Winter Seasonal Beer Holly (Christmas Ale)

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mike_in_ak said:
There's a chart in Joy of Homebrewing. Was a small problem I had with this brew as my second AG. You may end up with more water in the brew pot than for a lesser grain bill, so you probably need to boil some of the water off before starting the 60 min brew cycle. So you don't end up with more wort than carboy.
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Thanks
 
Brewed this on 9-6-12 and drank a second bottle tonight..... Oh my goodness!! This is the absolute best "Christmas Ale" i have ever had!! This beer is perfect!! I gave a bottle to another homebrewer and he told me last night that it was amazing! Obviously he couldnt wait either!! All the flavors have blended perfectly since my last sample.

I used a tsp of sweet orange peel and did not add the honey. This brew is gonna be a hit at the Christmas eve party and will probly be gone before the night is over!! Im gonna brew 10 or 20 gallons of this next year!!
 
Brewed this as an all grain batch the other day my efficiency is low only 64.5% I think this has something do with only coming out to be a 4 gallon batch wonder if my stove was to hot boiled off my wort. I calculated 4.5 of initial strike water and a full sparge of 3 gallons so I lost 3.5 gallons of water not sure were it went but my og was 1.84 for this so hopefully it will still be as good as everyone says it is. Anyone have any ideas? The yeast is working though have it in my fridge at 64*.
 
brewed this today. left out the honey, don't want the extra alcohol or dryness, personally. gravity was about 1.073 even without it. plan to have it ready sooner than later. nice controlled, quick fermentation then weeks of spice mellowing
 
tre9er said:
brewed this today. left out the honey, don't want the extra alcohol or dryness, personally. gravity was about 1.073 even without it. plan to have it ready sooner than later. nice controlled, quick fermentation then weeks of spice mellowing
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Was this gravity reading before or after the boil?
 
that was the OG in the fermenter, so post-boil.

Fermentation was vigorous this AM when I awoke. I used WLP500 Trappist Ale as it lends some spice notes that should be good with this brew. It's a real chewer, in past experience, and I made a big ole 2L starter from 275ml of slurry harvested about a month ago. I saved about 100ml of the starter in small brown boston glass jars for future beers. Should be about 165b cells in each jar.
 
Took a sample last night after two weeks and this is a great tasting base beer. I almost don't want to spice it.

Has anyone tried it finished/carbonated without the spice addition?
 
BPhad said:
Took a sample last night after two weeks and this is a great tasting base beer. I almost don't want to spice it.

Has anyone tried it finished/carbonated without the spice addition?
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I was just coming on here to ask that very question. Since I haven't brewed it yet I'm going to drop the spice addition cause it's too late in my opinion. I was actually thinking about hopping it a little more with some different hops but I wanted to see what some thoughts were.

Stick with centennials and add some more citrusy and piney hops?
 
AR-Josh said:
I was just coming on here to ask that very question. Since I haven't brewed it yet I'm going to drop the spice addition cause it's too late in my opinion. I was actually thinking about hopping it a little more with some different hops but I wanted to see what some thoughts were.

Stick with centennials and add some more citrusy and piney hops?
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I used Chinook for the piney-ness. Just a few days in the fermenter though. I'm tasting it at about 10 days and will report back. I may make a tincture or tea that I keep in the fridge in a dropper jar that can be used to spice it when serving. That way I can have it both ways.
 
I have most of it in my cupboard already. I may buy the vanilla bean, usually about $3 for two from the organic market.
 
My organic bean was something like $14 for pack of two. Admittedly, **** costs more here as I can see Russia and what not.
 
I'm trying something a bit different. I added the vanilla bean to the secondary instead of the tea.
 
We brewed this on Oct 21.. Fermented in primary for 2 weeks. Made a tea and put into secondary for 1 week, then into keg

Just started drinking this week. Got great reviews from our thanksgiving guests today

Great recipe. Will have to make this a regular.
 
mike_in_ak said:
My organic bean was something like $14 for pack of two. Admittedly, **** costs more here as I can see Russia and what not.
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I always buy spices in bulk. Vanilla beans are less than a dollar a piece that way. Prepackaged spices of any sort are a complete rip-off. Don't you have some hippie co-op or a whole foods? My local QFC has an excellent bulk spice section.
 
Fermented with wlp530 at~68 degrees for 1 month, then bottled. After 1 month in the bottle, served at ~60 degrees, it is spectacular! The spices are layered on some caramel notes, with plum and spice added by the yeast. Highly recommended! I can't wait to see how this ages!
 
So... I'm thinking of brewing this tomorrow and kegging it. Perhaps dry hopping the spices in the keg vs the tea...
Anyone have any alternatives or suggestions for the special b? I don't have that on hand...
And what about pitching this with nottingham... I have a blonde ale I'm finishing up that I could use the yeast from... or I have us-05 if it'd be better.
 
