5 beers for a wedding: which to keg, bottle?

Hello,
I'm brewing five beers for my friends' wedding. My rolling kegerator can hold up to 3 kegs, which means I'm going to bottle two. The beers are:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone
Blue Moon clone
Newcastle clone
Apricot ale
Honey-Rosemary Saison

The SNPA, Newcastle, and Apricot should all be at about the same carbonation levels, so I'm thinking about kegging them and bottling the Blue Moon and the saison.

I do know that I want to bottle condition the saison, as it'll have a higher carbonation level than the other beers. I'm not sure about the Blue Moon though. It's been so long since I've had one, so I don't remember how much carb it has; and since according to a reliable source they use a neutral American yeast strain, meaning that the SNPA, Apricot, and BM are all going to be fermented with US-05, should I go that route instead, bottling the saison and Newcastle?

Thoughts?

3 volumes is a pretty good goal or carbonation. I wouldn't use US05. Use a Witbier yeast for proper flavor profile.

If we were talking about an authentic wit I would totally agree with you, but for authentic Blue Moon, they use a neutral ale yeast, or at least they used to.

I'm referencing a thread from a few years back where one of the contributors was a former Coors employee with firsthand knowledge of brewing BM. Here's the link to the post about yeast: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blue-moon-clone-65328/#post671567

A few posts down he explains his history with the beer. IIRC he never goes into carbonation though, which is where I'm stumped. Is Blue Moon highly carbonated, or does it just have good head retention?

I'm sorry that I can't help you with which to keg/bottle, but I have to tell you I love the idea for a honey rosemary saison. I'm brewing a beer to give as wedding favors, and that just moved to the top of my list of beers I'm considering.

If it were me, I'd bottle the roasmary and the apricot. IMO, those are the two that would least likely go, and would do well in a bottle with time. Keep in mind everyone knows SN, Newcastle and Bluemoon, so those will be the first to go at a gathering of people looking to get loaded for free. Seeing as you'll be doin the same amount of work either way, bottle something you won't drink everyday. The saison screams that to me. The apricot, thay depends on your taste, I could drink a keg of that in a couple of weeks, but it takes the right palate to do that. Hope this helps a bit.

I'd bottle the SN Pale Ale and the Saison because the other 3 are going to be the ones that non-craft beer drinkers go after. The bottles will more likely be opened by people who have the appreciation for those beers. And definitely use the US05 for a Blue Moon Clone.

PassionForThePint said:

I'm sorry that I can't help you with which to keg/bottle, but I have to tell you I love the idea for a honey rosemary saison. I'm brewing a beer to give as wedding favors, and that just moved to the top of my list of beers I'm considering.

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If you followed the link in my sig, I have some suggestions that I might not have posted in that thread. If you brew this, do some late hop additions for a nice lemony flavor to balance/complemet the rosemary, and also, dry hop with the rosemary for a fresher flavor. I added rosemary to my no-chill cube as my only addition, and while it tastes good, the freshness is a little skimpy. Tastes more cooked. I'm really looking for that "fresh off the bush" flavor.

Wus67, the apricot ale will actually be a Magic Hat #9 clone that the bride requested specifically, so I think it might do okay. Either way, I'll have no problem ridding myself of extra beer. There's always homebrew club!

brewmaster12, I've been saving my SN bottles for the possibility of bottling this one.

I think the biggest concern I have is going to be carbonation. I'll be using the same method BierMuncher used in his rolling kegerator, meaning there will only be one regulator, so only one serving pressure. Of all these beers I know the saison is supposed to have higher carbonation, just unsure of the Blue Moon. Originally it was going to be two kegged beers, three bottled. I was planning on kegging the Newcastle and the Magic Hat. Now, I think the third kegged beer will depend on the carbonation level of Blue Moon.

Thanks for the replies!

eulipion2 said:

If you followed the link in my sig, I have some suggestions that I might not have posted in that thread. If you brew this, do some late hop additions for a nice lemony flavor to balance/complemet the rosemary, and also, dry hop with the rosemary for a fresher flavor. I added rosemary to my no-chill cube as my only addition, and while it tastes good, the freshness is a little skimpy. Tastes more cooked. I'm really looking for that "fresh off the bush" flavor.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm leaning towards this being the beer that we go with. Going to pick up some ingredients in a week or two and do a test run.