Homebrew Summer: Liquid Sol

It was 2016 when Raul and Lisa Deju installed a commercial brewing setup in the back of their homebrew outlet, Carlsbad Brew Supply. Going by the name Guadalupe Brewery, its creatively flavorful beers embody the adventurous homebrew spirit, making this operation perfectly suited to participate in our Homebrew Summer program. In doing so, Raul selected a hazy IPA recipe from local homebrewer Stu Montgomery. Over the past couple of months, Raul and Stu worked to scale the recipe’s hop bill and additions so that they would work well on Guadalupe’s larger pro brewhouse while still producing a beer as vibrant in its hoppiness as its homebrew progenitor. The successful result of their collaboration is Liquid Sol, which will hit the taps at Guadalupe’s Vista tasting room on Thursday, August 29. Get an idea of what to expect by checking out the recipe for the beer, which is included below so you can brew it at home.

New pro-am beers are debuting weekly throughout the summer, so be sure to check back with San Diego Beer News on a regular basis (or subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter and we’ll send all the recipes and release information straight to your inbox). Cheers and happy homebrewing!

Stu Montgomery
Homebrewer

How does it feel to have this beer brewed on a pro scale?
It was a great experience planning and brewing with Raul, the head brewer and co-owner of Guadalupe Brewery. He was great to partner with and helped me scale the recipe from a homebrew-sized batch to a multi-barrel batch, minimizing loss while still achieving the fresh, tropical, hop-forward character in the beer. We had fun doing some beer research and tweaking the recipe for Liquid Sol. Once brew day came, Raul let me get involved in every process from mashing in to whirlpooling to transferring to the fermenter. While the process was familiar, there were lots of differences brewing on a professional system. It was a great experience for me as a homebrewer and I learned a lot. This was a great experience all around. I’m really looking forward to drinking some fresh Liquid Sol and stoked it will be on tap at Guadalupe’s tasting room!

Raul Deju
Co-owner & Head Brewer, Guadalupe Brewery

What led you to select this beer recipe?
This is Guadalupe Brewery’s first time participating in Homebrew Summer, but we are excited because I started as a homebrewer and we also have our Carlsbad homebrew store, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall. The list of recipes to select from was really extensive. We chose Stu’s recipe mainly because of the name, Liquid Sunshine. I thought a really hazy IPA could be a good choice, in part because we didn’t have any on our menu. Plus, a name like “Liquid Sunshine” just went with the Homebrew Summer theme. Once we got into the recipe, we chatted with Stu and realized that scaling it would require reworking the hop schedule, as it was heavy with upwards of seven pounds per-barrel, plus the amount of Cryo hops would be too expensive to produce at scale. We communicated about what Stu’s goal was for the flavor of the beer and what he wanted it to be like in order to best revise the hop additions, then we made a small pilot batch with the revised hops to see whether it could be described as “Liquid Sunshine” and if it was consistent with Stu’s version. The brew day was fun. I enjoyed showing Stu how to set up the wort grant and use tri-clamps; all the fun things he doesn’t need to do on his homebrew setup. We knocked out three barrels and renamed the beer Liquid Sol to give it that Valle touch, keeping in tune with the roots of Guadalupe Brewery. We’re excited with how this hazy IPA turned out and can’t wait to tap it for Stu and everyone else to enjoy!

Guadalupe Brewery’s tasting room is located at 631 South Santa Fe Avenue in Vista