Winter Seasonal Beer Santa's Bermuda Schwartz (mixed style winter seasonal)

[TheMadKing]

This is a mashup of a Schwartzbier and a Tropical Stout recipe with some seasonal flavors added to make it a tad Christmasy. I brewed this just yesterday and the wort tasted phenomenal and it was a really fun brew day. I will post updates on the finished beer, but I'm excited about this one and wanted to share the recipe:

• OG 1.067
• Est FG 1.010
• IBU 30
• Color 42 SRM
• ABV 7.7%
• Mash Efficiency 86%
• BH Efficiency 78%

9.25 lb Pilsner
1lb Munich I
12 oz Carafa Special III
6 oz Special B
6 oz Roasted Barley
1 mL lactic acid

I used a Hockhurz step mash with the following rests:
30 mins at 142F
20 mins at 158F
10 mins at 165F

Fly sparge with acidified sparge water to achieve preboil volume

Boil for 60 minutes with the following additions
1 lb D-240 Belgian Candi Syrup @ First Wort
0.65 oz Magnum @ 60 min
0.50 oz of Hallertauer @ 20 min
0.75 oz of crushed juniper berries (in a hop sock) @ 5 min and left in during the whirlpool and chill

Ferment with lager yeast. I chose a 50/50 mixture of Safelager 34/70 and S-23. I've read that the S-23 throws a lot of esters which is very appropriate for a tropical stout, and the 34/70 should help to tame it down a bit and make sure I'm not overpowering the beer. I'm fermenting at 55F for 2 weeks and then ramping up to 65F for another 3 days before chilling down to 38F and kegging.

I'll add Orange liqueur to taste in the keg. I will pull a 100 mL sample and dose with 1mL drops to hit the desired flavor profile and then scale up and dose the keg with that amount. My goal is to keep the christmas flavor subtle and not overwhelm the beer, so it will likely be a very small amount.

The juniper was evident in the wort and was nicely balanced with the roast and hop flavors so it tasted almost like a christmas tree (in a good way!). I'll post an update when it's finished in a couple weeks on how the final beer comes out and any recommended tweaks.

 

[Jabob513]

Did you get the chance to add the orange yet? Sounds good, love the juniper!

 

[TheMadKing]

Did you get the chance to add the orange yet? Sounds good, love the juniper!

So tested the orange in a small sample and it was AWFUL. I ended up not adding it at all.

I think you would need a really high quality extract or actual orange peel for it to be good.

The 0.75oz of juniper also doesn't come through much in the finished beer. We did a little christmas party and I wanted it to taste like christmas tree stout so I ended up putting 3 oz (YES 3 OZ) of gin into a 1/2 gallon growler and it was just at the taste threshold.

I think if I made this beer again I would reduce the bittering hops and double the amount of juniper. There are no yeast esters to note at all either. I think I might add a little crystal malt to the grain bill for some additional complexity too.

Overall it's a solid beer, but I would definitely make a few changes