Ruby red christmas ale. Adding Christmas cake ?!

Hey guys, time to start planning my winter ales! One of my ideas is to have a Ruby Red ale with added raisins and cherries. I'm looking to soak the raisins and cherries in port or brandy for a couple of weeks and add to the secondary. I'm also thinking of adding some traditional Christmas cake. I got the idea from
Brew Dogs collaboration with Floyds called ***** please.

Add it at the secondary or mashing phase?

I think I would mash the cake. I would be concerned about too much suspended protein in the beer without having boiled it in the wort first.

Ummmm, I guess I'd mash it...?

One of my main concerns would be the oils, egg and milk! I suppose the mash stage would be best. Alternatively I could use some biscuit malt and add some cinnamon and all spice during the boil ?

pod_021 said:

One of my main concerns would be the oils, egg and milk! I suppose the mash stage would be best. Alternatively I could use some biscuit malt and add some cinnamon and all spice during the boil ?

Click to expand...

I agree with your concern. One thing you could do is to bake the cake yourself and make it without those ingredients. It would likely turn out to be like bappir, the bread the Sumerians used to make beer out of.

Cake would certainly be an experiment, but I'd be worried about oil egg and milk too. If I were trying it I'd mash it and boil it, but I'd probably try biscuit malt, lactose and spices instead to get you the sweet, bready taste of cake.

Right on for the lactose suggestion.