I'm not huge on holiday beers but like having a few around, so I did a quick 1-gallon Northern Brewer Festivus Miracle yesterday. Seems happy after 12 hours!
What do others brew for the holidays?
What do others brew for the holidays?
What are people brewing for the holidays?
- Thread starter IrondaleBrewing
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On Saturday, I kegged Canoe Chuck (3# pils dme, 2# rice syrup solids, saaz for 5gal) for a month long lager in the kegerator. I also brewed a schwarzbier (4# dark dme, 1# blackprinz, perle, tettnang, and centennial for 5gal) to dump on the same yeast cake that is happily fermenting away now.
I was planning to do an oatmeal stout for my next batch, but I haven’t found a great recipe yet and am trying to cobble something together. I was also talking to a buddy who suggested some type of spiced christmas ale, and it’s getting the wheels turning for a “brew after next” but again no recipe.
I was planning to do an oatmeal stout for my next batch, but I haven’t found a great recipe yet and am trying to cobble something together. I was also talking to a buddy who suggested some type of spiced christmas ale, and it’s getting the wheels turning for a “brew after next” but again no recipe.
OP
OP
Love schwarzbier! I haven't done an oatmeal stout in a while either so I think you inspired me. 
I brewed an attempt at a clone of Anchor Our Special Ale, as Anchor went out of business this year. BYO just did an excellent article on OSA but it came out after I already did mine. I split the batch and did half with a cinnamon clove spice mixture and half with an oatmeal cookie flavoring from Apex Flavors. I just bottled those. Then I brewed the Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale recipe that there’s a good thread on here with alot of information about. That one is in the fermenter now.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/winters-bourbon-cask-ale-clone.156479/
I’m not usually big on spiced beers (I despise pumpkin beer) but I’m pretty excited for these.
We also like spiced cider for the holidays. Heat some apple cider with mulling spices. Can be done in a crock pot or just stove top. Use alcoholic cider or you can heat non-alcoholic cider with spices and spike it with Applejack.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/winters-bourbon-cask-ale-clone.156479/
I’m not usually big on spiced beers (I despise pumpkin beer) but I’m pretty excited for these.
We also like spiced cider for the holidays. Heat some apple cider with mulling spices. Can be done in a crock pot or just stove top. Use alcoholic cider or you can heat non-alcoholic cider with spices and spike it with Applejack.
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OP
OP
Yep that BYO article was great. I plugged that all into Brewfather to scale it down for a future batch.
I hadn't heard of the Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale before, thanks for sharing! When done well (and not overdone) I really love the vanilla and oak combo.
Quick update, I tapped it for Halloween! I had been underwhelmed when I kegged it but it really turned out beautifully after a few weeks of resting. I’m also throwing a canoe Chuck photo in as well! I believe these are brews #6 and #5 for me, respectively, and I couldn’t be happier with them. I’m still on extract til I can find a good price on an all-in-one.Love schwarzbier! I haven't done an oatmeal stout in a while either so I think you inspired me.
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OP
OP
That looks fantastic, and sounds like it tastes as good as it looks! Patience is definitely your friend in this hobby.
I do a mix of extract and all-grain BIAB. Since I do mostly 1-gallon batches the Gigawort works well for small BIAB batches, but now that I'm rolling pretty well in my new brewing space and the neighbors have caught wind that I'm making beer ;-) I'll probably scale up to 2-3 gallon batches so I may get the smaller Anvil (6.5 gallon I think it is) for all-grain, or at least that's the one I've been leaning towards.
OP
OP
Nice! I just ordered some of that, never had it. Can't wait to give it a try. Did you find a clone recipe that you like?
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Buckwheat lager with honey to prime instead of sugar for some additional flavor. Don't know how "holiday" this is, but the last batch, minus honey, turned out pretty well.
Just bottled an Old Ale today that I brewed in the end of August. One of the clubs I'm in has been doing in-club comps each quarter, and Old Ale was the style pulled out of the hat for Q4.
I primed the bottles with brown sugar. Usually I keg, bottles make it easier to give away as gifts, and I'd need to fill bottles for the Boston Worts Beer Advent anyway.
Recipe was fairly simple
Recipe: North Shore Brewers Old Ale
Style: Old Ale
TYPE: Extract
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.079 SG
Estimated Color: 15.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 41.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
8.0 oz Crystal 400 (150L) (Muntons) [Steep] (203.0 SRM) Grain 1 4.3 % 0.04 gal
1 lbs 1.7 oz Spraymalt DME - Wheat Malt [Boil] (5.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 9.4 % 0.08 gal
3 lbs 4.8 oz Maris Otter® Light Malt Extract (Muntons) [Boil] Extract 3 28.2 % 0.27 gal
1.50 oz Homegrown Brewers Gold CY21 [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 4 40.0 IBUs -
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 5 - -
6 lbs 9.6 oz Maris Otter® Light Malt Extract (Muntons) [Whirl Extract 6 56.4 % 0.55 gal
1.00 oz Homegrown Willamette CY21 [5.50 %] - Steep/Whir Hop 7 1.6 IBUs -
1.0 pkg Munton Fison Premium (Munton-Fison #-) Yeast 8 - -
3.0 oz Brown Sugar, Light [Bottling] (8.0 SRM) Sugar 9 1.6 % 0.01 gal
I primed the bottles with brown sugar. Usually I keg, bottles make it easier to give away as gifts, and I'd need to fill bottles for the Boston Worts Beer Advent anyway.
