Do you want to brew one of the 12 beers of Christmas?

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rhoadsrage

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I'm not sure where to put this thread so sorry if it is in the wrong forum:

I would love to brew all 12 beers of Christmas (listed below) from Radical Brewing but my life doesn't permit that much time. So I was looking for 11 more brewers to brew one of these beers and we could all trade a few bottles to each brewer.

Reply to the thread if you would be up for brewing this and which styles you would want to brew. I would be happy to brew any of the beers so it doesn't matter to me. I can post recipes or beermail them to you.

I know it would involve sending out 11 packages but if you are in Chicago I can send them for you, or you could brew with someone else and send half the packages (with double the beers).

Radical Brewing's 12 beers of Christmas.
1) <strike>Caramel<strike> Gingerbread Quadrupel (gclay)
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel (Usfmikeb) [ 2 cherries on cap]
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock (Willum)
4) Juniper Rye Bock (rhoadsrage) ["BJ" on cap]
5)Fruitcake Old Ale (spyder2723) [ 4 dashes on cap]
6) Saffron Tripel (Native302 is out)
Quad (sfrisbe) [ Q on cap]
7) Christmas Gruit (Biochemedic) [ red and green strip on cap]
8) Honey Ginger IPA (Scruffy1207)
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale (some punk drank it all) (Horace is out)
Rasberry Lambicky (Xcorpa) [ you will know]
10) Gingersnap Ale (Xcorpia) [kungfu gingerbread man]
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout ( rhoadsrage ) ["SBS" on cap]
12) Abbey Weizen that taste like spiced apfelwien (KFH)
 
mountainbrewdude said:
I may be up for this! But hows the shipping going to work?

UPS will ship alcohol.

I would but I'm not to AG yet, unless you want a PM or extract version of one of these. Sounds like a great idea to me.
 
Why don't you get 12 brewers and each do one of the beers. Then mail each other a bottle or two so you each have all 12. Start on December 14th with each brewer drinking beer 1. Talk about it on here and do one per day so that the final beer is drunk on Christmas Day. Just an idea...

Update...you obviously had this in mind as I seemed to have skipped that part of your post and jumped straight to the beer list...ignore me please! :)
 
This sounds really cool...some of them would have to be brewed yesterday because of the aging times involved, and might be better next christmas than this one. You'd have to send at least 2 bottles of each so at least one could be laid down for aging.

Of course a couple of these would need to be brewed by someone with lagering capability, which leaves me out. I've brewed a couple of gruits (when we had the hops shortage a few years ago), so I'd be interested in brewing that one.
 
I will brew this one.

Recipe: 4) Juniper Rye Bock
This beer is a hybrid between the rustic Finnish sahti and classic German Brews.
Yield 5 gallons (19 liters)
Gravity: 1.080 (19oP)
Alcohol/vol: 6.4 to 7.2%
Color: Deep Amber
Bitterness 24 IBUs
Yeast: Danish Lager
Maturation: 4 to 6 months

All-grain recipe
9.5 lbs (4.3kg) 62% Munich Malt
3.0 lbs (1.4 kg) 19% two-row Pilsener malt
2.0 lbs (0.9 kg) 13% malted rye or flaked rye, precooked
1.0 lbs (.45 kg) 6% dark crystal malt
1.0 lbs (.45 kg) - rice hulls
4.0 oz. (113kg) crushed juniper berries, in the mash

Hops & Spices:
2.0 oz 90 min. Hallertau (3.5 % AA)
2.0 oz 90 min juniper berries, crushed
2.0 oz end of boil juniper berries, crushed

A standard infusion mash will suffice, although you may want to follow the traditional sahti stepped infusion procedure:
Traditional Sahti Stepped infusion:
Boil Juniper branches in the mash liquor. Mash procedure: step mash with 15-minuted rests at 104F, 130F, 148F, 172F, and mash out at 190. This is normally accomplished by small additions of boiling water, resulting in a very thin mash at the end. Lauter over juniper branches placed in the bottom of the mash tun.
(recipe taken from Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher)
 
Recipe: 6. Saffron Tripel
Pick your favorite Belgian tripel recipe as a start. If there's no sugar in it, substitute 20 % of the base malt for some unrefined sugar- turbinado or piloncillo, for example. Jaggery (Indian palm sugar) is also lovely. And the zest of one orange at the end of the boil, along with a ping of crushed grains of paradise or black pepper. Ferment with a Belgian ale yeast, and add a 1/2 tsp. of saffron threads after transferring to secondary. Gravity: 1.090 Color: orange-gold.
(recipe taken from Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher)

You can use whatever Tripel recipe you like but here is a Westmalle clone if you like
http://www.homebrewchef.com/WestmalleTripelConeRecipe.html
 
So can we brew our own version of "X" beer or do we need to brew a specific recipe? The reason I ask is I am brewing up a Gingerbread Ale and would be ok with shipping 12 but I was really looking forward to trying my recipe...

EDIT: I am not brewing the GingerBread Ale as stated here!
 
I never turn down a homebrew. So Zamial, I can add yours in place of one that doesn't get picked, if that is cool.
 
