Summer Ale Recipe

So how does this look guys, maybe you would be able to help me out and give me some pointers.

Working on a summer ale recipe after I bottle my current two batches. This is the first recipe I am trying to create myself so bare with me and all criticism would be greatly appreciated.

I want this brew to be sort of on the lighter side, with honey, citrus and ginger notes. So here we go.

Ingriedients:
1 lb Honey Malt
1.25 lbs Torrified Wheat (for a nice head)
6.00 lbs Extra Light DME

.5 oz Hallertauer (bitterness)
.25 East Kent Goldings (Aroma)

1 Whole Orange Zest
1 Whole Lemon Zest
1 oz Ginger Root

White Labs American Ale Yeast

My process:

Going to steep the honey malt and torrified wheat in 2.5 Gallons of water @ 155 degrees for 30 minutes.

Going to sparge with .5 gallons of water @ 177 Deg.

Add Extra Light DME and bring to a boil.

Once boil starts add Hallertauer Hops and boil 45 minutes

Add East Kent Goldings, Orange and Lemon Zest, and Ginger and boils for 15 minutes more.

Cool wort to 75 degrees and add 2 Gallons of water.

Aerate and add yeast.

Fermenting in Primary for 14 days and Secondary for 14.


Any pointers would be great guys.

I assume you dont want it very hoppy since it's a summer, lighter beer? That just doesnt seem like many hops in the recipe.

kanddr said:

I assume you dont want it very hoppy since it's a summer, lighter beer? That just doesnt seem like many hops in the recipe.

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I'm going to tweak it. I can add a little more hops,not looking for it to be too bitter.

Right now this recipe is at 9.74 IBU's

scottyg354 said:

I'm going to tweak it. I can add a little more hops,not looking for it to be too bitter.

Right now this recipe is at 9.74 IBU's

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Didn't realize they were that low. Upped it to 1 oz Hallertauer and .5 oz of East Kent Goldings. Bumped the IBU's up to 19.48

The zest and ginger additions sound interesting. I would be worried about losing flavor during the fifteen minute boil. You could add at flameout to ensure the volatile oils are not lost because of the boil.

Are you concerned about clarity? Is there any reason you want to go to secondary aside from clarity? If it were me, I would just leave the beer in primary for four weeks. Less opportunity for oxidation/infection. As long as you are careful when racking to your bottling bucket, the beer should be relatively clear.

Good luck. Let us know how the beer turns out.

dabblenben said:

The zest and ginger additions sound interesting. I would be worried about losing flavor during the fifteen minute boil. You could add at flameout to ensure the volatile oils are not lost because of the boil.

Are you concerned about clarity? Is there any reason you want to go to secondary aside from clarity? If it were me, I would just leave the beer in primary for four weeks. Less opportunity for oxidation/infection. As long as you are careful when racking to your bottling bucket, the beer should be relatively clear.

Good luck. Let us know how the beer turns out.

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Would like it to be clear as possible. But I guess I could keep it in the primary.

scottyg354 said:

Would like it to be clear as possible. But I guess I could keep it in the primary.

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It's your call. You could also add Irish moss or whirlfloc.

Either way you will likely have a great beer.

Switched it to 1 OZ of Hallertauer, .5 Oz East Kent Goldings and I added .5 oz Cascade. Brough the IBU's up to 28.5 which should be evenly balanced for my OG.

scottyg354 said:

Switched it to 1 OZ of Hallertauer, .5 Oz East Kent Goldings and I added .5 oz Cascade. Brough the IBU's up to 28.5 which should be evenly balanced for my OG.

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When I read the recipe, I thought you should make it 1.5 of hallertauer and .5 of ekg. What would that do to the IBUs?

Definitely add whirlfloc if you want it clear as possible, and do not secondary...waste of energy and increased risks for infections.

I was looking over your recipe...I was plugging it into promash and saw 1.25lbs of wheat for head? I would lower that unless you are trying to add some wheat flavors and characteristics? you can get the head you want with .5lb of wheat. Not to mention...your gravity is registering at like ~1.068...which if it were my summer refreshing been I'd want my gravity lower, lower ABV.

KoedBrew said:

I was looking over your recipe...I was plugging it into promash and saw 1.25lbs of wheat for head? I would lower that unless you are trying to add some wheat flavors and characteristics? you can get the head you want with .5lb of wheat. Not to mention...your gravity is registering at like ~1.068...which if it were my summer refreshing been I'd want my gravity lower, lower ABV.

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Will have to look at that. I thought the ABV was a little high. So if I lower the wheat, it will give it a little bit of a lighter character and lower the OG? I don't have my iPad with me so I can't figure it out right now.