Recipe was fairly simple
Recipe: North Shore Brewers Old Ale
Style: Old Ale
TYPE: Extract
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.079 SG
Estimated Color: 15.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 41.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
8.0 oz Crystal 400 (150L) (Muntons) [Steep] (203.0 SRM) Grain 1 4.3 % 0.04 gal
1 lbs 1.7 oz Spraymalt DME - Wheat Malt [Boil] (5.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 9.4 % 0.08 gal
3 lbs 4.8 oz Maris Otter® Light Malt Extract (Muntons) [Boil] Extract 3 28.2 % 0.27 gal
1.50 oz Homegrown Brewers Gold CY21 [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 4 40.0 IBUs -
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 5 - -
6 lbs 9.6 oz Maris Otter® Light Malt Extract (Muntons) [Whirl Extract 6 56.4 % 0.55 gal
1.00 oz Homegrown Willamette CY21 [5.50 %] - Steep/Whir Hop 7 1.6 IBUs -
1.0 pkg Munton Fison Premium (Munton-Fison #-) Yeast 8 - -
3.0 oz Brown Sugar, Light [Bottling] (8.0 SRM) Sugar 9 1.6 % 0.01 gal
I brewed an old ale as well. I bottled it to hopefully age a few. It tasted amazing flat. I’ll crack the first one next week at our homebrew club meeting.
EugenPrusi
Member
I'm intrigued by the use of Maris Otter light malt extract in both the boil and whirlpool stages of the brewing process
OP
OP
That's great to know! I watched a couple of videos about that one and was looking at that kit. I'm planning on doing a 2.5 gallon batch more or less following that recipe, using blackberry honey instead of clover honey (for that additional Northwest flair ...), and splitting it into two 1.25 gallon fermenters, using S-04 yeast in one, and T-58 in the other to see what happens with that one. Still debating on the T-58 -- might be a bad idea but I'm curious!
I not used T-58 before. But I’ve used s-04 and Nottingham before; like both, especially Notty!
OP
OP
I have some Nottingham and Windsor as well -- is it true what I've heard about Nottingham, namely that it's a beast? I got a six pack of the Great Lakes Christmas Ale and it's REALLY good, to me it has a nice dry finish, but if I was going to change anything at all, maybe a very slightly less dry finish would be preferable to me. Then again I'll be lucky to approximate it at all, certainly on my first attempt.
Going back to the post that started this thread, the Festivus Miracle isn't great. Or maybe my batch just didn't come out well, though I don't think I had any major issues with making it or the fermentation. It's just
... not good. At least to me. Spices are pretty overpowering and the body of the beer doesn't make up for it or balance it out.
But yeah if I can get even close to the Great Lakes I'll be SUPER happy. Doing that one all grain.
Just read back through this thread and have to respond to this post. I’m a small batch brewer, brewing a case of beer (or 2.5gal keg) at a time, or around 3 gal batches. I started my Brew Journey with GigaWort as well, and still use it (after 6 yr) for both extract and as a HLT (sparge water heater) for all grain. When I started into AG, I first bought a Blichmann Boilermaker 7 gal kettle, and picked up an igloo cooler for mashing. That lasted about a year and I got tired of the exposed heating element, and I picked up an Anvil 6.5. It is ok, but it has its little issues and design flaws that I frankly got tired of dealing with. Earlier this past year, I loosened up tjd wallet and I picked up a Grainfather G30 v3. It costs double what the Anvil costs, but Wow, what a machine. My Anvil has moved into the shelf and the GF is the only thing I use. If I want to sparge instead of BIAB, I use the GigaWort to heat my water.
I only relate this story because you snd I seem to think along the same path as far as your equipment plans go. If you don’t mind paying a little more, and like getting what you paid for, check out the G30v3!
Gary
Spices can get overpowering in these brews, especially mulling spices and Ginger. They need a little time in the bottle to mellow out. I always have a tough time with Ginger. Anyway, with the GL’s ale, you boil your ginger and cinnamon the entire boil, so it’s not as overbearing. Good Luck!
OP
OP
Thanks Gary! Really appreciate the thoughts and you sharing your experiences. I think my next big expense will be a steam condensing hood (range hood I installed in my brewing space is just bad enough to be irritating) but a new AIO is high on the list, maybe right behind a kegerator.
I'm assuming from what you're saying the G30 works well for a 2.5-3 gallon BIAB batch even though it could handle quite a bit more?
Thanks again for sharing your experiences and thoughts!
I have a Stout in the fermenter now and will bottle in another 2 weeks as my "holiday" brew. My closet is just about at capacity now. Will certainly work on the Tripel from last year to make room for 2024 production.
redrocker652002
Well-Known Member
I have a single hop Pale Ale and a Pliny the Elder convert from a DIPA to an APA that I want to try.