Brewed this a week ago. OG 1.075. Really looking forward to making the spice tea and bottling this one. Hoping it will be enjoyable for New Year's Eve!
 
I brewed this earlier this month, and without thinking racked to secondary after 10 days. It's just been in secondary for a couple of days now – should I just leave it in there until a total of 3 weeks have passed since brewing?
 
jordanelwell said:
I brewed this earlier this month, and without thinking racked to secondary after 10 days. It's just been in secondary for a couple of days now – should I just leave it in there until a total of 3 weeks have passed since brewing?
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That's exactly what I did... 2 weeks primary and 1 week secondary

It was great right from the first pint out of the keg

Mike
 
Just kegged my batch. It smelled awesome after adding the spices. Have to say it tasted pretty dang good without the spices. I had an OG of 1.073 and a FG of 1.010 using a starter of WPL005 British Ale. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
 
morticus said:
Just kegged my batch. It smelled awesome after adding the spices. Have to say it tasted pretty dang good without the spices. I had an OG of 1.073 and a FG of 1.010 using a starter of WPL005 British Ale. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
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What procedure did you use for spices?
Boil , cool, add to keg then put beer on top ?

Just don't want to oxidize the beer when adding

Thanks in advance!
 
BPhad said:
What procedure did you use for spices?
Boil , cool, add to keg then put beer on top ?

Just don't want to oxidize the beer when adding

Thanks in advance!
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I boiled boiled the spices for about a minute or two, then took it off the boil and let it sit for 15 min. With a sanitized lid on my pot. I then cooled it down in an ice bath. While it was steeping for the 15 min, I ran some 180 degree water through my French Press then let it soak in starsan. Once the tea cooled down I poured it into my keg while it was filling from the fermenter. Closed my keg up turned on the gas and purged the air out, now it's carbonating in my kegerator.

Not sure if this is the proper way to do it, but it's always worked for me when I've added a tea to my beer.

Hope that helped.
 
morticus said:
I boiled boiled the spices for about a minute or two, then took it off the boil and let it sit for 15 min. With a sanitized lid on my pot. I then cooled it down in an ice bath. While it was steeping for the 15 min, I ran some 180 degree water through my French Press then let it soak in starsan. Once the tea cooled down I poured it into my keg while it was filling from the fermenter. Closed my keg up turned on the gas and purged the air out, now it's carbonating in my kegerator.

Not sure if this is the proper way to do it, but it's always worked for me when I've added a tea to my beer.

Hope that helped.
Click to expand...

It did. Thanks!
 
I ended up with an ABV of 9% after secondary (OG 1.079, FG 1.010). While I like a strong beer, 9% is a bit much, especially considering I brewed this to share with family this Christmas. I'm planning to bottle tomorrow –*would it be foolish to dilute to knock off a percentage point or two ABV? Was reading on the wiki about High Gravity Brewing and it seems that in theory it could work. I was expecting to get 3 gallons out of this brew – ended up with 2.6.
 
Usually adding H2O is performed post boil pre fermentation. But theorhetically speaking I suppose it might work. Dunno Never tried, but I am curious as to how it turns.
 
Willie3 said:
Usually adding H2O is performed post boil pre fermentation. But theorhetically speaking I suppose it might work. Dunno Never tried, but I am curious as to how it turns.
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Yeah, I'd be concerned about it thinning the body more than anything. Perhaps you can add some dextrins to the water?
 
jordanelwell said:
I ended up with an ABV of 9% after secondary (OG 1.079, FG 1.010). While I like a strong beer, 9% is a bit much, especially considering I brewed this to share with family this Christmas. I'm planning to bottle tomorrow –*would it be foolish to dilute to knock off a percentage point or two ABV? Was reading on the wiki about High Gravity Brewing and it seems that in theory it could work. I was expecting to get 3 gallons out of this brew – ended up with 2.6.
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I have never tried this but I would think it would be better if you could dilute with a different lower alcohol beer.
 
Distilled water may work to dilute it without adding any extra flavors. Never tried it though.
 
BPhad said:
I have never tried this but I would think it would be better if you could dilute with a different lower alcohol beer.
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This is what I would do. In the past I've also had luck with steeping some non-fermentable grains in water, to add some flavor, and adding it.
 
I just got done handing out 6 packs of this beer to my neighbors and friends. I let it age for 10 weeks which I found to be just right. I sampled the beer every week to see how the spices mellowed. Mine finished at 9.8% ABV but you cannot tell! The honey really helps to dry it out just enough. I will brew this again next year for sure.

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Bradthoc said:
Brewed this a week ago. OG 1.075. Really looking forward to making the spice tea and bottling this one. Hoping it will be enjoyable for New Year's Eve!
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Getting ready to make the tea and bottle this early afternoon. FG 1.012. Won't taste one until Christmas Day, but will likely end up saving the rest for well into January, early February. Will definitely plan on making this one earlier next year, around September.
 

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