10 Thirst Quenching Summer Beers

Summer’s here and it’s time to brew some thirst-quenching beers. In our continuing series of stories celebrating our 10th anniversary year, we present 10 beer recipes from BYO editors, authors and contributors. These beers are light to moderate-bodied beers that are well-balanced for summer drinking — beers to have if you’re having more than one (to paraphrase the old Schaefer ads).

Chris Colby’s Wiener Blut (Vienna Lager)

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013
IBU = 25 SRM = 11 ABV = 5.0%

Chris Colby is the former editor of BYO. Chris says, “Wiener Blut is a malty, lightly sweet amber lager with slightly more German noble hops than usual.”

Ingredients

5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) Briess Less Modified Pilsner malt
4.75 lbs. (2.2 kg) Weyermann Vienna malt
6.6 oz. (0.19 kg) crystal malt (20 °L)
4.0 oz. (0.11 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
6.75 AAU Hallertau Hersbrücker hops (60 mins) (2.05 oz./58 g of 3.3% alpha acids)
1 tsp Irish moss
1/4 tsp yeast nutrients
White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

In your kettle, mash in at 131 °F (55 °C) with 3.4 gallons (13 L) of water. Pull a 1.0-gallon (3.8-L) decoction, add a pinch of calcium (CaCl2), and begin heating it — stirring nearly constantly. Rest decoction at 158 °F (70 °C) for 5 minutes, then boil for 15 minutes. Add decoction to main mash and adjust temperature to 154 °F (68 °C) and hold for 45 minutes. Heat to 168 °F (76 °C) for mash out. Transfer mash to lauter tun. Sparge with 180 °F (82 °C) water until grain bed reaches 170 °F (77 °C), then continue sparging with 170 °F (77 °C) water. Boil for 90 minutes. Add 1/4 tsp gypsum with 75 minutes left in boil. Add the hops at 60 minutes. Add Irish moss and yeast nutrients with 15 minutes left. Chill wort and transfer to fermenter. Aerate with a 45 second shot of oxygen (swirl carboy as you oxygenate). Ferment at 54 °F (12 °C) and lager for 6 weeks at 40 °C (4.4 °C).

Ashton Lewis’s Mueller Wheat (American Wheat)

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.045 FG = 1.007
IBU = 18 SRM = 5 ABV = 4.9%

Ashton Lewis is the Master Brewer at Springfield Brewing Company in Springfield, Missouri and the technical editor of BYO. Ashton says, “We settled on Weyermann malt about 5 years ago. This malt gives a more consistent cloudiness, which I feel is important for the style. Our wheat is dry, crisp and refreshing — and has a certain ‘snap’ from the malted and raw wheats used, as well as a spicy hop nose from the Liberty hops. The foam has a rich, creamy and rocky appearance.

Ingredients

3.7 lbs. (1.7 kg) Weyermann pale wheat malt
0.69 lbs. (0.31 kg) raw (unmalted) wheat
4.8 lbs. (2.2 kg) pale 2-row malt (Cargill Ida-Pils)
3.20 AAU Perle hops (70 mins) (0.40 oz./11 g of 8% alpha acids)
2.20 AAU Liberty hops (30 mins) (0.40 oz./11 g of 5.5% alpha)
0.56 oz. (16 g) Liberty hops (0 mins)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for bottling)

Step by Step

Use a mash water volume of 2.9 gallons (10.9 L) and mash in at 122 °F (50 °C), rest for 20 minutes, heat to 140 °F (60 °C), rest for 30 minutes, heat to 154 °F (68 °C), rest for 30 minutes and heat to 169 °F (76 °C) for mash-off. Transfer the mash to the lauter tun and do a 20-minute vorlauf before sending wort to the kettle. When the top of the grain bed is covered by ~1 inch (~2.5 cm) of wort, begin sparging with 169 °F (76 °C) sparge water. Measure wort gravity towards the end of collection and do not collect wort weaker than 2 °Plato (SG 1.008). Boil wort for 90 minutes. Cool the wort to 64 °F (18 °C) and aerate. Ferment at 64 °F (18 °C). Fermentation is typically down to ~2.8 °Plato (~SG 1.011) in 3 days. Hold temperature at 64 °F (18 °C) for 4 days or until the gravity is no greater than 2.2 °Plato (SG 1.009). Cool beer to 50 °F (10 °C) and hold for 6 days or until the gravity is no greater than 1.9 °Plato (1.008) and then chill to 32 °F (0 °C). Bottle with corn sugar or keg and carbonate to a level of 2.8 volumes of carbon dioxide.

Steve Bader’s Belgian Wit

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.049 FG = 1.012
IBU = 20 SRM = 5 ABV = 4.7%

Steve Bader is the owner of Bader Beer and Wine Supply in Vancouver, Washington. Steve says, “This beer is a favorite hot weather beer due to its lighter body and refreshing taste from the coriander and bitter orange peel. Hop bittering levels are subdued to let the coriander and bitter orange peel come through in the bitterness.”

