Great Holiday Ale Extract Recipe

I am now an All Grain brewer but a few months ago I started this brew and just tried my first bottle today. WOW is it good. 7%+ ABV


3.3 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract
2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract
2# honey @ 30 minutes
8 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering @60)
1oz Cascade at 30 minutes
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing@ Flame Out)
2 whole cloves @ 60 minutes
4 cinnamon sticks at 60 minutes
1 whole nutmeg, smashed at 60 minutes
1 large nub fresh ginger roughly chopped at 60 minutes
5 # chopped tart apples sanitized and added to primary
64 oz unpast apple cider added to secondary


nottingham ale yeast

1 week in primary
1 months in secondary
bottle and carb

I bottled this a week ago..I had to sneak one...so good

OG 1.069 before all the juice and apples

FG 1.017


I think AG..now I would go with 10# pale, 1 # amber, some roasted barley and a little oats.......but for an extract holiday brew..it is very nice.

What amount do you think it would take to replace the apples with tart cider in the knockout?

GoMNTwins said:

What amount do you think it would take to replace the apples with tart cider in the knockout?

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I think a gallon would be great! THis beer ages nicely, I just had one yday...really nice.

Thinking about making this recipe... how did it end up turning out? This will be my first time brewing without ordering a kit and just going off a recipe....any tips?

brewstev said:

Thinking about making this recipe... how did it end up turning out? This will be my first time brewing without ordering a kit and just going off a recipe....any tips?

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You will love the beer, but give it time. The more time the better. I think from a yeast perspective, that WLP001 or Pacman would be a better choice then nottingham......or even dry english ale (WLP007)

Also, I would add the honey to the end of the boil, or even better...mix it with the apple juice and add to secondary! You want to keep that honey flavor. Ohh...and the crystal was C50...but use what you like

As I look, the spices should be at the end of the boil too....

Can you describe the taste? There is a surprising amount of apples

Also, what did you do to sanitize the apples?

jeffdill said:

Can you describe the taste? There is a surprising amount of apples

Also, what did you do to sanitize the apples?

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It is actually quite dry, like a mix between apfelwein and an amber spiced ale. I diced up my apples and simply rinsed them off with tapwater. When the fermentation was over the yeast had ate up all the sugars from within the apple cubes and left me with cubes of flavorless mushy apples. It was pretty cool.

permo said:

You will love the beer, but give it time. The more time the better. I think from a yeast perspective, that WLP001 or Pacman would be a better choice then nottingham......or even dry english ale (WLP007)

Also, I would add the honey to the end of the boil, or even better...mix it with the apple juice and add to secondary! You want to keep that honey flavor. Ohh...and the crystal was C50...but use what you like

As I look, the spices should be at the end of the boil too....

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Perfect! I've been looking for something to do with my Pacman and I've been wanting to make a holiday ale. I will put this on my list of considerations.

Oh, PS, does this have a name or belong to a particular style of beers?

Brewed this guy yesterday with your extra tips, fermentation took off within a couple hours and the house smelled amazing. One questions though...

My OG reading came out around 1.055 which seems much lower than the 1.069 you stated. The juice hasn't been added yet, but you did mention your reading was before the apples were added ( measured after) but i didnt think this would effect the reading very much.

I stirred the carboy for a good 3.5-4 min so i didnt think that it would be an issue of mixing the extract/wort with added topwater. Any ideas? I was under the impression with extract it was tough to miss your SG. Thanks!

Alright, I bought all the ingredients for this batch, but I realized I misread the schedule - I thought it said 1 week in the primary and 1 in the secondary. If the fruit is going in the primary and is consumed by the yeast during fermentation, is it just aging in the secondary for that month?

I ask because I was hoping to have this ready earlier than mid-January. Boiling tonight, 1 week in the primary, 4 in the secondary, 3 in the bottles puts me at 10 January 2011. Add another week or two of refrigeration and it's going to be almost February for this "holiday" beer.

Can I shorten the time in the secondary or should this just follow the schedule and be put away for next Thanksgiving/Christmas time frame?

Having never used fruit before, do core and skin the apples before they go in the primary?

