Brewing for my wedding

[joshyG]

What's a good beer to brew quickly I'm getting married August 2nd and want to hand out beers with sweet labels as give aways. I'm thinking an ipa but I don't know if everyone's into it. So maybe something different, though time is limited, any thoughts?

Btw my wheat saison went over well with some family members though it matured after 4+months...

Any help is appreciated!

~josh


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[insanim8er]

The grapefruit wheat I made (based off this recipe) has been a huge hit. And it's a great summer beer. Ready in 3-4 weeks.

 

[joshyG]

Thanks, that looks really good! I hear wheat beers mature faster so that might be the way to go. I plan on brewing tomorrow or Wednesday.


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[dirtybird410]

With the time you have, you should be able to do 2 or 3 brews. This could help with any finicky beer drinkers. My brewing friend and I did 2 styles (close to 300 bottles total) for his wedding in less than 90 days. We did a Herbal Wheat beer and a Honey Lager.

Just my opinion, but on a hot summer day you can't beat a nice clean pilsner or kolsch. You could also try a berry or citrusy wheat beer (like previous suggested).

My non-beer drinking girlfriend will even drink a kolsch or fruity wheat beer.

 

[skw]

I'm planning the same for my wedding. I'm going to hand out 0.33l bottles of oaked black IPA. I'm thinking that it should be a special sipping beer. I don't want my guests to be downing like clear water, I want it to be something a little memorable. If I find the time, I may make a light amber ale or pale ale summer beer to serve at the reception.

At least were I live, there are plenty of really good lagers, pilseners and hefeweizens from the local breweries. I don't need to reproduce that, I want it to be something different.

 

[FatDragon]

I did two double batches for my wedding (April 26th): a lightly dry-hopped APA and a basic American Wheat. As the guest list got bigger, I decided to bring the rest of my brewed goodies to back them up - about 30 bottles each of IIPA, Deception Cream Stout, and JAOM (mead). Should have labeled them, though - the IIPAs were taken early (because they were in delabeled cobalt 1664 bottles, the prettiest brews on the table), then left on the tables with one or two sips taken from each because a bunch of Chinese mothers from our kindergarten - the kind of people who think a Tsingtao in the single-digits for IBUs is too bitter.

Both of those brews came out well and carbed up in time for the wedding; I started brewing for the wedding about three months in advance, and probably could have gotten a third double batch done and conditioned in that time without needing any more fermenter space. If I were to do it again, I would do the APA last - the hop aroma faded quite a bit in the extra month and a half of bottle conditioning.

If you start brewing now, you've definitely got time for two brews per fermenter, even if you're bottle-conditioning. If you want something hoppy, though, wait a few weeks for brewday. You could brew an IPA, ferment for a couple weeks, do one or two dry hop sessions in the primary fermenter during the third week, then bottle and condition for another three weeks before the wedding. By that schedule, mid-June would be a good time to brew, in which case you could do one brew in the next week or so (APA, wheat, cream ale, whatever your guests would enjoy), then start the IPA right after bottling this first brew.