Winter brews!

What's your favorite recipe to sip on during these long, cold winter months? Porters, stouts, IPAs?

My problem is that I"m always off on my brews. I'm brewing the beer I want to drink in the summer in the summer and the beer I want to drink in the fall in the fall, etc.

The effect is I'm always a season off.

I have octoberfast in the fermenter now, I plan on also doing the black pearl porter soon and perhaps another porter, Brown ale, and maybe a stout. Gotta get brewing so I can drink these in the winter like Don said. Not sure which week winter will be in houston this year, but I wanna be ready, haha

I've got a Russian Imperial Stout I brewed back in June that's been lagering for a month or so already. It should be coming into its own right around Christmas. And tonight, I'm planning on brewing a Vanilla Porter for my wife.

Oatmeal Stouts are my favorite winter beer. An oatmeal stout and a bowl of chili go great together in the winter. I would say an RIS or Barleywine to warm you up a little bit but they need more time to age. If you aren't a stout fan a good Scotch ale is a lighter winter choice.

I agree. I think there are definitely seasonal beers, and I have a hard time keeping up with the seasons (just finished Belgian Wit that was meant to be our summer, haven't started Oktoberfest yet).

Winter months, I like something dark, full and strong- Stouts and Porters. My favorite is a Bourbon stout brewed by Central Waters brewery (small microbrewery here in WI) and I have a lot of oatmeal stouts and things, too. The higher alcohol content helps keep me warm on those cold WI nights!

I am a hophead, but I usually shy away from hoppy beers in the winter- they never seem as good because it's harder to find fresh hops. To me, it's the same reason you don't eat strawberries in the winter. You can still get them, but they aren't as fresh as they are in the summer.

kevincoenen said:

I am a hophead, but I usually shy away from hoppy beers in the winter- they never seem as good because it's harder to find fresh hops. To me, it's the same reason you don't eat strawberries in the winter. You can still get them, but they aren't as fresh as they are in the summer.

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I would argue that hops are more fresh in the fall and winter compared to the Summer since they are harvested in August.

I am like you though, IPA's and Pales ales just taste better in the summer! More crisp and refreshing.

Bock, doppelbock and wee heavy. Spiced strong ales are good too, like this one:

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/oatbier

roastquake said:

Bock, doppelbock and wee heavy. Spiced strong ales are good too, like this one:

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/oatbier

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Excellent! Will I need special equipment to keep these beers at low fermenting temps? I live in Florida and its difficult at times to keep temps in check.

Well traditionally you would need to lager the bocks, but I make hybrid versions of them (either lager yeast, s-23, or clean American ale yeast, us-05, at lower ale temps). I usually fill the bottom of my kettle with frozen water bottles, then set my fermenter on top of them. That keeps the temp at 65-68 easy. A company called 'Cool Brewing' makes a cooler for just this purpose that probably works a lot better than my method. It's $50 I think, I'll get one eventually. With the kettle method I rotate my ice once or twice a day, and the key is to pitch at a low temp so the yeast doesn't get too strong a start.

I like rich, flavorful brews in the winter. I have an oatmeal stout aging, and which I expect to be ready in November. I'm also sitting on a barleywine that I brewed the weekend before Christmas last year, an I'm planning on tapping it on Christmas this year.

As for future brews. I think I'll brew up a Dubbel for when the stout goes dry and a 4.0ABV Scottish 70/- for when my summery lawnmower beers run out.

Oh, and cider. I love having good fall cider in the winter.

JonM said:

I like rich, flavorful brews in the winter. I have an oatmeal stout aging, and which I expect to be ready in November. I'm also sitting on a barleywine that I brewed the weekend before Christmas last year, an I'm planning on tapping it on Christmas this year.

As for future brews. I think I'll brew up a Dubbel for when the stout goes dry and a 4.0ABV Scottish 70/- for when my summery lawnmower beers run out.

Oh, and cider. I love having good fall cider in the winter.

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I've been thinking about trying a Dubbel, though i'm not to familiar with them. Flavor characteristics?

I'm brewing a Wee Heavy and a Robust Porter with Vanilla in the next few weeks for drinking in the deep dark nights of winter. Here's the recipe for the Wee Heavy http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Wee_Heavy.html

I've got a few gallons of Dubbel aging and an October Ale that will get 2 weeks fermentation, 2 weeks cool conditioning, and two weeks in bottles by Ofest time. I also just bottled and Old Ale I brewed in early July that'll be great for this fall/winter. I'm jonesing for a stout/porter, though! I am also ready for the malty stuff, but have only saison and IPA at the moment. Next brews will be Belgain IPA for a change of pace in winter and yeast propagation for a big Dubbel (dark fruity, spicy, and malty flavors) for April when baby should be born. Then I'll get a stout done! I need to keep something malty around in the summer and something hoppy in the winter so I don't get bored.

Working on a few things. Favorite fall beer? ESB. I've already made this recipe 4 or 5 times this year. As winter approaches, I want to do an old ale, English IPA (potentially oaked), breakfast stout, black IPA, robust porter, etc. Dubbel is a really good cool weather beer, quite complex, yet super drinkable for their abv. I haven't made any Belgians at home, but I worry I don't have enough heat at home in the winter. Ferment it using a Trappist ale yeast at 80-85 and watch the fruity character of that yeast come alive. It's a beautiful thing.

I have a lot of brewing to get done!

Anything higher gravity and on the dark side is good during the colder months. I like RISs when I have time to relax in the evening, but a good Biere de Garde, English brown, or Dubbel is great when I want something a bit lighter and easier to drink.