Spring/summer Brew Recipe Problem

[SGTSparty]

Hey all, hoping for some help from some more experienced brewers. Here's my issue:

I'm an 5 gallon all grain brewer who kegs. I'm also a working dad to a toddler and husband to a pregnant wife so brewing time can be hard to come by. That said I have a cider kit and an IPA in primary right now from the Easter holiday weekend and I have a day off coming up next Friday after a business trip and I want to take advantage of a kid free day to brew again while I have the change. The Cider and IPA will fill my two empty taps so the recipe I brew next week likely wont get tapped for a month or two. My normal summer recipe would be a blue moon clone but that's best drank young so I don't want it sitting in a keg/secondary for 6 weeks. I also don't want to do a shandy since the folk who typically drink Shandy are the same people who drink Cider and last time I did a shandy it sat on tap for ages. In a perfect world I'm looking for something along the lines of a lawn mower type beer for the early summer, something that drinks easy, under say 40 IBUs, and something that can age a little bit without losing what makes it special. I was thinking maybe a Dirty Blonde or something

Any suggestions?

 

[Jwin]

I'd you are mindful of o2 pickup(purging keg with starsan and racking through the liquid out post with prv open), uv, and keep it cold, anything should be good for a few months. Priming in the keg can help scrub some o2 as well as giving you a few weeks to sit on the keg at room temp.
Summer recipe suggestions:
Biermunchers Centennial blonde
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841
Lemon lime hefe(I omit the limeade and add a lot more hops, particularly at whirlpool)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659
Fizzy yellow beer
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=120939
Biermunchers CTC cream ale
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=66503

Cheers!

 

[bolus14]

Could go with a fruit beer. Brew the base, something like a blond or pale ale, let it ferment, then a couple weeks before you want to keg it throw the fruit in, which will cause another fermentation when the yeast eat the sugars from the fruit and then keg it a few days before you want it on tap.

I like me vanilla porter/stout, or smoked porter in the summer months, not everybody's go to in the summer, but a good vanilla porter sitting by a fire is like drinking desert. Add in some roasted cacao nibs and raise the vanilla a little bit and you get something like a chocolate milk shake to drink in the pool

A saison would do very well for your purpose as well, I like a couple months of age on mine so that would be you in the ballpark time wise. You could let sit in secondary for 5 or 6 weeks and then dry hop it 4-7 days before you want to keg it if you want one with more hop presence.

 

[MagicRat]

My favorite summer brew last year was a farmhouse ale about 5.5%, using about 50% white wheat, 25% Munich 10, 25% 2 row, a late Citra addition, with WL's American Farmhouse Ale Blend.

 

[meatcleaver]

why not a lager?
nothing is as satisfying as sipping a crisp clean lager on a hot summer day.
a helles is nice, even a kolsch is better with weeks or months of cold conditioning, but if you like somewhat bitter beers a pilsner is hard to beat.

 

[BrewSRQ]

Lager! I brewed a pilsner about a month ago using the quick method and now I'm upset I waited so long to give lagers a try. If you have temp control, you are good to go. Take a look at the Brulosophy article on it and give it a shot.

 

[SGTSparty]

Thanks for the input so far everyone! Here's where I'm at/coming from:

I'd you are mindful of o2 pickup(purging keg with starsan and racking through the liquid out post with prv open), uv, and keep it cold, anything should be good for a few months. Priming in the keg can help scrub some o2 as well as giving you a few weeks to sit on the keg at room temp.
Summer recipe suggestions:
Biermunchers Centennial blonde
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841
Lemon lime hefe(I omit the limeade and add a lot more hops, particularly at whirlpool)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659
Fizzy yellow beer
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=120939
Biermunchers CTC cream ale
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=66503

Cheers!

Based on my experiences last summer I don't trust my process to protect against O2 to any great extent. My blue moon clone was amazing the first 3 weeks and then... well... staled. Working on improving the process but I don't believe I'm there yet.

Could go with a fruit beer. Brew the base, something like a blond or pale ale, let it ferment, then a couple weeks before you want to keg it throw the fruit in, which will cause another fermentation when the yeast eat the sugars from the fruit and then keg it a few days before you want it on tap.

I like me vanilla porter/stout, or smoked porter in the summer months, not everybody's go to in the summer, but a good vanilla porter sitting by a fire is like drinking desert. Add in some roasted cacao nibs and raise the vanilla a little bit and you get something like a chocolate milk shake to drink in the pool

A saison would do very well for your purpose as well, I like a couple months of age on mine so that would be you in the ballpark time wise. You could let sit in secondary for 5 or 6 weeks and then dry hop it 4-7 days before you want to keg it if you want one with more hop presence.

I know they're not actually the same but because of the Cider I'm not going to go fruit because most of my friends who will drink the fruit beers are going to drink the cider so i'd like a little more variety. Saison is a good idea process wise but they're a little funky for me. I'm with you on a great porter/stout in the evenings but I already have an oatmeal stout on tap.

why not a lager?
nothing is as satisfying as sipping a crisp clean lager on a hot summer day.
a helles is nice, even a kolsch is better with weeks or months of cold conditioning, but if you like somewhat bitter beers a pilsner is hard to beat.

Great idea. IDK how I didn't think about this. I have full temp control now but only for the last 2 batches so I guess I hadn't really thought about lagering yet. Seems like a great time to try it when I'm looking for a nice clean finishing, light beer that needs to sit for a bit.
:rockin:

My favorite summer brew last year was a farmhouse ale about 5.5%, using about 50% white wheat, 25% Munich 10, 25% 2 row, a late Citra addition, with WL's American Farmhouse Ale Blend.

