American Pale Ale Sacred Summit Pale Ale (AG) [[ Gold Medal and Best In Show ]]

It's gotta be different types of summit??

It can't be too related to water quality, because I have had one super-awesome batch and one ceaser salad batch from the same water.

What is in the summit that tastes like fresh cut onion?

I know i should wait 3 weeks to open a bottle.....but 12 days ago i bottled the sacred summit and well it got the best of me.....put one in the freezer for 30 minutes and cracked it opened. was definatly not carbed, just barely but god dam this is one fine beer. i have to hand it to biermuncher he has some great recipes. ive never had a beer that tasted like this, it was like a jolly rancher citusy tangerine like pale ale. it was so dam good that i didn't care it was barley carbed. i am definatly going to experiment more with summit hops! now i gotta wait another week and a half knowing i have 5 gallons bottled of one of the best beers ive made so far!

my girlfriend loves the beer i make and she said, "wow you brewing like a pro i don't even like beer from the the store anymore"!

making 10 gallons of this today for my first 10g batch!

Oh FUDGE! I am brewing 5 gallons of this beer now and tossed in my 15 min addition at 60 mins. Bugger-it-all! Looks like I'm making a Sacred-er Summit IPA? Looks like around 69 IBUs. Dang it all!

I bottled this last night. Even though I screwed up the hop additions (put the 15 mins in at 60!) it seemed ok. Sure, it was a little bitter but it wasn't over the top and I know from experience that in two weeks it will be less bitter. The sweet orange smell from the dry hops is amazing! I am looking forward to trying this one when it matures.

So now it it is july. This beer is super dry and very refreshing. I like it and i would try it again with the proper hop schedule if I had the chance.

Any ideas on a 5 gallon extract version? Liquid or dry works, I already have the hops and would love to give this a try.

Just finished my keg of Sacred Summit. Damn that was a tasty beer. BM your beers are some of my favorite to brew. I think we have similar tastes. Best beer I've made so far.
Fermented at 60 for 3 weeks in primary, cold crashed for 48 hours then transferred to keg and dry hopped with 1 oz of summit and 1 oz of Willamette. Waited 2 weeks then my friends came over and raided my mini fridge. It lasted 1 week and was gone.
Came out crystal clear, amber, orange to copper coloring. It had full white 1/2 inch head that stayed around til the glass was 1/2 way gone. Great lacing. Bubbles to the last drop. The smell is mildly malt with dominant citrus/flowery hops, clean sweet tangerine and floral scent, little bit of earthy/dank smell. Taste is almost balanced leaning towards hoppy but without any bitterness or shock. It's fruit upfront with little bit of earthy hop and malt at the end. It came out dry and crisp. It reminds me a bit of Wyld from Uinta brewey. My wife even enjoyed it and she hates hoppy beers, she wondered if i added fruit to it. I will be brewing this again. It's a great thirst quencher and session beer.
I'm also going to start using Summit hops to try and get a more complex hop flavor out of my other C-hopped beer.
Thank you for sharing your recipes.

Geohound said:

Just finished my keg of Sacred Summit. Damn that was a tasty beer. BM your beers are some of my favorite to brew. I think we have similar tastes. Best beer I've made so far.
Fermented at 60 for 3 weeks in primary, cold crashed for 48 hours then transferred to keg and dry hopped with 1 oz of summit and 1 oz of Willamette. Waited 2 weeks then my friends came over and raided my mini fridge. It lasted 1 week and was gone.
Came out crystal clear, amber, orange to copper coloring. It had full white 1/2 inch head that stayed around til the glass was 1/2 way gone. Great lacing. Bubbles to the last drop. The smell is mildly malt with dominant citrus/flowery hops, clean sweet tangerine and floral scent, little bit of earthy/dank smell. Taste is almost balanced leaning towards hoppy but without any bitterness or shock. It's fruit upfront with little bit of earthy hop and malt at the end. It came out dry and crisp. It reminds me a bit of Wyld from Uinta brewey. My wife even enjoyed it and she hates hoppy beers, she wondered if i added fruit to it. I will be brewing this again. It's a great thirst quencher and session beer.
I'm also going to start using Summit hops to try and get a more complex hop flavor out of my other C-hopped beer.
Thank you for sharing your recipes.

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I do miss my summit hops.....

