Greetings - I am getting ready to brew this weekend (1 or 2 extracts) and am interested in ideas. I’m considering the Innkeeper Pale Ale, the new SMASH kit, and Smashing Pumpkin. Other ideas? I’d like to cover as many of these bases as possible:
Relatively low ABV
Moderate to low hop flavor
A kit I can get at NB
Guaranteed to be a winner!
I have a 3 and 5 gallon keg system so recommendations for which beer to completely keg and which to keg 3 gallons and bottle the rest would be appreciated as well. This will be about my 15th extract kit that I’ve brewed.
Since I don’t brew very much anymore, I tend to focus on my favorite session beers when I do have the time.
The two main ones I do in the Fall are Bitter and Dry Stout. I will serve both of these on Nytrogen over the fall and winter.
I keep both under 5% (usually shoot for 4.2-4.8 %). Both should have nice bitterness, but little hop presence on the backend (the bitter more than the stout of course).
With those criteria, I think your choice is the Pale Ale.
However, there is no guaranteed winner, there are too many more variables at play than the recipe.
Personally, I like a nice brown ale come the cooler temps of fall. I sort of consider September as the extension of summer, but once things start to cool in October, that darker brew, a dash of roastiness, and maybe a hint of smoke with low hoppiness works perfectly IMO>
Right now is the perfect time to brew a nut brown ale or porter, and to start thinking about special beers for Thanksgiving and winter such as a winter spiced beer, a dark Belgian ale, or Scotch ale. And if you are into lagering at all yet, a smooth pale or amber lager is not out of the question to offset all these other beers that tend to be so dark and rich. If you can get the fermentation temperature down to about 60 F, you can use a Kolsch yeast or even the clean ale yeasts like US-05 or Nottingham ale at cool temperatures to get a very smooth lager-like ale. Tons of options. Personally, I’m going darker. I just made an amber ale and a stout, and next I’m making a porter, and most likely hard cider when the local orchards start putting out the fresh stuff. Cider is wonderful when made from fresh juice in the fall, and is very simple to make. Coming soon to an orchard near you!
Great suggestions! Thanks to everyone who weighed in on this (and keep the suggestions coming).
Everyone’s suggestions helped me to think outside the box and consider some brews that I hadn’t thought about. Several of the suggestions took the fall brewing season into account, and that’s exactly hat I was hoping for.
Can’t argue with that. Though if I were to go German specifically for the fall I might choose Dunkel or Schwartz. I love me some Kostrizer this time of year. Can get tons of flavor at less than %5 ABV.
Can’t argue with that. Though if I were to go German specifically for the fall I might choose Dunkel or Schwartz. I love me some Kostrizer this time of year. Can get tons of flavor at less than %5 ABV.[/quote]
Definitely. It’s the kind of beer you can drink all day. Most anything German, except for bock and a couple others will be in that 4.5-6% range.
Can’t argue with that. Though if I were to go German specifically for the fall I might choose Dunkel or Schwartz. I love me some Kostrizer this time of year. Can get tons of flavor at less than %5 ABV.[/quote]
Definitely. It’s the kind of beer you can drink all day. Most anything German, except for bock and a couple others will be in that 4.5-6% range.[/quote]
The other advantage to brewing German in the fall would be temperatures. Easier to control the lower fermentation when the weather starts to cool off.
I’ll add Alt and Koelsch to the list. For me I like a little more color in the fall so Alt would be my choice of the two.
And as a twist on a previously mentioned item…how about a Pale Mild. Never tried one myself, but I think there is an episode of Brewing TV where they do one.
Can’t argue with that. Though if I were to go German specifically for the fall I might choose Dunkel or Schwartz. I love me some Kostrizer this time of year. Can get tons of flavor at less than %5 ABV.[/quote]
+1 Just finished my first 6 pack of Kostrizer Scwartzbier. Damn good stuff & probably a forgiving style to brew. :cheers:
I just made a Pacific Northwest Red with Falconers thru-out, and have a Saison that needs a couple of weeks yet, it’s probably a bit more than 6% but close. Two favorites for football on the tube.
+5! Love Scotish ale. Anything from 60-80 are some of the greatest session beers around. Plus the different take on ale fermentation process adds something interesting.