I don't have much experience with Farmhouse Ales but based on the wheat and wheat based beers being better young and my previous oxidation issues I think I'll have to save this for another time.

Still open to other ideas from anyone else if you've got them or if you have a favorite lager that would be a good fit for a first attempt I'd appreciation feedback.

 

[SGTSparty]

Quick notes. Noob question but can you do a lager w/o a step mash? I have temp control in terms of fermenation but I'm using a cooler tun so anything beyond a single infusion mash is probably out of reach based on my equipment and experience.

 

[Redtab78]

If I may thjrow my 2 cents in....try doing a kolsch. you can "practice" the laggering after primary fermentation without worrying about diactyl and stuff. I have brewed many light beers (doing a vanilla cream ale now in primary) using the kolsch strain. It is my go to when I have to leave home for a few weeks for work. I usually try and brew about 1 week before I leave, and then the day I leave, that morning I transfer to a secondary, and place it in my fridge set to about 40° and just forget it until im back home....I have done cream ales. pale ales, ipa's, and not to long ago I did a black rye IPA all using the Kolsch strain (both wyeast and white labs).

I CAN lager, and have a few recipies I have done using the 34/70, but I prefer the outcome and ease of the kolsch strain.....just my 2 cents...

 

[Redtab78]

I should have mentioned.... a SUPER easy recipe I like personally is: (5 gal batch, all grain)

9# Vienna
.5oz motueka @60
.5oz motueka @10
1oz motueka @ flame out

mash in at 148-150 for 60 min
boil for 60 min

ferment on kolsch for 1 week (usually done in 5 days but I give it 1 solid week of no disturbing) @ 64°

secondary, and chill to 40° for 3 weeks (or longer depending on when my kegs are ready)

yes, its a smash, but the Vienna malt, and the kolsch strain gives it a very "lager" feel, and the motueka hops are light a little fruity, but blend perfect with the Vienna malt backbone in my opinion.

 

[Jwin]

Where do you feel your o2 issues are coming from? Cold side o2 control is pretty important, but not really to difficult or expensive. You can rack into the keg after krausen drops and let it finish there, then lager until ready. Add a spunding valve down the road if you want. Shorten your dip tube by a half inch or so to keep the sludge at bay, so long as you don't move it after chilled.
Purging you keg with starsan pushed out with co2 does a really good job as well. Then just fill through the liquid line and open the prv or put a disconnect on the gas side. Just raise the fermentor above the keg.
I have a dedicated transfer hose with a mfl connect on one end. It's also a high temp hose, so easy to sanitize. There's some good threads here on closed transfers.

 

[SGTSparty]

Where do you feel your o2 issues are coming from? Cold side o2 control is pretty important, but not really to difficult or expensive. You can rack into the keg after krausen drops and let it finish there, then lager until ready. Add a spunding valve down the road if you want. Shorten your dip tube by a half inch or so to keep the sludge at bay, so long as you don't move it after chilled.
Purging you keg with starsan pushed out with co2 does a really good job as well. Then just fill through the liquid line and open the prv or put a disconnect on the gas side. Just raise the fermentor above the keg.
I have a dedicated transfer hose with a mfl connect on one end. It's also a high temp hose, so easy to sanitize. There's some good threads here on closed transfers.

I picked up tubing, QDs and MFLs that I'm planning on using to rig a closed transfer system this weekend. I ferment in a bottling bucket typically so I'm planning on running tubing from the spigot to the liquid out and then running the gas to the vent tube on a 3 piece airlock.

I typically clean and sanitize my kegs, running both through my kegerator to clean/sanitize the lines but I don't do a full kegs worth, maybe a gallon or so of sanitizer, and to this point I've going from spigot to the bottom of a the keg w/ just tubing. Hoping to improve but I'll trust it once I've seen good results a few times.

 

[Jwin]

I picked up tubing, QDs and MFLs that I'm planning on using to rig a closed transfer system this weekend. I ferment in a bottling bucket typically so I'm planning on running tubing from the spigot to the liquid out and then running the gas to the vent tube on a 3 piece airlock.

I typically clean and sanitize my kegs, running both through my kegerator to clean/sanitize the lines but I don't do a full kegs worth, maybe a gallon or so of sanitizer, and to this point I've going from spigot to the bottom of a the keg w/ just tubing. Hoping to improve but I'll trust it once I've seen good results a few times.

Off topic here, but...
I'd you use distilled water, starsan is stable for quite a while, if kept away from uv.
I've had very hoppy beers stay fresh and hoppy for 4 months by fully purging my keg. I push the starsan into another keg, and when the next batch is ready, to another keg. I get the last bit out by inverting the pressurized keg, tilting toward the gas post(trimmed flush) and attaching a qd.
Now, I do have to top off each keg with sanitizer due to this.
I push the starsan out, empty keg, repressurise with a couple pounds, then connect my transfer hose/qd, purging the hose in the process.
I then connect the gas side qd and hose and connect it to the top of the fermentor. That way, the beer is replaced with co2. Open the valve and the cycle begins.
If you want to prime in the keg, just add your boiled priming solution to the fermentor before hand.
I then purge the headspace 4-5 times at 3-4 psi. This uses less co2 than purging an empty keg with co2 and results in less o2.