“The wit is slightly cloudy, with a very light color since there are no grains with any color used to make this beer. The wit yeasts help to give the refreshing flavor with a bit of “spicy” phenolic and tart flavors. The wit yeasts also can handle slightly warmer fermentation temperatures to 74 °F (23 °C), making this a good beer to brew in the late spring or early summer.”

Ingredients

6.6 lbs. (3.0 kg) Coopers Wheat liquid malt extract (unhopped)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Belgian wheat malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Belgian Pilsner malt
5.4 AAU Hallertau hops (60 min)(1.5 oz./42 g of 3.6% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) coriander seed (crushed)
1 oz. (28 g) bitter orange peel
White Labs WLP400 (Belgian Wit Ale) or Wyeast 3944 (Witbier) yeast
0.75 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Steep the crushed malts in 3 gallons (13.5 L) of water at 152 ºF (67 °C) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add the malt syrup and bring to a boil. Add the bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes. Add the spices for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Cool the wort to 75 °F (24 °C), transfer to fermenter, top off to 5 gallons (19 L) aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Ferment at 70–
74 °F (21–23 °C) until fermention ends, then bottle and enjoy!

All-grain option:

Replace the 6.6 lbs. (3.0 kg) of malt syrup and both grains with 5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) of Pilsner malt, and 5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) of wheat malt. Mash at 152 ºF (67 °C) for 60 minutes. Collect approximately 7.0 gallons (32 L) wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5 gallon (19 L) yield. Lower the amount of the hops to 1.25 oz. (35 g) ounce to account for higher hop utilization.

Thom Cannell’s American Brown Ale

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014
IBU = 44 SRM = 39 ABV = 5.4%

Thom Cannell is BYO’s former Projects author. Thom says, “This recipe is based on my attempt to create a beer similar to the luscious Abita Turbo Dog Brown Ale from a clone recipe in BYO. Though it appears overwhelmingly hoppy, the chocolate, biscuit and crystal provide enough sweetness to balance. It’s such a nice beer that my local brew pub appropriated the recipe and has brewed it the last two years.”

Ingredients

4.5 lbs. (2.0 kg) Maris Otter pale ale malt
4.5 lbs. (1.7 kg) light Munich malt (10 °L)
1.2 lb. (0.54 kg) crystal malt (120 °L)
9.75 oz. (0.28 kg) Belgian chocolate malt
9.75 oz. (0.28 kg) Belgian biscuit malt
9.75 oz. (0.28 kg) torrefied wheat
8.5 AAU Target hops (80 mins) (0.97 oz./27 g of 8.8% alpha acids)
4 AAU Willamette whole hops (20 mins)(0.72 oz./21 g of 6.6% alpha acids)
1.6 oz. (45 g) Willamette whole hops (0 minutes)
White Labs WLP006 (British Ale) yeast (2 qt. (~2 L) active starter, or, preferably, the packed cells from double that amount)
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Mash in at 141–149 °F (61–65 °C) for greater fermentability due to high percentage of unfermentables. Use a thick mash, approximately 10 qts. (9.4 L) of 154 °F (68 °C) water. Rest for 10–20 minutes. Then add 170–190 °F (77–88 °C) water to 153 °F (67 °C) — this will take approximately 7–10 qts. (~7–10 L) — and rest for 30 minutes. Recirculate (RIMS), heat (if mashing in kettle) or add boiling water to raise temperature to 168–170 °F (76–77 °C) to mash out. If you choose the latter, use a smaller second addition of higher heat water so not to thin out the mash. Sparge to produce enough wort — approximately 6 gallons (23 L) — for a post-boil volume of 5.0 gallons (19 L). 90 minute boil. Hops in at 80, 20 and 0 minutes remaining. Whirlpool and cool. Pitch yeast. Ferment at 65–68 °F (18–20 °C) for one week. Rack to secondary for 1–3 weeks.

Denny Conn’s Cream Swill (Cream Ale)

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.040 FG = 1.006
IBU = 26 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.4%

Denny Conn is a frequent writer in BYO. Denny says, “This turns out so well as a mini-mash beer that I’ve never been tempted to come up with an all-grain version.”

Ingredients

3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) dried rice extract
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) 6-row pale malt (US)
0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) flaked maize
7.5 AAU Horizon hops (45 mins) (0.56 oz./16 g of 13.4% alpha acids)
0.30 oz. (8.5 g) Horizon hops (0 mins)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Mash 6-row malt and flaked maize at 155 °F (68 °C) with 2 qts. (~2 L) water. Sparge grains with 2 qts. (~2 L) of water at 170 °F (77 °C). Add wort from this partial mash to kettle, add water to 6.5 gallons (25 L) and add extracts. Boil 90 minutes. Hop to schedule. Primary fermentation lasts about 7 days at 65 °F (18 °C). Rack to secondary for 2 weeks at 45 °F (7.2 °C).

