Winter Seasonal Beer Bad Santa- A Christmas Ale

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sloanfamilydsm

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Got this off the BYO website.

Gonna brew up for the holiday season this year.


Bad Santa — John Zelazny
(5 gallon/19-L, all-grain)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%
Best of Show, 2010 New York State Open (282 entries)

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) Canadian Pils malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) light dried malt extract
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Strong Scotch ale base. Mash all grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 min. Mash out at 168 °F (76 °C) for 10 min. Add dried malt extract and maple syrup at boil. Steep cherries in 2 qts. (2 L) of first wort runnings for 30 min. Strain out cherries and add this wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.

Bad Santa
(5 gallon/19-L, extract
with grains)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%

Ingredients
7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg) light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Steep grains in 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. Boil for 60 minutes, initially reserving half of the malt extract. Remove 2 qts. (2 L) of wort and steep cherries. Add remaining malt extract and maple syrup with 15 minutes left in the boil. Add cherry steeping wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.
 
I think this was the 2nd or 3rd brew I ever did, and it came out awesome...it is an excellent beer. I would definitely recommend trying it.
 
How did this turn out? I read on another post the cherry and vanilla flavor came out a bit much. When did you add the syrup? I was thinking about adding it to secondary to preserve some flavor. Fresh market was charging $13/lb for dried cherries, so 1.5# for this beer gets pricey. I was thinking about trying a different fruit, and maybe some molasses instead. Either way I'd love to hear how your version came out.
 
How did this turn out? I read on another post the cherry and vanilla flavor came out a bit much. When did you add the syrup? I was thinking about adding it to secondary to preserve some flavor. Fresh market was charging $13/lb for dried cherries, so 1.5# for this beer gets pricey. I was thinking about trying a different fruit, and maybe some molasses instead. Either way I'd love to hear how your version came out.

Brewed this on 9/19/2014. Put in secondary w/ vanilla n cinnamon sticks on 10/15/14.

OG 1.089 FG 1.012

I subbed 2 lbs rehydrated cranberries for the cherries as the cost of the cherries was prohibitive.

Maple syrup added at 5 min.

The flavor going into the fermenter was a nice sweet medley of cranberries n maple syrup.
The flavor going into the secondary had scrubbed all the cranberry flavor out n tasted like hot maple syrup. I don't think you'll need to add maple to secondary as it was the dominating flavor thus far.
This brew will need time to mellow out the "hot" taste. I plan on leaving the vanilla n cinnamon for two weeks then bottle age, trying them just before Christmas to see if they are giftable.
An update will come again at bottling time.
 
I wonder how Safbrew T-58 would impart final product with its spicy estery...I mean can't go wrong with this kind of recipe right?
 
Bottled this up yesterday. The "hot maple" flavor subsided and the cranberry flavor has reappeared mixing well with the cinnamon & vanilla. It's about an equal medley of flavors with only a bit of "hot" in the back of the throat that should dissipate in time to serve up around Christmas.
I bottle primed low shooting for 1.75 volumes Co2.
I was quite surprised how well the maple, cranberries, cinnamon, and vanilla have came together with none overpowering the other.

This will need plenty of time to carb up so I'm not trying one until Dec 15-ish (6 wks)
 
I wonder how Safbrew T-58 would impart final product with its spicy estery...I mean can't go wrong with this kind of recipe right?

There is so much going on already in this beer that I already can't taste the DME or brown sugar. I don't think adding another flavor would even be detectable. But, like you said, couldn't possibly hurt the already jumbled flavors going on. Brew it up
 
I brewed a variation of this beer this past Sunday. I nailed the OG at 1.085 but I had to use a different kind of yeast. I used half a pack of sa-04 with maybe 1/3 a package of pacman. It's only a 2.5 gallon batch so I think it'll be juuuuust fine!

I subbed out the carahell for ESB malt and the caramunich for crystal 60.

