It’s colder out, spirits are high, and it’s so freaking DARK out! Things are getting spiced out the wazoo, there’s pie everywhere, turkeys ducks and chickens are getting bird-centipede-ed, it’s bedlam- and on top of that, the in-laws… Got anything for me?
YOU BETCHA! There are so many ways to envision holiday brewing, from flavors to themes to gift basket ideas- the list goes on. This is the one true season where is really is worth saying FU to the Reinheitsgebot- forgive me Beer gods. Not only do people give you the benefit of the doubt with your flavors, but they’re down to try something they would likely poo-poo in other seasons- so seize your moment.
Pumpkin Spice Holiday Beers: I might lose some of the audience here. It happens I get it… but it’s worth a try once. The methodology would include adding ground spices to the boil, typically under 15 minutes, very similar to the way you add coriander to a wit style beer. Where some differ in opinion here is how to treat secondary with these beers, and what delivery method is better. Some say whole spice, others say ground or crushed… in my experience the crushed or ground version falls out too quickly. On the other hand, I’ve had tremendous success adding whole spices in secondary like cinnamon sticks and star anise.
Pairing your spices is important: Orange is paired with coriander for a reason, you could add ginger, nutmeg, and paradise seeds in varying quantities to all types of styles. Typically choosing an estery yeast can help compliment the spices, but there is a balance as you don’t want to drown the flavor out. Saison, Trappist, and Thames Valley yeasts are all great choices, as they take spices well, and still speak for themselves, creating a complex flavor profile for the drinker. Cleaner yeasts like WLP 001 (Wyeast 1056) are good choices too, but can cause the spice to speak for the rest of the beer, and cause them to over-power things. But remember, there really aren’t any hard and fast rules governing holiday beers.
Stouts letting it all hang out: Imperial Stout, Breakfast Stout, Chocolate Stout, Maple Stout—doesn’t matter—they’re bolder and brasher without a doubt during this season. People are putting on their winter coat, so don’t feel too bad about finishing your stout at 1.025 or even 1.040. I’m not that huge of a fan of lactose, but that’ll make it easier to finish at a higher gravity. Although many don’t think it’s worth the risk—I’m a fan of adding syrups and sugars at high krausen, and even racking to more syrup or fruit in secondary. This allows you to focus on a solid grain bill, and add additional complexity to the brew. It also helps with that thick finish that many stouts are known for. Another thing is that they're also a great option for gluten-free brewers like me, who tend to have average finishing gravities around 1.002 consistently. To help with that problem, take gravity samples more often, rack and crash when you reach the gravity you want, think about mashing at higher temps to convert starches to dextrose, and think about adding up to 1.5 lbs of maltodextrin if you’re worried about the finishing gravity.
Bring on the Pine: “C” hops anyone? Great time of year to go crazy. I’m personally going to be brewing with spruce tips this year, I want my party guests to feel like they’re literally drinking a Christmas tree. Additional hops that help with that resiny note are Centennial, Chinook, Citra, and Columbus (don’t forget about simCOE and southern CROSS). Feel free to pour on crystal malts as well. In some cases it might be necessary if you’re going for a resin bomb. Remember that balance that we talked with spice? Depending on the style of IPA, I might add up to Crystal 60/80, but I much prefer sweet to roast in my holiday IPAs. Even though session-ability isn’t as important during the holidays, some of the most successful recipes I’ve done to-date have featured a boiling hop under 10% AA and incorporated massive late hopping (15 minutes and under) to pull out those dank and resiny notes. This is also a great way to avoid the astringent or acrid experience for the drinker that can happen in a heavy hopping scenario. In my opinion, it’s also a great way to not have so much of that “cat urine” aroma that many people are put-off by.
Get Rustic and think Local: Ever think of what they used before hops? Many of these other options give a holiday vibe anyway. I made a feast saison for Thanksgiving this year that incorporated no hops and used an ancient herb called “yarrow” (available at spruceontap.com)- it lent a wonderful herbal note with the meal, however I wanted more sage, and I would definitely buy more than 2 oz next time. Many beers in old America were made with corn, molasses, pumpkin, sweet potato, and rice, so feel free to go literally off the deep end with local adjuncts and ingredients. Just try to make sure it doesn’t mess up the base beer too much. Lavender and chamomile are incredible herbs that go great with Saison and other farmhouse varietals. Choke cherries, cranberries and other tart berries like black currants are all great choices to add in secondary or primary depending on the style you’re going for.
