Local 12 beers of Christmas

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Hernando

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Location
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Some have expressed an interest in joining a local 12 beers of Christmas. We are doing this to cut back on costs of shipping and still enjoy the festivities and more importantly the beer. Below is a list of the beers. The one's with the asterix are the ones still available.

We don't have an exact date or meeting place yet but we can organize that down the road. Right now, the important thing is getting the beers going as some of these take time to mature.

1) Caramel Quadrupel- Brian and Harry
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel- Hernando cap marked with a cherry
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock Option
4) Juniper Rye Bock- Chessking
5) Fruitcake Old Ale- Riored4v
6) Saffron Tripel-Bryan M
7) Honey Ginger IPA- Harry
8) Gingerbread Ale HerbieHowells
9) Spiced Bourbon Stout Sinkman
10) Abbey Weizen- Jeremy
Cheers & Good Fortune
 
I got most of what I need for the Juniper Rye Bock, except the Juniper berries. Anyone know where I could find these? Planning to brew Saturday.
 
Savory Spice in the Lowry Town Center may have them. I work right by there so I'll check and report back to you before the days end.
 
I will sign on to make Gingerbread Ale.

Re: Juniper berries, I seem to remember that you can buy them at a normal grocery store- I just googled them, and even McCormick's sells them. Sure, they would be fresher if you bought them at Savory, but just check in the spice rack next time you are at Safeway.
 
This sounds pretty awesome! Is there any way I can look at the recipes? Kinda interested in a few that are left...
 
The Juniper Rye Bock is in the fermenter awaiting temperature stabilization at 50 F for the pitch. O.G. 1.078. I uses German bock yeast instead of the Danish. Should be ok. I added some brown sugar to the boil to dry it out some. Also I just cant help myself. I like big beers.

IMG_4429 (427x640).jpg
 
Welcome HerbieHowells. The Gingerbread Ale sounds tasty!

I found the juniper berries and I am on for brewing this weekend. Thanks guys.
Forgot to post that they were at Savory. Got caught up at work. But I am glad you found them.

This sounds pretty awesome! Is there any way I can look at the recipes? Kinda interested in a few that are left...
Sure let me know which ones you are interested in and I will do my best to get them to you today when I get home from work. The wife has been sick so I can't guarantee tonight but I will try.



HerbieHowells I will send you the recipe as well as soon as I can.

And, thank you all for signing up and making this project happen.
 
Can I get the recipe for Fruitcake Old Ale?

As much as I hate fruitcake, I've never made an Old Ale and it sounds fun.
 
I would be interested in checking out the spiced bock but it isn't a style I have ever done before...Honestly I just wanted to get into this project because you have Boxers!!! ahhahah
 
I would be interested in checking out the spiced bock but it isn't a style I have ever done before...Honestly I just wanted to get into this project because you have Boxers!!! ahhahah

HA! My clown dogs,:mug: (that's what they should be called). I noticed yours as well.

I will send you the recipe for the spiced bock and then let me know it that is something you would like to do for sure.
 
Had a great but busy beer weekend. Got the dubbel on the cherries. There have been a few firsts with this batch; first fruit beer, first dubbel. The primary finished out at 1.016 and the sample tasted great. Pretty excited to see how this one turns out as well as the other batches.

image-3699481890.jpg
 
That looks tasty. Did you freeze, then thaw the cherrys before crushing them? The color certainly is appealing.
My bock is still bubbling away in primary. I'm bumping up the temp now about a deg C every 2nd day. At least another week to the diacetyl rest.

IMG_4430 (427x640).jpg
 
That looks tasty. Did you freeze, then thaw the cherrys before crushing them? The color certainly is appealing.
My bock is still bubbling away in primary. I'm bumping up the temp now about a deg C every 2nd day. At least another week to the diacetyl rest.

Yes, I froze them first; the picture in the top left was them frozen. I had spoken to one of the guys at Dry Dock Brewering/Brewhut and he said that freezing won't necessarily kill anything and since I didn't pit my cherries first, the best thing to do is smash them up real good with a potato masher. Add the pectic enzyme and let that do it's thing and wait and then crush some campden tablets and add that. He said to let it sit for 24 hours, out and uncovered and the campden will then evaporate and not affect the bottling. I'm very glad I asked him though because I was just going to throw the cherries in as they were frozen. I must've had the deer in headlights look when he started answering my questions because I really had no idea.

Oh yeah, and I dig that fancy artistic photo collage.

I was just trying to capture the different stages without clogging the thread.
 
Alright, got another buddy at work to join in. So we have 2 beers left and if any of you know someone who maybe interested, let them and myself know.

Finally came up with a name for the Dubbel.
Farty Santa's Belch'em Cherry Dubbel.
 
I am looking to get a feel for how long to leave the dubbel on the cherries? It's going on 9 days today and some people said a week some people say 2 weeks. Any thoughts?
 
