Winter Seasonal Beer Jingle Balz Holiday Ale

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CrookedTail

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
580
Reaction score
39
Location
Patchogue
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
Nottingham
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.055
Final Gravity
1.013
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
21.5
Color
21
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14
Tasting Notes
Malty and smooth. Spices are evident in aroma and flavor.
Fermentables
6lbs Extra Light LME
.5lb Munich Malt
.5lb Caramel 60L
.5lb Chocolate Wheat Malt
.5lb Flaked Barley
1 cup light brown sugar

Hops
1oz Willamette @ 60 min
1oz Willamette @ 15 min

Spices (all added at flameout)
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
.5 tsp Ginger Powder
.25 tsp Allspice
.25 tsp Cloves

Yeast
Nottingham

The idea for this came from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing, where he talks about using the spices above with a soft brown ale to create a gingerbread ale.

The chocolate wheat malt is less assertive than regular chocolate malt. There's little or none of that sharp bitterness. Using half a pound made this pretty dark. It looks almost like a stout. You can reduce it a bit if you want this to be a little lighter.

While it doesn't taste like gingerbread, the spices are evident. It's a nice malty, smooth, spiced drinker. Next year I might try adding a little orange zest as well.

jingle.jpg
 
I made an ale from the same inspiration. It came out less malty than I would like, but I had to make it light for it to finish in time (I was reading Radical Brewing about a month ago).

For an AG batch, 2.5 gallons, I used:

3lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
1lb Muntons Mild malt
4 oz Briess Victory
4 oz Fawcett brown malt
3 oz Briess Crystal 40L
2 oz Fawcett pale chocolate
2 oz Simpsons Marris Otter british Crystal
1/4 oz East Kent Goldings, whole leaf, @ 60 mins.

And the same proportion of spices at the end of boil. Fermented with WLP002, at cool temperatures for clean character. OG: 1.056 FG: 1.025 IBU's: 13. I wanted very little bitterness to come from hops, so the spices could come through more. No hop flavor/aroma additions.

I really liked the malt quality of this before fermentation. I think it would be good stepped up a bit, as it became pretty light in the end - despite high mash temps and FG.

I also made an infusion of more of the same spice blend in a bit of vodka, to make a potent flavor extract. I added 1/2 tsp of this at bottling (I added it in small increments until it tasted right) to bring out the gingerbread more. The flavor is still subtle, but the beer does taste distinctly like gingerbread.
 
I made an ale from the same inspiration. It came out less malty than I would like, but I had to make it light for it to finish in time (I was reading Radical Brewing about a month ago).

For an AG batch, 2.5 gallons, I used:

3lbs Fawcett Golden Promise
1lb Muntons Mild malt
4 oz Briess Victory
4 oz Fawcett brown malt
3 oz Briess Crystal 40L
2 oz Fawcett pale chocolate
2 oz Simpsons Marris Otter british Crystal
1/4 oz East Kent Goldings, whole leaf, @ 60 mins.

And the same proportion of spices at the end of boil. Fermented with WLP002, at cool temperatures for clean character. OG: 1.056 FG: 1.025 IBU's: 13. I wanted very little bitterness to come from hops, so the spices could come through more. No hop flavor/aroma additions.

I really liked the malt quality of this before fermentation. I think it would be good stepped up a bit, as it became pretty light in the end - despite high mash temps and FG.

I also made an infusion of more of the same spice blend in a bit of vodka, to make a potent flavor extract. I added 1/2 tsp of this at bottling (I added it in small increments until it tasted right) to bring out the gingerbread more. The flavor is still subtle, but the beer does taste distinctly like gingerbread.

Yeah i was thinking about adding some more spices when I kegged mine. I was worried that it would be overkill. It's only been a few days but the spices have mellowed a bit.

Your recipe sounds like it's more English-like. The victory and brown malt must give your beer a nuttiness to it. Mine is malty with a bit of the roasted malt flavor. No nuttiness.

I was surprised that my wife seems to really love this beer.
 
Yeah, I was going for a rich bready/nutty flavor, such as you might encounter in actual gingerbread. The fresh wort tasted surprisingly like that, actually; the flavor was just a bit too light to come through after fermentation. I'll be trying the recipe again, but with ramped-up malt ingredients.

I was afraid spice aroma would fade with bottle-condiditoning, and so I over-spiced very slightly at bottling. That seems to have served me pretty well.

This whole idea seems to be a pretty likable one; people seem to enjoy the idea of gingerbread-in-a-glass, even if they don't usually like beer. Since mine turned out fairly sweet and distinctly gingerbread flavored, it can even appeal to the root beer crowd a bit.
 
How long did you guys age these? I'm trying to find something that will be nice for the Holidays that will be ready sometime around Christmas...

I know I'm pushing my luck with a spiced beer and minimal aging time...next year will be planned out better. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
 
How long did you guys age these? I'm trying to find something that will be nice for the Holidays that will be ready sometime around Christmas...

I know I'm pushing my luck with a spiced beer and minimal aging time...next year will be planned out better. Thanks for sharing your recipes!

You might be out of luck. This beer will be too green if you brew it now, and then drink it at Christmas time.
 
Do you happen to remember how long you left this is primary? Secondary? I was interested in trying this recipe with bourbon soaked chips in the secondary.
 
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