No Old Fezziwig Ale in this years SA Holiday brews

[cmac62]

I am so bummed that there is no Old Fezziwig Ale in this years Sam Adams Holiday sampler. Boo. I guess I need to come up with a decent clone recipe. Here is what I was thinking:
8 lb pale pilsner
1 lb crystal 60
.5 lb honey malt
.25 lb Chocolate
.25 lb midnight wheat

1 oz Citra at 60
1 0z citra at 5

1 oz sweet orange peel @5
2 oz ginger @5
10 grms coriander @5
10 grms cinnamon @5

I was thinking about using the Lallabrew Voss Kviek for the yeast. I know this is no traditional, but thought this would be a good clean yeast to let the malt and spices shine. Anyone have thoughts I would appreciate them. I think I'll get this brewed sometime this weekend. Thanks

 

[dmtaylor]

Here are my constructive criticisms... I am looking at a copy of what is reportedly the real recipe but who knows, second-hand info.....

Ditch the coriander (I don't think they use any), and the Citra (too powerful), use 50/50 Hallertau and Cascade maybe instead. Too much ginger by about a factor of 10, try just 0.2 oz ginger. Too much honey malt, try just 0.25 lb at most. Ditch the midnight wheat, that will make it much too dark.

There! That should get you back on track. Hope this helps. Enjoy.

 

[cmac62]

Here are my constructive criticisms... I am looking at a copy of what is reportedly the real recipe but who knows, second-hand info.....

Ditch the coriander (I don't think they use any), and the Citra (too powerful), use 50/50 Hallertau and Cascade maybe instead. Too much ginger by about a factor of 10, try just 0.2 oz ginger. Too much honey malt, try just 0.25 lb at most. Ditch the midnight wheat, that will make it much too dark.

There! That should get you back on track. Hope this helps. Enjoy.

Yeah, I think from their website from earlier I remember the spices being orange peel, cinnamon and ginger. So, I'll ditch the coriander and lower the ginger, I may put together a tincture with the three spices to adjust when it goes into the keg also. Maybe skip the honey malt altogether and add some aromatic instead. Also, I have cascade and Hallertau or Tetnang on hand so that makes it easy. Just enough hops to counter the sweetness of the malts. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[seanjwalker1]

I've tried my hand at an Old Fezziwig but never quite nail it. How did yours turn out ? I think instead of Pilsner maybe Maris Otter. The Sam Adams recipe make up I saw years ago on one site or other mentions its more of a Brown ale than a winter warmer and called for pale malt, crystal 60L, pale chocolate malt, a mix of Tettnanger and Hallertau-mittelfruhe hops and Sam Adams house yeast whatever that is. I'm thinking Maris Otter, Crystal 20L, Biscuit, Honey malt, pale chocolate malt (150-200L) just maybe 2 oz of that since it says it's in there, and either the mix of Tet and Mitt hops or maybe even East Kent and the ubiquitous cinnamon, sweet orange peel, ginger and a very small tad of clove. I'm thinking British ale yeast or maybe even ferment it cooler with WB-06 for a yeast imparted clove taste instead of actual clove..??? This will be my 3rd or 4th attempt. Anyone had a close clone come out ? Thanks

 

[cmac62]

Sean, it was a good beer, but not a Fezzy clone. Don't remember the specifics, but I remember it was a good non fezzy xmas ale.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Sean, it was a good beer, but not a Fezzy clone. Don't remember the specifics, but I remember it was a good non fezzy xmas ale.

I'll post how this one turns out..ill get close...one of these years

 

[Wine2Beer]

Adventures in Homebrewing has a recipe on their site, I've never tried it. Keeping my eye on this to see if you come up with a good clone.

 

[cmac62]

It seems to me that this years version is a lot more hoppy. Of course my memory may be what's off. LOL

 

[Genuine]

If it helps your craving, it's now in their Beers for Cheers pack!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Adventures in Homebrewing has a recipe on their site, I've never tried it. Keeping my eye on this to see if you come up with a good clone.

Yeah I scoped out that last year and looked at it actually yesterday. Seems to be pretty much a recipe I've seen over the years and not to far off mine. I think I want a tad less chocolate malt in mine and I want to add some honey malt to make it sweeter. I wish I knew what Sam Adams house yeast was but I'm sure it's a wheat ale yeast since they claimed on their site years ago their Old Fezziwig was a Brown ale though wether English or American I don't know but I'm guessing English in the spirit of what the beer represents. I'm leaning toward English pale malts, English Crystal and possibly East Kent though I may go with the 1/2 Hall and 1/2 Mitt have not decided yet. This is like a 12 year 4th attempt at this beer. It's just elusive. Maybe it's their house yeast...

 

[seanjwalker1]

If it helps your craving, it's now in their Beers for Cheers pack!

Yeah...ive had the 12 pks in my hand 2 or 3 time just for the Old Fezzi. But I only like the old fezz, Xmas porter and Bost lager. The other 6 are worthless..so paying for a 12 to get 6 beer I like...with a craving for just 2, old Fezz.... I'm sure I'll cave in sooner or later and buy it ..heavy sigh.

