winter because the house is a steady 65 or so. It's too cold outside in the winter to lager, and too hot inside for ales in the summer. I do follow the growing seasons for my fruit wines though, that makes up most of my summer brewing.

Sounds like you have a perfect lagering cave! You could make some very special beers...

I have a lagering freezer(even though right now it's freezing my venison, not lagering beer:cross: ), but I tend to stick with the traditional seasonal types of beer anyway. Early next month I'll brew a bock, in March I'll brew an Oktoberfest, etc. I don't have to stick with any sort of schedule, but I do anway, if for no other reason than those beers will be ready when I tend to get the thirst for them.

ablrbrau said:

I have a lagering freezer(even though right now it's freezing my venison, not lagering beer:cross: ), but I tend to stick with the traditional seasonal types of beer anyway. Early next month I'll brew a bock, in March I'll brew an Oktoberfest, etc. I don't have to stick with any sort of schedule, but I do anway, if for no other reason than those beers will be ready when I tend to get the thirst for them.

Click to expand...

Seems to me that it will also improve your beers as it will encourage you to age them for an appropriate amount of time. Start brewing your oktoberfest in August and you'll probably start drinking it before you should as the hankering for an oktoberfest brew will come upon you much quicker...

I think that's my real motivation for approaching the hobby this way. Normally, it's no fun to let something sit around for 4 months before drinking it, but if you are doing it with a seasonal approach, then it's sort of like a prom dress... half the excitement is in the anticipation. As long as you got a knobber in the limo beforehand, or something to drink in the interim, the anticipation won't drive you too crazy. ;-)

Toot said:

Seems to me that it will also improve your beers as it will encourage you to age them for an appropriate amount of time. Start brewing your oktoberfest in August and you'll probably start drinking it before you should as the hankering for an oktoberfest brew will come upon you much quicker...

I think that's my real motivation for approaching the hobby this way. Normally, it's no fun to let something sit around for 4 months before drinking it, but if you are doing it with a seasonal approach, then it's sort of like a prom dress... half the excitement is in the anticipation. As long as you got a knobber in the limo beforehand, or something to drink in the interim, the anticipation won't drive you too crazy. ;-)

Click to expand...

LOL- Hmm that's new. I don't think I've ever heard of a homebrew being compared to a wobble job with a ball wash before. I like it tho.

For me, I need the equipment anyways. All my stuff is in the garage. In the summer, the garage can easily get to 100 degrees, but right now the lows are almost freezing. And with this being Southern California, you don't know what next week might be. I've seen many a Christmas day close to 80 degrees. I need the equipment just to regulate the temperatures for any style, not just seasonal ones. If I had a basement, especially one that stayed a relative constant temp, it might be a different story.

My basement stays around 56-58 degrees F this time of year. (its only 20 outside up here). I got some of Wyeast 2112 California lager and am going to try it down there. The temp range is 58-68 for this yeast. Not sure what style lager Ill try but it will be my first. Think this yeast would be good choice for "cool basement lagering"?

I only lager in the winter, but that's my main concession to the seasons. If I had a basement, things might be a bit different, but the brewery runs about 85F in the summer, so some form of cooling is required.

Oh, and I only do Fresh Hop ales during the harvest. Two hours, bine to boil.