Homebrew Summer: SwellFire

The mission of our annual Homebrew Summer program is to bring professional brewers and homebrewers together. Typically, this involves one or maybe a handful of amateurs brewing in a commercial brewery, but the brew crew at Ketch Brewing took things a step further, inviting all of the members of the Ocean Beach Brewers Guild (OBBG) to craft a pro-am beer at their Kearny Mesa brewery. The result is a Belgian-style golden strong ale called SwellFire that will hit the taps at Ketch’s tasting room and pair of San Diego restaurants on Monday, August 11. Before you head out for a taste of this bold, layered beer, take a look at the recipe used to create it below.

Jeff Pierce
Homebrewer & OBBG Member

Belgian golden strong ales aren’t something that a lot of San Diego breweries brew, and we thought it might be a good opportunity to showcase something different. The recipe was inspired after attending Belgian Fest at Stone Brewing while in the middle of reading Brew Like a Monk by Stan Heironymous. We experimented with different Belgian yeast strains and blends of them until we arrived at a favorite combination and fermentation schedule. Brewing this recipe on a recreational level is really fun, especially when it comes to fermentation, because of how you can play with various fermentation temperatures and get completely different flavors from the yeast.

Sam Billheimer
Head Brewer, Ketch Brewing

As a fellow OBecian and former homebrewers, I wanted to brew a collaboration with the OB Brewers Guild as a fun way to further engage with my community. In the spirit of collaboration, the concept we envisioned was a pair of “home and home” brew days, brewing a five-gallon batch together at OBBG headquarters, and then another 20-barrel batch with the Guild at Ketch. I was drawn to this recipe partially because the style complements Ketch’s current lineup of beers, and partially because of my personal inexperience brewing the style and having the opportunity to learn more. We all had a great time brewing together on both brewhouses!

Any tips for homebrewers using this recipe?
My recommendations for homebrewers to brew this beer successfully would be to pitch the appropriate amount of yeast and closely monitor the fermentation temperature schedule, as these yeast strains are particularly sensitive to temperature, affecting the overall flavor profile in the finished beer. The purpose of using dual yeast strains is to add complexity, utilizing the Golden Ale strain as the workhorse while adding “seasoning” with the Abbey Ale strain.

New homebrew recipes and pro-am beer release information will be posted to our site throughout the summer, so 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!

Ketch Brewing is located at 7889 Ostrow Street in Kearny Mesa; and Ketch Grill & Taps restaurants are located at 2614 Shelter Island Drive in Point Loma, and inside Portside Pier at 1360 North Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego