Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MMJfan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 15, 2012
Messages
884
Reaction score
89
Location
Wooster, OH
Hello all. I am getting ready to start brewing for the Holidays and I was wanting to do something along the lines of Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I threw this recipe together and any feedback/critiques would be greatly appreciated before I throw an order together.


CHRISTMAS ALE RECIPE:

RECIPE SPECS:
--------------------------------------------------
BATCH SIZE: 5.50 GAL.
BOIL SIZE: 6.75 GAL.
ESTIMATED OG: 1.075
ESTIMATED FG: 1.018
ESTIMATED IBU: 29.4
BOIL TIME: 60 MIN.

INGREDIENTS:
--------------------------------------------------
9 LBS. 3 OZ. PALE LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
1 LBS. WHEAT LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
14 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 40L GRAIN
3 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 60L GRAIN
1 OZ. ROASTED BARLEY

1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (60 MIN.)
1.5 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (10 MIN.)
0.5 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (7 MIN.)
0.5 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (5 MIN.)

1.25 OZ GINGER ROOT (SKINNED AND CUBED) (5 MIN. AND INTO PRIMARY)
3 CINNAMON STICKS (5 MIN. AND INTO PRIMARY)
1.5 LBS. HONEY (FLAME OUT)

YEAST - WYEAST 1028
 
Well, I did what some others have done and I emailed my recipe to Great Lakes and I did indeed get a response.

Some of the changes they reccomended were as follows:

They said my gravity was a little high compared to theirs. They recommended 1.068 so this isn't really a concern for me.

They also said there are only 3 hops additions with the first two additions being Hallertau and then the thrid addition of cascade. I then asked if the amounts of 1.5 oz of Hallertau for the first 2 additions and an oz of Cascade for the 3rd addition would be doable and they said it might be a little hop heavy but to go ahead and give it a try which I plan to do.

Lastly, they said they use equal amounts of ginger and cinnamon which should be right around an oz for each for my size boil and that they keep in in the boil during the entire boil and then remove it.

They said other than those changes, everything else looked pretty close. I think I'm going to gather up ingredients to brew this as soon as I have a bucket that becomes available which should be early next week! :mug:
 
MMJFan,

Good luck, I love that stuff! Keep us posted how it turns out. I am not all that far from you, I'll drive out and have one haha! I'm going to do my first pumpkin ale tomorrow so a little nervous!

Dave
 
MMJFan,
I tried this last year and plan on it again this year. I actually brewed for about 30 minutes the cini stix and ginger (cut into thin slices) into a tea and put that into the primary 30 minutes into the boil. I felt that this gave me less to worry about during ferment and gave it a cleaner taste in regards to those strong flavors, and an added bonus of a wonderful aroma at brew time. That last is for my wife who hates the smell of the house when I brew.
Another thing, I also did the three hop entry. 2 ounces of Hallertau 5 minutes into the boil then do 1.5 ounce cascade 30 minutes in, and then the .5 remaining at 10. Everything else was the same as you list out.

Good Luck!
Wayne
 
Thanks for the recommendation wilson. I was going to cut my Hallertau additions to 1 oz for each of the first two additions. I might also go with 1.5 oz of Cascade at 10 min and then the remaining .5 oz at 5 min.

I like the idea of making a tea but I think I'm just going to put the ginger and cini stix in a muslin sack for the whole 60 minutes like the guy from GL suggested.

dhathazy, I'm a big fan of GL xmas ale too. Just not a fan of the $12.99/6 pack price tag. I plan on saving around $140 brewing my own this year! BTW, I went to college near your neck of the woods at Westminster in New Wilmington, PA! I had some friends that went to Moon HS! Good luck with your pumpkin ale! What type of pumpking ale are you making? I brewed the Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale 3 weeks ago and will be bottling on Monday and I can't freaking wait to see how it turns out! Cheers! :mug:
 
Brewed my recipe for this yesterday and it had an AMAZING smell during the boil! Ended up going with 1 oz Hallertau at 60 and then 1 oz Hallertau at 30. And then went with .75 oz Cascade at 10 and another .75 oz of Cascade at 5. Other than that, I pretty much followed my recipe above. Ended up with a OG of about 1.079. Put a blow off tube on this one as it was already bubbling in the airlock within an hour of adding the yeast!
 
MMJfan, I made AHS Pumkin Ale. I used two 29 oz cans of pumkin in the boil and when I transfered to secondary I had close to a gallon of pumkin sludge in the primary. The secondary now has almost two inches of sediment so I don't think I'm even going to get 4 gallons out of this batch. Anyway I tasted a sample and it was pretty goood but not enough spice is coming through. Thinking about throwing a cinnamon stick or two in the secondary like a dry hop and then some vanilla extract before I bottle. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I fish a few times a year down the road from Westminster in Volant. Watch out for the buggies! I didn't go to Moon HS but have lived here for about 12 years. I'm an old guy, graduated back in 1978 haha! Maybe we can get together and exchange a pumpkin ale!
 
I too had about a gallon of sludge when I transferred to secondary but that was it. Not really much sediment when I racked to the bottling bucket and I was able to get about 5 gallons total.

Racking my xmas ale to the carbon tonight to make room for my first BIAB which is hopefully going to be a clone of Great Lakes Holy Moses.

An I know Volant well. All the city folk would infest that town to get a taste of Amish living... :)
 
I love gl xmas ale. I plan on brewing my own inspired version this month
 
Racking my xmas ale to the carbon tonight to make room for my first BIAB which is hopefully going to be a clone of Great Lakes Holy Moses.

How long do you plan on letting this one sit in the secondary, and then bottle conditioning? I followed your recipe pretty close. I hope it tastes even half as good are the real thing!
 
Just the usual. Total of approximately 3 weeks from brewing day to bottling. I'm planning on bottling this batch this weekend? Probably Sunday and then letting it condition for 2-3 weeks to get carbonated. I will post results but it did taste pretty nice when I was transferring to the Carboy. :)
 
Sounds good. I tasted mine right after brew (from my hydrometer tube) and it was pretty good. Pretty aggressive honey flavor, but not too bad. I assume that will mellow over the processing time. I can't wait. I believe the real thing comes out Nov. 1, so I hope I can keep a few of mine around long enough to see how it compares!
 
BUMP!!!!

Found this as I'm VERY interested in replicating GLB's holiday ale.....how did it turn out and how open to communication were the guys at GLB?

Could I entice you to share their thoughts/recipe/procedures that they used? I was surprised to hear that they boiled the ginger and cinnamon for a whole hour.....
 
Sounds good. I tasted mine right after brew (from my hydrometer tube) and it was pretty good. Pretty aggressive honey flavor, but not too bad. I assume that will mellow over the processing time. I can't wait. I believe the real thing comes out Nov. 1, so I hope I can keep a few of mine around long enough to see how it compares!

Well, my bottles have been conditioning about 2 weeks so I sampled a couple of bottles and they are not quite fully carbed yet. That said, they still tasted really really good! Your comment about the agressive honey flavor is the one critique I would have for my batch. It was quite sweet so I am probably going to cut back on the amount of honey I add in my next batch from 1.5 lbs to just 1 lb. Outside of that, the spices were not too overpowering and it was a very smooth drinking beer.

Going to give it another week to condition and see how much the flavor improves over time with this beer!
 
For the honey addition. What do you mean by (Flame Out)?

B

Adding something in at flame out means you add your ingredient as soon as your boil is done right after you turn off propane/electric. Your wort is still hot enough to pasturize but will not boil off the aromatics.
 
Newbeerguy said:
Adding something in at flame out means you add your ingredient as soon as your boil is done right after you turn off propane/electric. Your wort is still hot enough to pasturize but will not boil off the aromatics.

Thanks
 
MMJan, you should add your modified recipe to your dropdown. I want to mark this for my next brew!
 
MMJan, you should add your modified recipe to your dropdown. I want to mark this for my next brew!

How do you do that? I don't see anything that allows me to add to the recipe dropdown.

Here is my updated version of the recipe:

CHRISTMAS ALE RECIPE:

RECIPE SPECS:
--------------------------------------------------
BATCH SIZE: 5.50 GAL.
BOIL SIZE: 6.75 GAL.
ESTIMATED OG: 1.075
ESTIMATED FG: 1.018
ESTIMATED IBU: 29.4
BOIL TIME: 60 MIN.

INGREDIENTS:
--------------------------------------------------
9 LBS. 3 OZ. PALE LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
1 LBS. WHEAT LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
14 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 40L GRAIN
3 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 60L GRAIN
1 OZ. ROASTED BARLEY

1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (60 MIN.)
1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (30 MIN.)
1.0 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (5 MIN.)

1.25 OZ GINGER ROOT (SKINNED AND CUBED) (60 MIN.)
1.25 OZ CINNAMON STICKS (60 MIN.)
1.0 LBS. HONEY (FLAME OUT)

YEAST - WYEAST 1028
 
I think I may give this a try for my 2nd ever brew. It sounds super delicious!
 
I went for the first time last weekend. They have some very tasty brews! Got to meet the owner and take a tour of the facility as well! Very cool addition to Wooster for sure!

Supposedly they had a pumpkin ale I was looking forward to trying, but they were out. Also supposed to be coming out with a Christmas Ale of their own that is going to be called JAFC Ale.
 
