Sam Adams White Christmas

Has anyone tried to clone White Christmas? The SA website lists a number of ingredients, but I think they may be holding back on a few. The beer seems to essentially be a witbier, with less orange and more spice than I would typically use. SA's site only mentions cinnamon and nutmeg, although I think I may taste something else in the beer but can't put my finger on it? Also, the site doesn't mention oats, but isn't that a pretty common ingredient for a wit?

I just tasted that beer last night. I didnt really notice orange. Heavy on the cinnamon and nutmeg though. I think it was maybe a citrus hop added for your perceived orange flavor. Id use a pilsen malt as the base some wheat and a small amount of a light lovibond crystal malt.

I didn't get much orange either, but the webite says they use orange peel. I was thinking 1/2 ounce of dried orange peel would be noticable but subtle, what do you think? Also, I like the crystal idea, though I have never used it in a wit. How much would you use (I was thinking Crystal 15)? If it matters, I am shooting for an OG of 1.058, again, per the SA site.

Well I think as much as a beer calculator will allow without turning the color too much. Maybe a half pound maybe a quarter. I had to drink this out of the bottle so im going strictly off what I perceived on flavor

Tykees said:

Well I think as much as a beer calculator will allow without turning the color too much. Maybe a half pound maybe a quarter. I had to drink this out of the bottle so im going strictly off what I perceived on flavor

Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I'll go with a half pound of Crystal 15 and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion.

FWIW, I brewed this yesterday. I decided to go with 8 oz. of Crystal 15 and 12 oz. of oats. Base malts were white wheat, pilsner and 2-row. Color based on the hydro sample was spot on when compared to the real thing.

I saw from the SA website that spalt spalter hops were used, are these the hops you used or did you go with another type? Also what type of yeast did you go with ?

I used Spalter Select, which was the closest I could find.

I also saw on the SA webiste , this beer having an orange flavor. Could this be from the hops or adding a sweet orange peel to the boil? To keep the ibu around 6 which I found on the SA website I am looking at using 1/2 oz for 60 min in boil and 1/2 oz at flame out, is this the same type of hop schedule you are using? Kind of flying blind here myself and looking to gather all thoughts on this before I get to brewing.

honfor450 said:

I also saw on the SA webiste , this beer having an orange flavor. Could this be from the hops or adding a sweet orange peel to the boil? To keep the ibu around 6 which I found on the SA website I am looking at using 1/2 oz for 60 min in boil and 1/2 oz at flame out, is this the same type of hop schedule you are using? Kind of flying blind here myself and looking to gather all thoughts on this before I get to brewing.

Click to expand...

I added .5 oz. of sweet orange peel @ 10 min. My hops were 4.4 AA, so I added .75 oz. @ 60 min. I did not add any flavor or aroma hop additions, as I wanted the orange peel, nutmeg and cinnamon to shine and not compete with the hops.

I was thinking of not adding any hopes for aroma myself and I may increase my boil to .75 oz from .50 oz to account for that. Im looking at a grain bill of 5 lb 2-row, 3 lb wheat, 3 lb pilsen, .5 lb crystal 10L with a QG of 1.056 and a ABV of 5.5%. I have seen in you post about you using oats, I am not very familer with oats how will this affect the flavoring. I noticed if I adding .75 lb it would increase my color and ABV but only very little.

honfor450 said:

I was thinking of not adding any hopes for aroma myself and I may increase my boil to .75 oz from .50 oz to account for that. Im looking at a grain bill of 5 lb 2-row, 3 lb wheat, 3 lb pilsen, .5 lb crystal 10L with a QG of 1.056 and a ABV of 5.5%. I have seen in you post about you using oats, I am not very familer with oats how will this affect the flavoring. I noticed if I adding .75 lb it would increase my color and ABV but only very little.

Click to expand...

IMOm the oats add little, if any flavor. They add body to the beer, as well as make it cloudy, which is not a problem for a wit.

Very interested in how this turns out. Keep us updated

I pulled a sample of this last night after 10 days in the primary. Gravity right now is 1.015, down from an OG of 1.059. Color and taste seem pretty close to the real thing. I will likely pull another sample on Sunday and if FG is stable, I will bottle. I am excited to get this bottled and carbonated to see if my clone attempt was a success.

Any up date, I have three gallons in the fermenter from 12/28. So I hope to pull a sample next weekend to see were I stand.

honfor450 said:

Any up date, I have three gallons in the fermenter from 12/28. So I hope to pull a sample next weekend to see were I stand.

Click to expand...

Just cracked the first bottle last night. My wife (who is the big White Christmas fan) said it was excellent and probably the closest to the real thing I had ever come with a clone.

Awesome! Good for you. Post a pic sometime

After working on my car, I through a couple of those down. And now of course I would like to brew this White Christmas. Does anyone have a recipe for this? Thanks, Dave

For anyone intersted, this is the recipe I used. I will try to remember to post a picture when I open another one later today.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Oh Annenbaum (Sam Adams White Christmas Clone)
Brewer: Tim Bliss
Asst Brewer:
Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer


Boil Size: 5.5 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 4.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 10.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 81.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 89.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
4 lbs White Wheat Malt
3 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger
1 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
12.0 oz Oats, Flaked
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L
1 lbs Wheat Dry Extract
0.75 oz Spalter Select Hop (4.0% AA)-Boil 60 min
1.50 tsp Nutmeg-Boil 10.0 min
1.00 tsp Cinnamon-Boil 10.0 min
0.50 oz Orange Peel, Sweet-Boil 5.0 min

Mash at 152F for 60 min.

Just cracked one. Not the best presentation, as it was a 12 oz. bottle poured into a 16 oz. glass, but you get the idea.

Which yeast?

SuckaMooHudda said:

Which yeast?

Click to expand...

I use US-05. I think any neutral ale yeast would be fine.

OK. Thanks. I was thinking of 10-56 or US-05. Unless I am just way off I was definitely not tasting wit bier yeast in the Sam Adams. I have temp control as well so I was possibly going to ferment a little on the cooler side. Thoughts? Sorry for all the questions. Both my wife and I really enjoy this beer and i would love to come close to matching it. SA probably uses some custom yeast strain from Jupiter and spices from a mountain top in a small village in Kookamonga.

I don't recall trying this beer but it sounds like it could be delicious. Is it malty sweet? I brewed a low IBU amber and I kind of think I don't like it. I am hoping the person I catered the recipe towards will just fall in love with it. Then he'll have 2 cases of free beer.

SuckaMooHudda said:

SA probably uses some custom yeast strain from Jupiter

Click to expand...

Per Sam Adams' website, they use their standard ale yeast. The strain is proprietary, but is rumored to be wlp008. I generally use dry yeast, so I went with US-05. I think the key is to get something that will be very neutral and dry the beer out. I agree that a wit yeast would not be the best choice.

Hello said:

I don't recall trying this beer but it sounds like it could be delicious. Is it malty sweet? I brewed a low IBU amber and I kind of think I don't like it. I am hoping the person I catered the recipe towards will just fall in love with it. Then he'll have 2 cases of free beer.

Click to expand...

It is my wife's favorite beer, so I brew a couple batches a year for her. She has a dedicated tap that alternates between SA White Christmas and SA Summer Ale clones. I do not find the beer to be sweet at all, which is why I limited the amount of crystal and used US-05.

Perfect.....this thread definitely helped. I have found that trying to clone beers with spices can sometimes really be a PITA. Thanks again.

SuckaMooHudda said:

Perfect.....this thread definitely helped. I have found that trying to clone beers with spices can sometimes really be a PITA. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

No problem at all, I hope your beer turns out well. Let us know after you try it.

OK- So I finally did a 10-1/2 gallon all-grain batch of my 1st attempt at this beer.

Brewhouse Efficiency: 71.00 %
Mash @ 152
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

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. Sorry, I had to add that ;-)] 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 and somewhat "relatively" high alcohol (6%-ish).

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!!!