Looking for some ideas for fall/winter beer styles. I have an Oktoberfest on tap and a harvest porter in the fermenter. I would like to dedicate 2 of my 4 taps to maltier and/or darker beers this fall/winter but am having a hard time deciding. The other 2 taps will either be light and/or hoppy styles that I normally brew. Any ideas in addition to what I have below?
brown
oatmeal stout
black wheat (2nd attempt - don’t ask)
black lager (schwarzbier)
Soon I will make a dark Belgian that I made last year with homemade shagbark hickory syrup. Earthy and warming. Also a Braggot. That will be for January and February for sipping in front of the fire while reading. I’ve never done a winter warmer but 20 years ago my favorite beer for awhile was Samuel Smith’s winter warmer. I’d like something like that for December.
Of course if winter is like last year I’ll need to come up with winter beers for March and April. Screw it, if winter is like last year I’ll just chug vodka…
A friend made a beer with shagbark hickory syrup last year. It was very astringent. I believe it’s made by boiling the bark and then adding sugar to the bark water make syrup. Seems like it pulls tannin out of the bark that isn’t obvious in the syrup but reared it’s head when the sugar was fermented.
I wonder how much he used. I believe I used it to replace a portion of the dark candi syrup. I did get tannins, which I wanted at a moderate level, but not to the point of tasting astringent. Tannins can be nice in a big beer, providing balance.
I really like ESB, porter, and an IPA with fresh hops from the recent harvest. I also like to brew beers the previous winter/spring with autumn in mind such as braggot, burton ale, quad, and barley wine.
I had not expected that the response to shagbark hickory syrup would be " yeah, I tried that". It turns out After checking my notes I used 2 cups, i presume at the end of boil, but also I racked into secondary with wood chips and a quart of shagbark hickory syrup. It sat for 6 weeks in secondary. It was really fantastic. It was the best big beer I have made. It had a strong alcoholic component which I’m sure was enhanced by the syrup in the secondary but wasn’t what I would call “boozy”.