I have it in a swamp cooler at 62 degrees then I'm going to warm it up to about 67 and then to 70 for the cinnamon and vanilla bean aging. I'm looking forward to this beer. Thanks for the base recipe!
 
Update: This beer is fantastic. I'm not going to age it with the vanilla bean or the cinnamon. I like it the way it is. It's got a very nice cranberry/dried fruit feel to it and there's a lot of the maple syrup taste in there too which adds a nice balance to it.

The beer finished at 1.017 which is right where I wanted it to finish... it's exactly 9% abv. I have it cold crashing now and I'll keg it tonight. I'm entering it in an xmas beer competition next Monday so I should be nicely mellowed out by then.
 
If I were to make a "session" version of this, maybe around 6%, how would be the best way to go about it? Would I lessen all of the ingredients a little bit? I wouldn't want to overpower the lessened malt character with the fruit/spices. Maybe 1lb of dried cran/cherries? 2 cinn sticks and 3/4 of a vanilla bean? It obviously won't end up being the same beer, but I don't trust my technique for 9% yet. Obviously won't be ready for the holidays either, but I can then I can know what to change for next year.
 
Sorry to bump this, but I'm intrigued by this recipe. I think it'll benefit from ageing in the bottle so I'm planning on getting on with it in the next few days, so hopefully it'll be ready in time for Christmas. It also helps that my Mum has just come home from Madagascar and has brought me back some vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks!

I've seen that the vanilla flavour can disappear over time in the bottle, so should I perhaps up the vanilla slightly? Or is that too much of a risk, especially with all the other flavours going on? (I've read various scare stories about it being very easy to go over the top with vanilla).

Also I'm convinced by the idea of using dried cranberries, because they're considerably cheaper.
 
I gave this one a go the other day. I'm useless at getting my volume right (I kind of wing it) so had to water down to get 1.084, but I must have got the same efficiency as the original brewer because I diluted to gravity and ended up with exactly the same volume as expected (I scaled down to 12l). I'm pretty pleased with myself given it's my fourth AG brew, in a small scale BIAB setup. I was careful to mash out properly, and I recirculated all the wort through the grains which I think was the key.

It's sat in the FV bubbling away (wrapped in a wet towel to reduce the temperature. I'd been warned about a beer this strong blowing the top off the FV). I'll take a first gravity reading on Tuesday and see how it's going.
 
I gave this one a go the other day. I'm useless at getting my volume right (I kind of wing it) so had to water down to get 1.084, but I must have got the same efficiency as the original brewer because I diluted to gravity and ended up with exactly the same volume as expected (I scaled down to 12l). I'm pretty pleased with myself given it's my fourth AG brew, in a small scale BIAB setup. I was careful to mash out properly, and I recirculated all the wort through the grains which I think was the key.

It's sat in the FV bubbling away (wrapped in a wet towel to reduce the temperature. I'd been warned about a beer this strong blowing the top off the FV). I'll take a first gravity reading on Tuesday and see how it's going.

How is it going along? Is it mellowing at all?
 
How is it going along? Is it mellowing at all?

Still in secondary, but I should probably bottle it tomorrow. The immediate alcohol harshness has mostly gone, but I can't say there's much flavour from either the cranberries, vanilla or cinnamon. Part of me is tempted to put some more vanilla and cinnamon in, but I'll restrain myself. Once it's in bottles I'll leave it as long as I can towards Christmas (maybe crack one open at the beginning of November for a sneaky peak!).
 
Just cracked open a test bottle and it's... interesting. It's nowhere near fizzy enough, which is annoying. I batch primed low for the style, but it's hardly fizzy at all. I'm hoping it's just a bad bottle, and I'll make sure I stir slightly after batch priming (I siphoned onto the appropriate amount of sugar so assumed it wouldn't need any mixing, but I've had a couple of batches with inconsistent carbonation so it's something I need to deal with.

The flavours are pretty good. Mostly vanilla I think, with maybe something from the maple syrup coming through. I could have perhaps put another cinnamon stick in too.
 