I used almost all the same ingredients, except for the nutmeg...I couldn't find whole at any of the three grocery stores I called and I wasn't driving 25 minutes one way to the LHBS for it, if they even had it. After researching a bit on some of the ingredients, I cut back a bit on the cloves as I didn't want that to overpower the beer. The crystal malt I got from the LHBS was 60L. It's what I got when I asked for "crystal malt." I didn't know there was a difference or various versions of it.

Here's what I went with:

3.3 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract
2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract
8 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering @ boil)
1oz Cascade at 30 minutes
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing @ Flame Out)

Spices:
1 whole clove
4 cinnamon sticks broken into pieces, not ground
1 whole nutmeg, smashed (or 2 tsp ground)
1.5 oz freshly ground ginger

5 lbs chopped tart Granny Smith green apples
(stem and stickers removed, whole apples dunked in sanitizer, then chopped. I used an apple slicer that removes the core, and then cut the slices again to fit into the carboy. I also left the skin on the slices)

64 oz Apple cider (no preservatives, might need to buy organic) added to secondary
2 lbs Honey added to secondary

Nottingham ale yeast (dry packet)

4 gallon boil for wort
1 gallon boil for spices
Approx 1 gallon tap water added to top off to 5 gallons

Steep crystal malt at ~160* F for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil. Add LME and DME. Bring to a boil. Add hops according to schedule. In a separate pot, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add spices and cover pot for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered. Strain “tea” and add to wort. Chill wort and strain trub and siphon it onto the sliced apples in the primary. Pitch yeast, shake, and seal. In one week, move to secondary for four weeks. Bottle and carbonate.

OG of the wort (no apples, cider, or honey) – 1.042.

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jtkratzer said:

Alright, I bought all the ingredients for this batch, but I realized I misread the schedule - I thought it said 1 week in the primary and 1 in the secondary. If the fruit is going in the primary and is consumed by the yeast during fermentation, is it just aging in the secondary for that month?

I ask because I was hoping to have this ready earlier than mid-January. Boiling tonight, 1 week in the primary, 4 in the secondary, 3 in the bottles puts me at 10 January 2011. Add another week or two of refrigeration and it's going to be almost February for this "holiday" beer.

Can I shorten the time in the secondary or should this just follow the schedule and be put away for next Thanksgiving/Christmas time frame?

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If you are worried about schedule, just keep it in primary till it ferments out and do all your aging in the bottles. That way you can be impatient and drink up before its "technically" ready.

LambChop4Prez said:

If you are worried about schedule, just keep it in primary till it ferments out and do all your aging in the bottles. That way you can be impatient and drink up before its "technically" ready.

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I'm still planning on adding the honey and cider, but I have no idea how long it will take to finish fermenting those sugars in the secondary. I'm assuming it will take longer than an additional week since a good portion of the yeast will be left behind in the primary. I wonder if just adding it to the primary after a week will restart the yeast again...

Screw it, I'll just follow the schedule. I'll have the hefeweizen fully bottle conditioned by Christmas. I'll enjoy this one in January/February while sitting in front of the woodstove.

Here's a pic of this concoction:

Its going to be awesome! As far as secondary, once the juice ferments out and the yeast drops you can sure bottle it up. It just mellows out with age. I am jealous, i need to brew this again! Dont worry, there will be plenty of yeast in suspension in secondary to get the job done

permo said:

Its going to be awesome! As far as secondary, once the juice ferments out and the yeast drops you can sure bottle it up. It just mellows out with age. I am jealous, i need to brew this again! Dont worry, there will be plenty of yeast in suspension in secondary to get the job done

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Sounds good. I'm not a huge fan of overpowering cloves, and after tasting the sample I drew for the OG, I'm glad I went with only one. Thanks for getting back to me.

So what's up with the different OG's....I cam out with a 1.055, OP had 1.069 and jkratzer came out with a 1.042. Still a relatively new homebrewer, can anyone explain this difference? I was under the impression that with an extract brew that the OG would not vary too much.