BierMuncher said:

I do miss my summit hops.....

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Why don't you have any more?

BeantownR6 said:

i scaled the recipe to 5.5 gallons (5,5 gal = 20,8 L) to get 5 into the fermenter.

Sacred Summit Pale Ale
----------------------
Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
Batch: 5.50 galAll Grain

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.055 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 43 IBU
Recipe Color: 9° (9 °F = -12,8 °C) SRM
Estimated FG: 1.014
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.2%

Ingredients
-----------
CaraPils 0.25 lb (0,25 lbs = 113 g), Grain, Mashed
Crystal 20L 0.25 lb (0,25 lbs = 113 g), Grain, Mashed
Crystal 60L 0.25 lb (0,25 lbs = 113 g), Grain, Mashed
Honey Malt (Canadian) 0.25 lb (0,25 lbs = 113 g), Grain, Mashed
Maris Otter Malt 8.00 lb (8 lbs = 3,63 kg), Grain, Mashed
Munich (US) 1.00 lb (1 lbs = 454 g), Grain, Mashed
Vienna (US) 1.00 lb (1 lbs = 454 g), Grain, Mashed

Summit 0.50 oz (0,5 oz = 14,1 g), Pellet, 90 minutes (First Wort Hop)
Summit 0.50 oz (0,5 oz = 14,1 g), Pellet, 15 minutes
Summit 0.50 oz (0,5 oz = 14,1 g), Pellet, 5 minutes
Summit 0.50 oz (0,5 oz = 14,1 g), Pellet, 0 minutes


Notes
-----
Recipe Notes:
Dryhop 1 oz (1 oz = 28,3 g) Willamette
Dryhop 1 oz (1 oz = 28,3 g) Summit

Batch Notes:

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I tried this the other day. I had to make quite a few substitutes as the beer shop didnt have all the ingredients.



I only managed to get this into beersmith properly after brewing it. (long story)

I got a little carried away towards the end and finished it with 14g summit and 14g cascade. planning to dry hop with those two as the beer shop didnt have willamette.

my IBU's seem quite high at 48.8 - do you think that's going to be a problem?

any thoughts?

heres some more info

Any thoughts on substitution for the Honey Malt, anyone. I know the taste will be different but there is no way I can get my hands on it. Hey dylanphelan, looks like another fellow SA homebrewer, how did the beer turn out?

Thanks

Frikkieman said:

Any thoughts on substitution for the Honey Malt, anyone. I know the taste will be different but there is no way I can get my hands on it. Hey dylanphelan, looks like another fellow SA homebrewer, how did the beer turn out?

Thanks

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Where are you that you can't get honey malt?

In South Africa. We get Weyerman and Castle Malting malt here and they dont make honey malt. I could maybe order from overseas but that'll cost a lot and its only half a pound needed for this recipe.

Frikkieman said:

In South Africa. We get Weyerman and Castle Malting malt here and they dont make honey malt. I could maybe order from overseas but that'll cost a lot and its only half a pound needed for this recipe.

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Hmmm. You could dissolve some honey in boiled water and add it to secondary to get some sweetness out of it. It'll ferment but should retain more flavor than if you put it in the boil. Just a suggestion.

Frikkieman said:

Any thoughts on substitution for the Honey Malt, anyone. I know the taste will be different but there is no way I can get my hands on it. Hey dylanphelan, looks like another fellow SA homebrewer, how did the beer turn out?

Thanks

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hey - bottling it today. 2 weeks then i'll know!

I used cara blonde instead of honey malt

Heyhey dylanphelan, any news on that sacred summit pale ale. How did the cara blonde sub work out. I'm really keen to try this recipe soon. I have lots of cara blonde and Summit hops lying around. Alsom how were the summit hops, did they have the Citrusy profile or did you get the onion/garlic smell/taste people talk about?

Thanks

Frikkieman said:

Heyhey dylanphelan, any news on that sacred summit pale ale. How did the cara blonde sub work out. I'm really keen to try this recipe soon. I have lots of cara blonde and Summit hops lying around. Alsom how were the summit hops, did they have the Citrusy profile or did you get the onion/garlic smell/taste people talk about?
Thanks

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hey - it worked well, but i would have liked a little more sweetness.
Also - i felt it was lacking a little in upfront hop flavour and aroma.

I didn't get any onion/garlic from the summit, although i don't really taste the tangerine either.