Go Ahead… Make ‘em Call a LYFT: Although I’ve gone away from brewing as much high ABV beer recently, feel free to brew that “winter warmer” you’ve been afraid to tackle, your guests will drunkenly thank you during their second beer, if they’re not put down by the first round. It’s regular for most holiday beers to be above 6% ABV, but feel free to push the boundary. For notes on brewing high gravity, check out my previously published article. One thing that I’ll say here is that a starter is highly important, and I have become religious about oxygenating my cooled wort on anything that has a starting gravity of 1.055 or higher. Temperature is also an important factor here in addition to yeast health, as fusel alcohols in high enough quantities can create a “gasoline” or “diesel” taste and aroma in your beer. Fusel alcohols are the result of your yeast being under stress and creating alcohol compounds with more than two carbon atoms. The higher you work a yeast towards it’s threshold, the more you risk creating fusel alcohols. In addition, you also run the risk of your yeast crapping out before it finishes. For a large scale example of this, watch Sam Calagione’s Discovery Channel show “Brew Masters”—there’s two shows (out of 6) where he has to dump entire tanks of flagship beers because the yeast couldn’t handle the high gravity, so just make sure you do your homework on your yeast, and always pitch the right cell count for the gravity.
My Holiday brewing schedule can be staggering. I turn from a weekend brewer to a week night brewer once late September hits, but it pays off. People don’t scrutinize homemade gifts as much, and I hate standing in lines. Strategize your parties in advance. Remember that your keg should be filled and under carbonation by at least Tuesday so that it is ready for a Saturday afternoon party. If you want your family and friends to actually enjoy the gift bag you give them on the big day, you should be bottle conditioning your beer by at least December 10th, Black Friday is a great day to bottle condition for those celebrating Chanukah, so it has the full two weeks to carb up. It allows them to toss your beer in the freezer and enjoy it in front of you. In my experience that also guarantees that they actually drink it, instead of finding it in their wine cellar or hallway closet years later (great for certain styles… but not spiced holiday beers or holiday IPAs). Spacing brew days out so that you aren’t bottling all your beers at once could be a helpful tip, just remember to brew the styles that benefit from more aging first.
Christmas Tree IPA: Holiday Ale
Notes: Use hop bags so they can be removed prior to whirlpooling.
OG: 1.065 FG: 1.015 ABV: 6.56%
Heat 7 gal of Strike Water to 152⁰F, add in 2 tsp Calcium Chloride and 1 tsp gypsum, mix in milled grains, let sit for an hour then ramp to 163⁰F for 30 Minutes, ramp to 170⁰F and Sparge out with 2.5 gal of 170⁰F hot liquor (with 1 tsp of calcium chloride added back in; you will want to stir your grains a couple times during the sparge). If you have a pre-boil gravity lower than 1.035, add either 2 lbs of 1 SRM Candi Syrup or 3-4 cups of Raw Sugar at 15 minutes left in the boil.
Add yeast nutrient and Whirlfoc. At 0 minutes you can remove hop bags.
Chill Wort to 68⁰F, oxygenate for 30-45 seconds, then pitch yeast- I went with Wyeast 1968 London ESB, subs: WLP 001, WLP 007, Wyeast 1056, etc. I pitched a 1500 ml starter. This is a highly flocculant yeast, but I’ll typically pitch Clarity ferm at the same time as the yeast so that I can ferment and crash in the same vessel (brew jacket has trouble getting down below 35⁰F). I typically will let the inoculated wort free rise to 72, but typically I’ll keep it at 68⁰F.
I always dry hop (helps greatly with head-retention in gf beers), but you don’t have to.
1 oz Chinook & 1 oz Centennial (3 days before transfer). (optional)
First off, if you aren’t already making hard cider, you should be. It really is a no brainer, which I will explain briefly here. Cider is cheap to make, easily sourced, hardly any work, and great for those friends who can’t do gluten! Your only materials are Apple cider/juice, yeast, and maybe a few optional adjuncts, so cost can be as low as $20 a batch depending on your juice source. There isn’t an actual brew process, so it cuts a couple hours out of your normal brew day requirement. Just clean, sanitize, mix ingredients and profit! Since you aren’t using grain in this, it becomes a convenient brew to have on hand for friends(or in my case, SWMBO) who don’t/can’t do gluten...
