Small Beer, Big Taste

Stone Levitation

Who’s had this beer? I just tried it and it’s amazing. It’s called ‘Levitation’ because they are defying gravity. Get it? Stone is, of course showing off.

I take it as a nod to English bitters, with a very American twist.

I’ve been brewing 1060's lately, but I might have to dial it down and see what I can do. It’s interesting territory.

21st Amendment with Bitter American and Notch with their Session ale are doing similar things. I have been working on my own low gravity ale, with mixed results. Sometimes I want several beers without getting hammered.

Ramitt said:

21st Amendment with Bitter American and Notch with their Session ale are doing similar things. I have been working on my own low gravity ale, with mixed results. Sometimes I want several beers without getting hammered.

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I've tried both the 21st bitter american and stone levitation and for me the bitter american by a huge margin, plus, the bitter american is sooo much cheaper....I just did the clone for bitter american and I have to say....dang tasty. I can't do side by side but my clone is the best beer I've probably ever made.....

I am probably going to make a 1.5% beer based on the "drivers choice" ale in the back of the Belgian book by the AHA....

I think Yooper made a thread while back about making a small beer. Definitely something I would like to do soon. And why not? It is cheaper if you're doing extract, and if you're doing all grain, parti-gyle makes it even more cost effective. If you're harvesting your yeast, you are basically getting a free batch for the cost of the hops (and water if you factor that) which I think is awesome.

edit:

looks like it wasn't yooper, she just contributed I think, here is the thraed I believe I was thinking of

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ex...rs-anyone-has-experience-brewing-them-213073/

Small is the new big....

Honestly, I think "levitation" is more of a nod to Stone making a "light" beer (fizzy yellow beer is for pussies and all that). I have to say, though, that of all the beers I've had both in the bottle and on draft, this one is the most different. I can't drink the bottled version, but will order it any time I see it in a bar.

My ordinary bitter (OG 1.035) is honestly my favorite beer I've ever made. It's just excellent. I'm actually not the hugest british beer fan, but I do love me some bitters of all strengths. That OB is pretty fantastic though. It's awesome to be able to drink six pints of something and not rant on HBT.

daksin have you posted this recipe on here before?

I've got the ingredients for a Rye Bitter that I'm planning on brewing soon. I'm pretty psyched to try it out.

Keesh thanks for the link, I missed that the first time around. That’ll keep me busy for a while.

I like bitters and I’ve had some lovely milds. However, it is easy to tire of them as flat and boring. I think that style evolved at least partly as a reaction to high British alcohol tax.

It’s nice to see something going on besides high gravity hopbombs. C hops do a good job covering up the beer.

I think maybe a low gravity Belgian would be nice, as a nod to the 'single' that monks would drink but never sold to the public, like Redemption by Russian River except even low gravity. The fruity/spicy esters of the Belgian yeast could do really well to bring the beer alive at the low gravity. You'd probably want to pitch very low and ferment warm to make sure your esters form well in the low gravity environment.

keesh said:

I think maybe a low gravity Belgian would be nice, as a nod to the 'single' that monks would drink but never sold to the public, like Redemption by Russian River except even low gravity. The fruity/spicy esters of the Belgian yeast could do really well to bring the beer alive at the low gravity. You'd probably want to pitch very low and ferment warm to make sure your esters form well in the low gravity environment.

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I recently used northern brewers patersbeir recipie and it is a nice refreshing beer, but I think if I did it again I would add some specialty grains to make it a bit more complex.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-Patersbier.pdf

BrewerBear said:

daksin have you posted this recipe on here before?

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Maybe? It's not anything groundbreaking, but I've really got it tuned in on my system to something that I can't find anywhere else. If you care, my water is very hard. I've got a batch ready to keg as we speak, but with WLP002 instead of my usual S-04. We'll see how that is.

Here it is in percentages:

88% English Pale Ale malt (usually Maris Otter)
8% English medium cystal
4% Special roast

1/2oz fuggles at 20 and 0, bitter to ~25 IBU

Mash thin (1.5qt/lb) ~155F.

S-04 dries this out quite far, which I like, and the medium mash temp helps keep that in check, but you can mash high or use a less attenuative yeast if you like a little more body. I also think it would be fun to try out some other english pale malts like golden promise or optic malt. I've also fallen in love with WLP006 lately so I'll be giving that a go as well. Try it out and let me know if I should put it up in the archives.

Thanks for the recipe daksin I brewed a batch Saturday.

BrewerBear said:

Thanks for the recipe daksin I brewed a batch Saturday.

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Awesome! Let me know how it turns out for you. My most recent batch actually came out a little thin/dry. I may go up on the crystal next time. Let me know how you like it! I guess I'll have to put that one into the recipe forum.

Cheers!

I plan on 2 weeks and see if it's done(I would think it should be),if so try to get it bottled and start conditioning.

Been meaning to update,it turned out pretty good.I plan on doing another batch.

signpost said:

I've got the ingredients for a Rye Bitter that I'm planning on brewing soon. I'm pretty psyched to try it out.

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What's your recipe? I'm interested in brewing a session beer with rye.

rye bitter recipe post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/rye-bitter-381304/#post4782658