It's a good beer though - we've gone through 20 litres in a week. Only have 2 or 3 bottles left... want to try and hang onto them for a few more weeks

Ah ok, sounds promising. Maybe you could add more grain to up OG and mash a little higher so that there's more unfermentable sugar. So in the end it has the same amount of alcohol in the end but the FG will be a bit higher and beer a little sweeter. I might try that. Also, I'm interested in how you dry-hopped it. Did you just toss it into the fermentor (primary or secondary) or did you use a hop bag (in primary or secondary). My experience with hop bag wasnt so good, very weak dry hop smell despite using 2oz Cascade in 20 litre batch.

Nice.

I am drinking this one a lot. It is very good; I don't get the onion taste. I am going to try the malt bill with falconer's flight hops instead of summit next time. I REALLY like the summit but I have a lot of FF to use.

I wonder if you could 'taste test' your summit hops for onion flavor by steeping the hops in hot water and honey. I have yet to be dissappointed by Summit hops.

Wow BM, this is another hit. I was nervous about Summit hops but I love this beer.

I brewed a 5gallon partial mash/partial boil version of this made with Beersmith. I used 8lbs total of grains and 1.5lbs of DME with expected 66% eff. I get with my setup. I basical BIAB inside a 5gallon kettle and sparge through a bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. Then I do a 4gallon boil in the same kettle. Add DME at 15min and top off with ice to cool.

I was very skeptical to the Summit hops after hearing onion and garlic notions. I do see what people mean but it isn't the oniony flavor you expect. Can't explain it but I do sense some onion flavors, only subtle tones you don't associate with onion usually. The tangerine is very prevalent.

I totally see and agree with your comparison, BM, of the Cascade/Cent. hops being a yellow and this being an orange. This brew has a great residual sweetness that lends itself to the Summit hop flavor. It's delicious in any sense of the world, you lick your lips after a big drink of this. Mine has great lacing and about half a finger of head the whole way drinking the glass.

I just had my first glass after 20days in primary, and only 1 week carbing in bottle and I already see myself brewing this again soon.

I say it's another hit because I brewed your Centennial Blonde about 2 months ago. It was awesome and was drank faster than any of my other homebrew. And even earlier today I brewed my own variation on the recipe and made an Apricot Blonde Ale with homemade apricot puree added to the end of the boil and the secondary.

BM does it again!
This has been a great beer. The best way to describe it is a manly-er Blue Moon. Beautiful, fresh citrus with a little more hop backbone and a little less sweetness compared to Blue Moon. Still very enjoyable on a hot summer day. (Yes, we have those in Minnesota!) I get all tangerine and no onion from the Summit hops. I'm taking a couple growlers to a BBQ tonight. This beer is a great grilling companion.

Thanks for posting.

Agreed, I don't really see the blue-moonness. It's not quite as "spicy" not a great word for it. A lot more residual sweetness than I usually like but it works really well.

Wow!

My batch of Sacred Summit took home first place in the American Pale Ale category and Best Of Show at the Minnesota State Fair homebrew competition this year!!!! I am so honored I can barely wrap my head around it!

Many thanks to BM for posting this recipe.

If you are considering brewing this, JUST DO IT!

I would also like to thank BM for this recipe. Im on my third batch after purchasing a pound of whole summit hops. I bumped up the IBUs a bit with another addition of Willamette. It is the tastiest beer Ive made to date!

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 73.5 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.2 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 8.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.1 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.0 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.0 %
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.0 %
0.50 oz Summit [17.00 %] - First Wort 75.0 min Hop 8 28.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 6.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 3.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 2.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

Est Original Gravity: 1.058 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 %
Bitterness: 40.1 IBUs Calories: 185.8 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 7.9 SRM

Mash @ 155 for 60, Mash out @ 170, batch sparge, collect 7.5 gal wort, boil 75 minutes.

I'm really thinign of brewing this in a few weeks, my only concern is the garlic/onion comments about Summit.

Is it possible that those that are getting the onion smell/taste are using a different yeast that could contribute to it. I know some yeasts bring out hop flavors more than others. I did a Pale Wheat split in half and used two different yeasts, one used washed Ommegnag and the other used WY1010. The Ommegang batch had a bologna flavor for 2.5-3months, the 1010 never had that smell or taste. Afetr that timeframe though the Sorachi Ace lemon character was much more prevalent in the Ommegang batch than in the 1010 batch. The 1010 always had a very subdued lemon character never in the forefront like the Ommegang batch.

