Is it too early? Spring beers?

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sonvolt

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Is it too early to start thinking about brewing beers for Spring? I always feel like I am a bit behind. I started thinking about my Oktoberfest to late, and I barely got my Christmas Celebration Ale brewed in time to be ready for Christmas. I want to get a better start on brewing my seasonals next year.

What are some traditional styles for Spring?
 
Well, the obvious one, of course, is a spring bock. I figure most mid-level lagers would be fine as well. Can't really think of any spring ales. Maybe a mild or amber ale.
 
I don't think it's too early. I brewed my last ale for a while yesterday (an espresso stout), and plan to shift the chest freezer over to lagers by early January. Thinking of a maibock to start.
 
Saison!

The Saison Dupont clone recipe in Clone Brews is excellent. I brewed it in March and it was still improving last month when I drannk the last one.

Great spring brew and would be drinking really well by spring if you did one now.
 
I'm new to this board, but I'll throw my two cents in.

I think anyone can brew whatever they want whenever they want to. That said, it's a good time to brew lagers because for most of us, it's colder now.

From a traditional standpoint, it's probably a little late to brew a Dopplebock. The traditional time to release/start drinking Dopplebocks is the beginning of Lent (the style originated as sustenance for fasting monks!). Since Dopplebocks can take well over a month to ferment, if you are following tradition, that doesn't leave much lagering time.

Standard (Dunkel) Bocks were generally released around the start of Spring, so from a historical point of view, there's plenty of time to ferment and lager before Spring.

Maibock were, naturally, released in May, so there's time to brew a Dunkel Bock and get it out of the primary fermenter before starting a Maibock.
 
Pretty soon would be a good time to start a pilsner. Brew the first of jan. and lager until the end of march and two weeks to carb would set you up with a good spring beer.
 
If I can get the temperature on my fridge dialled in I'm planning to brew a Doppelbock at Christmas for Spring consumption. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy the first pint while brewing an Oktoberfest.
 
With temperture controlled fermentation it is possible to brew anything you like anytime you like.

Hey, I do that! I love lagers and my lager fridge is always going full tilt. Ales I can brew in my basement, which keeps temps ranging from 70 in the summer to 62 in the winter.
 
I try to brew what I want to drink 3 months from now. Right now I have a Boston Lager about ready to bottle. I'm bottle lagering it for St Patty's Day.

My next line up are all medium body lagers with my 1st season home grown hops, nothing fancy, just the basic american beer style with cascade & nugget hops. I'm going to throw in an amber too. I'm baselining my home grown hops. Bittering w/ pellet, dry hoppin' with HG.

They will all be steamers made w/ Superior Lager Yeast fermented @ 57-62'F, then bottle lagered @ 44'F 8 weeks minimum. Almost the same process as my ales.

:mug:
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
If I can get the temperature on my fridge dialled in I'm planning to brew a Doppelbock at Christmas for Spring consumption. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy the first pint while brewing an Oktoberfest.

I also have plans for a Doppelbock during the Christmas break. Just got my 55lb bag of Weyermann Munich II. This and some CaraMunich should make for a nice one.

As for a Maibock, I will be brewing this in January or early February.

Kai
 
The basement is might close to 62 degrees right now. Methinks it's time for California Common. I'll have to do an ice bath for the quasi-lagering in secondary, but since I'll only have to drop temps by ten or fifteen degrees, that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Kaiser said:
I also have plans for a Doppelbock during the Christmas break. Just got my 55lb bag of Weyermann Munich II. This and some CaraMunich should make for a nice one.

As for a Maibock, I will be brewing this in January or early February.

Kai
With my single fridge setup (freezer on top) I have to do lagers sequentially which is a bummer since my first one turned out well and kind of has me going to brew another one.

My Doppel will have a combination of Munich I, Munich II, Pilsner (that I got from you), CaraM II, and Carafa II. I will use my copious reserves of Hersbrucker for hopping.
 
Older thread but with St. Patty's 2 months from today I figured I'd hitch a ride on this one. :D

Anyone putting anything together special for St. Pats? I'm going predictable with an Irish Red Ale. :rolleyes: Everything should be here tomorrow so I should have it fermenting away this Saturday. It'll just be 7 weeks out and should be done by then.


Ize
 
As far as I'm concerned, any time is a good time. Starting now will give your Spring Ale lots of good conditioning time.

I'm currently working on a raspberry wheat. Some people will tell you that's a summer beer. Some people should shut up. :D
 
Well if the dude would change the sticky on top of this forum we would know what to brew, right? But by the book: Bock, Imperial Stout(for next Christmas), Munich Helles/Dunkel, or a Dry Stout(St. Patty's dayish).
 
sause said:
Well if the dude would change the sticky on top of this forum we would know what to brew, right? But by the book: Bock, Imperial Stout(for next Christmas), Munich Helles/Dunkel, or a Dry Stout(St. Patty's dayish).


I was thinking a stout originally, but I'm trying to recruit people into HB (i'm my own little island as far as the people i know who are beer drinkers :( ) so I went with the IRA so I could say "Here, Happy St. Patty's Day, enjoy the brew but give me the bottle back"... We'll see how well it goes. :rolleyes:

Ize
 
Ize said:
I was thinking a stout originally, but I'm trying to recruit people into HB (i'm my own little island as far as the people i know who are beer drinkers :( ) so I went with the IRA so I could say "Here, Happy St. Patty's Day, enjoy the brew but give me the bottle back"... We'll see how well it goes. :rolleyes:

Ize

An IRA for St. Patty's day? Nice.

Maybe you should bottle before fermentation stops so you can get some bottle bombs :D











Apologies to anyone who's Irish....
 
the_bird said:
An IRA for St. Patty's day? Nice.

Maybe you should bottle before fermentation stops so you can get some bottle bombs :D

Apologies to anyone who's Irish....


:D Irish heritage anyway and not even remotely offended. I have some GREAT label ideas for it. ;) (knowing me tho, they'll never get done)

Ize
 
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