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Shinglejohn · 11-21-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pietro1022

Long time lurker first time poster!

Brewed this today, went back to extract for a batch as my mashing system is in need of a serious upgrade as I'm using my boil kettle as a mash tun. Great thread thanks to all for posting (and converting).

I may be insanely naive and hopeful, but i was hoping i could bring a few bottles of this for a tasting with my inlaws on Xmas eve (first holiday with them)...however, this came out really high @ 1.095 OG (though I'm not entirely trusting of my refractometer these days, I think like all my equipment, it needs the proverbial oil change, new sparkplugs and a tire rotation).

Pitched two vials of WLP002 at 70 degrees to hopefully get it rocking soon, but I don't believe I've made a beer this big. I was thinking of doing 10 days primary, 10 days secondary (with the ginger and cinnamon), then two weeks in the bottles...that would have it 'ready' (or at least, 'carbonated') by xmas eve.

The response I'm expecting from my big beer mad men fellow posters is there is no way in hell a beer of this gravity will be conditioned well enough in 5 weeks (Sweet God thats all thats left until xmas)...maybe i just don't want to be known as the son-in-law that brings underattenuated crap to a family christmas for the the rest of my married life.

Suggestions/feedback appreciated. Cheers!

Hey Pietro,

Thats awefully big. i think you must have made a mistake in converting the recipe to extract or your equipment is broken. If it is in fact that big and you didnt aerate well nor pitch a massive starter, your beer may stall out. Or it also may not. Eitherway, i oubt it will be ready in time.

Just keep tasting it though, who knows!

buckeye2011 · 11-21-2011, 07:57 PM

Kegged this today after aging in a secondary for 2 months and crash cooling for a week. It's really, really good. Mine has more ginger than the great lakes version and it's definitely darker in color (closer to Breckenridge Christmas Ale). Can't wait to sip this on Saturday and compare with some of the other holiday ales available.

pietro1022 · 11-22-2011, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shinglejohn

Hey Pietro,

Thats awefully big. i think you must have made a mistake in converting the recipe to extract or your equipment is broken. If it is in fact that big and you didnt aerate well nor pitch a massive starter, your beer may stall out. Or it also may not. Eitherway, i oubt it will be ready in time.

Just keep tasting it though, who knows!

Aerated the bejesus out of it, and pitched two vials of the wlp002...I went off the conversion on here (presumably from btp or something similar), and it looks like other ppl did ok...going to check my refractometer with some distiller tomorrow, I bet it's that that is off...

Right now, it's bubbling like crazy fermenting with an ambient temp of 65..any benefit to moving to a warmer part of the house?

If I can get it down to the 20's for a tg, would that be low enough to prevent bottle bombs?

Thanks for the response"!

Shinglejohn · 11-22-2011, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pietro1022

Aerated the bejesus out of it, and pitched two vials of the wlp002...I went off the conversion on here (presumably from btp or something similar), and it looks like other ppl did ok...going to check my refractometer with some distiller tomorrow, I bet it's that that is off...

Right now, it's bubbling like crazy fermenting with an ambient temp of 65..any benefit to moving to a warmer part of the house?

If I can get it down to the 20's for a tg, would that be low enough to prevent bottle bombs?

Thanks for the response"!

65 is a good temp. If you can get it up to 68 once it dies down it might be helpful to finish out faster but not neccesary. As far as finishing gravity, just make sure it is stable for a few consecutive days. Bottle bombs will occur no matter what the final gravit as long as the beer is not fully attenuated.

pietro1022 · 11-23-2011, 03:12 AM

Nice, A reply on Brew Advice said that given the gravity, ferm temp could be up to 10deg higher than the ambient...dropped the vessel in an ice bah and stuck a therm sticker on the fermenter...got it right @68deg...still bubbling like crazy, but 48hrs after pitching time...hopefully it will keep on keepin on..need to calibrate that refractometer..

Beernewb · 11-23-2011, 09:11 PM

pitched Sunday around 11:30 and the krausen has dropped back already...hopefully this is a good, quick finish-raising the temps up to 68.

ru41285 · 11-24-2011, 02:44 PM

So I brewed this recipe to-the-T last night. Everything went fine. My only question is, when I usually brew spiced ales, the wort usually smells quite strong of the spices and additional ingredients. This one only smelled like a well brewed wort. No real distinct smell of ginger or cinnamon. No real taste of it either when I had a taste of the hydrometer sample. Is this normal for this beer and do you think it will come around? Again, I did everything exactly like the original recipe stated and hit all my numbers. Let me know! Thanks.

dave5155 · 11-24-2011, 05:16 PM

Brewed this a couple weeks ago. I seem to remember a pretty pronounced spice aroma going into the fermenter. I broke the cinnamon into pieces and microplaned the ginger. Transferred the cinnamon to the fermenter.

pietro1022 · 11-25-2011, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ru41285

So I brewed this recipe to-the-T last night. Everything went fine. My only question is, when I usually brew spiced ales, the wort usually smells quite strong of the spices and additional ingredients. This one only smelled like a well brewed wort. No real distinct smell of ginger or cinnamon. No real taste of it either when I had a taste of the hydrometer sample. Is this normal for this beer and do you think it will come around? Again, I did everything exactly like the original recipe stated and hit all my numbers. Let me know! Thanks.

The way I read the recipe, i thought the spices were supposed to go in the secondary (?)....maybe it's an either/or.

**Newbeerguy** · 11-26-2011, 11:38 PM

Just an update on my batches. I kegged the first 2 batches (3rd is in the primary still awaiting the arrival of my filter)

1st batch - I added 1.25tsp of Saigon cinn. and .75oz of chopped fresh ginger with 1 min to go in boil.

Tasted great. A very nice cinnamon smell (I attribute to using Saigon cinnamon). Color wise is very close to the GL version. I feel the spices are a little toned down in my version compared to GL's. Was very pleased with the taste.

2nd batch - Added 1.25tsp Saigon cinn. and .75oz of grated ginger with 1 min to go in boil

Tasted very similar to the first batch. Cinnamon smell was a little less on this batch. Colors were exactly the same. This one tastes even more balanced, but spice profile just lingers, never jumps out and dominates. Personally I'd add a bit more cinn. and ginger next time.

3rd batch - Used 1.25tsp Saigon cinn and 1oz of grated ginger. I think I am going to taste before racking to the keg an perhaps add some more spices directly to the keg to get a bit more spice flavor out of it.

Overall I am completly impressed with this recipe. I made 15 gallons so I am going to be handing alot of this out to family and friends. Big thanks to Shinglejohn for posting his recipe up and can't wait to hear others feedback.

I'll be posting a couple pics once I get my last batch filtered so it looks great