Is it possible the fermentation temps are leading to it? Those that have had good and bad experiences, have you kept your temps in consistent temp range or just let it free rise and fall? If the latter what was the starting temp?

Last thought, is it possible that certain crops or brands of hops have the onion taste where others don't. My LHBS only carries HopUnion brand hops, so that's generally the brand I use.

I live in Europe and got a special offer sample hop-pack with two ounces each of Summit, Willamette and Mosaic. So I’m going to use the Willamette and Summit for this recipe.
The only thing is that I’m ½ an ounce short on the Summit hops for a 5 gallon batch.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can best make up the difference and still get the most flavor out of the Summit hops? Would the best option be to use something else for the first worth hop?
I could use Citrus hops like Cascade, Centennial or Falconers flight or some neutral bittering hops like Northern Brewer or Magnum or just use the rest of the Willamette.
The other bittering hops I have available are Aurora, Target, Taurus, Nugget.
Also I will be using normal Belgian 2-Row pale ale, would it be worth adding some biscuit malt to get it closer to Maris Otter or will it make much difference?
Thanks!

Congrats on the medals! Its a lovely recipe. Well balanced malt bill, not being over complicated with a muddled hop bill in a pale ale.

Shenanigans said:

I live in Europe and got a special offer sample hop-pack with two ounces each of Summit, Willamette and Mosaic. So I’m going to use the Willamette and Summit for this recipe.
The only thing is that I’m ½ an ounce short on the Summit hops for a 5 gallon batch.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can best make up the difference and still get the most flavor out of the Summit hops? Would the best option be to use something else for the first worth hop?
I could use Citrus hops like Cascade, Centennial or Falconers flight or some neutral bittering hops like Northern Brewer or Magnum or just use the rest of the Willamette.
The other bittering hops I have available are Aurora, Target, Taurus, Nugget.
Also I will be using normal Belgian 2-Row pale ale, would it be worth adding some biscuit malt to get it closer to Maris Otter or will it make much difference?
Thanks!

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I forgot that I also have 4oz of Belma somewhere in the back of my freezer.
Maybe I can use that for bittering.

Anybody?

Sure. it won't be the same, but you can try. I really do like the malt bill as written and have brewed a few styles with this as the base. Its solid.

nutty_gnome said:

Sure. it won't be the same, but you can try. I really do like the malt bill as written and have brewed a few styles with this as the base. Its solid.

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OK thanks for the tip.

I have 12lbs of Maris Otter I was going to use as part of an RIS/Nut Brown Ale partigyle but I need to reduce my brewing time so my next brew will be a one batch BIAB beer and I think it will be this one. This means I can stick to the original grain bill. Now I just need to decide on what hops to use for the first addition. Also I have an S-04 slurry that I was planning on using for the RIS so I will probably use that instead of the US-05 which should be ok as long as I don't let it get too warm.

Just ordered my Summit Hops (LHBS didn't have em), and am planning this brew on Memorial day! Sounds like a great summer ale!

I've brewed this once before and it was amazing. I think I went through a 5 gallon keg quicker than any other beer with this one. I'm brewing 10 gallons of it this Sunday...sure glad I have about a pound and a half of summit in the freezer! Thanks Biermuncher, I love your recipes man!

Still haven't gotten around to brewing this one but I now have 1# each of Summit and Willammette so this would seem like the perfect beer to use them in. I just need to decide on a decent sub for Honey malt because I can't get that over here. Would love to have it drinkable before BBQ season is over but I probably won't get a chance to brew it until the end of July and I don't have kegs so it will be bottled.

Brewed this on Memorial day as I smoked some ribs. Hit the OG spot on and its happily fermenting away in the basement with a 2" krausen! Can't wait for this one to be done!!

I brewed up 10 gallons of this on 5/25 and I hit the OG right on as well. Third brew on my new 10 gallon system. Can't wait to get it in the keg!

This is awesome!! Was worried about the Summit hops (looked like they had been untouched a while at the HBS) but the taste is great!

Was a little under on OG too so can't wait to brew this again with better efficiency and have a slightly bigger hit.

Thanks Muncher!