Military TDY Brew Ideas

I'll be on a TDY for four months. Can anyone give me some suggestions of some brew to make that can sit in a carboy for that long in my basement, so by the time I come back in July, it will be amazing and ready to bottle and I can drink to victory?

Thanks!

Any beer should be fine. Look at threads discussing yeast autolysis. It has pretty much been shown that on a homebrew scale autolysis is not a large concern. What is your temperature stability like in the basement? This would have a larger impact on beer styles that could be given an extended fermentation time. In general, if your basement is cool (~50F) consider a lager. Another fun option would be a mead. Mead tends to like ale temperature fermentation and always benefit from extended fermentation times and aging.

4 months? Sounds like a good time to make up some Apfelwein, athough not beer, I never seem to be able to let it age more than 2 months before I drink it.

Make something bigger. I love a good complex porter/stout, or an old/strong ale. Now that I mention it, I think I am going to have to make another Old Ale.

Make sure you use a blow off tube in a LARGE container so you don't come back to a dried out airlock.

Yes ^ I learned my lesson from my last batch of doing a .07 Stout. It was supposed to finish at .013, but I lost so much yeast in the explosion of flavor it finished at .05 and at 5% ABV where my aim was 7%



Thinking anything Imperial would be good, so a nice big OG beer. Since I return in July, thinking an IPA or Belgium triple to fit the season.

Apfelwein is a good idea. I have a 6 month desert vacation coming up this summer and am looking for similar ideas. I would do a Belgian Golden Strong like I did last deployment, but since I just bottled one last week I'm looking for something different.

I don't think I've had an Old Ale before. I'll have to explore that one, or perhaps an Imperial Stout.

The IPA will lose a lot of hop character in that time. I'd go for a barleywine/old ale, but like you said, that might not bee too seasonally appropriate. Maybe a bigger Saison or a Tripel would work well for summer since they're lighter/drier, but also higher gravity.

Blu3Ridge said:

Yes ^ I learned my lesson from my last batch of doing a .07 Stout. It was supposed to finish at .013, but I lost so much yeast in the explosion of flavor it finished at .05 and at 5% ABV where my aim was 7%

Thinking anything Imperial would be good, so a nice big OG beer. Since I return in July, thinking an IPA or Belgium triple to fit the season.

Click to expand...

That bucket looks like it was used for a different type of bathroom activity. In a truck stop nonetheless. Yikes. My sympathy for the yeasties that were lost in the making of that there fotergraph.

Barleywine is another option.