Sam Adams white christmas clone?

Having a full 3 extract based brews under my belt, i'm wondering how hard it is to do a clone? In particular, I really like the Sam Adams White Christmas.

It's similar to a blue moon.

Is there a resource for finding clone recipes?

Thanks
Greg

I usually just google "xyz beer clone" and it brings me to a relevant thread here. Nothing hard about a clone.

I didn't find much via google. The Sam Adam's White Christmas is new this year I think, so I just found a couple other people looking.

I went to my lhbs and asked for advice. They suggested:

Extract:
4 lbs PL LME
2 lbs Wheat LME

Grains:
10oz White Wheat
8 Oz Munich
6 Oz Honeymalt
1 lb Oats

Boil:
60 min 1 oz Hallertau Hops
15 min 1/2 Tablespoon Cinnimmon
15 min 2 teaspoons Nutmeg
15 min 1/2 oz orange peel
5 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops
2 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops

Any agreement/disagreement?
Should I take that over to the recipes section to see what they think?

Never had the beer so cant tell you how close it will be. However, looks like a pretty solid holiday beer in its own right.

I just bottled the recipe I posted a month ago. It smells and tastes fantastic. If anyone liked the White Christmas, this is a very good clone.

I just had the same impression tasting it.
Nice, refreshing, and light.
More like a great summer drink to my uneducated palette.
I'll be interested in your final analysis to try brewing myself.

gregfreemyer said:

Extract:
4 lbs PL LME
2 lbs Wheat LME

Grains:
10oz White Wheat
8 Oz Munich
6 Oz Honeymalt
1 lb Oats

Boil:
60 min 1 oz Hallertau Hops
15 min 1/2 Tablespoon Cinnimmon
15 min 2 teaspoons Nutmeg
15 min 1/2 oz orange peel
5 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops
2 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops

Click to expand...

Just to confirm, this was for a 5 gal batch? Also, what does the "PL" stand for in your first LME? Thanks.

Upthewazzu said:

Just to confirm, this was for a 5 gal batch? Also, what does the "PL" stand for in your first LME? Thanks.

Click to expand...

Yes, it was a 5 gal batch.

I used 3 7/8 Oz of priming sugar

PL LME - Pilson Light Liquid Malt Extract

I don't recall the yeast offhand, but it was a liquid yeast for Wit Bier use.

The results are in. I'm not an expert "taster", but 3 of us tried both the clone and the real thing. The clone was a little dryer (less sweet) and had a little more cinnamon taste. The clone had less carbonation than the original.

All of us actually preferred the clone.

I only let the first 6-pack carb for 2 weeks before I put it in the fridge for 3 days to cool. The rest will have more time to carb before it goes in the fridge, so hopefully that will give it a little more head.

Greg

Subscribed Will be brewing this in late Aug or early Sept to enjoy this year... thanks in advanced!!!

I put most of my batch in the fridge after 3 weeks in the bottle. They were really good. I kept a couple at 70 degrees for 8 weeks, then refrigerated them. I think those were 2 of the best beers i've ever had, commercial or home brew. So, my best beers for this recipe was 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 8 weeks in the bottle.

Greg

Reviving a year old thread. My wife and I really like this beer so I am giving it a shot.

Just did a 10 gallon all-grain batch of my 1st attempt at this beer.

10 lb Wheat
8 lb Pilsner Malt
3 lb 2-Row
2 lb flaked Oats
1 lb Caramel Crystal 10

2 tsp cinnamon @ 10 min
2 tsp nutmeg @ 10 min
3/4 oz Sweet Orange Peel @ 5 min

German Spalt hops (3.2 AA) 2.7 oz @ 60 min (approx 15 ibu)

Yeast- Safale 05 @ 68 degrees

In primary right now. I will get back to you in about a month or so.

I typically only brew with spices once a year. (Pumpkin Spice Ale- 3rd place in Chicago Spooky Brew Review 2011) So I do have a question...

Will the spices dissipate at all during fermentation? This wort was very "spicy". A little spice goes a long way and I thought I was being conservative with only 2 tsp of each spice. I hope the spiciness fades just a bit. I am shooting for a cloudy, wheaty, slightly spicy beer, with good mouth feel with "relatively" high alcohol (6%).

