Who's thinking about their Christmas Brew already?

Just brewed this up last Saturday. I am hoping it will at least be drinkable by Christmas. I forgot to replace the airlock with a blowoff tube on my fermenter and it blew the top off on Sunday when I was working an EMT shift - yeast all over the laundry room. All is good now though.

Chocolate Orange Belgian Ale
OG 1.070, 4.5 gallons

4 lb Maris Otter LME
4 lb Wheat DME
0.5 lb Chocolate Malt
0.2 lb Special B

0.65 oz Magnum @ 60

2 oz Unsweetened Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder soaked in 8 oz Grand Marnier added to secondary.

Wyeast Trappist High Gravity

I didn't think early enough this year for my Christmas beer. I brewed it about 3 weeks ago and turned out to be a 9.5% beer So I think it will be the beer for next winter:rockin:

I still haven't brewed mine and now I fear it is too late! I do have a German Bock yeast starter going... I wonder how I could turn a Bock into a Christmas Ale???

LOL. I did not see that prices dropped so far this year. Nice. I should open my $35 pound of Amarillo from last year before it devalues any further.

Wow this thread hadn't been touched in 13 months and today it comes back....God Bless the Internet! I still have half a case from last year around, so I don't know if I'll be brewing a "Holiday" beer. I'll be brewing a few batches for holiday time, but I doubt anything spiced or christmas-y.

My buddies made a pumpkin beer last night. They used 2 cans of squash in the mash (which really added to the gravity, surprisingly), a spice tea with cinnamon, vanilla, and many other items, and we are currently fermenting in 2 pumpkins. Use two highly flocculant british yeasts.

Should be ready to drink at the Halloween party on Saturday

DeathBrewer said:

My buddies made a pumpkin beer last night. They used 2 cans of squash in the mash (which really added to the gravity, surprisingly), a spice tea with cinnamon, vanilla, and many other items, and we are currently fermenting in 2 pumpkins. Use two highly flocculant british yeasts.

Should be ready to drink at the Halloween party on Saturday

Click to expand...

You plan on drinking that beer in under a week? That must be super yeast.

Nope, just a low gravity beer. We drank it in 3 days last year. It was sexcellent.

I brewed up an English Barleywine in February and an Imperial Stout in April. The barleywine is 10.5% and the Imp Stout is 8.1%. The stout will be ready for the winter but the b'wine I'm not so sure about; I tasted it a couple months ago when I bottled and it just tasted like booze.

I do have a couple bombers of last years spiced winter ale so I have that too. I've been messing around with a spiced brown ale recipe for about a year now. Maybe I should just brew it up and see what happens.

I brewed a mini-mash Austin Homebrew Supply Holiday Chocolate Stout in September. It is kegged and will be carbed in a week. The samples have tasted great. I am excited.

Eric

I brewed something along the lines of Deschutes Jubelale. But not the same at all!

;-)

Anyway, it's in that sort of family of strong brownish ales. Brewed almost 4 weeks ago. I don't usually secondary, but with this one I went ahead and racked it a couple of days ago and will let it condition a couple of more weeks or so before bottling. Shaping up nicely so far. Used a lot of Palisade hops for flavor and there's a definite spicy tang in there. Small amount Cascades towards the end, then 30 grams of EKGs at KO, so there's that typical Brit character in the aroma. So far so good. OG 1.072, FG 1.015.

I just took a sample of my christmas beer and oh my god! Its amazing! This was my first partial mash beer and I cant even begin to describe how much it tastes better than all of the other extract beers i have done.

Tastes very simular to sam adams winter lager except has more of a hop bite.

Cant wait to see what this tastes like in 2 more months.

Time to once again resurrect this thread, three years and going strong! I'm planning on doing a Christmas Ale next weekend but I've never used honey, ginger, or cinnamon so I'm excited about trying something new. I don't want them to be too overwhelming but at the same time I want to be able to taste them. I thought that the cascade and centennial hops would add a nice citrus/spice note to the beer. Making this for the family which is predominantly BMC drinkers but like good beer when it is available.