I saw that your batch size is 5.5 gal and boil size is 6.75 gallons. I'm a little confused. Could you explain? I have to go to the brew shop to get bottle caps tonight and might look for ingredients. We've been brewing for just over a year- extract. Do you use a mashtun for this? Grain bags?

I totally just joined so I could ask that. :) I'm in Cleveland but my mom works in Wooster. I just drove past that new brewery on Tuesday but they weren't open yet.
 
I'm brewing this one as we speak.... I'm not a big fan of super-hoppy beers, so after consulting with the master brewer at Rocky-Mountain Brewing here in Colorado Springs, he suggested a slight modification to the recipe.

For bittering hops - 1 oz of Hallertau at 6.0% alpha, and then for a 2nd addition - put in .5 oz of Cascade hops (at 6.2% alpha) with 10 minutes left, then another .5 oz of Cascade hops (at 6.2% alpha) literally at the finish - at 0 minutes left.

I'm also doing what WWilson did regarding the tea at 30 minutes. I just finished putting that in, and he's right, it really does smell nice. My wife is like his, and doesn't really like how the house smells after I make a batch of brew. So I can only do it on certain mornings when she's at work. I suspect when she gets home and smells that ginger and cinnamon, she may change her tune.
 
MMJFan,
Have you tried any more bottles since you last posted on 10/4? At that point you had indicated they were not fully carbed yet.

Going to brew this weekend and I am down to either this or a holiday type stout.
 
MMJFan,
Have you tried any more bottles since you last posted on 10/4? At that point you had indicated they were not fully carbed yet.

Going to brew this weekend and I am down to either this or a holiday type stout.

I have and they have mellowed out a bit on the sweetness from the honey, but I still think my original recipe had too much. My post #22 on this thread is the updated recipe I used to brew batch number two of this (I'm planning on giving some sixers as holiday gifts which is why I already brewed 2 batches of this :)). I cut back on a 1/2 pound of honey on my 2nd batch.
 
Thanks MMJfan, I did see the revised recipe. I just need to make a decision on what to brew. So much brewing to do and too little time! Thanks, Dave.
 
MMJFan,

Did you start the boil with 6.75 gallons of water or did you add a gallon or two of water to the end once it was in the primary? I'm not entirely sure my question matters (I have a 10 gallon brew kettle) but I was just curious! Thanks!

Also, I was born and raised in Brunswick, OH...familiar with that area? :) Cheers! Thanks for the recipe!
 
tevis, I start the boil with 6.75 gallons of water. I don't like to add water at the end when racking to the fermenter. Just a personal preference...
 
Thanks MMJfan, I did see the revised recipe. I just need to make a decision on what to brew. So much brewing to do and too little time! Thanks, Dave.

No problem. This is so true. I'm not a big stout guy so this is probably going to be my only holiday beer I brew, although I do love Sierra Nevada's Celebration IPA which I might have to try.
 
Just brewed this up. Smells delicious. Do I need a blowout tube for this? Fermenter is in the closet and I would rather not have to do an extreme load of laundry.
 
How do you do that? I don't see anything that allows me to add to the recipe dropdown.

Here is my updated version of the recipe:

CHRISTMAS ALE RECIPE:

RECIPE SPECS:
--------------------------------------------------
BATCH SIZE: 5.50 GAL.
BOIL SIZE: 6.75 GAL.
ESTIMATED OG: 1.075
ESTIMATED FG: 1.018
ESTIMATED IBU: 29.4
BOIL TIME: 60 MIN.

INGREDIENTS:
--------------------------------------------------
9 LBS. 3 OZ. PALE LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
1 LBS. WHEAT LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
14 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 40L GRAIN
3 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 60L GRAIN
1 OZ. ROASTED BARLEY

1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (60 MIN.)
1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (30 MIN.)
1.0 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (5 MIN.)

1.25 OZ GINGER ROOT (SKINNED AND CUBED) (60 MIN.)
1.25 OZ CINNAMON STICKS (60 MIN.)
1.0 LBS. HONEY (FLAME OUT)

YEAST - WYEAST 1028

If I don't have the equipment to do a 6.5 gallon boil, do I need to adjust the hop addition times at all?
 
If I don't have the equipment to do a 6.5 gallon boil, do I need to adjust the hop addition times at all?

I'm no expert, but I would think the hop addition times would be the same regardless of the volume of the boil. The actual hop amounts would vary depending on the volume.

fwiw, when I started homebrewing, I did mostly kits and they were for mostly 3 gallon boils and I always did at least 6 gallon boils and never adjusted any of my hop additions and all my beers have turned out just fine.
 
Back
Top