Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

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How are you guys getting a big beer like this from grain to glass in 6 weeks? I have problems with yeasty tastes in many of my beers after 5 or 6 weeks, they really get much better with age....I was thinking about trying to pull this off tis week, but i can't see any way it will taste decent by the holiday, even if it finishes out in 3-4 weeks.
 
Beernewb said:
How are you guys getting a big beer like this from grain to glass in 6 weeks? I have problems with yeasty tastes in many of my beers after 5 or 6 weeks, they really get much better with age....I was thinking about trying to pull this off tis week, but i can't see any way it will taste decent by the holiday, even if it finishes out in 3-4 weeks.

I brewed mine up this past Friday with plans of having it ready by xmas. Fingers crossed.
 
I brewed mine up this past Friday with plans of having it ready by xmas. Fingers crossed.

saturday mine will be in the fermenter for two weeks....i kinda screwed up and ended up with 6 gallons of 1.060 beer...i guess i should of kept boiling it...

oh well... think i should try to bottle this week end or wait another week?

i ended up having krausen coming out my airlock..( i used a half gallon starter i made...)

no more action now though...
 
Same thing happened with my airlock. I had to clean it out. My OG ended up at 1.075 before I pitched the yeast (this past Friday). I checked it yesterday and I was at about 1.020. I may rack to the secondary shortly.
 
I also decided to wait and add the cinnamon sticks and ginger root till the secondary. The owner at my local homebrew shop suggested soaking them in vodka before hand and then dumping the whole thing into the carboy. I'm afraid the vodka will kill the remaining yeast and/or drastically change the flavor. Has anyone done this before?
 
Everyone is out of wyeast 1028...go figure.

what's the next best sub for this? s-04?
 
thanks, I found some 1028 at Annapolis Homebrew, they are shiiping it today and I should have it tomorrow.

S-04 is great yeast, I recently used that in an Old Ale and it finished in 4 days.
 
How are you guys getting a big beer like this from grain to glass in 6 weeks? I have problems with yeasty tastes in many of my beers after 5 or 6 weeks, they really get much better with age....I was thinking about trying to pull this off tis week, but i can't see any way it will taste decent by the holiday, even if it finishes out in 3-4 weeks.

I keg, so thats a little quicker. It carbonates at 42 degrees, so all yeast is dropped out by the time i tap it.
 
saturday mine will be in the fermenter for two weeks....i kinda screwed up and ended up with 6 gallons of 1.060 beer...i guess i should of kept boiling it...

Oh well... Think i should try to bottle this week end or wait another week?

I ended up having krausen coming out my airlock..( i used a half gallon starter i made...)

no more action now though...


rdwhahb!
 
I also decided to wait and add the cinnamon sticks and ginger root till the secondary. The owner at my local homebrew shop suggested soaking them in vodka before hand and then dumping the whole thing into the carboy. I'm afraid the vodka will kill the remaining yeast and/or drastically change the flavor. Has anyone done this before?

It wont kill your yeast, dispersed in the 5gallons of beer its a very small amout. That being said, i dont recomend it. Just put them in as is. It will be fine i have doing it for years. That being said, if you go the secondary rout, go with less ginger.
 
Did you post pitch temp and fermentation temp? Sorry if I missed it

I pitched at 62 degrees and raise it up to 66 over three days, then leave it at 66 until the fermentaion slows to a few bubble per minute, then i raise it up to 68 for the last few days to finish out.
 
thanks for all of your help with this shingle...

hopefully my yeast will arrive today...

did you use a simple clover honey in this beer? The whole foods near me has a new bulk honey section with all kinds of different honeys from ornage blosson to lavendar to blueberry!
 
Tried this a few weeks ago with a no-sparge mash and lauter. It's very promising. Instead of using Honey, which I almost never get any flavor out of, I used Brown sugar to get the ABV bump. I'll clear about 6.5 %. I also used Midnight wheat and debittered black malt ( 2 oz each) becauser they're cleaner and milder, and I had no special roast. And it was left over. All in all pretty good in the secondary.

For the spices, I used 1 tsp cinnamin in the primary, and 1 in the secondary, and 1/2 tsp gorcery store shaker ginger in the secondary. This is actually pretty effective. To gussy it up, I am using 8 oz of the beer with 1 oz sliced ginger root. I let that extract some fresh ginger flavor and then I can do tasting on a small scale before droppingwhat I want in the beer. I do my Bourbon ales the same way, with American Oak and , well, bourbon.
 
How are you guys getting a big beer like this from grain to glass in 6 weeks? I have problems with yeasty tastes in many of my beers after 5 or 6 weeks, they really get much better with age....I was thinking about trying to pull this off tis week, but i can't see any way it will taste decent by the holiday, even if it finishes out in 3-4 weeks.

I let it sit in the bottle for three weeks and it was ready. Maybe the yeasty flavor is subdued by the ginger. I don't really know for sure but what I do know for sure is that this beer will be a hit. I am doing my second batch this weekend. This is an excellent beer and I plan on having it around all winter.
If you guys live in the Cleveland area JW Dover has a few packets of the yeast left. I just picked up two of them this weekend and he had three left.
 