Of course i guess it also depends on when you add the honey/cider

brewstev said:

So what's up with the different OG's....I cam out with a 1.055, OP had 1.069 and jkratzer came out with a 1.042. Still a relatively new homebrewer, can anyone explain this difference? I was under the impression that with an extract brew that the OG would not vary too much.

Of course i guess it also depends on when you add the honey/cider

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The original recipe had the honey added in during the boil. I haven't added honey or cider yet. This is my 4th batch of brew, so I'm still really new to all this.

I just checked Beer Calculus and the OG comes up at 1.042. It allows me to add the 2 lbs of honey and that bumps the OG to 1.056. It has apple juice on the list, but the only measurements are by lbs and ounces by weight, not fluid ounces. It also doesn't have an option for the apple chunks. However, there are 21 grams of sugar per serving in the cider and there are 8 servings in the jug. Approximately 6 ounces of sugar (I put cane for the sake of the calculator). That bumped the OG to 1.059 without the apples. So, an OG of over 1.060 would definitely be possible.

I'm at the point where I'm just saying, "Who cares? Let's drink the stuff when it's ready."

Awesome, thanks for the details. I am going to try this soon.

How's this sound for AG

Batch: 5gal

10lb 2 Row Pale
1lb Amber
1lb Crystal 30L
1lb Oats

Additions:
Homegrown Cascade @ 60min
Homegrown Willamete @ 30min
Homegrown Cascade @ 5min
(hop additions yet to be determined)
2lb Honey @ 5min
4 Cinnamon sticks @ 5min
1.5oz ginger @ 5min

Puts me roughly 1.075 post boil

Yeast Cali. 01

5lb Chopped Green Apples in primary

Racked to 2ndary around an expected OG of: 1.018

ABV 7.5% w/o factoring additional fermentables from the apples.

No cider or apple juice? I thought the honey was supposed to go in the secondary to maintain that flavor?

Just from experience of making tea, you probably don't need to boil the spices at all. Just like hops, the longer you boil, the more you lose.

Thanks, I forgot about the cider additions. I'll do that too. With the spices, I'll add them at flameout then, sound good?

Grain bill look ok?

jtkratzer said:

I couldn't find whole at any of the three grocery stores I called and I wasn't driving 25 minutes one way to the LHBS for it, if they even had it.

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Just wanted to offer some advice on finding this, and other spices, in the future. Chances are, a lot of grocery stores will not have whole nutmeg in with the normal spices. Don't know why, but none of the ones I frequent have them there. However, if these grocery stores have either a Hispanic foods section or an ethnic section, you might find it there. I often find some harder to find spices (such as whole spices) in those sections, as well as better prices (especially if you are a fan of white pepper). The ground stuff is definitely not the quality of the commercial brands, but whole spices tend to be more comparable in quality.

Also, if you have them in the area, Hispanic, Mexican, Indian, and Asian markets are a great source of whole spices.

jmferris said:

Just wanted to offer some advice on finding this, and other spices, in the future. Chances are, a lot of grocery stores will not have whole nutmeg in with the normal spices. Don't know why, but none of the ones I frequent have them there. However, if these grocery stores have either a Hispanic foods section or an ethnic section, you might find it there. I often find some harder to find spices (such as whole spices) in those sections, as well as better prices (especially if you are a fan of white pepper). The ground stuff is definitely not the quality of the commercial brands, but whole spices tend to be more comparable in quality.

Also, if you have them in the area, Hispanic, Mexican, Indian, and Asian markets are a great source of whole spices.

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There is a market around here that has some wild spices, but it's only open on certain days. It's definitely a spot I'll hit in the future, but I need to know what I'm going to brew before the day of brewing to get that stuff.

Having only had my kit for a few weeks, I've just been having a blast with it and not putting a whole lot of prior planning or preparation into getting all the supplies since the first couple batches I did were either kits or store recipes where I had everything in a single bag. This holiday beer is the first I had to go to several different locations to scrounge up the ingredients.

Faralon said:

Thanks, I forgot about the cider additions. I'll do that too. With the spices, I'll add them at flameout then, sound good?

Grain bill look ok?

