Summer brews

So I'm looking to brew three to four beers for our summer party. I'm looking for some suggetions, I was thinking a wheat, a rasberry ale, a amber or red, and maybe a stout. Any suggestions on receipies or changes to my list? Thanks

not sure ppl are going to want to drink a heavy stout in the heat of the summer. The others on the list look fine.

hard to go wrong with a wheat, a fruit ale, and an amber. all good choices. i would say add an ipa or make the stout a nice dry stout and you will be set.

craigbrew said:

not sure ppl are going to want to drink a heavy stout in the heat of the summer. The others on the list look fine.

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agreed but my brother is being a little insistant on having some dark, i'm kind of debting on making an IPA for a strong hoppy beer for him instead

I'd go with the wheat, fruit, and IPA. Sounds like a good party!

Here's another voice to the choir. Wheat, fruit and Hell yea an IPA!

craigbrew said:

not sure ppl are going to want to drink a heavy stout in the heat of the summer.

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I wouldn't go with a heavy RIS or big oatmeal stout, but a nice light-bodied dry stout makes for fine summer quaffing.

A dry stout around 4% ABV or a Brown.

whatabout a rasberry wheat, a cream ale, a pale ale or blonde ale, and a basic dry stout(70/20/10 or whatever the percentages are for them)

SumnerH said:

I wouldn't go with a heavy RIS or big oatmeal stout, but a nice light-bodied dry stout makes for fine summer quaffing.

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Am I the only one who takes Ten FIDY to the beach?? :rockin:

Stout in the summer? Maybe for breakfast!

I wouldn't get to fancy, it's hot out, people are thirsty.

#1 cream ale or kolsch. You gotta have a spritzy light bodied ale

#2 American Style Wheat beer - flavor it if you like. Citrus, rasberry, etc..etc

#3 Pale Ale/ IPA - you gotta have something agressively hopped but light in color and body to please the hopheads but not to heavy as to fill them up. Corn sugar helps lighten the body if you go IPA.

#4 TRIPEL!!!!!!!

If you want something dark, you might do a hopped up American Brown. Clean and dry, with loads of finish hops.

I brewed a hopped up (with low bitterness, ~20ibus) Summer Wheat and it was the first of 6 kegs drained at my party. Everyone loved it. I got better efficiency than I planned so it ended up having a little more body and being 6.1% abv. I think I may tone down the hops slightly. Like I said everyone loved it but it's not exactly what I want. Brewing the next version soon.

I'm also about to brew a Kolsch with some Lemon Zest (maybe other citrus zest as well, not sure), so we'll see how that goes.

Pale Ales are great in the summer.

An Irish Red or American Amber may be good.

stubbornman said:

Am I the only one who takes Ten FIDY to the beach?? :rockin:

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If I could I would! I can drink massive Stouts any time. Now if I am super thirsty, that's the last thing I want. Made that mistake once before. Grabbed an Immort Ale, definitely not what I wanted.

I'm also a supporter of the blonde ale with lemon. I made one with honey malt and lemon that was a bit lighter and had more lemon flavor than sam summer but was a real crowd favorite. For the dark, I'd agree with a hoppy brown. Something similar to dogfish Indian Brown would be great - anybody have a clone recipe for that?

nevermind...

Found a few recipes for the DFH IBA with a search. Here is one:

Originally Posted by RoaringBrewer View Post
This is from Sam Calagione's (DFH founder) book. It's extract, but I'm sure you can convert to AG if you'd like:

10oz British amber malt
10oz Crystal 60L
8oz Chocolate malt
2oz roasted barley
Steep all of this at 150F for 30 minutes

Add 7lb Light DME
8oz Dark Brown sugar

1/2oz Warrior Hops for 60 Minutes
1oz Vanguard Hops at Flameout

Ringwood Ale Yeast/Wyeast 1187

How about a Kolsch or an Alt.

I think the key is to have a keg or two with something people are familiar with. For memorial day I plan to bring an american wheat with lemon similar to sam's summer. And then a nice hoppy pale ale for the people who want a little more. Apfelweins mixed down with cranberry juice for the chicks who only drink twisted teas and smirnoffs.

Dark & mild might work for dark beer fix.

Going to be brewing this AG soon:
5.5 lb Marris Otter
.75 lb 60lvb Crystal malt
.5 lb 120 LVB Crystal malt
.25 lb Black Patent malt
.25 lb British Chocolate malt

1oz East Kent Goldings 5.5%aa 60 min boil

OG 1.037
FG 1.013
19 IBU
24 SRM
3.10% abv
Have some Windsor yeast on hand...

Brewing this next week...

I love stouts. Anytime of the year. People don't always drink beer in the heat of the day, there are cool evenings sometimes. I think, though, if you want a quaffable (is that a word?) dark beer to appease your brother, maybe an alt or dunkel. But I could drink RISs all day everyday so I would opt for the stout. And for the fruit beer, I would probably make the base a wheat.

permo said:

Stout in the summer? Maybe for breakfast!

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Brew a chocolate stout, and serve ice cream floats. Seriously good.


Also the dark mild and alt are great ways to go for a little darker beers.

mosquitocontrol said:

I think the key is to have a keg or two with something people are familiar with.

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+1

I'm always a fan of a belgian ale in the summertime. Maybe a Saison or just a Belgian Pale. Someone suggested a Tripel...maybe a bit heavy (and delicious), but perhaps a good idea if you're hoping that people get a little inebriated quicker than they think..

niginata said:

agreed but my brother is being a little insistant on having some dark, i'm kind of debting on making an IPA for a strong hoppy beer for him instead

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I got your answer right here!

just planted 3 herb plants in my garden called lemon balm. when plants grow I plan on doing a light pale ale or cream ale flavored with lemon balm (1/2 oz fresh picked leaves last few minutes of boil add a strong lemon scent and flavor according to the book "The Homebrewer's Garden" by joe and dennis fisher.)

IPA, Blonde Ale, Pilsner, and IRA

Have you thought about a milk stout as the fourth option? Something like Mackesons XXX? Pretty tasty in the summer.

So it seems that most people are leasing toward wheat, ipa, and ale. Just finished the first of four beers this weekend. It's a pilsner with a hint of citrus. Hope it'll turn out alright, first time I tried multi-rest steeping. But we're gonna make a red in a few weeks. Thanks for the inputs, kind of leaning towards and ipa, any good recepies out there?

permo said:

Stout in the summer? Maybe for breakfast!

I wouldn't get to fancy, it's hot out, people are thirsty.

#1 cream ale or kolsch. You gotta have a spritzy light bodied ale

#2 American Style Wheat beer - flavor it if you like. Citrus, rasberry, etc..etc

#3 Pale Ale/ IPA - you gotta have something agressively hopped but light in color and body to please the hopheads but not to heavy as to fill them up. Corn sugar helps lighten the body if you go IPA.

#4 TRIPEL!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

+1

I suppose a newcastlish brown might go over well as well.