I let it sit in the bottle for three weeks and it was ready. Maybe the yeasty flavor is subdued by the ginger. I don't really know for sure but what I do know for sure is that this beer will be a hit. I am doing my second batch this weekend. This is an excellent beer and I plan on having it around all winter.
If you guys live in the Cleveland area JW Dover has a few packets of the yeast left. I just picked up two of them this weekend and he had three left.

thanks for the info...do you just pitch 2 packets instead of a starter?

I would normally not even attempt a beer this big w/o a starter, but I'm pressed for time and just might brew the day I get the yeast and pitch two packs. I bought two to be safe and just figured I would use the 2nd in a sweet stout if I was able to pull off a starter...
 
thanks for the info...do you just pitch 2 packets instead of a starter?

I would normally not even attempt a beer this big w/o a starter, but I'm pressed for time and just might brew the day I get the yeast and pitch two packs. I bought two to be safe and just figured I would use the 2nd in a sweet stout if I was able to pull off a starter...

I did. Keep in mind I am still a partial mash brewing kinda guy and don't have a flask for the starter. I could be wrong but I found out later that it was a pretty tolerant strain and I wonder if I over killed with the double pitch.
 
Brewe'd this morning, came in a little lite on gravity(1.068), not sure why, my system is pretty much dialed in for 75%. I may have been a little lite on honey, eye balled a 32 oz jar for 20 oz, but that wouldn't result in a 7 point drop, as I put over 1/2 the jar in there . Oh well, still smelled great. ThAnks fir the recipe and replies, not going to secondary this, I'm going to take a gravity at 3 weeks or so and then hopefully crash cool for a few days and bottle.
 
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!
 
Worked all day, first chance to take a look at gravity...I brewed 5.5 gallons expecting to leave some back in the kettle. If I calculate the same efficiency with 5.5 gallons, I get 1.068, s i was right there...hopefully no negative consequences.
 
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!
 
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.
 
Shinglejohn said:
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"!
 
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.
 
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..
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
ru41285 said:
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.
 
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 :D
 
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!

I think you will be presently surprised how fast this will be ready.
 
I brewed this last Saturday. It was a last minutes decision to brew so I didn't make a starter and used only one packet of 1028 activator yeast. As of now it's still fermenting fairly heavy. I'm excited for this beer.
 
Q2XL said:
Here it is a bit more simplified......

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Estimated OG: 1.075 SG
Estimated Color: 13.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.4 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU

9 lbs 3 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

14 oz Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract

11 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain

3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain

1 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain

1.50 oz Hallertau[4.30 %] (60 min)Hops 19.5 IBU

1.20 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 6.6 IBU

0.55 oz Cascade[5.00 %] (7 min) Hops 2.2 IBU

0.35 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU

1.25 oz Ginger Root (Secondary 14.0 days)

3.00 items Cinnamon Stick (Secondary 14.0 days)

1 lbs 7.1 oz Honey(1.0 SRM)

2 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


I ended up using something similar to this scaled down recipe by 2QXL for my batch. I am new to kegging and its about that time. How much CO2 do I use to carbonate? Any helpful suggestions? Thanks in advance.
 
Wow down to 1.026 from the 090's after 12 days...racking tonight

Edit:added 1.5oz of Amarillo to the secondary. Had them in the freezer, figured why not.
 
Ended up bottling my batch into some 22 oz's. I took a sample and it was simply amazing. I cannot wait for the final product. Thanks again to ShingleJohn for posting the recipe.
 
I had complications with my batch this year. I added the strike water at too low a temperaure. mash ended up sitting at 148 for 10 minutes while i boiled some water to bring it up. It then sat at 154 for another hour. As a result i ended up with a highly fermentable mash.

Starting Gravity:1.074
Final: 1.012

Aroma and color are close but ultimatley its considerably drier than GLCA. Still very good.
 
I'm at 1.018, but not rally getting any cinn or ginger flavor...I followed the recipe to a T....would you add a stick to the primary here and/or some ginger? would I have to boil first?
thx
 
I'm at 1.018, but not rally getting any cinn or ginger flavor...I followed the recipe to a T....would you add a stick to the primary here and/or some ginger? would I have to boil first?
thx

Beernewb, that is weird. I followed the recipe to a T too and after 12 days my Christmas ale is bursting with ginger and a hint of cinn.
 
Beernewb said:
I'm at 1.018, but not rally getting any cinn or ginger flavor...I followed the recipe to a T....would you add a stick to the primary here and/or some ginger? would I have to boil first?
thx

I dunno, I think It should just be the SUGGESTION of cinnamon and ginger. Don't have much experience with ginger, but I know too much of the former can wreck a brew pdq...

Pulled a sample of mine last night, after 10days primary and 5 days so far in the secondary. Didn't add any spices During the Boil or @ flameout, just to the secondary, and they are almost perfect at the moment. Planning on bottling in 2 more days. Also, I added 1.75 oz of Amarillo to the secondary, and I hit about 1.095 og. The adjuncts seem to dull the alcohol heat just enough for this brew to do its job as a winter warmer.

If u want to add some, I'd do it in a muslin bag and spray it down w some sanitizer first if the mood so strikes you to be a fanatic
Iike me. That way u can taste as it ages and yank it out of the vessel when it has the amount of cinn/ginger flavor you would personally like..
 
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