I would say that 15 minutes for the fruit zest will result in the loss of all or most of the flavor you are trying to get from it. I have learned to add zest at flame out and let it sit in the primary. I only brew a Witt with zest so that may be a factor that you would want to consider as you finalize your recipe. I would also want to hear more from anyone that has used ginger in brewing. I have never done so but if I were to consider using 1 oz of ginger in 5 Gal of anything that I am cooking I would think that there was going to be very little ginger flavor.

badhabit said:

I would say that 15 minutes for the fruit zest will result in the loss of all or most of the flavor you are trying to get from it. I have learned to add zest at flame out and let it sit in the primary. I only brew a Witt with zest so that may be a factor that you would want to consider as you finalize your recipe. I would also want to hear more from anyone that has used ginger in brewing. I have never done so but if I were to consider using 1 oz of ginger in 5 Gal of anything that I am cooking I would think that there was going to be very little ginger flavor.

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I'm aiming more for background notes or hints of these flavors not really the full on taste. Do you think maybe a five minute boil would work better? Also, with the ginger, I was planning on using fresh ginger which I know has a very strong taste. That's why I considered 1 oz.

Please post your final version of the recipe that you go with, and the end results. I'd be interested in how it turns out; if good, I would try it myself.

I'll be bottling my summer lemon wheat today... with the zest added at T-5 minutes from flameout, it is still definitely detectable, but not dominant, which sounds like what you are going for -- although I will say that I think the ratio of "lemon-y pucker" to "lemony-fresh flavor" is a little higher than I would like. You might be best adding it at flameout and just dialing back the amount a little if you want it to be way in the background.

BTW, I'm at home now, so here was my recipe for a 3-gallon batch:


Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.30 lb Wheat Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 76.74 %
1.00 lb Honey (2.0 EBC) Sugar 23.26 %
0.75 oz Hallertauer [2.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.8 IBU
0.15 oz Fuggles [5.70 %] (60 min) Hops 5.4 IBU
0.25 oz Hallertauer [2.50 %] (10 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
2.00 items Lemon Zest (per lemon) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (DCL Yeast #Safale S-05) Yeast-Ale

Remember, this is for a THREE GALLON batch, you'd have to scale it up for 5 gallons.

I also actually juiced half of one lemon, to get just enough juice to cover the zest, so I didn't worry about it drying out while I did the rest of the brewing. I don't think it made much difference though.

The Fuggles were just because my Hallertauer were a REALLY low alpha% and I only had 1 oz of them -- so I threw in just a touch of some leftover Fuggles I had in order to get some extra bitterness, but if I were planning ahead more effectively I would have used only Hallertauer.

It's been 15 days in the fermenter, tastes pretty good right now! I'll be bottling it this afternoon.

mr_bell said:

Please post your final version of the recipe that you go with, and the end results. I'd be interested in how it turns out; if good, I would try it myself.

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I'll pretty much know after I taste my finished wort if it's going were I want it to. But I will def give a review.

I have very little experience with honey malt so maybe someone can jump in and back me up or correct me. I made a honey IPA (9 lb 2 row, 2 lb vienna, 1 lb crystal 40l, 4OZ honey malt, 1.25 lb honey at flameout, hops- 0.50 oz magnum @ 90, .055 oz cascade @ 60, 0.50 oz cascade @ 45, 0.55 oz cascade @ 30, 0.50 oz perle @ 30, 0.50 oz perle @ flameout, 0.50 cascade dry hop). The finished product had very little hoppiness to it.

I have made the same recipe before without the 4 oz of honey malt and it came out amazing. Leads me to beleive a little of the honey malt can go a long way. Can anyone else jump in with more experience using honey malt?

That is true about the honey malt being powerful...I didn't mention it because there was no other flavor?
@Scotty - he might have a point there as well. Maybe try like .25 to .5 lb of Honey and add like .75 to 1 lb of something like munich or victory??

Just a thought...it is your beer though do as you wish!

Like I said this is my first home made recipe. If I add something else I would be looking for something crisp and refreshing an suggestions?

scottyg354 said:

Like I said this is my first home made recipe. If I add something else I would be looking for something crisp and refreshing an suggestions?

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Actually ihave some crystal 60 L left over from a previous batch can I add that?

KoedBrew said:

That is true about the honey malt being powerful...I didn't mention it because there was no other flavor?
@Scotty - he might have a point there as well. Maybe try like .25 to .5 lb of Honey and add like .75 to 1 lb of something like munich or victory??

Just a thought...it is your beer though do as you wish!

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+1 to the slightly reduced Honey Malt. In strong doses it really does become aggressively sweet.

Did a pale ale really similar to this recipe two different times and the one with less honey malt was better balanced, all in all a better drinker cause I wasn't thinking how sweet it was.

Wifey liked both of them about the same, so maybe it was just me.

scottyg354 said:

Actually ihave some crystal 60 L left over from a previous batch can I add that?

