Looking for a good summer party brew

I am new to brewing, but I am hosting a party at the end of May to kick off the summer. I am looking for a good light but flavorful beer to serve to my guests. The party is centered around a Clambake if that makes any difference, and I am new to brewing so to im not ready for anything to complicated. Thanks alot.


"We're not that drunk" ~ beerfest

This is one of my top 2 brews... great light summertime ale


Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Nottingham
Yeast Starter: No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.25
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: 10
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 @ 68F


Brewer: Brewpilot -
Beer: Razzberry Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
Type: All grain Size: 5.2 gallons
Color: 5 HCU (~5 SRM)
Bitterness: 10 IBU
OG: 1.041 FG: 1.010
Alcohol: 4.0% v/v (3.1% w/w)
Grain:
7 lb. Maris Otter
Mash: 80% efficiency
Single Infusion, 60 minute rest at 150F
Mashout at 170F for 15 minutes
Boil: 70 minutes SG 1.034 6.25 gallons
Fuggles 4.4AA .5oz @ 60 min.
Fuggles 4.4AA 1.00z @ 0 minutes
Irish Moss 1tsp @ 15 minutes
Hops:
.5 oz. Fuggles (4.75% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Fuggles (aroma)
Yeast: Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast 11g rehyrdated in 100ml of 88F water
Pitched at 68F
Log: Brewed on 11-6-06
Fermentation at 68F for 7 days
Transfer to secondary on top of 2.5lbs of raspberries
Carbonation: 5oz of corn sugar at bottling time

Welcome to the forums. I posted a similar thread about a week ago. One summer brew that I really like is a Belgian Wit. Any of the wheat beers are pretty Summery.

Being fairly new to brewing, I'm guessing you are doing extract or mini mash? That Razzberry Ale looks like it would be pretty good. I'll have to take a look to see if I can find it as a mini-mash.

If you can replace the Maris Otter with a suitalbe extract, youd be all set. It was the fav for 2006 around here, the real raspberries really set it off.

The Pol

Excellent, thanks for the quick responses guys. I would love some more. I like to have some choices.

Those suggestions are good. If you're only going to serve one beer, I wouldn't serve a wit, because that's a style that some people just wont like.

A simple APA is a good choice, too.

cweston said:

Those suggestions are good. If you're only going to serve one beer, I wouldn't serve a wit, because that's a style that some people just wont like.

A simple APA is a good choice, too.

Click to expand...

Or an American Lager or Pilsner. Something people are accustomed to drinking.

Or, I have an idea, just go buy some BMC, everyone will be pleased.

The Pol

The Pol said:

Or, I have an idea, just go buy some BMC, everyone will be pleased.

The Pol

Click to expand...

The point of a party is to make your guests feel comfortable and have a good time, not to show off your skill at brewing a hummingbird-tongue infused pecan-smoked vanilla red chile chocolate imperial porter or whatever.

If I were brewing for a summer party, I'd probably brew a simple APA and then some other summer-ish beer, maybe a hefe. If there were people that I knew would appreciate my more exotic beers, then I'd get them out. But I'm a lot more likely to have friends sample my brewing wares in much smaller groups.

A fair number of people at a party will prefer the simpler beers anyway: why use up your stock of the special stuff, then?

Good look guys thanks for the help

If you can all grain - check out Sorachi Saison. You can replace the Sorachi's if you can't get them...I had to order from freshops.com to get them because my LBS didn't stock em, and couldn't get them faster than I did.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21487

bigchilla:

Here's a light summer ale I brewed last year that my wife and mother-in-law liked.
I used Munton's light LME and Northern Brewer light LME (Briess) because that's what I had on hand. This is similar to some of the new light bitters sold in the UK these days.

Recipe for 5 gallons, O.G. 40

Extracts
3.3 lbs Muntons light LME
2.5 lbs Northern Brewer light LME

no steeping grains

60 minute boil time

Hops
Boiled for 60 minutes
25 grams (0.9 oz) East Kent Goldings (5.4% AA,4.8 HBU)
30 grams (1.03 oz) Fuggles (4.4% AA, 4.7 HBU)

Boiled for 15 minutes
15 grams (0.5 oz) Goldings (5.4% AA,0 HBU)

Irish Moss added 15 minutes before knock out.

Fermented with Wyeast 1098, I'd say try Safale 04 or 05 for an easy dry yeast.

One week in primary, two in secondary, racked to corny tank, carbed to 10 psi at 50 F. No dry hops.
Kept at 50 F, ready to drink 2 weeks later, took that long to clear.

I usually brew a light summer lager - with Rice as an adjunct - that usually comes out pretty well - I even throw in a beachwood chip for that fresh filtered tase...(just kidding)

Flame away, but I usually like that beer. A Bud clone no, but definately a light summer brew.