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I'm a new brewer and just doing extract right now, so I can't comment on the grain bill. I'm going on what I was told about the spices. I asked my wife, my mom, and the guy at the LHBS about spices and all of them said that boiling would be overkill and you'd more than likely lose more than you'd gain by boiling. Flameout should be good because they'll be in there for at least 20 minutes during the cooling process if you use a wort chiller or longer if you don't.

I also strained all the spices out before mixing that "tea" with the wort. I didn't want things to be overpowering. I'm glad I did as the sample I tasted was spiced plenty. I definitely wouldn't go with more than a single whole clove unless you REALLY like cloves. If you don't normally strain out the hops before dumping everything into the fermenter, you might want to make a tea separately and add it to the wort after straining.

Just took a peek at it and the "exhaust" from the airlock smells heavenly. So, those of you who have brewed this before...what did you do about the apple chunks/slices floating on the top and not in the wort/beer?

Not much krausen forming on this so far. This is the first batch I'm fermenting in a carboy and I was hoping for some extraordinary display of fermentation, but as long as it does what it's supposed to do and a delicious beer results, I'll be happy.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to see some friends for the weekend and it will probably ferment like crazy while I'm gone and be done by the time I get home on Sunday.

For that first week in the primary and then transfer to the secondary, did you just give it 7 days from the time you pitched the yeast or what?

Drinking one of these right now. I did make a few adjustments because I only had powdered spices but the beer still turned out nice. It is a very nice beer but I really enjoy it when mixed with my caramel coffee stout, my two beers on tap right now.

I cannt help with the amount of krausen because I use buckets and I left it alone for 2 weeks in the primary without trying to drop the apples in.

clay3 said:

Drinking one of these right now. I did make a few adjustments because I only had powdered spices but the beer still turned out nice. It is a very nice beer but I really enjoy it when mixed with my caramel coffee stout, my two beers on tap right now.

I cannt help with the amount of krausen because I use buckets and I left it alone for 2 weeks in the primary without trying to drop the apples in.

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Can you clarify what you mean by "without trying to drop the apples in?"

Here's what I mean about literally floating on the top:


Some slices/chunks are below the liquid line, others are almost completely above it. They're not browning from exposure to the air/CO2, but it looks like they're more "water logged."

Just wondering what any of you have done, if anything, to submerge the apples completely.

I put the apples in, closed the cover and then left it alone, I did not try to push any apples deeper in. When I took the cover off my bucket many of the apples sank because they absorbed the liquid and others sat on top, but took the place of the apples sitting on top of the beer. If I remember correctly, all apples (on the bottom and on top) were in contacting the beer when I took the top off to transfer it.

clay3 said:

I put the apples in, closed the cover and then left it alone, I did not try to push any apples deeper in. When I took the cover off my bucket many of the apples sank because they absorbed the liquid and others sat on top, but took the place of the apples sitting on top of the beer. If I remember correctly, all apples (on the bottom and on top) were in contacting the beer when I took the top off to transfer it.

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Did you do 1 week from the time you put the wort in the primary or 1 week from the time fermentation started to show itself? Did you do any gravity readings before moving to a secondary to add the cider and honey?

Here is what I ended up doing with my AG brew day.

Batch: 5gal

Grain:
10lbs 2-Row Pale
1lb Amber
1lb Crystal 40
1lb Oats

60min mash @ 152'f

60min boil
Added 3/4oz. of a mix of Cascade, Willamette, Perle whole leaf homegrown hops at 60min.
Added 1/2oz. of the same mix at 30min.

(some of my vacume bags that had my hops in them were "not so" vacume sealed...so I ended up putting less hops then expected. I may toss some LHBS hops into the 2ndary for aroma....maybe.)

At flame out I added the 2lbs honey, 4 sticks of Cinnamon, and 20oz. powdered ginger.

While waiting for the wort to cool, I sliced up 5lbs of the GSmith apples and dropped em into the carboy. Earlier I had put the whole apples in sanitizer solution and hand rubbed them to clean the exterior of the apple.

Racked the cold wort from the kettle, into the carboy, onto the sliced apples.

Pitched: WL001 - already starting to bubble the airlock 7hrs later w/o a starter (once every few minutes).