 

[dmtaylor]

I wish I knew what Sam Adams house yeast was... Maybe it's their house yeast...

WLP008 is definitely their house ale yeast. It's a very very old British strain, ancestor to many of our American ale strains today.

 

[seanjwalker1]

WLP008 is definitely their house ale yeast. It's a very very old British strain, ancestor to many of our American ale strains today.

So I was right!!! I may try that or go with another English yeast but thank you for the info !!!

 

[PCABrewing]

Yeah...ive had the 12 pks in my hand 2 or 3 time just for the Old Fezzi. But I only like the old fezz, Xmas porter and Bost lager. The other 6 are worthless..so paying for a 12 to get 6 beer I like...with a craving for just 2, old Fezz.... I'm sure I'll cave in sooner or later and buy it ..heavy sigh.

I think I'll go buy one just to see what this Old Fezzi is all about, it sounds interesting. The Porter sounds intriguing as well.
You can always save the other six for "guests"

 

[seanjwalker1]

I think I'll go buy one just to see what this Old Fezzi is all about, it sounds interesting. The Porter sounds intriguing as well.
You can always save the other six for "guests"

Lol I do! I hand them out to neighbors and my barber. Now drink an Old Fezziwig with the knowledge that for many of us it's like holding on to a Christmas tradition. When Sam Adams started putting these out, there just wasn't a lot of selections out there for "Christmas Beer". Since my 1st Old Fezzi years ago, I've had better and I've had worse. It's a decent holiday beer and I think a lot of the desire to have a few every year is like kinda being grown up and remembering a favorite toy from years ago that always holds a special place in your heart. And the fact Sam Adams marketing had the foresight to connect it to something so dear to most of our collective Christmas spirit...A Christmas Carol... It's like reaching back to yesteryear. But whatever..i like it.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm pretty sure I could dig out a couple bottles of Fezzi from the depths of my fridge collection.
Never liked it...

Cheers!

 

[seanjwalker1]

I'm pretty sure I could dig out a couple bottles of Fezzi from the depths of my fridge collection.
Never liked it...

Cheers!

Yeah to each his own I guess. One mans nectar is another man's bitter dregs

 

[bwible]

WLP008 is definitely their house ale yeast. It's a very very old British strain, ancestor to many of our American ale strains today.

It’s funny, I used to own a homebrew store (closed up in 2004) and to this day I still know just about every Wyeast strain by number off the top of my head. But I never learned the White Labs numbers.

Anyhow, East Coast Ale yeast is reportedly Sam Adams yeast. Yes that is WLP008, I had to look it up.

And FYI - there is no equivalent Wyeast strain for WLP008.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

It’s funny, I used to own a homebrew store (closed up in 2004) and to this day I still know just about every Wyeast strain by number off the top of my head. But I never learned the White Labs numbers.

Anyhow, East Coast Ale yeast is reportedly Sam Adams yeast. Yes that is WLP008, I had to look it up.

And FYI - there is no equivalent Wyeast strain for WLP008.

What lager yeast does Sam Adams use?

 

[bwible]

What lager yeast does Sam Adams use?

I was never a big lager brewer - don’t have an answer for that. There’s an older yeast chart out there - some say its not completely accurate but I always used it. Probably couldn’t go wrong with 34/70 “the most widely used lager strain in the world.”

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

 

[bwible]

What lager yeast does Sam Adams use?

Somebody on BeerSmith put this up:

“Sam Adams has two different beers: Boston Lager and Boston Ale. They share the same malt bill, but one is made with their house lager yeast and the other with their house ale yeast. For the Boston Lager, I would check out one of the American lager strains: WY2035 or WY2272 (sorry, I am really only familiar with the Wyeast strains). If these were not available (as both are private collection strains and only released occasionally), I would look to a clean lager strain such as WY2206, WY2124, Saflager W-34/70.”

So WY2035 and WY2272 are out of production. WY2035 has no White Labs equivalent. WY2272 says it matches up with WLP840 American Lager Yeast and that is in production.

FWIW, I’ve been trying to get a pack of WY2035 for a couple years now. I want to use it for a pre-prohibition lager.

 

[bwible]

I think these yeast companies both try real hard to tell you where the yeast is from or at least what its best suited for with the name. For example if they call one yeast “St.Louis Lager yeast” is there any doubt what they are trying to tell you? Another good one is “Rocky Mountain Lager yeast.” I see this as a theme with all their names and with a little imagination its usually not hard to guess or at least get a real good idea thats close if not spot on.

 

[dmtaylor]

What lager yeast does Sam Adams use?

I did a bunch of Googling earlier this year. Best I can possibly tell is that it's WLP029 / Wyeast 2124 (and YES, these are genetically the same yeasts, both are pastorianus).

EDIT: The old MrMalty yeast equivalency chart is...... very outdated. Here's my shamelessly plugged new & improved version of something similar:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XRUloO3WXqH9Ixsf5vx2DIKDmrEQJ36tLRBmmya7Jo/edit?usp=sharing