12 Beers of Christmas 2018 Edition

You absolutely *have* to call it "Spacey Hummingbird Spiced Cherry Dubbel!!!"

 

I spent this weekend staring at over a foot of snow. My plan is to brew a double batch of lambic, with half going towards crabapples and then the other half going to cranberries depending on how I like the crabapples. Though at this point it looks like winter is never going to end. Hrumph.

 

So I tried a few more ginger-IPA infusions today...I'm starting to think there isn't a hop profile that doesn't go well with ginger! I tried two citrus forward IPA's:


They both worked really well with the ginger!

I'm still leaning a bit more towards the piney/resiny hop profile, but if some citrus sneaks in there too, it certainly won't be the end of the world!

I need to start working on my grain bill...I'm thinking that it will feature some honey malt, and in place of dextrose, I will probably add some honey in secondary. I'm thinking I may go on the higher range of mash temps, to help retain some body and sweetness.

 

You may want to make a lot more than you need as it is easier to not burn if you have more sugar. I have not made caramel before, but I have caramelized honey for a Bochet Braggot I made a while ago. You can also do something along the lines of a decoction and boil down some of the first runnings until you get the color and flavor you want. I hope this helps.

 

@dryboroughbrewing will you update the OP so we can get someone else in to make the fruitcake Old Ale? Thanks

 

Would love to, but cannot, it's too old to edit at this point, I did update https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...stmas-2018-edition.642063/page-6#post-8199400 with the latest

 

I'm tempted to jump in on this. Looks like the fruitcake would need to be started soonish?

What the hell. I eyed the project last year. Might as well.

 

Ah didn't know this was a thing!

Do it!

 

I feel like a slacker already. I haven't even started researching what I need for mine yet. Guess I need to bump up the priority of shifting to all grain sooner so I can get a test run of the Abbey Weizen going!

 

You've got it!

We now have both groups filled!

 

Cool. Guess I'll have to get a test batch going. Fermentation chamber should be free in another week.

 

I need to pull a sample at some point nowish to 'check' my acid/funk levels...

 

Question for anyone that's brewed the old ale before. I plugged in the recipe on page 1, and my predicted OG is nowhere close. recipe says OG should be about 1.075, i'm getting 1.057, with just grains. Does that OG assume some bump from the fruit? I'm not sure how to enter fruit additions to beersmith. Just want to make sure i'm aiming in the right direction.

I'm also open to any tips overall from those who've made it in the past.

 

I did the Fruitcake Old Ale two years ago. I didn't use the recipe directly from the book, but did a sort of smash up recipe based on a couple of BYO articles. One of them was those style guideline articles usually done by Jamil Zanihshef...I was going to link the article, but I see that BYO has now moved all their online content behind a pay wall...f'n bastards...If you have or know someone who has a BYO subscription, it would be worth your time to look through the BYO archive for more information on Old Ales.

This is what I had come up with:

I went with a little bigger batch size (5.25 gal) because of expected loses due to the fruit, and this grain bill has a relatively low efficiency set at 60%. With those variables this yields an expected OG of 1.078. You could maybe cut back the base malt if you have better numbers than that...

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
72.5 12.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
14.5 2.50 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
5.8 1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
5.8 1.00 lbs. Turbinado Sugar Generic 1.046 0
0.7 0.13 lbs. Chocolate Malt Great Britain 1.034 475
0.7 0.13 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.50 oz. Willamette Pellet 4.10 25.3 60 min.
1.50 oz. Willamette Pellet 4.10 12.9 30 min.
1.00 oz. Willamette Pellet 4.10 0.0 0 min.
IBU: 38.1

I did some calculations based on the nutritional information on the fruit packets to estimate the additional amount of sugar added from the fruit and just added those points to the OG.

From my notes: "Based on 1.4 oz / serving, and 32 oz berries @ 12 gm sugar / serving, and 16 oz apricots @ 15 gm sugar / serving, estimate about 445 gm sugar ~ 0.98 lbs added sugars. Assuming 1.046 pppg for sugar, conservitavely estimate 7 gravity points added sugar."

 

The recipe is probably using a different efficiency than you are. Just up the recipe grain quantity until the numbers match the recipe for you system. No different than copying any other established recipe.

 

@biochemedic thank you for the recipe

The difference just seemed larger than you'd normally get from a varying efficiency. Large enough that I didn't know if it was taking into account the fruit in the OG number. If I use the above estimate of 7 points from the fruit, that puts me at 1.064, which might be slightly closer to just an efficiency difference. Beersmith is estimating a 70% efficiency, which is low for even me.

I'm just over thinking things, which I normally do. I'll adjust to meet the estimates in the recipe and just run a test batch.