I never turn down a homebrew. So Zamial, I can add yours in place of one that doesn't get picked, if that is cool.

That would be fine. I do not wish to screw with your project and am brewing up a "mixed 6er" of Christmas ales to gift to friends and family (1 per household) They were recipes that were adapted or created to be unique. (Perhaps there should be a "X-mas 12 HomeBrews of HBT" project thread as well.)

Now that I understand the project more and I do not have a decent holiday stout yet. If you send me/post the recipe, I will be happy to brew up the 11) Spiced Bourbon Stout in order to participate in this project correctly!

FYI went back and EDITED my original reply...
 
Recipe: 11 Spiced Bourbon Stout
Take your favorite stout recipe and dose it with spices. Into 6 ounces of vodka and 2 ounces of bourbon (more if you wish), add:
0.5 tsp vanilla extract;
0.25 tsp allspice;
0.5 tsp cinnamon;
0.25 oz crushed coriander;
1 whole star anise (or 0.25 tsp ground);
0.5 oz crushed juniper;
pinch of black pepper
Gravity: 1.050
Color: India Ink

It's not much to go on so you have lots of room play.
(Recipe taken from Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher)
 
Alright I'll try doing Honey Ginger IPA. But I assume I'd want to brew that in sept because IPA's are better fresh? I might try another too.

Edit: My next batch is my first partial so I want to try and get some brew days in before I try this so I know what I'm doing before I jump in to your project, so if someone else wants to try the honey ginger, be my guest. That's my reasoning behind trying the IPA.
 
Cool, scruffy. Plus if you brew it later it will keep you from drinking it all before you have to ship.

Recipe: 8 Honey Ginger IPA
Ginger was a popular ingredient in British beers prior to 1850, and here we're pairing it with a dab of honey. Start with an IPA, and brew and ferment it as normal. Once transferred to the secondary, add 2 lbs of honey, plus 2 oz of candied ginger, coarsely chopped. This is a higher-quality ginger than the stuff in the produce section, less pungent and less earthy. I would use British East Kent Goldings exclusively.
Gravity: 1.065
Color: pale amber
(copied from Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher)
 
I'm can't do the juniper rye bock because I don't have laggering capabilities now. I'd like to switch it for the honey ginger ipa please. Sorry for the confusion. I'm gonna start the saffron triple this week.
 
Just saw the ipa was taken so I'll just stick with the saffron triple and let others have a shot with this
 
I was hoping you were referring to Saranac's 12 Beers of Christmas, as one of them is my wife's favorite and I would love to brew a clone of it. Heh... Haven't found any clone recipes online, so I'm going to try and wing it based on some recipes for other beers in the same style, probably in the fall.
 
Any of these could be extract (plus steeped grains) and are non-lagered

1) Caramel Quadrupel
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
5)Fruitcake Old Ale
7) Christmas Gruit
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale
10) Gingerbread Ale
12) Abbey Weizen
 
What do you all think of this:

Christmas Gruit
A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.50
Anticipated OG: 1.089 Plato: 21.36
Anticipated SRM: 13.0
Anticipated IBU: 32.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
24.2 4.00 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
24.2 4.00 lbs. Pilsener Belgium 1.037 2
6.1 1.00 lbs. Honey Wildflower 1.042 2
3.0 0.50 lbs. Smoked(Bamberg) Germany 1.037 9
30.3 5.00 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2
6.1 1.00 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2 <-----this is the portion of wheat that is toasted....

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.75 oz. Tettnanger Tettnang Whole 4.50 32.4 90 min.

Extras
Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.00 Oz Juniper Berries Other 0 Min (boil)
4.00 gm Cinnamon (Ground Ceylon) Spice 0 Min.(boil)
2.00 Unit(s)Bay Leaf Spice 0 Min.(boil)
0.50 gm Mace Spice 0 Min.(boil)
2.00 gm Sweet Gale Herb 0 Min.(boil)
1.00 gm Rosemary Spice 0 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Notes
-----
Based on Christmas Gruit recipe from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing.
Added 2 extra pounds of pilsner malt to compensate for efficiency.
The 1 lb of wheat malt is toasted for 30 min @ 350*F. (? SRM afterwards....)
The 1 lb of honey is added to primary after the bulk of fermentation has completed -- expected OG of the boil is 1.081, after honey, 1.089.
Have cut the 30 min hop addition from the original recipe to maintain a more traditional gruit flair, emphasizing the spices more.
Most of the spices were purchased from Penzey's (www.penzeys.com).
 
That looks like a tasty beer and I love penzey for their spices. I am excited to see how the German smoked malt plays out with the spices.
 
<Bump>

rhoadsrage, can you post a tally of who has wanted to do what brews and see if we can get some takers for the others?

I ordered my yeast yesterday (3711), and will make my Penzey's order today...
 
