I don't usually do this, but....

What should I brew next? (I know, I know... I'm better than this, I swear )

I recently got SWMBO on the "let's brew something soon" bandwagon... but we're both drawing blanks.

We want to do something:

- That's not summery (our Honey Orange Hefe, wit or Bitter are out)
- More appropriate for the current or upcoming holiday season
- That can be enjoyed by beer drinkers of varying experiences (i.e. some beer geeks, some not, some budding enthusiasts)
- Maybe a little bit on the off-kilter side
- That could be ready by Christmas


I'm an all-grain brewer. I have plenty of experience with weird beers (I have an amazing sahti recipe) and high gravity beers. I have a freezer meant for temp control and lagering.

So really, the sky's the limit. Can anybody please make some suggestions?

I would be interested to see something like a peppermint stout. Shoot why not a peppermint imperial stout.

Looks like you're a fan of brewing with adjuncts. Maybe a winter lager with juniper berries or spruce tips?

I like the idea of peppermint, but maybe in a porter.
Bull

I would go with EDWort's Porter. It's really smooth but will knock you out.

Make a Christmas ale. If done right away, it can be finished in time for the holidays. Dark in color, but light on hops and with a touch of holiday spice.

There is a recipe on here for a Holly Ale that sounds promising.

Or a christmas porter.

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

I already have a pumpkin ale on tap so I might avoid a spiced beer.

I like the idea of a peppermint something.... never made a beer with mint in it but it's worth a shot.

I also very much like the idea of a winter lager with juniper berries. The juniper in Reno is usually best around February (when I usually make a batch of sahti) but I'll have to go out into the hills and see what they are looking like.


But I'm still probably a week out from brewing so if anybody else has any ideas, I'm open for suggestion

DReimerMT said:

I would be interested to see something like a peppermint stout. Shoot why not a peppermint imperial stout.

Click to expand...

Good luck having a peppermint imperial stout ready by Christmas...

Normally I would think of something like a winter warmer type of brew, but that, too is probably going to take longer than Christmas to start tasting good. Honestly, given the time constraint you might consider something like an English Mild, as those can be ready quickly and will have a nice rounded mouthfeel and maltiness that would go well with Christmas-y types of flavors, or alternately may even be a bit roasty giving you something vaguely similar to a stout, but easier drinking.

I brew a chocolate mint milk stout, it is ready fairly quickly, and is quite tasty young as well. My wife likes to have a pint with a couple pieces of dark chocolate on the side. Me I like to whip up some chocolate covered bacon strips. they go quite nicely with the beer as well.

weirdboy said:

Good luck having a peppermint imperial stout ready by Christmas...

Normally I would think of something like a winter warmer type of brew, but that, too is probably going to take longer than Christmas to start tasting good. Honestly, given the time constraint you might consider something like an English Mild, as those can be ready quickly and will have a nice rounded mouthfeel and maltiness that would go well with Christmas-y types of flavors, or alternately may even be a bit roasty giving you something vaguely similar to a stout, but easier drinking.

Click to expand...

Okay so if I brew within a week I'll have 40 days... that's plenty of time to do whatever I want (ya know, except barleywines and such.) An English Mild can go grain to glass in 10 days... I know because I've done it

azscoob said:

I brew a chocolate mint milk stout, it is ready fairly quickly, and is quite tasty young as well. My wife likes to have a pint with a couple pieces of dark chocolate on the side. Me I like to whip up some chocolate covered bacon strips. they go quite nicely with the beer as well.

Click to expand...

YES! SWMBO and I were just discussing the previously suggested ideas and she liked the idea of the peppermint stout (to my delightful surprise) and I suggested using cacao nibs so we can do a chocolate mint stout. And, lo and behold, that was the next suggestion. THANKS AZSCOOB!

We're probably just going to do a 3 gallon batch and SWMBO thinks a strength of 7% would go nicely with the mint and still be drinkable in 40 days.


So how should I go about doing the peppermint and chocolate? Extract for the peppermint and vodka-soak cacao added to the secondary?

Cranberry Walnut Brown Christmas Ale...

azscoob said:

I brew a chocolate mint milk stout, it is ready fairly quickly, and is quite tasty young as well. My wife likes to have a pint with a couple pieces of dark chocolate on the side. Me I like to whip up some chocolate covered bacon strips. they go quite nicely with the beer as well.

Click to expand...

What in the world are chocolate cover bacon strips or are they just the obvious and I live in a bubble

azscoob said:

I brew a chocolate mint milk stout, it is ready fairly quickly, and is quite tasty young as well. My wife likes to have a pint with a couple pieces of dark chocolate on the side. Me I like to whip up some chocolate covered bacon strips. they go quite nicely with the beer as well.

Click to expand...

Any chance you'd share the recipe on this one? You've got me intruiged.

Reno_eNVy said:

YES! SWMBO and I were just discussing the previously suggested ideas and she liked the idea of the peppermint stout (to my delightful surprise) and I suggested using cacao nibs so we can do a chocolate mint stout. And, lo and behold, that was the next suggestion. THANKS AZSCOOB!