Buon NatAle
Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer


Type: All Grain
Date: 8/15/2010
Batch Size: 5.50 gal

Boil Size: 7.01 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.84 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.35 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6.35 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt, Pale (200.0 SRM) Grain 1.59 %
0.25 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (60 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (45 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (30 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (15 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.11 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.28 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.10 oz Ginger Root (Boil 12.0 min) Misc
1.10 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
2.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 12.70 %
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.075 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.51 %
Bitterness: 41.4 IBU Calories: 342 cal/pint
Est Color: 15.1 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 13.75 lb
Sparge Water: 4.36 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Saccharification Add 17.19 qt of water at 164.8 F 153.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F


Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.8
Pressure/Weight: 15.5 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 40.0 F Age for: 112.0 days
Storage Temperature: 40.0 F

I'm already planning on getting a move on my Holiday Ale. I've settled on brewing up The Pol's "Holiday Spice Ale" https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/holiday-spiced-ale-89603/

It needs 14 in the primary, 14 in the secondary, and 60 in the keg. I've got to get a move on as soon as I get my Pumpkin in the primary...

I brewed up a strong stout for Christmas this year a few weeks ago. No extras spices or fruit, but should be real nice on cold nights, it's sitting in secondary now.

Christmas Stout:
5-gallon

10lbs Maris Otter
2lbs 2-Row
1lb Crystal 80L
1lb Special B 180L
1lb Flaked Oats
8oz Chocolate Malt 350L
5.33oz Roasted Barley 500L
4oz Black Patent 500L

1oz Warrior 15.8%- 60 min
1oz Willamette 4.4%- 17.5 min
1oz Willamette 4.4%- 5 min

SRM: 46
IBUs: 55.5
OG: 1.082

Ordered the sack of marris otter for my 10 gallon christmas ale.

I wanna do a big malty doppelbock....any suggestions???

I am a big fan of Troegs Troegenator this is why I wanna do this style.

I am thinking about making a coconut porter with a bit of cinnamon. Just gotta decide how I want to add the coconut and cinnamon.

I am brewing a clone of Avery's Old Jubiliation. I am substituting Northern Brewer for Bullion hops.


Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 9.36 gal
Estimated OG: 1.074 SG
Estimated Color: 16.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
14 lbs 8.8 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 86.54 %
14.2 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 5.29 %
14.2 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.29 %
2.3 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 0.85 %
1.1 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.39 %
15.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.80 %] (60 min) Hops 19.3 IBU
22.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.80 %] (30 min) Hops 14.5 IBU
21.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.80 %] (1 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
4.4 oz Turbinado (10.0 SRM) Sugar 1.63 %
1 Pkgs London Ale (White Labs #WLP013) [Starter 3Yeast-Ale

I brewed an Old Ale for Christmas this year, on June 13th. 37 days in primary (I was out of town), 19 days in secondary so far. I might bottle it next week but not sure yet. Might bottle another beer instead. I'll post the recipe once I taste it again at bottling. It was great at racking.

I brewed my holiday beer on the 2nd of May. It's an 11% Barleywine that is bottle conditioning @62f.

I'm making a really smoky/peaty porter this year. Still working on the recipe, but it will look kind of like this:

1.073 OG
1.019 FG
31 IBU'S
26 SRM
7% ABV



10# Maris Otter 2 Row
1# Caramel 40L
1# Pale Chocolate Malt
.5# Victory malt
.5# Honey malt


1 oz Nugget @ 60
1 oz Willamette @ 0
1 oz Willamette @ Secondary Dry Hop

.5 oz Ginger Root @ 5 minutes
.5 oz Cinnamon @ 5 minutes
1 oz bitter orange peel @ 5 minutes
+Some orange zest at flameout


US-04


Critiques welcome

Alright, I know I'm a tad on the late side, so this will be a fairly light christmas ale..

I'm planning to brew on sunday, so I already got most of my ingredients. However, I dont really know how spices in beer tend to turn out, and how much to use of each..

