question about alcohol?

[dibrewzza]

Hey all, I'm looking to make a beer close to a local breweries christmas ale I had a month or so ago. (put-in-bay brewery Ohio)

it was roughly 9.4% abv they said at the brewpub

At my LHBS alongside the help of the workers we came up with a recipe

together we think we'll have the overall body of the beer and the flavor notes, however i picked up some Brewer's Best Dark Belgian Candi Sugar to up the alcohol content without adding even more body to the 9 pounds of DME we have in the beer.

My question is: how much candies should I add to the beer do you all think?

9 lbs plain amber DME
1 lb Briess 2 row
1 lb briess caramel malt 80L
1/2 lb Briess chocolate malt 6 row
1 oz magnum hops @ 60
2 oz cascade hops (1oz @ 15 1oz @5)
us-05

some misc spices

a 60 minute boil is planned.

I was told to add the candies around 30 minutes, but it's a 1 lb bag if i remember right which seems HUGE to me.

any suggestions for how much?

 

[tally350z]

I would add the entire 1 pound bag. That is around 8% of your total grist which seems reasonable. It will also bring you closer to your OG around 1.088ish..

 

[duboman]

Keep in mind that while upping the ABV the candi sugar will also dry out the beer and thin it as well since it mostly fermentable but you can still use the pound.

 

[dibrewzza]

Thanks guys! I appreciate it. Still new at this, just really want to try to experiment!

 

[marvaden]

Also, with an original gravity getting up that high, you might want to consider making a starter.

To avoid the thin mouth feel from adding the candi, you can simply mash higher since you are going to have to do at least a partial mash with that recipe anyways. Something 155*F to 160*F should be sufficient to give you the extra body.

 

[dibrewzza]

Marvaden, with this I can't just steep the grains? I plan on doing 5 1 gallon batches rather than 1 5 gallon batch. I just am doing math to simplify It. I really want to mix and match spices and flavors to get something I love.

That's just what we came up with for 5 gallons.

Anywho, if I can't just steep it, why not exactly? Just curious
Thanks!

 

[marvaden]

Mashing is very similar to steeping anyways. Check out what they do in the BIAB section. The main thing is that if you don't, you really won't get that many converted sugars out of those grains that you are using. It's discussed here that you won't get any sugar conversion from steeping. Although, since you have the 2-row in there, it really would always be mashing anyways. Steeping vs Mashing is really just whether or not you are utilizing enzymes or not.

All you really need to do for this would be heat a gallon of water up to roughly 160*F, have a pain strainer bag to dump the grains into, stir a lot as you slowly dump in the grains. Keep the temperature as close to 160 as you can without going over for an hour and just stir whenever you are checking the temperature. This should get you a good 65-85% efficiency. if you have another pot of to the side that has some heated up water (175 or so) you can pour that over the grains as you are lifting your bag out of the pot.

It's not that hard, it just adds an hour to your time of brewing.

 

[dibrewzza]

Awesome! I appreciate it! Then would I use those 2 gallons as my wort and just add another gallon or so for the boil?

 

[marvaden]

Yep. Just bring up your amount of water to the amount you want for the boil and add your extract.

Cheers!

 

[MrSpaz]

This is what marvaden is talking about: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/ I've read a lot of good things about this easy partial mash method. Going to try it on a pumpkin beer next weekend!

 

[dibrewzza]

Best of luck! Ill give that a go! I just am nervous because I'm not doing a 5 gallon batch, but rather 5 1 gallon batches lol

 

[IslandLizard]

They're still serving Christmas Ale in August? Or already?

Your Christmas Ale recipe doesn't include any spice, like cinnamon, ginger, and perhaps some orange peel. Weren't those flavors in the Putin Bay Christmas Ale?

For comparison, take a look at this Great Lakes Christmas Ale recipe. I linked to the posted extract version, which I again modified a bit and brewed back in February. It is an incredibly good ale.

Notes:
You want to use REAL Cinnamon, either powder or sticks. Stay away from Cassia, the thick (1/16"-1/8") dark brown bark, that comes in single curl sticks, but often sold as cinnamon. Real Cinnamon is light brown, and the "shaved" rolled up layers are paper thin, rolled up tightly, looking like a cigarette. You can use freshly grated orange zest and grated or thinly sliced fresh ginger.

 

[dibrewzza]

Island lizard:


I had the Christmas ale August 4th leftover from a big Christmas in July event they had. Also, I left those out but yea I have cinnamon nutmeg ginger and orange zest planned. The reason I'm doing 5 1 gallon batches is to mix and match the spices and see what I like best!

 

[IslandLizard]

Now I understand your 5x1 gal plan better. It's a good way to experiment with those spices.

The flavor changes quite a bit while the brew matures.

The fresh hydrometer sample tasted all like fresh orange peel, very little ginger or cinnamon. After fermentation, right before bottling, the orange was still present but with the deeper tones shining, no more light orangy fruitiness, much more complex with the cinnamon coming through. Ginger still hard to detect. Alcohol had quite a bite at 8.6%, and likely due to slightly warm fermentation (75°).

During the following months things became more harmonious and blended and the alcohol bite was mostly gone after 3 months and the beer about perfect after 6 (yeah August!). We never really tasted the ginger as such, but I'm sure it was complexed with everything else. Deep spicy notes remained, with an orange tint. Next time, which is a week or so from now, I'm gonna brew it again, use more ginger, more cinnamon, less orange zest, and add a little coriander seeds, crushed. They tend to give a better orange flavor than orange zest itself.

Let us know how you're faring with your 5x1 experiment. That's a lot of work.

 

[dibrewzza]

Let us know how you're faring with your 5x1 experiment. That's a lot of work.

^^^ Luckily I'm in College and nearing the end of it. I graduate in a semester so I'm not taking too many classes. This leaves me PLENTY of time =) Just got the girlfriend who gets bored. Lol

I'll keep it updated though! Thanks for the insight in your spices!