We're probably just going to do a 3 gallon batch and SWMBO thinks a strength of 7% would go nicely with the mint and still be drinkable in 40 days.


So how should I go about doing the peppermint and chocolate? Extract for the peppermint and vodka-soak cacao added to the secondary?

Click to expand...

I add an ounce of fresh chopped mint in the last 5 minutes of the boil, then vodka soak another ounce to be added at kegging time. For the chocolate, I add hersheys powdered cocoa in last 10 minutes of the boil.

Beecho said:

What in the world are chocolate cover bacon strips or are they just the obvious and I live in a bubble

Click to expand...

I fry up bacon and pat the grease off of them, when cool I dip them in melted chocolate like you would a pretzel rod. sweet-salty-bacony goodness!

Beecho said:

What in the world are chocolate cover bacon strips or are they just the obvious and I live in a bubble

Click to expand...

Hint:

Chocolate Covered Bacon Strips

My vote is for a scottish 80/-. Hit it with a little oak, and then spike it with a pint of midgrade scotch whisky. It could be done in 6 weeks, and very festive

I started with an existing recipe and added to it a little.
All I have on my work computer is promash so bear with me on this one, it isnt very friendly publishing to the web.


Sweet Darkness

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

13-B Stout, Sweet Stout

Min OG: 1.042 Max OG: 1.056
Min IBU: 25 Max IBU: 48
Min Clr: 30 Max Clr: 60 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 12.75
Anticipated OG: 1.061 Plato: 14.99
Anticipated SRM: 43.0
Anticipated IBU: 32.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 6.47 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.052 SG 12.84 Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
62.7 8.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
7.8 1.00 lbs. TF Flaked Barley UK 1.034 0
7.8 1.00 lbs. Roasted Barley America 1.028 450
5.9 0.75 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
7.8 1.00 lbs. Milk Sugar** Generic 1.030 0
3.9 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
2.0 0.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350
2.0 0.25 lbs. Weyermann Carafa Special III Germany 1.035 660

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.75 oz. Cluster Pellet 7.70 24.5 60 min.
1.25 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.35 7.6 15 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 Oz Wintergreen Leaves Spice 5 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1084 Irish Ale


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs: 11.75
Water Qts: 15.60 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 3.90 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.33 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 60
Mash-out Rest Temp : 170 Time: 10
Sparge Temp : 170 Time: 10


Total Mash Volume Gal: 4.84 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.



Notes
-----
**Milk sugar is added in the last 10 minutes of the boil
add 8 oz of hersheys cocoa powder to last 10 minutes of the boil,
chop and soak addl oz of mint in vodka for a week before kegging, add vodka to keg.

mash at
152 for 1 hour, follow usual mash procedures

Dark chocolate/orange pips Black IPA. Use chocolate malt/hops/zest or pips for flavoring. Something to try

or

Peat smoked wee heavy on oak with Islay scotch soaked oak cubes and scotch added back at bottling.

Reno_eNVy said:

Okay so if I brew within a week I'll have 40 days... that's plenty of time to do whatever I want (ya know, except barleywines and such.) An English Mild can go grain to glass in 10 days... I know because I've done it

Click to expand...

Well personally I like to have at least 6 weeks, especially if I am putting some kind of spices or herbs in secondary. I figure 2-3 weeks fermentation, then another 2-3 weeks carbing and conditioning is sort of a minimum for most beers I make in the 1.050+ range. I will drink them earlier than that, but they get a lot better if I give them a bit longer to ripen.

So here's what I came up with in BeerSmith.

3.5 gallon batch size
Based on 75% efficiency

Chocolate Mint Sweet Stout
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 66.7 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.6 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.6 %
8.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
1 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 11.1 % (added with 10 min left in boil)
8.0 oz Hersheys Baking Cocoa Powder (added with 10 min left in boil)

1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 22.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 5.6 IBUs

Either Irish Ale or dry yeast, like S-04


BeerSmith gives me an estimated ABV of 7.6% but I know that's shenanigans. It doesn't recognize the lactose as non-fermentable... so I'm probably looking at something more along the lines of 6.2%

I'm still not sure about the mint... most leaf mint in grocery stores is spearmint and I would like peppermint. If I can't find fresh or dried peppermint by next wednesday (SWMBO has designated brewday) I'll just throw in some altoids

Altoid beer!

Brilliant!!!

After checking out the andes mint stout I think 5 or 6 celestial peppermint tea bags with 5 minutes left in the boil will be best for 3 gallons

weirdboy said:

Well personally I like to have at least 6 weeks, especially if I am putting some kind of spices or herbs in secondary. I figure 2-3 weeks fermentation, then another 2-3 weeks carbing and conditioning is sort of a minimum for most beers I make in the 1.050+ range. I will drink them earlier than that, but they get a lot better if I give them a bit longer to ripen.

Click to expand...

This is very true, and I'm a series proponent for long primaries. But I've also pumped out some beers really quickly so I'm going to challenge myself and have a complex, spiced dark ale be not only drinkable but excellent after just 40 days.

How bout an irish red ??