We’ve got a party coming up in a few weeks, there’s going to be a few people there who like their beer and I intend to serve them up something that’s befitting of the season…if not the weather.

As Hop Back Summer Lightning is THE summer beer that all others aspire to, I decided to work up a clone recipe.

Looking at other clones of HBSL, they all seem to be a bit light-handed with the East Kent Goldings hops and fairly hefty on the alcohol.  Because I don’t want a party full of slavering maniacs, I’ve dialled the gravity back a bit to 4.5% from the 5% of the original, and I’ve pumped the hops right up to make up for it. A WHOLE PACK in fact. God, it makes me feel alive to write that…

I used Chinook for bittering because I happened to have an opened pack in the freezer.  Normally I would have used some of a fresh pack of Target or Challenger, but I’m too tight-fisted for that.

Here’s the recipe:

I’m using US-05 yeast again because I love it a bit too much and it’ll rip through this wort like a chainsaw through a turd – probably finishing up at around 1009 or so and giving me those extra few points to 4.5%.

Of course US-05 is such a clean-living beast that it won’t over-power the whole thing with farty esters – meaning that even the rubbish-lager-loving dimbos* can enjoy it too.

(*not that we’ve invited any…)

I’ll let you all know how it turns out.  I must write up the notes about the HxPA too, mustn’t I?  Bad Jon.

(PS: I used whole hops too and managed not to bung the Braumeister up.  A simple sheet of fine-ish stainless steel mesh between the element and the tap hole saved me a ton of grief.  I’ll post some pictures when I remember.)