OG was: 1.093 with the honey!. I thinned it out to 1.080 there will be extra fermentables fom the apples, but no way to measure.

With an expected FG of 1.018, this is a 8.7abv beer w/o factoring the apple fermentables!

Can't wait, thanks for the inspiring recipe!

Carboy looks just like the ones pictured.

One comment on the honey, I didn't want to stir the honey into the beer after racking to the secondary. What you would want to do is add the 2lbs of honey to the 2ndary 1st, then rack the beer ontop of it. For me, I just added it at flame out, so its in the primary. I'll add 64oz of Cider to the 2ndary before racking, which will thin out the ABV a little bit too....which I'm fine with, this is gonna be a BIG beer.

Two weeks in the primary because I couldn't wait any longer and broke my hydrometer so I could not take a reading. One of my modifications was to add my honey at flameout so I cannt comment on adding that to the secondary. I put my cider in the secondary first and then siphoned from my primary to the secondary so it would mix itself via the wirlpool effect.

I was thinking about boiling the cider briefly to ensure there's nothing nasty in it (I know there isn't since it's not preserved, but...) and to mix the honey. I'm going to it cool a bit and then put it in the secondary and then rack the beer on top of it.

Are you guys all adding 2 lbs of honey? and 5lbs of apples? i was thinking the "#" meant units. So 5 apples and 2 containers of honey...

Oh well the sample i tasted after the first hydro reading tasted great, so im sure it will end up great. Krausen was visible within a couple hours and there is still a 3/4 inch layer after 6 days! Usually this dissapates for me after 2-3days. I plan on doing the same as clay3 and racking to secondary on top of the cider to mix itself. Is it really necessary to boil it tho?

brewstev said:

Are you guys all adding 2 lbs of honey? and 5lbs of apples? i was thinking the "#" meant units. So 5 apples and 2 containers of honey...

Oh well the sample i tasted after the first hydro reading tasted great, so im sure it will end up great. Krausen was visible within a couple hours and there is still a 3/4 inch layer after 6 days! Usually this dissapates for me after 2-3days. I plan on doing the same as clay3 and racking to secondary on top of the cider to mix itself. Is it really necessary to boil it tho?

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I'm guessing probably not, but I was going to do that just to get the honey to dissolve and not have globs of it just laying in the beer somewhere.

I am almost sure I have read on here and other sites that you should never boil cider because it created off flavors. Don't know if it is true but might be worth researching.

Brewing this today, thanks for the recipe!!! I'm really excited. I'm hoping to have it ready before Christmas...maybe I need to cut it a bit shorter than you recommend, but that's OK.

One question though - why is the cider that you add to the secondary unpasteurized? I thought you would want it pasteurized so there isn't bacteria in it. Maybe I'm wrong? Would using pasteurized instead be bad?

jeffdill said:

Brewing this today, thanks for the recipe!!! I'm really excited. I'm hoping to have it ready before Christmas...maybe I need to cut it a bit shorter than you recommend, but that's OK.

One question though - why is the cider that you add to the secondary unpasteurized? I thought you would want it pasteurized so there isn't bacteria in it. Maybe I'm wrong? Would using pasteurized instead be bad?

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I'm guessing pasteurized would be alright, you just don't want any preservatives. If you keg and force carb, you could probably follow the schedule of 1 week in the primary, 1 month in the secondary, but I'm planning on 8 weeks since I have to bottle and I'm going to expect 3 weeks to carbonate.

Just to help in the OG discussion - mine was 1.064. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except I accidentally added 2.67 pounds of honey instead of 2 (forgot that the bottles I bought were 1 pound 6 oz each), which was done at flameout. No big deal.

Here's a picture of the surface of my fermentation 5 days after pitching. Airlock is chugging away, but still not much krausen. It's bubbling quite a bit on the surface.

Is the brown "stuff" on the apples alright? I'm assuming so, but just checking. Also, for those who did a week in the primary, a month in the secondary, was that "week" 7 days after pitching or when fermentation started? I suppose it doesn't really matter since it's getting more fermentables in the secondary.