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Dude, cray cray, if you add crystal 60 you make basically the exact same beer I made.

I would do it. It's gooood.

Mine was

K Extra Dark Crystal 0.50 lb 10.0 % 12.3 In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Honey Malt (Gambrinus) 0.50 lb 10.0 % 2.0 In Mash/Steeped
Extract - Light Dried Malt Extract 4.00 lb 80.0 % 2.2 Start Of Boil

UK Fuggle 4.5 % 1.00 oz 14.2 Bagged Pellet Hops 60 Min From End
UK Golding 7.2 % 1.00 oz 11.3 Bagged Pellet Hops 15 Min From End

Let us know how the spicing goes as I could see that being real nice.

let us know how it turns out

Just brewed it today. Turned out a little darker than I had expected. I think it may be due to sediment floating around though. This batch is definetely going to have to go to the secondary for clearing. All in all not to bad I guess. iBrewMast said the OG was suppose to be at like 1.051, I measured an OG at 1.046 which isn't to far off.

Lots of fermentation going on guys. Had to throw on a blow off to prevent disaster. . Tried the wort after brewing seemed pretty tasty. Only used half of my citrus peels. Going to throw the rest in the fermenter after fermentation is complete.

I'm excited.

I'm just curious to see what the ginger does to this.

Ok guys. So after I let the brew sit in the fermenter for two weeks I added a hops bag with some corriander and orange peel in it, the hops bag will be in their three weeks. I plan on bottling saturday. Will post the final recipe tonight.

Just to give you guys a head's up. Bottled this yesterday. I tried the uncarbonated product and it tasted pretty damn good. I was concerned that it had been in the secondary fermenter to long with the sweet orange peel, ginger and corriander, but I definetely thought wrong. Perfect amount of spice, citrus and hop's, but not to much bite. I am hoping carbonation will be done this coming weekend as I am dieing to try this bad boy carbed. I will post some pics of the finished product.

PS: Since it's a summer brew it probably should have been bottle @ the end of july, but I was in vegas baby, what do ya want.

do you have the final recipe for us yet

at work will post later

So, did I read right, it was in primary for 5 weeks?? No judging just taking notes. 2 weeks prim. and then add corr. and zest for 3 weeks?? finished recipe please.

heeler said:

So, did I read right, it was in primary for 5 weeks?? No judging just taking notes. 2 weeks prim. and then add corr. and zest for 3 weeks?? finished recipe please.

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Ingriedients:
1 lb Honey Malt
1.25 lbs Torrified Wheat (for a nice head)
6.00 lbs Extra Light DME

.5 oz Hallertauer (bitterness)
.25 East Kent Goldings (Aroma)

2oz Sweet Orange Peel
1oz Lime Peel
1oz Ginger Root
4-5 Corriander Seeds

White Labs American Ale Yeast

My process:

Going to steep the honey malt and torrified wheat in 2.5 Gallons of water @ 155 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sparge with 1 Gall water @ 177deg

Add Extra Light DME and bring to a boil.

Once boil starts add Hallertauer Hops and boil 45 minutes

Add East Kent Goldings, Sweet Orange Peel and Lime Peel, and Ginger and boil for 15 minutes more. (I bought the dried versions at my HB shop)

Cool wort to 75 degrees and add 2 Gallons of water.

Aerate and add yeast.

Fermenting in Primary for 14 days and Secondary for 30 adding 1oz of orange peel and corriander seed @ 15 days.

I let the orange peel sit in the secondary for 2.5 (End of June to Beginning of September) months since I was out of town and it was a teet bit stronger then I had hoped for but still good. But I think at 15 days it would be decent, you can even try it @ 30. I think 30 days total in the secondary is more than enough.

It turned out good. Very smooth, slight hoppiness and the citrus and spices are present but not overwhelming. I'm sure there are better recipes but for my first stab at it I don't think it's to shabby.

Three friends tried it and all were wooing it. One actually dumper his Warsteiner Dunkel he was drinking to continue drinking this. (I know alcohol abuse).

I will provide the ABV, OG, FG when I get home.

heeler said:

So, did I read right, it was in primary for 5 weeks?? No judging just taking notes. 2 weeks prim. and then add corr. and zest for 3 weeks?? finished recipe please.

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No it was only in the primary for about 2 weeks, then it was supposed to be in the secondary with the orange peel and corriander for only 3 but I wound up keep it in there for like 2.5 months. I think three weeks would be sufficient because the orange was somewhat prevalent. It's really your call. You could ferment it for 2 months and just cut the orange peel back as well I assume.

PS. It change from my originally recipe with the zest to store bought orange and lime peels, just so you know.

Just curious if anyone tried this?

how did this beer turn out??

I liked it. Kind of like a citrusy pale ale to be quite honest. All my friends really enjoyed it as well.