Summer Mid Strength Recipes

[chrisluki]

Hey guys

As a family man, trying to teach his kids to be good humans, I am pretty keen to not get blind drunk in front of them, which means I drink a bit of mid strength beer. Being that the good Craft MS's are something like $80 a case, I often find myself with a Gold Can in hand.

I have written about this category in the past on my blog, (http://beerhealer.com/index.php/2016/12/04/mid-strength-craft-beer-can-dig/) and I am a passionate advocate for these style of beers. In the past I have tried to brew my own lower ABV beers, but most of my efforts in the past have been pretty ordinary. Getting a good beer that hots the mark for taste, aroma and mouth feel is difficult when you are taking away a lot of the ingredient that provide those characteristics.

I am really loving the Rover Henty St Ale right now as a lower ABV option, but also love the Green Beacon Half Mast which is similar...and I guess both are not too far from being lower ABV versions of S&W PA.

Anyway, I was just wondering if any of you guys had any tips on how to brew a decent AG Mid Strength Summer Ale?

Cheers

Chris

 

[goatchop41]

A good ale malt (eg. Gladfield ale) for most of the grist, about 10-15% wheat with it.
Get all of your IBUs at 5 mins + flameout (I go for ~20 IBUs).
Go hard with your flameout and dry hops.

 

[Wobbly74]

Have you tried mashing a decent ale malt on the warm side and fermenting with something less attenuative like Windsor?

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

How low is low abv? You can do a lot at 4% at lower gravity it gets harder. But ordinary bitters, many yeast forward belgian styles, all work at low gravity, as well as hop bombs.

I have a lager around 4.3% that has loads of character.

 

[chrisluki]

A good ale malt (eg. Gladfield ale) for most of the grist, about 10-15% wheat with it.
Get all of your IBUs at 5 mins + flameout (I go for ~20 IBUs).
Go hard with your flameout and dry hops.

Cheers mate...good advice!

 

[chrisluki]

How low is low abv? You can do a lot at 4% at lower gravity it gets harder. But ordinary bitters, many yeast forward belgian styles, all work at low gravity, as well as hop bombs.

I have a lager around 4.3% that has loads of character.

I was keen for a 3.5% Summer Ale to be honest, but I would kill to be able to brew a Founders All Day IPA at around 4%.

 

[Muzzanthrope]

I made a session IPA this summer that came out quite well with a bunch of different Gladfield Malts (it was a bit of a leftover brew) - it came out at around 3.7% with plenty of body and flavour.

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 38.5

85.5% Vienna
5.5% Gladiator
4% Biscuit
2% Toffee
1.5% Light Crystal
1.5% Redback Wheat

Yeast: Danstar American West Coast (BRY-97)

Simcoe, Chinook and Kohatu for the hops

 

[chrisluki]

I made a session IPA this summer that came out quite well with a bunch of different Gladfield Malts (it was a bit of a leftover brew) - it came out at around 3.7% with plenty of body and flavour.

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 38.5

85.5% Vienna
5.5% Gladiator
4% Biscuit
2% Toffee
1.5% Light Crystal
1.5% Redback Wheat

Yeast: Danstar American West Coast (BRY-97)

Simcoe, Chinook and Kohatu for the hops

what commercial beer would you liken this to?

 

[Muzzanthrope]

what commercial beer would you liken this to?

From memory, when I put it together I was working off Bridge Road's Little Bling. But I found this a little watery and the malt gave more sweetness than backbone and balance for the bitterness, I've really moved away from traditional crystal malts recently, but this is my taste so it may not be for everyone, hence I upped the biscuit and gladiator.

 

[shacked]

We just did a low gravity case swap at the IBUs; nothing over 4%. I think the trick is to 'bulk' your beer out with beta glucans from wheat, rye, spelt, oats etc, mash high (67C+) and use a less attenuative yeast (English strains are good).

I did a 3% red ordinary bitter with 100% SM40 malt from Voyager and 1469 yeast. Also did a 2.8% smoked English brown with S04 and 84% rauchmalt from Weyerman.

 

[chrisluki]

We just did a low gravity case swap at the IBUs; nothing over 4%. I think the trick is to 'bulk' your beer out with beta glucans from wheat, rye, spelt, oats etc, mash high (67C+) and use a less attenuative yeast (English strains are good).

I did a 3% red ordinary bitter with 100% SM40 malt from Voyager and 1469 yeast. Also did a 2.8% smoked English brown with S04 and 84% rauchmalt from Weyerman.

Excellent info, thanks!
Did anyone produce a beer similar to a Rover or S&W Pacific? Was it good?