I have brewed my pumpkin beer several times and the spices are much more deliberate. Add to that the 2 large cans of pumpkin and you have a substantial spice-flavored beer. With this beer I am aiming for more of a spicy background but I fear the 4 total tsps may even be too much. Remember this is a 10-1/2 gallon recipe.

Thanks all!!!

I've done the recipe as an extract brew 3 times. For each I found the spices as a background flavor, but clearly present. That is very similar to the original white christmas which you say you like. You didn't scale up the spices when you went to 10 gallons, so you should be fine.

I admit to surprise at your grain Bill. I just converted the recipe to all-grain myself a couple weeks ago. You used way more wheat than I did. Wheat LME is 40% two-row and 60% white wheat from what I read.

Mine is still in primary, so no idea how it tastes, but it smells good.

Thanks for the thread! I'm looking for a Winter Witbier and this may be a good try. Have you made it again since the original batch and have you changed anything?

Planning on doing a very similar brew this weekend, in fact its almost identical except I'm using German Spalt hops, which is what Sam Adams uses. I'd also be interested in how it turns out.

I based my recipe off of Sam Adams website. Very useful info on ingredients.
https://www.samueladams.com/craft-beers/white-christmas

MikeRoberts said:

Thanks for the thread! I'm looking for a Winter Witbier and this may be a good try. Have you made it again since the original batch and have you changed anything?

Click to expand...

I did the recipe 3 or 4 times as an extract brew. It was the best of any of the extracts I've done (maybe 10).

I started doing BIAB after that. It is an even better brew as a BIAB, but I guess most BIABs are better than the extracts.

I changed the grain bill and Hops when I went BIAB. My Local Brew Store lets me order in grams and I prefer it:

Pilsen - 2500 grams
Wheat - 1250 grams
White Wheat - 290 grams
Munich - 235 grams
honeymalt - 175 grams
oats - 470 grams

Hops:

Hallertau - 36 grams - 60 min
Hallertau - 18 grams - 5 min
Hallertau - 18 grams - 2 min

All of the above is scaled up slightly from the extract recipe because of the way BIAB works.

gregfreemyer said:

I didn't find much via google. The Sam Adam's White Christmas is new this year I think, so I just found a couple other people looking.

I went to my lhbs and asked for advice. They suggested:

Extract:
4 lbs PL LME
2 lbs Wheat LME

Grains:
10oz White Wheat
8 Oz Munich
6 Oz Honeymalt
1 lb Oats

Boil:
60 min 1 oz Hallertau Hops
15 min 1/2 Tablespoon Cinnimmon
15 min 2 teaspoons Nutmeg
15 min 1/2 oz orange peel
5 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops
2 min 1/2 oz Hallertau Hops

Any agreement/disagreement?
Should I take that over to the recipes section to see what they think?

Click to expand...

Beer Newbie here,
I know this is an old thread but I really want to brew this clone. I only have 2 extract brews under my belt and I'm interested in doing this partial grain brew. Would anyone be so kind as to elaborate on these steps.

What I am most confused about is how to mix the extract wort and grain wort/sparge and how much water to use in each to ensure a 5 gallon brew.

Basically, I would be eternally grateful if someone could help me out with a step by step for this brew. THANKS!

Steep the grains in a large nylon bag or similar for around 30 min at 150-155 in as much water as you need to cover the grains
Pull the grains out and let the water drain out of the bag for 10-15 min
Add enough water to bring your water in your boiling kettle to about 3 gallons.
Bring that to a boil. Once boiling add about half the LME and your 60 min hops
After boiling for 45 min add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange peel
After boiling for 50 min and the rest of your LME
After boiling for 55 min add the 5 min hops
After boiling for 58min add the 2 min hops
Cool and transfer to fermenter
Top up to 5 gal in the fermenter
Aerate and add yeast

bolus14 said:

Steep the grains in a large nylon bag or similar for around 30 min at 150-155 in as much water as you need to cover the grains
Pull the grains out and let the water drain out of the bag for 10-15 min
Add enough water to bring your water in your boiling kettle to about 3 gallons.
Bring that to a boil. Once boiling add about half the LME and your 60 min hops
After boiling for 45 min add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange peel
After boiling for 50 min and the rest of your LME
After boiling for 55 min add the 5 min hops
After boiling for 58min add the 2 min hops
Cool and transfer to fermenter
Top up to 5 gal in the fermenter
Aerate and add yeast

Click to expand...

Thank you!