Anita Johnson’s Kölsch

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.046 FG = 1.011
IBU = 31 SRM = 4 ABV = 4.4%

Anita Johnson is the former owner of Great Fermentations of Indiana, in Indianapolis. Anita says, “This Kölsch recipe is a crowd pleaser. We have served it at homebrew club meetings, public beer festivals and in the Indy Runners’ recovery tent at the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon (the country’s largest 1/2 marathon). I like this beer because it has lots of flavor but is light and thirst-quenching. The Wyeast 2565 leaves a tartness that I really like. So simple but yet so good!”

Ingredients

7.85 lbs. (3.56 kg) Pilsner malt
1.4 lbs. (0.64 kg) wheat malt
8 AAU Spalt hops (60 mins) (1.4 oz./40 g of 5.7% alpha acid)
Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) or White Labs WLP029 (German Ale/Kölsch) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Mash at 148–150 °F (64–66 °C) for a drier finish. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the beginning of the boil. Ferment at 65 °F (18 °C).

Steve Piatz’s Sterling Pilsner (Bohemian Pilsner)

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014
IBU = 45 SRM = 3 ABV = 5.4%

Steve Piatz has written in BYO. Steve says, “Sterling Pilsner is a Bohemian Pilsner and is unique only in the use of all Sterling hops rather than the traditional Saaz hops. The first batch was the result of winning a sample of really fresh Sterling hops from HopUnion in a contest back when Sterling wasn’t widely available. According to HopUnion Sterling was released in 1998 and is perceived as similar to a Saaz and Mt. Hood combination and is finding favor as a Saaz replacement. Since my water supply is extremely high in carbonates and Pilsen’s water is very low in mineral content, I blended 0.5 gallons (~2 L) of my water with enough reverse osmosis water to make the batch.”

Ingredients

11.25 lbs. (5.1 kg) 2-row Pilsner malt (US)
10.5 AAU Sterling hops (90 mins)(1.75 oz./49.7 g of 6% alpha acids)
1.2 AAU Sterling hops (15 mins)(0.2 oz./5.7 g of 6% alpha acids)
0.3 AAU Sterling hops (10 mins)(0.05 oz./1.4 g of 6% alpha acids)
0.3 AAU Sterling hops (5 mins)(0.05 oz./1.4 g of 6% alpha acids)
0.3 AAU Sterling hops (0 mins)(0.5 oz./14 g of 6% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP800 (Pilsner) or White Labs WLP802 (Czech Budejovice) yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Mashed with 3.75 gallons (14 L) of water at 152 °F (67 °C) for 30 minutes (until converted). Sparge the mash with 168 °F (76 °C) water until you collect 6.4 gallons (24 L) of wort in the kettle. The 90 minute boil will reduce the wort to 5.7 gallons (22 L) before chilling and will yield the target 5.5 gallons (21 L) of wort after chilling. Add a tablet of Whirlfloc for the last 20 minutes of the boil. Alternatively, you can use Irish moss for the last 20 minutes. At the end of the boil, the wort is chilled to the fermentation temperature — 52 °F (11 °C) — and the yeast is pitched from a large starter. Ferment at 52 °F (11 °C). Once the fermentation is nearly complete, do a diacetyl rest by letting the beer warm up to around 60 °F (16 °C) and leave it at that temperature for a day or so to allow the yeast to metabolize the diacetyl and then start a slow (4 °F/2 °C drop per day) chill down to a lagering temperature of 30–32 °F (-1.1–0 °C). Even a couple of weeks of lagering will help mellow the flavors; but 6 to 14 weeks is even better. Tradition calls for lagering a light colored beer like a Pilsner from 3 to 7 days per 4 specific gravity points of the original gravity or, for a 1.056 OG, from 42 to 98 days.

At the end of the lagering, the beer should be clear and is ready to drink once carbonated. If you keg your beer just adjust the pressure to hit around 2.3 volumes of CO2. If you want to bottle condition your beer, you should consider adding a fresh lager yeast along with the priming sugar since there won’t be much viable yeast left after the long lagering stage. An alternative approach for bottle conditioning is to bottle the beer after the diacetyl rest and then keep the beer at primary fermentation temperature (52° F) for a couple of weeks to allow the beer to carbonate, then you can lager the carbonated beer in the bottles.

Extract Option:

If you can perform a full-wort boil, use 6.25 lbs. (2.8 kg) of very light colored dry malt extract in place of the Pilsner malt. Stovetop brewers could boil 3 lbs. 2 oz. (1.4 kg) of Muntons Light dried malt extract in 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water then add 4.25 lbs. (1.9 kg) of Alexander’s Pale liquid malt extract for the final 15 minutes of the boil.

