One of my favorite parts of the brewing hobby is sharing what I make with others.  Its like cooking - sometimes its nice to have a big group over and prepare everyone a nice meal.  Cooking and brewing for others feels like you're taking care of folks, that you're encouraging joy.  

Recently, my son's sister-in-law was married, at a lovely service, where my wife, a pastor, officiated.  Last year, when Dina and Liz asked if I would provide the beer and cider for the celebration afterwards, I was delighted. 

I decided to make a beer that would be accessible to those who don't usually drink craft beer but would still be interesting enough for those who appreciate better beer.  We went with what we call our Summer Wheat Ale - a beer that we brew once every year or two, American-style, clean and easy to drink with just enough malt to make it interesting.  

It turned out well.  Clear, medium-high carbonation, with some breadiness in the nose and on the palate and a slight pepper spice in the flavor from the wheat.  Balanced and easy to drink.  

They also wanted a cider, something a little sweeter, effervescent, refreshing.  So I made an apple cider and backsweetened it with some raspberry juice.  

I served both of the beverages in bottles - I had force carbonated them in kegs, and using a beer gun, bottled from the keg.  In the past year, I had a couple of unsatisfying experiences, bringing a keg to an event and having the beer being served having one issue or another, related to the packaging.  So, I brought three large coolers full of ice and bottles of beer and cider.  Easy-peasy.  Liz and Dina had a caterer and bartender, so I brought the coolers to her, explained that the beer had a "B" on the cap and the cider had a "C" (fancy system) and left her to it.  

The ceremony was outdoors and afterwards, we all came inside to the beautiful reception room and everyone lined up for the bar!  So, I offered to help serve the beer and cider (and sodas and water) and she served the wine and made cocktails for folks.  It was fun, serving my beer and cider to people, some of whom later in the evening wanted to know more about the process, etc.   All told, I probably served my beer and cider for about thirty minutes before the line was down to a point where the bartender could handle it.  

I brought ten gallons of cider and beer and, by the end of the evening, every bottle was gone, which is a good sign.

Here is the recipe for our Summer Wheat Ale:

Batch Size: 5.5 gallons

Original Gravity: 1.046

Final Gravity: 1.010

ABV: 4.7% 

Bitterness: 24 IBU

Color: 5 SRM

Mash: 149F, single infusion batch sparge

Fermented at 65F, lagered at 32F

Carbonated at 40 PSI for three days at 32F

Grain

4.75 lbs  Wheat Malt

2.75 lbs Maris Otter Malt (barley)

2.75 lbs Munich Malt (barley)

Hops

0.5 oz Horizon (12% AA) @ 60 minutes

Other

Irish Moss

Clarity Ferm

Omega West Coast Ale I yeast

For the cider, I fermented four and a half gallons of apple juice with Nottingham ale yeast at 65F until the cider was dry.  Then I transferred the cider to a keg, adding a half gallon of raspberry juice to the keg, mixed and force carbonated (40 PSI for four days at 32F).  I bottled two cases of cider and put the cases back in the fridge, at 32F, so that a secondary fermentation wouldn't kick off with the raspberry juice.  The other option would have been knocking out the yeast chemically before adding the raspberry, but I knew that they would drunk quickly so opted just to keep everything cold.