YOU BETCHA! There are so many ways to envision holiday brewing, from flavors to themes to gift basket ideas- the list goes on. This is the one true season where is really is worth saying FU to the Reinheitsgebot- forgive me Beer gods. Not only do people give you the benefit of the doubt with your flavors, but they’re down to try something they would likely poo-poo in other seasons- so seize your moment.
Spices and Styles for Holiday Beers
Pumpkin Spice Holiday Beers: I might lose some of the audience here. It happens I get it… but it’s worth a try once. The methodology would include adding ground spices to the boil, typically under 15 minutes, very similar to the way you add coriander to a wit style beer. Where some differ in opinion here is how to treat secondary with these beers, and what delivery method is better. Some say whole spice, others say ground or crushed… in my experience the crushed or ground version falls out too quickly. On the other hand, I’ve had tremendous success adding whole spices in secondary like cinnamon sticks and star anise.
Pairing your spices is important: Orange is paired with coriander for a reason, you could add ginger, nutmeg, and paradise seeds in varying quantities to all types of styles. Typically choosing an estery yeast can help compliment the spices, but there is a balance as you don’t want to drown the flavor out. Saison, Trappist, and Thames Valley yeasts are all great choices, as they take spices well, and still speak for themselves, creating a complex flavor profile for the drinker. Cleaner yeasts like WLP 001 (Wyeast 1056) are good choices too, but can cause the spice to speak for the rest of the beer, and cause them to over-power things. But remember, there really aren’t any hard and fast rules governing holiday beers.
Stouts letting it all hang out: Imperial Stout, Breakfast Stout, Chocolate Stout, Maple Stout—doesn’t matter—they’re bolder and brasher without a doubt during this season. People are putting on their winter coat, so don’t feel too bad about finishing your stout at 1.025 or even 1.040. I’m not that huge of a fan of lactose, but that’ll make it easier to finish at a higher gravity. Although many don’t think it’s worth the risk—I’m a fan of adding syrups and sugars at high krausen, and even racking to more syrup or fruit in secondary. This allows you to focus on a solid grain bill, and add additional complexity to the brew. It also helps with that thick finish that many stouts are known for. Another thing is that they're also a great option for gluten-free brewers like me, who tend to have average finishing gravities around 1.002 consistently. To help with that problem, take gravity samples more often, rack and crash when you reach the gravity you want, think about mashing at higher temps to convert starches to dextrose, and think about adding up to 1.5 lbs of maltodextrin if you’re worried about the finishing gravity.
Bring on the Pine: “C” hops anyone? Great time of year to go crazy. I’m personally going to be brewing with spruce tips this year, I want my party guests to feel like they’re literally drinking a Christmas tree. Additional hops that help with that resiny note are Centennial, Chinook, Citra, and Columbus (don’t forget about simCOE and southern CROSS). Feel free to pour on crystal malts as well. In some cases it might be necessary if you’re going for a resin bomb. Remember that balance that we talked with spice? Depending on the style of IPA, I might add up to Crystal 60/80, but I much prefer sweet to roast in my holiday IPAs. Even though session-ability isn’t as important during the holidays, some of the most successful recipes I’ve done to-date have featured a boiling hop under 10% AA and incorporated massive late hopping (15 minutes and under) to pull out those dank and resiny notes. This is also a great way to avoid the astringent or acrid experience for the drinker that can happen in a heavy hopping scenario. In my opinion, it’s also a great way to not have so much of that “cat urine” aroma that many people are put-off by.
Get Rustic and think Local: Ever think of what they used before hops? Many of these other options give a holiday vibe anyway. I made a feast saison for Thanksgiving this year that incorporated no hops and used an ancient herb called “yarrow” (available at spruceontap.com)- it lent a wonderful herbal note with the meal, however I wanted more sage, and I would definitely buy more than 2 oz next time. Many beers in old America were made with corn, molasses, pumpkin, sweet potato, and rice, so feel free to go literally off the deep end with local adjuncts and ingredients. Just try to make sure it doesn’t mess up the base beer too much. Lavender and chamomile are incredible herbs that go great with Saison and other farmhouse varietals. Choke cherries, cranberries and other tart berries like black currants are all great choices to add in secondary or primary depending on the style you’re going for.