Sure. I tried to put everyone's name by the beer they claimed:
I have 2 or 3 in mined but I wanted to give others a chance to jump in.
Beers that are still open:
1) Caramel Quadrupel
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock
4) Juniper Rye Bock
5)Fruitcake Old Ale
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale
10) Gingerbread Ale
12) Abbey Weizen

Beers that are spoken for and their brewers:
6) Saffron Tripel (Native302)
7) Christmas Gruit (Biochemedic)
8) Honey Ginger IPA (Scruffy1207)
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout (Zamial)
 
I like this idea a lot and all these beers look tasty. I am a n00b brewer tho so I am going to stay out of it although I may still make one of these recipes. Should do this every year so I can join in next year or whatever. Subscribed.
 
I like this idea a lot and all these beers look tasty. I am a n00b brewer tho so I am going to stay out of it although I may still make one of these recipes. Should do this every year so I can join in next year or whatever. Subscribed.

Don't be afraid...several of the remaining recipes can be done as extract + specialty grain recipes. Think about 1, 2 or 10...get some help from your LHBS or here if you have any questions!
 
I'd be interested in doing the Spiced Cherry Dubbel, I've got Radical Brewing and had that highlighted for a future brew. Cherries are in season here right now, I've got 5 pounds of tart cherries in the freezer that we picked a couple weeks back. Black cherries are being picked right now, so I can go get 5 pounds of those.

Two items to note though:
- I normally keg my beer, so my bottling skills are lacking (guess I'll be drinking some Grolsch over the next two months)
- I won't be able to brew this until the end of July, so the brew would only be bottled for 3 months by mid-December

That okay?
 
biochemedic said:
Don't be afraid...several of the remaining recipes can be done as extract + specialty grain recipes. Think about 1, 2 or 10...get some help from your LHBS or here if you have any questions!

Yeah but I am already on AG and have some efficiency issues to clear up. Maybe one that won't require a ton of aging so I don't have to brew it right away...
 
Just started all grain but I would love to do this. I think I can do any of these four.

1) Caramel Quadrupel
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
5)Fruitcake Old Ale
12) Abbey Weizen

I would prefer to do the Caramel Quad, or the Fruitcake Old Ale.

So how many bottles of each would we get, 2 or 3?
 
My biggest question honestly is what would be the estimate on shipping out 11 packages. Seems like it could get expensive. Of course you get good beer in return but I would just hate to be the guy that was to broke to follow through.
 
Sure. I tried to put everyone's name by the beer they claimed:
I have 2 or 3 in mined but I wanted to give others a chance to jump in.
Beers that are still open:
1) Caramel Quadrupel
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock
4) Juniper Rye Bock
5)Fruitcake Old Ale
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale
10) Gingerbread Ale
12) Abbey Weizen

Beers that are spoken for and their brewers:
6) Saffron Tripel (Native302)
7) Christmas Gruit (Biochemedic)
8) Honey Ginger IPA (Scruffy1207)
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout (Zamial)


Dibs on the spiced cherry dubbel! I've been waiting for an excuse to try that one out. :)
 
damn...i have that going as we speak. Whats in the Fruitcake old ale? sounds interesting...
 
I am just going to go ahead and take the ginger bread. I don't know what its like tho. Trying to find the book tbh.
 
If someone is willing to post the recipe for Crabapple Lambicky Ale, I'm in. I can brew'er in the next couple of weeks . . .

good idea,

*Edit; after doing some research, most call for a minimum of six months (12 months recommended) of bottle aging - 2012 anyone?
 
Sorry I didn't check in this weekend. Looks like UsfMikeB had first dibs on the Spiced Cherry Dubble. Sorry to those who call dibs on the 4th page. I wrote this recipe thinking you were the extract brewer but I see Breezy is the extract brewer

Recipe: 2 Spiced Cherry Dubbel (extract + extras)
(All Grain option) Replace Pilsner extract wtih 10.6 lbs continental pilsener malt. Replace Munich extract wtih 1 lbs. Munich Malt. Mash at 149 oF, with the low mash temp, you may need to lengthen the rest time to 90 min. to get full conversion. Also increase pre-boil volume to allow for a 90-min. boil, which will help reduce DMS in beer)

Boil 60 min.
Pre-Boil volume 7 gallons

Pilsener LME 7.8 lbs 68.7%
Munich LME 0.8 lbs 7.0%
pinoncillo or turbinado sugar 1.2lbs 10%

Aromatic (20 oL) 0.5 lbs 4.4%
CaraMunich (60oL) 0.5 lbs 4.4%
Special "B" (120 oL) 0.5 lbs 4.4%

Tettnang 4% AA, 60 min. 1.5 oz.
Ceylon (true) cinnamon 0 min. 1 tsp.
combonation of sweet (black) cherries and sour (Montmorency) cherries 1 lbs/ gal good, 2 lbs/gallon better.

Yeast White Labs WLP530 or Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity

At extract, water and bag of crushed grains to the pot. Heat to 170 degrees and then remove grain bag.
Boil for 60 min. Add cinnamon and chill.
Ferment as close to 65 degrees as possible, then let temp rise to lower 70s after a few days of fermentation.
Transfere to secondary with a combination of sweet (black) cheers and sour (Montmorency) cherries, let rest for a month or so.
Add 1 drop (no more) of almond extract for depth and bottle.

(This recipe is a blend of recipes from Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher and Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John J. Palmer)
 
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