Christmas Ales

Does any body have any recipies for Christmas ales, I'm really wanting to try my own. Possibly involving cinnamon and maybe cranberries or something, I've messed about with a recipie i found in a book called Home-brewing & Wine making by W.H.T. Tayleur. Who says his orginal recipie (called Bitzerbrew) made up from left over bits of test mashes, was one of the best he's ever done.

Here's the original recipie
1lb Light Malt
1/2lb Lager Malt
1/2lb Roast Malt
1/4lb Crystal Malt

Mashed together for just over two hours 60c to 65.5c (140f-150f)
Meanwhile boil the following together in 2 gallons of water for 1 Hour

2lb Glucose chips
1lb Wheat Syrup
4oz Fuggles
1/2oz dried Rowanberries
Irish Moss

O.G 65 the final gravity was never taken as he apparently expected so little from it, he didn't bother.
Allowed to clear the racked into a 5 gallon pressure vessel primed fined and after 3 weeks it is ready.

I haven't tried this yet, but have adapted it slightly for a Chrsitams version. Basically swapping the Rowanberries for Cranberries and adding a few sticks of cinnamon. But one thing i'm having trouble with I'd like to get sorted before I start this is the lack of yeast in the original recipie. How much should I use? What yeast would be best?

Any help on this or any other suggestions would be helpful as this is only my second non kit brew.

Just a quick FYI: this forum is the place where you put tried and true recipes, not the place to request ones. Anyway...

No idea how such a thing would turn out. Never used (or even seen) rowanberries, or glucose chips. Cranberries, I have used, and I would caution you that they tend to tart up a beer. I'd stay away from them in this kind of brew, but to each his own. Here's my Holiday 08 ale:

Welcome to HBT.com.
Heads up, Your thread will likely be moved to the recipe Discussion part of our forum.
I don't understand your process. It seems inherently flawed by not boiling your steeping water.
Steeping grains for 2 hours is a bit excessive, as seems the 4 oz of Fuggles....I don't really recall my Fuggle smash recipe, but I'm thinking I used 2 oz Fuggles in a 3 gallon batch and it was WAY out of balance.

There are a lot of good holiday spice beers around here.
Look at this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/whos-thinking-about-their-christmas-brew-already-74020/
There are quite a few recipes in that thread that people are brewing for Christmas.

**Dang Evan! You Fast!

I made this last year:

Cascadia Importers - Recipe Database

It was very good, If I decide to make it again I'm going to cut the last hop addition in about 1/2 this time or possibly use a different kind of hop.

Sorry, Didn't realise, Thanks for the adivce though!

Evan! said:

Just a quick FYI: this forum is the place where you put tried and true recipes, not the place to request ones. Anyway...

No idea how such a thing would turn out. Never used (or even seen) rowanberries, or glucose chips. Cranberries, I have used, and I would caution you that they tend to tart up a beer. I'd stay away from them in this kind of brew, but to each his own. Here's my Holiday 08 ale:

Code:

Old *****iewig Hypocristmas Ale

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

21-B  Spice/Herb/Vegetable, Christmas/Winter Specialty

Min OG:  1.030   Max OG:  1.100
Min IBU:     2   Max IBU:   100
Min Clr:     2   Max Clr:    25  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         5.50    Wort Size (Gal):    5.50
Total Grain (Lbs):       16.94
Anticipated OG:          1.090    Plato:             21.59
Anticipated SRM:          19.5
Anticipated IBU:          44.6
Brewhouse Efficiency:       78 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate:      10.00    Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size:    6.47    Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity:      1.077    SG          18.56  Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used:   Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Tinseth
Tinseth Concentration Factor: 1.30


Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 91.5    15.50 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt         Great Britain  1.038      3
  4.4     0.75 lbs. Crystal 90L                   America        1.033     90
  3.0     0.50 lbs. Special Roast Malt            America        1.033     40
  1.1     0.19 lbs. Black Patent Malt             America        1.028    525

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.30 oz.    Galena                            Whole   13.00  44.6  60 min.


Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.50 Oz     Oak Cubes - American, House To Other     21 Days(fermenter) 
  0.50 Oz     Oak Chips - American, Light To Other     21 Days(fermenter) 
  0.25 Tsp    Ginger (Ground)                Spice      1 Min.(boil) 
  0.50 Tsp    Cinnamon                       Spice      1 Min.(boil) 
  0.13 Tsp    Allspice (Ground)              Spice      1 Min.(boil) 
  0.13 Tsp    Nutmeg                         Spice      1 Min.(boil) 


Yeast
-----

  


Water Profile
-------------

Profile:           
Profile known for: 

Calcium(Ca):           0.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg):         0.0 ppm
Sodium(Na):            0.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4):          0.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl):          0.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3):     0.0 ppm

pH: 0.00


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs:   16.94
Water Qts:   19.30 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal:    4.82 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.14 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 154  Time:  60
Mash-out Rest Temp :         158  Time:  20
Sparge Temp :                190  Time:  10


Total Mash Volume Gal: 6.18 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.



Notes
-----

Actual oak bill was: 1/2oz Light toast chips, 1/2oz medium toast cubes, 1/8 oz heavy toast chips, for 21 days.

Click to expand...

This looks pretty good, this might sound like the stupidest question ever asked but Oak cubes? as in cubes of wood? Also what yeast and how much didn you use?

Ror_y said:

This looks pretty good, this might sound like the stupidest question ever asked but Oak cubes? as in cubes of wood? Also what yeast and how much didn you use?

Click to expand...

You can buy oak chips and cubes from homebrew supply retailers. It mimics the effects of aging the beer in oak barrels like wine. Yes, it's actually oak, and you get different flavor compounds from different toast levels.

I used 2 sachets of US-05 dry yeast. Don't need much in the way of yeast character here, given the spice, just need a clean ale yeast. US-05, US-04, nottingham, those would all work.

Excellent thanks for the help!

Evan, is that a clone of Old Fezziwig? Your grain bill is fairly similar to what I had put together in BeerSmith.