Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

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Trying to revive an old, awesome thread. I just read all the posts and I'm happy to see all the collaboration and feedback. :mug:
I just kegged 5 gallons of an attempted GLBC Christmas Ale clone. The beer turned out fine but a few lessons learned. Wondering if anyone has any input.

I followed the grain bill. SRM/color looks spot on. Where I went wrong was adding the 1 oz. cinnamon sticks and .75 oz. ginger right at boil. I should have waited until near flameout. I can't detect any cinnamon or ginger flavors. I also went cheap with McCormick cinnamon sticks. The full 1.25 oz. quality sticks will be used next time. I'll leave the ginger alone.

I put 1 lb. of honey in at flameout. There is no honey flavor but I expected that because it ferments out. How does GLBC get the honey flavor in their beer? Honey malt, extract flavoring, heat-treated honey in primary/secondary? 🤔

I may try swapping Chinook for the 10 minute hop addition in the next batch to get that extra Christmasy pine smell. Plus, add .5 lb. of honey malt to the grain bill.

Any suggestions to add the honey, ginger, and cinnamon flavors in the beer now that it's in the keg? I thought about making a tea with 1/2 tsp. of each ground cinnamon and ground ginger added. Not sure about the amount of honey.
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Trying to revive an old, awesome thread. I just read all the posts and I'm happy to see all the collaboration and feedback. :mug:
I just kegged 5 gallons of an attempted GLBC Christmas Ale clone. The beer turned out fine but a few lessons learned. Wondering if anyone has any input.

I followed the grain bill. SRM/color looks spot on. Where I went wrong was adding the 1 oz. cinnamon sticks and .75 oz. ginger right at boil. I should have waited until near flameout. I can't detect any cinnamon or ginger flavors. I also went cheap with McCormick cinnamon sticks. The full 1.25 oz. quality sticks will be used next time. I'll leave the ginger alone.

I put 1 lb. of honey in at flameout. There is no honey flavor but I expected that because it ferments out. How does GLBC get the honey flavor in their beer? Honey malt, extract flavoring, heat-treated honey in primary/secondary? 🤔

I may try swapping Chinook for the 10 minute hop addition in the next batch to get that extra Christmasy pine smell. Plus, add .5 lb. of honey malt to the grain bill.

Any suggestions to add the honey, ginger, and cinnamon flavors in the beer now that it's in the keg? I thought about making a tea with 1/2 tsp. of each ground cinnamon and ground ginger added. Not sure about the amount of honey.
View attachment 747649

I'm not sure about the honey but the first post on the holly christmas ale recipe outlines how to add spices using a tea and french press.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/holly-christmas-ale.145580/
Amounts of spices for both beers might be different though and be prepared for the ginger to take a while (over a month) to mellow out before the other spices shine through.
 
I'm going to be brewing this beer.
Has anyone added any orange peel to this recipe. I KNOW it won't be a GL Clone anymore just wondering if I should experbeeriment, or stay with what's tried and true.
From reading through the posts. Cinnamon and Ginger with 15 minutes left in the boil and honey with 10 minutes left...?
 
I haven't tried orange peel but I will the next time I brew this. Was thinking 2oz with 5-10 mins left. Curious about your results if you try it.

Yes about the ginger, cinnamon, and honey.
 
I'm going to be brewing this beer.
Has anyone added any orange peel to this recipe. I KNOW it won't be a GL Clone anymore just wondering if I should experbeeriment, or stay with what's tried and true.
From reading through the posts. Cinnamon and Ginger with 15 minutes left in the boil and honey with 10 minutes left...?
I make a similar beer every year with ginger, honey, orange peel, vanilla, and cinnamon. It is not an exact clone of the GL version, but it is excellent.
 
@BrewCityBaller Do you enjoy your version more than the GL version?
I do, but they are different. I enjoy both immensely. The GL version to me tastes like a Christmas-y IPA, while my version is like a Christmas cookie amber. A little hard to explain, but that is the essence.

Care to share batch size and adjunct quantities? That sounds great. 🍻
My version of Christmas Ale started off with this recipe as a base. However, after nearly a decade of making it, I have tweaked it to my liking. Please see below.

31 North Christmas Ale
Batch Size: 6 gallons
OG: 1.070
FG: 1.015
ABV: ~7%
IBU: 31

14lbs 9oz 2-row
9.1oz Crystal 40L
9.1oz Special B
4.5oz White Wheat
3.4oz Chocolate 350L

1oz Centennial @ 60 min
0.30oz Centennial @ 30 min
0.70oz Centennial @ 5 min
1lbs Honey @ Flameout

2 Sachets US-05 fermented between 66*F and 68*F

Mash Volume: 7.3 gallons
Mash Temp: 154*F
Water: 100ppm Ca, 50ppm Na, 100ppm Cl, 10ppm Mg, 150ppm SO4, 100ppm HCO3

At bottling or kegging, draw off ~1 quart of finished beer. Boil the below spices in there for 5-10 minutes. Add the whole "spice tea" back into the bacth.
1 tsp fresh grated ginger, with skin removed
1.5 whole vanilla beans, cut and scraped
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp sweet orange peel

Let me know if you have any questions!
 
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