So, here are my ingredients;

1 Coopers Dark Ale Kit (yes, I base my beer of a kit..)
2 pounds dark dme
2 pounds brewing sugar
2 pounds brown sugar

More than enough of;
Whole cloves
Ground cinnamon
Ground ginger
Allspice
Ground white pepper (think someone on here tried that?)
And oranges for orange peel.
Carafa 1 Chocolate Malt

What I usually do is boil some extra hops at different times, add the kit, some d/lme and sugar to a 2 gallon boil and pour it into a waiting fermenter with 3 gallons of cold water..

So.. which spices should I use, how much of each and when to add them?
I would prefer the spices to be fairly noticable, but not necessarily overwhelming.

Need to try and rack my christmas ale to keg this weekend. I'm putting it off because I'm afraid if I do it now, it won't last until Christmas.

My holiday beer spent 3 weeks in primary and has been in the bottle for 3 weeks....surely not in condition yet, the flavors havn't came together yet but it is going to be good! Looking back I probably should have upped the C40 and C80

I had one just last night, and it is drinkable but I am waiting for winter to hit here in North Dakota and I am going to move all the bottles to my garage to lager below 40 degrees for a month!

14.5 pounds two row
12 oz dark mollases
8 oz munich
8 ounce special B
6 oz special roast
6 oz victory
6 oz C40
4 oz C80
35 IBU Magnum at 60
1/2 tsp cinn @10
1/2 tsp clove @10
1/2 tsp nutmeg @10
1/2 tsp fennell @10
4 oz choco
1 gallon bells yeast starter

OG = 1.072
FG = 1.012

I bottled my "holiday beer" last weekend. Old Ale coming in around 9.5%. The sample out of the secondary tasted like whatever offspring would come from a dream having sex with a rainbow on a bed of pure happiness with a cherry on top. Hoping it will be very drinkable by the holidays (though probably not in its prime --- I'll save some for the 2011 holidays!

Mine will be my first AG batch, a smoked Belgian Stout. I has 2 Row, Maple smoked Munich, pale chocolate, aromatic and oats. The full recipie is on my hopville page or in my thread a couple spots down.

Cheers.

I would love some advice on my recipe!
#104 in this thread

bobapfel said:

1.073 OG
1.019 FG
31 IBU'S
26 SRM
7% ABV



10# Maris Otter 2 Row
1# Caramel 40L
1# Pale Chocolate Malt
.5# Victory malt
.5# Honey malt


1 oz Nugget @ 60
1 oz Willamette @ 0
1 oz Willamette @ Secondary Dry Hop

.5 oz Ginger Root @ 5 minutes
.5 oz Cinnamon @ 5 minutes
1 oz bitter orange peel @ 5 minutes
+Some orange zest at flameout


US-04


Critiques welcome

Click to expand...

I'd not add the orange. Just doens't seem like a good idea in a beer with 1# chocolate malt. Otherwise I'd like to be the first to try it!

Mine is going to be (sort of) a trippel, spiced with orange peel (in the boil) and fresh ginger (in the secondary ... i really want the fresh flavor). If it comes out, maybe I'll post the recipe.

Just racked my Belgian dark strong off of the fresh and dried plums last night. Still smells pretty green, but man, it's gonna be one heck of a winter warmer.

I can't wait to see what some cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla beans do to it.

I ended up brewing a second beer for the winter last week:

12lbs 2-row
.75lbs Crystal 60
.25lbs Special B (120L)
.25lbs Flaked Barley
.25lbs Flaked Oats
.125lbs Roasted Barley (500L)

.5oz Chinook 10.3% - 60min
1oz Tettnag 4.5% - 60min
1oz Willamette 4.8% - 10 min
.5oz Chinook - 10 min

@ 5 min:
1 Clove (in hop bag)
1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tbsp Orange Zest (in hop bag)

Nottingham Yeast

Mash 1hr at 154, 170 sparge

OG: 1.069
IBUs: 43
SRM:15

As an after thought I wish I had put some victory or marris otter to give it a bit of a nuttiness, but, I'm excited about this one! First time using spices: hopefully I didn't overdo it.

Just brewed the recipe from brewing classic styles today. I cut the spice bill in half though.

