Winter Seasonal Beer Ornamental Holly

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aryoung1980

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
528
Reaction score
92
Location
Milwaukee
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale US-05
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.071
Final Gravity
1.020
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
35.88
Color
14.7
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21
Tasting Notes
Well balanced Christmas Ale with a ginger nose
My sister-in-law has been growing hops for the last few years but she could not remember what kind (not a home brewer). So every year I try to brew a batch for her with them. We finally figured out that they are an ornamental hop that is best known as Sunbeam. My research led me to believe that it can be used in Saazer styles so I was thinking a Bo Pils. However, she decided that this year she wanted a Christmas Ale. I had never made any spiced beer before so the first place I researched was HBT. I found jmo88's Holly (Christmas Ale) and felt that this was the one I wanted to base my recipe off of.

My wife, sister-in-law, and I are all glad that this was the recipe I chose because it came out well balanced with a great ginger nose (6 weeks after pitching). We'll see how it ages and if the other spices become more prominent. That's if it lasts into the new year.

Forgive me for typing the recipe. I have yet to learn how to export from my program beyond emailing it to myself. This is the first recipe I have posted since joining HBT 3 years ago. The main reason I am posting it as a new recipe and not continuing it on jmo88's thread is because I want more people to be able to find a recipe using Sunbeam hops.

Batch size: 5 gal
Boil size: 6.5 gal
Boil time: 60 min
IBU: 35.88
SRM: 14.7

OG 1.071
FG 1.020
ABV 6.68%
Efficiency 71%

Primary 21 days at 72F
Bottle Condition 21 days at 68F

8 lbs MCI Stout Malt
5 lbs Rahr Pale Ale
8 oz Briess C-40
8 oz Special B
4 oz wheat malt, Germany

1 lb honey at flameout

0.75 oz CTZ at 14% alpha (32.17 IBU) at 60 minutes - pellets
1.00 oz Sunbeam estimated 2% alpha at 20 minutes - whole, dried
1.00 oz Sunbeam estimated 2% alpha at 0 minutes - whole, dried

11 g Safale US-05 rehydrated

1 cinnamon stick, whole
0.25 oz bitter orange peel, dried
0.75 oz fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tsp McCormick vanilla extract

Mashed 60 minutes at 152F with 22 qts of water
Batch sparged with 13.37 qts of water

Bottle conditioned with 4.41 oz table sugar

At bottling, bring 1 qt of beer and bottling sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and steep the spices for 15 minutes in a French press. Pour into the bottling bucket before racking the beer on top.

As I said before, the ginger is the prominent aroma after 6 weeks. I'm curious how it will change over the next month or two.

I was concerned about the high finishing gravity. It was at 1.020 after two weeks so I roused the yeast and brought the temp back up. I wrote that I fermented at 72 but that isn't entirely accurate. I pitched the yeast at 68F and it free rode up to 72-ish before coming back down. When I roused the yeast I had the beer at 68F for another week. My gravity didn't move so I went ahead and bottled.

I suggest giving this beer extra time to clear. After bottle conditioning I have a fair amount of yeast in the bottle. I keg 99.5% of my beers now so my memory is a bit foggy on how much yeast there should be after conditioning. I was concerned, briefly, about bottle bombs but when I look at the apparent attenuation the US-05 hit the anticipated 75%.
 
I think I got the same hop plant. Been throwing a handful of hops in every batch and not had any bad effects....yet:p
 
I have a few ounces of Sunbeam left. I'm definitely going to try a Bohemian Pilsner with them this winter.


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