This wasn't a big hit over Christmas, mostly because of the low carbonation. I crack one open every so often still, and I enjoy it but it's a bit of a sweet mess. I've worked out another reason why my version isn't great. I used Tettnanger hops because my local shop had run out of Northern Brewer but I didn't compensate for the reduced AA, so it's only 20IBUs. Novice mistake that I won't make again!
 
Thanks for the update. It may improve over time.
If you want to get crazy, I have had some success restoring an old IPA by adding hops to the bottles. I would have to check my notes, but I think that I put a very small amount, a gram or less in each bottle.
 
It's bitterness that it needs rather than aroma. Thanks for the tip though. I'll maybe give it another try another year and iron out my rookie mistakes. It's annoying because it had so much potential!
 
My modified AG version turned out awesome!

Thanks John Zelazny for the inspiration!

I removed the DME, increased the pils, removed the maple, and added honey. I used a vanilla extract made with bourbon instead of directly adding the vanilla bean.
I think I used magnum too.
Totally worth the $$ for cherries.

I steeped the cherries in the first runnings probably 70-90 minutes. It'd be awkward steeping them only 30 minutes.
I tried eating the cherries afterwards but it was a little weird that they taste like sweet wort. Oh well.

The malt base, cherry, cinnamon, and yeast are all delicious together. Glad I went with honey though, 12oz I think it was.
I wish more Christmas ales were like this.

Definitely making this again next year.
 
Care to share your changes?

i like the thought of removing DME and increasing pills

My modified AG version turned out awesome!

Thanks John Zelazny for the inspiration!

I removed the DME, increased the pils, removed the maple, and added honey. I used a vanilla extract made with bourbon instead of directly adding the vanilla bean.
I think I used magnum too.
Totally worth the $$ for cherries.

I steeped the cherries in the first runnings probably 70-90 minutes. It'd be awkward steeping them only 30 minutes.
I tried eating the cherries afterwards but it was a little weird that they taste like sweet wort. Oh well.

The malt base, cherry, cinnamon, and yeast are all delicious together. Glad I went with honey though, 12oz I think it was.
I wish more Christmas ales were like this.

Definitely making this again next year.
 
Care to share your changes?

i like the thought of removing DME and increasing pills
Title: Jolly Saint Nick
Author: John Zelazny (Bad Santa, BOS) modified

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Winter Seasonal Beer
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.060
Efficiency: 69% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.077
Final Gravity: 1.018 (actual was 1.012)
ABV (alternate): 8.18% (actual was 9%)
IBU (tinseth): 37.47
SRM (morey): 9.72

FERMENTABLES:
13 lb - German Pilsner (82.2%)
1 lb - German Munich Light (6.3%)
0.5 lb - German CaraHell (3.2%)
0.5 lb - German CaraMunich I (3.2%)
1 oz - American Black Malt (0.4%)
12 oz - Honey - (late addition) (4.7%)

HOPS:
0.9 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 13.2, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 37.47

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min, Saccharification.

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1.5 lb - Cherries, dried, Time: 0 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Mash
1 each - Vanilla extract from 1 bean, Time: 0 min, Type: Spice, Use: Bottling
3 each - Cinnamon sticks, broken, Time: 0 min, Type: Spice, Use: Primary

YEAST:
Wyeast - Irish Ale 1084
Starter: Yes
Attenuation (avg): 73%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 62 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 63 F

PRIMING:
CO2 Level: 2.3 Volumes

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Ca2: 63
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 68
SO4: 59
HCO3: 0
Water Notes: RO with added minerals
Mash pH: 5.6

NOTES:
Mash all grains at 152 °F for 60 min. Add honey toward end of boil. Steep cherries in 2 qt of first wort runnings. Strain out cherries and add this wort at end of boil. Vitality starter. Ferment at 62-64 °F. Dry spice in secondary for 2-3 weeks.

Generated by Brewer's Friend

Cheers
 
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