I'm thinking of NEXT winter's brew already. I decided to make an annual big burly RIS each year for christmas. I made this year's in Feb but I think Oct/Nov will be the traditional month from here on out. I'm looking at 14-15% abv and will do different things to it each year. Last year was just a straight RIS but this year will likely be aged with oak cubes for approx 5-6 months before bottling also will have an addition of real dark palm jaggery.

lrbijl said:

Alright, I know I'm a tad on the late side, so this will be a fairly light christmas ale..

I'm planning to brew on sunday, so I already got most of my ingredients. However, I dont really know how spices in beer tend to turn out, and how much to use of each..

So, here are my ingredients;

1 Coopers Dark Ale Kit (yes, I base my beer of a kit..)
2 pounds dark dme
2 pounds brewing sugar
2 pounds brown sugar

More than enough of;
Whole cloves
Ground cinnamon
Ground ginger
Allspice
Ground white pepper (think someone on here tried that?)
And oranges for orange peel.
Carafa 1 Chocolate Malt

What I usually do is boil some extra hops at different times, add the kit, some d/lme and sugar to a 2 gallon boil and pour it into a waiting fermenter with 3 gallons of cold water..

So.. which spices should I use, how much of each and when to add them?
I would prefer the spices to be fairly noticable, but not necessarily overwhelming.

Click to expand...

I have based some beers off kits very successfully. I must ask you: Have you ever used that much dark sugar in beer?

I have. I never will, ever, ever again. It did not even taste like beer, it was like sewage. If you have never used that much dark sugar in a beer before, DON'T - trust me. The impurities in brown sugar make its sickening at that level. If you have done this before and have been happy, ignore me. I cannot tell you what you like

Otherwise, I think it looks interesting. I cannot offer any advice on spices, as I have no experience in that regard

Just a little background so you know where I'm coming from - I just started brewing a couple months ago. I got introduced to the hobby by my neighbor and brewed 2 kits with him. Another neighbor and I just bottled our first batch on our own this morning, also from an extract kit.

We'd like to do a "Christmas" beer and give them as gifts but we're still learning and want to keep it simple, at least until we feel like we know what we're doing. Any suggestions for"spicing up" an extract kit?

Hey long time reader first time poster. I'm relatively new to the brewing game, so I'd like the advice of the good people on hbt before I jump into my first Christmas ale. Here's what I've got.

10# American 2-row
2# Munich 10l
1# Crystal 60l
.5# Chocolate

2oz Willamette - 60
1oz EKG - Flameout

6in Cinnamon stick
1oz Grated Ginger
1oz Orange peel (bitter)
^all at 5 min
Safale us-04

Feel free to tell me I'm way off base. But if not, I'm open to criticism, constructive preferably.

Thanks!

kilograham said:

Hey long time reader first time poster. I'm relatively new to the brewing game, so I'd like the advice of the good people on hbt before I jump into my first Christmas ale. Here's what I've got.

Click to expand...

I don't know precisely what your concept is, but your recipe looks pretty good. If it were me, though, I'd go lighter on the black patent malt. Even a half pound will impart a pretty strong burnt/bitter taste, so I'd switch it out with chocolate. Or if you're just going for color rather than roasted character, you can add a small amount of black malt during the sparge.

I'd also tone down on the aroma hops, too; personally, I find that hop aroma hides spices a little too easily. That's just me, though. If you love your hops, then by all means keep the hop schedule as it is.

ZehBaron said:

I don't know precisely what your concept is, but your recipe looks pretty good. If it were me, though, I'd go lighter on the black patent malt. Even a half pound will impart a pretty strong burnt/bitter taste, so I'd switch it out with chocolate. Or if you're just going for color rather than roasted character, you can add a small amount of black malt during the sparge.

I'd also tone down on the aroma hops, too; personally, I find that hop aroma hides spices a little too easily. That's just me, though. If you love your hops, then by all means keep the hop schedule as it is.

Click to expand...

Awesome. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. I'll take it easy on the aroma hops and switch to chocolate too. Good suggestions, thanks!

Anyone else?