I did a sour brown w/ cherries and I left it on the cherries (4lbs worth) for 2 weeks. Turned out perfect IMO.

I'm hoping to have the fruitcake old ale brewed middle of next month.
 
Cool and thanks. So I'll get that bottled this weekend it will put it just at two weeks. the Cherries caused another blowout but I didn't lose to much, fortunately. This WLP500 is wicked but it is a workhorse.
 
Hey guys, still looking for someone to do the gruit? I am fairly new to AG brewing, having just done by 2nd batch last weekend on a buddies rig, and would gladly take a shot at the christmas gruit.
 
Great and welcome aboard jscottAT4. I'll get you that recipe in a minute or two.
 
In case anyone is interested, I kegged the Juniper Rye Bock, and have dropped it to lager temperature. I figure two months and then carb it up. The Juniper is fairly strong now, but I assume that it will mellow over time. Tasted great though. Finished at 1.017 and an ABV of 8.5%.
 
I'll be starting the gruit this week, have to assemble ingredients. Anyone have any experience with this style?
 
In case anyone is interested, I kegged the Juniper Rye Bock, and have dropped it to lager temperature. I figure two months and then carb it up. The Juniper is fairly strong now, but I assume that it will mellow over time. Tasted great though. Finished at 1.017 and an ABV of 8.5%.

Awesome! I can't wait to try this.

I'll be starting the gruit this week, have to assemble ingredients. Anyone have any experience with this style?

I unfortunately do not have experience with this style. Hopefully someone can chime in that does.


I bottled the dubbel last night after all the cherries and fermentation I ended with 37 bottles; just enough. There was about 1-2 quarts left int he secondary I couldn't get out because the cherries were clogging the Siphon.

After the secondary on the cherries it came out a bit drier than I thought it would. OG 1.076 FG was 1.010 with an ABV of 8.66%. The taste is good but it will defintely need it's time to mellow out. The color of this beer is fantastic. My bottle caps were marked with a cherry.

If you all are ok with this, I am going to close out the signup since I am lower on bottles than expected.:( So that will give us 11 beers of Christmas instead of 12. I don't want to short change anyone deadset on 12 beers so if you aren't okay with the 11 let me know and I will throw the few bottles for myself in.
 
If you all are ok with this, I am going to close out the signup since I am lower on bottles than expected.:( So that will give us 11 beers of Christmas instead of 12. I don't want to short change anyone deadset on 12 beers so if you aren't okay with the 11 let me know and I will throw the few bottles for myself in.
Ok with me. I'm pumped that we got to 11.
 
Oh, just noticed that the signup is closed at 11 beers of Christmas... that technically makes Chessking a grinch, but ok. :p

You guys have me thinking though... perhaps this setup isn't a bad idea moving forward where there's perhaps a quarterly beer swap? Maybe this could be done more often then just Christmas?

Another idea would be a simple competition where a seasonal beer is brewed by each, ingredients/process must be shared (for learning), then on the deadline we could meet at a brewery, swap beers, then review online again using the judging format/points system.

In general I like the small/local format tied in with the forums... I think it has a lot of potential for getting to know some local brewers with the added benefit of swapping beers in a laid back competitive environment to keep things interesting.

Any thoughts?
 
Oh, just noticed that the signup is closed at 11 beers of Christmas... that technically makes Chessking a grinch, but ok. :p

You guys have me thinking though... perhaps this setup isn't a bad idea moving forward where there's perhaps a quarterly beer swap? Maybe this could be done more often then just Christmas?

Another idea would be a simple competition where a seasonal beer is brewed by each, ingredients/process must be shared (for learning), then on the deadline we could meet at a brewery, swap beers, then review online again using the judging format/points system.

In general I like the small/local format tied in with the forums... I think it has a lot of potential for getting to know some local brewers with the added benefit of swapping beers in a laid back competitive environment to keep things interesting.

Any thoughts?

I think this is a great idea and would be interested in doing something like this quarterly.

Why am I a Grinch?

I will take that grinch title!
:mug:

Unfortunately if we did the 12 Someone would be short changed 1 beer as I promised 2 of the 4 I have left for help and insight that was provided for this batch. And the two left will have a lot of fruit sediment as I had to really tip the bucket without the wand to get the beer out and in the bottle. I am not trying to give people crap beer, those will be for me so I can at least taste what I made.
 
I can do a beer if you want an even 12. I assume that you are trading them?

We had to hold off at 11. Unfortunately my batch came up a tad short and I will barely have enough to cover the 11 and that will leave me with 2 beers.

Would you be interested if we did another round for the next season, say around Valentines day or St. Patricks Day, something like that?
 
Sorry Chessking! Got the wrong name!

Hernando, what size batches are you making if you don't mind me asking? I can certainly appreciate you not wanting to hand out a sub par beer.
 
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