B3’s California Common

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.013
IBU = 47 SRM = 12 ABV = 4.9%

More Beer sent us his recipe for a California Common beer.

Ingredients

7.0 lbs. (3.2 kg) ultralight liquid malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
10.2 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 mins) (1.5 oz./43 g of 6.8% alpha acids)
6.8 AAU Northern Brewer hops (10 mins) (1.0 oz./28 g of 6.8% alpha acids)
1.0 oz. Northern Brewer hops (1 mins)
1 pkg Whirlfloc (15 mins)
Wyeast 2112 (California Lager) or White Labs WLP810 (San Francisco Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Steep grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 30 minutes. Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at times given. Ferment at 55–63 °F (13–17 °C).

Paul Zocco’s Flemish Red Ale

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.061 FG = 1.015
IBU = 21 SRM = 27 ABV = 5.9%

Paul Zocco, owner of Zok’s Homebrewing Supplies, in Willimantic, Connecticut has written for BYO. Paul says, “I recently spent a day at Rodenbach inhaling a few Grand Crus, the best Flemish Red there is.”

Ingredients

7.0 lbs. (3.2 kg) Muntons American Style Malt (1.7 °L)
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) flaked maize
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Vienna malt
1.4 lbs. (0.64 kg) CaraMunich malt
10 oz. (0.28 kg) acid malt
8 oz. (0.23 kg) wheat malt
8 oz. (0.23 kg) biscuit malt
3 oz. (85 g) chocolate malt
2 oz. (57 g) Special B malt (160 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) rice hulls
2 AAU Styrian Goldings hops (60 mins) (0.5 oz./14 g of 4% alpha acids)
4.6 AAU Northern Brewer hops (30 mins) (0.5 oz./14 g of 9.1% alpha acids)
2 AAU Styrian Goldings hops (5 mins) (0.5 oz./14 g of 4% alpha acids)
Wyeast 3278 (Lambic Blend) mix and Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) yeast
1 1/4 cup light dried malt extract (for priming)

Step by Step

Mash at 150 °F (66 °C) for 1 hour. Sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) until you get 6 gallons (23 L), to be boiled down to 5 gallons (19 L). Ferment 2 weeks at 70 °F (21 °C). Transfer to secondary for 2 weeks at 70 °F (21 °C). Bottle with priming extract.

Brew Your Own’s MC Hawking’s Event Horizon (Raspberry Wheat)

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with fruit)
virtual OG = 1.044 (1.040 before fruit)
FG = 1.011 IBU = 14
SRM = 4 (before fruit) ABV = 4.2%

Here’s one we developed especially for this recipe collection. This beer takes less than 90 minutes to make on brewday. For best results, follow the instructions closely — even though some of the steps are a bit unusual. MC Hawking’s Event Horizon is a crisp, wheat beer accentuated by the raspberries, which add a tart, fruity note. This beer will disappear like it’s been sucked into a black hole.

Ingredients

2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) Briess Wheat dried malt extract
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Coopers Wheat malt extract (liquid, canned)
6.0 lbs. (2.7 kg) frozen raspberries
6 AAU Perle hops (30 mins) (0.86 oz./24 g of 7 % alpha acids)
1 tsp Irish moss
1/4 tsp yeast nutrients
DCL Safale US-56 (dried yeast)
Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Wheat) or White Labs WLP300 (Hefeweizen) yeast
1.2 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Use distilled or soft water. Heat 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water to a boil, then turn off heat. Stir in dried malt extract and bring to a boil. Add hops and boil for 30 minutes, adding Irish moss and yeast nutrients with 15 minutes left in boil. Shut off heat. Wipe off the outside of malt extract can with a paper towel soaked in sanitizing solution, then open and pour extract into hot wort. Sanitize a spoon to get the last bit of extract out of the can. Stir wort with this spoon until you think the extract is dissolved, then stir 1 minute longer. (The extract in the can is sterile, so there’s no need to boil it for sanitation.) Cool wort immediately and transfer to fermenter. Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L) and aerate. (The specific gravity at this point will be 1.040.) Pitch both dried and liquid yeasts and ferment at 72 °F (22 °C). After primary fermentation ends (in 3–4 days), sanitize a bucket and add frozen raspberries. Mash raspberries with sanitized potato masher, then rack beer on top of them. (There’s no need to heat the raspberries to sanitize them.) Place lid loosely on bucket, but don’t seal until foaming from fruit subsides (usually 2–3 days). Seal bucket and let beer sit in contact with fruit for 10 days total. Bottle with corn sugar or keg and carbonate to 2.8–3.0 volumes of CO2.