Go Ahead… Make ‘em Call a LYFT: Although I’ve gone away from brewing as much high ABV beer recently, feel free to brew that “winter warmer” you’ve been afraid to tackle, your guests will drunkenly thank you during their second beer, if they’re not put down by the first round. It’s regular for most holiday beers to be above 6% ABV, but feel free to push the boundary. For notes on brewing high gravity, check out my previously published article. One thing that I’ll say here is that a starter is highly important, and I have become religious about oxygenating my cooled wort on anything that has a starting gravity of 1.055 or higher. Temperature is also an important factor here in addition to yeast health, as fusel alcohols in high enough quantities can create a “gasoline” or “diesel” taste and aroma in your beer. Fusel alcohols are the result of your yeast being under stress and creating alcohol compounds with more than two carbon atoms. The higher you work a yeast towards it’s threshold, the more you risk creating fusel alcohols. In addition, you also run the risk of your yeast crapping out before it finishes. For a large scale example of this, watch Sam Calagione’s Discovery Channel show “Brew Masters”—there’s two shows (out of 6) where he has to dump entire tanks of flagship beers because the yeast couldn’t handle the high gravity, so just make sure you do your homework on your yeast, and always pitch the right cell count for the gravity.
Have Fun… But Plan Ahead
My Holiday brewing schedule can be staggering. I turn from a weekend brewer to a week night brewer once late September hits, but it pays off. People don’t scrutinize homemade gifts as much, and I hate standing in lines. Strategize your parties in advance. Remember that your keg should be filled and under carbonation by at least Tuesday so that it is ready for a Saturday afternoon party. If you want your family and friends to actually enjoy the gift bag you give them on the big day, you should be bottle conditioning your beer by at least December 10th, Black Friday is a great day to bottle condition for those celebrating Chanukah, so it has the full two weeks to carb up. It allows them to toss your beer in the freezer and enjoy it in front of you. In my experience that also guarantees that they actually drink it, instead of finding it in their wine cellar or hallway closet years later (great for certain styles… but not spiced holiday beers or holiday IPAs). Spacing brew days out so that you aren’t bottling all your beers at once could be a helpful tip, just remember to brew the styles that benefit from more aging first.
Mix it up This Holiday Season, and Wow Your Family and Friends!
Christmas Tree IPA: Holiday Ale
| Grains | Hop Schedule | Yeast |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
OG: 1.065 FG: 1.015 ABV: 6.56%
Heat 7 gal of Strike Water to 152⁰F, add in 2 tsp Calcium Chloride and 1 tsp gypsum, mix in milled grains, let sit for an hour then ramp to 163⁰F for 30 Minutes, ramp to 170⁰F and Sparge out with 2.5 gal of 170⁰F hot liquor (with 1 tsp of calcium chloride added back in; you will want to stir your grains a couple times during the sparge). If you have a pre-boil gravity lower than 1.035, add either 2 lbs of 1 SRM Candi Syrup or 3-4 cups of Raw Sugar at 15 minutes left in the boil.
Add yeast nutrient and Whirlfoc. At 0 minutes you can remove hop bags.
Chill Wort to 68⁰F, oxygenate for 30-45 seconds, then pitch yeast- I went with Wyeast 1968 London ESB, subs: WLP 001, WLP 007, Wyeast 1056, etc. I pitched a 1500 ml starter. This is a highly flocculant yeast, but I’ll typically pitch Clarity ferm at the same time as the yeast so that I can ferment and crash in the same vessel (brew jacket has trouble getting down below 35⁰F). I typically will let the inoculated wort free rise to 72, but typically I’ll keep it at 68⁰F.
I always dry hop (helps greatly with head-retention in gf beers), but you don’t have to.
1 oz Chinook & 1 oz Centennial (3 days before transfer). (optional)
Learn more about gluten free brews with this cider article »
First off, if you aren’t already making hard cider, you should be. It really is a no brainer, which I will explain briefly here. Cider is cheap to make, easily sourced, hardly any work, and great for those friends who can’t do gluten! Your only materials are Apple cider/juice, yeast, and maybe a few optional adjuncts, so cost can be as low as $20 a batch depending on your juice source. There isn’t an actual brew process, so it cuts a couple hours out of your normal brew day requirement. Just clean, sanitize, mix ingredients and profit! Since you aren’t using grain in this, it becomes a convenient brew to have on hand for friends(or in my case, SWMBO) who don’t/can’t do gluten...