 

[Muzzanthrope]

Excellent info, thanks!
Did anyone produce a beer similar to a Rover or S&W Pacific? Was it good?

I haven't tried either of those, but they do sound pretty similar to my post from before (XPA/session IPA) and was extremely impressed with the results. I've also brew quite a few mild ales including some using rye and oats to get the gravity up, along with English style, lower attenuating yeasts. The downside of this is that both can significantly alter the end result if you are after a more American, hop forward beer.
Also a blog here on Session IPA's with Vienna malt: https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/01/vienna-malt-session-ipa-recipe.html

 

[chrisluki]

I haven't tried either of those, but they do sound pretty similar to my post from before (XPA/session IPA) and was extremely impressed with the results. I've also brew quite a few mild ales including some using rye and oats to get the gravity up, along with English style, lower attenuating yeasts. The downside of this is that both can significantly alter the end result if you are after a more American, hop forward beer.
Also a blog here on Session IPA's with Vienna malt: https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/01/vienna-malt-session-ipa-recipe.html

Rover is less malty, more fruity than Little Bling, as is S&W.
Thanks for the link.

 

[Muzzanthrope]

Rover is less malty, more fruity than Little Bling, as is S&W.
Thanks for the link.

OK just realized what S&W is!
Shouldn't be too hard to knock 1% of the total for something similar. I would take a basic clone recipe, most are almost (or all) pale and wheat. Switch the pale to Vienna and throw in some form of cara malt to bump your gravity and then use something like Windsor for the yeast. Oats could work but I think most other additions will be too noticeable. I think I might try this myself for Summer.

 

[chrisluki]

OK just realized what S&W is!
Shouldn't be too hard to knock 1% of the total for something similar. I would take a basic clone recipe, most are almost (or all) pale and wheat. Switch the pale to Vienna and throw in some form of cara malt to bump your gravity and then use something like Windsor for the yeast. Oats could work but I think most other additions will be too noticeable. I think I might try this myself for Summer.

cheers mate...I might just do that!!!

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I was keen for a 3.5% Summer Ale to be honest, but I would kill to be able to brew a Founders All Day IPA at around 4%.

I have made session IPAs at that strength.

Too one dimensional to score highly at a competition, but in principle the reduced malt bill was reinforced by an aggressive hop bill. I could address the balance concerns with more character in the malt bill / finishing higher, or by adding in a chunk of very characterful malt.

But it hit the objective you are going for: a More-ish summer drinking beer that leaves you and your friends in control at the end of the night.

 

[shacked]

Excellent info, thanks!
Did anyone produce a beer similar to a Rover or S&W Pacific? Was it good?

@Markbeer made a cracking 3.5% XPA. Drop him a note and I'm sure he will share the recipe.

 

[gabbawocky]

I'd really like to brew something like this:

https://craftypint.com/beer/3365/fortitude-brewing-pacer

Decent drop for a 2.8% abv pale ale.

You could always work your way through these if you're worried about the booze but you're not going to be able to replicate them at home:

https://www.alcofree.com.au/collections/beers

...or you could try brewing 'small beer':

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pwp/tofi/medieval_english_ale.html
https://byo.com/article/searching-for-medieval-ale/
http://21timetraveler.com/recipe/alewife-for-a-day-a-guide-to-medieval-home-brew/

 

[Dan Pratt]

The tips have for making lower ABV with full hop flavours/aromas

1 - mash at higher temps, 70c for 30mins works well to get a FG of 1012-1014
2 - use wheat or oats to soften the mouthfeel - 5-10% is plenty
3 - add carapils, this adds body to the beer with the dextrins use about 8%
4 - add hops FWH = 4-5ibu, get a little bitterness from that addition
5 - add a heap late after 5mins to ramp up to 30ibu+
6 - dont be shy with the dry hop, 5g/L will get her jumping from the glass

if you are playing with your water, also target a crisp 5.2 for the mash and get the sulphate around 150ppm

 

[chrisluki]

I'd really like to brew something like this:

https://craftypint.com/beer/3365/fortitude-brewing-pacer

Decent drop for a 2.8% abv pale ale.

You could always work your way through these if you're worried about the booze but you're not going to be able to replicate them at home:

https://www.alcofree.com.au/collections/beers

...or you could try brewing 'small beer':

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pwp/tofi/medieval_english_ale.html
https://byo.com/article/searching-for-medieval-ale/
http://21timetraveler.com/recipe/alewife-for-a-day-a-guide-to-medieval-home-brew/

Actually, the pacer isnt too bad...but the Zero's...no thanks!!!