Midwest's Honey Steam or california Steam

[BMURDA]

Has anyone tried these kits or have any input on how good they are?

Thanks for the help.

 

[RatCity]

Hey BMURDA - saw your post after doing a search. I made the regular MW steam ale and it was great. With my wine cooler fermentation chamber, I'm equipped to make ales but never lagers. So brewing a hybrid is (for now) the closest I can get.

The fermentation lasted a much longer time with lager yeast vs ale. I was able to get my fermentation chamber down to high 50s / low 60s so I think that helped it ferment all the way out. Don't know off the top of my head what the FG was but I hit the recipe numbers.

Ended with a very crisp and quaffable beer. It was so good that I ordered the Honey Steam out of curiosity - brewing that soon so I'll let you know . I've been reading that the honey shouldn't be more than 10% of the fermentable sugar to avoid a hooch taste, but with Midwest the ratio is 3lbs honey to 6lbs malt. So ... we'll see!

 

[profbaker11]

Just finished brewing this, may be my new favorite...I had an extra pound of honey though..It is incredibly clean finishing beer...perfect for spring.

 

[grimstuff]

Just tasted Midwest's California Steam (LME) after brewing it in March. I kept the temps down to between 52 and 62, took about 10-12 days for fermentation. It has a very pronounced hop linger at the end that makes it almost like an IPA. Which is surprising since it only uses 1 oz of Northern Brewer. So it's got me scratching my head. I think it greatly benefits from 1-2 weeks refrigeration. But it's a solid recipe and a good spring/summer drinker. OG 1.044, FG 1.012