 

After all the delays happening over the last 2 months, the quad is in the fermenter. I hope this one works out well. Finger crossed!

 

It's good to question things for sure. I can't imagine the fruit adds any relevant gravity points to this beer. I would yeah adjust for your system and attain the numbers as if you weren't adding any fruit. It's an old ale anyway, so even if it added a couple points it won't be a big deal.

 

Two weeks in now, the Spacey Hummingbird Spiced Cherry Dubbel is down to a steady 1.012 and the fermentation chamber no longer smells quite so overwhelmingly of bananas. I've now added the Vitner's Harvest sour and sweet cherry purees, which both turned out to be a lot runnier than expected - more like juice than puree. Hopefully that will help when it comes to cold-crashing.

Based on other folks' experience, I'll be keeping a close eye out for blow-off.

 

Fermentation has re-started, but with nothing like the vigor others have reported.

Do people re-oxygenate for the secondary fermentation? I can imaging racking onto fruit in a secondary naturally introducing more oxygen, but because I didn't have a spare fermentor I just added the puree to to the beer in the primary with little or no chance for re-oxygenation. FWIW, it's in a temperature-controlled environment at 68F.

 

Oxygen is bad once the yeast have begun to produce alcohol. Most take great care to prevent oxidation post fermentation.

 

Tried the first rendition of the Juniper Rye Bock and can hardly taste the juniper at all. Will have to go big on the next version. Maybe go get some fresh berries and mash some with the grain, boil some with the wort and then tincture some for the lager fridge. I'll get that stuff in there somehow.

 

in 2012, my cousin-in-law brewed that beer, and he put fresh cut juniper boughs in the bottom of his mash tun, as well as juniper berries in the mash. No sure if he added anything after that. As I recall, there was a subtle, but present juniper flavor.

 

The boughs in the mash tun is a great idea. I'll definitely do that.

 

I'm jealous of all you kegging folks. I won't know if my quad is good for at least 6 weeks and that will be early. Either way, I plan on a round 2 this spring after I see what the flavor profile is.

 

If I understand this correctly, there is one open spot on the 2nd list? (That would be for the CRANAPPLE LAMBICKY ALE which is definitely something that interests me.) Are you guys against an extractor joining?

 

Is it beer? Dah, of course your welcome. Using extract for a lambicy thing is an interesting idea. Should make no difference. I hope you join this crazy thing.

 

If this post is up to date then I think we're full up, otherwise I wouldn't mind an extract brewer jumping in.

Post 219: Participant List

 

Ah, thanks. I didn't scroll through the last few pages...just the original post. Good catch.

I'll hang out in standby mode.

 

The underwhelming secondary fermentation doesn't seem to have hurt any, and 3 days later we're down to 1.011 and 8.15% ABV. The cherry is pretty subtle, and plays off the banana notes very nicely. I'll cold crash while I'm traveling next week, keg and carb, and see if it's a keeper.

 

I've ordered everything for the Gruit and I'm looking to brew this very soon... I'll send some brew pics! Should be interesting as I've never brewed without hops!

 

I'll fix the list when not on mobile

 

To my fellow group 2ers, the spiced bourbon stout is brewed, fermented, and aging in a whiskey barrel as we speak!



At 24.5lbs grain, it filled my 10gal mash tun. By filled I mean overflowed:




I had to put books on top of it to keep the lid down during the 1hr mash at 148F. Low mash temp = more fermentable, important I think when doing high abv beers because the finishing gravity is always gonna be on the high side.

Then the ferment with wlp500 was crazy vigorous. I had previously made about a 1 gallon starter so the yeast was ready to rock and roll. In the first 2 days of fermentation I lost about a half gallon of wort to overflow via a blowoff tube! Don’t worry there’s still plenty to go around.




og 1.097
fg 1.021
abv 11%

Time to let it sit and rest in the barrel for 3-4 months, then the tentative plan is extended aging in the keg where I'll carb it up, and eventually bottle it via counter pressure filler.

Recipe was:
2 row (50%)
plus 17% Vienna and 11% Munich for a malty/complexity kick

the rest was:
Caramunich
Chocolate
Black
Roasted Barley
Crustal 120
Oats
Candi sugar

WLP 500 monastery yeast

1 single bittering hops charge at 60min = 90IBUS

I'm calling it Krampus: He Knows When You Are Sleeping.

Still need some decent bottling artwork for the labels...

 

Dang man. I thought 17 lbs. was a lot because that's the most I've done so far! It looks really good and I'm excited to try it!

 

I did a EBW with 26 lbs, but that was some pretty thick mash. I still got really good conversion though

 

I am building out the gingerbread recipe and realized that I am wasting time (and likely everyone else's brain cell) by not asking if anyone has a recipe for that which they have seen somewhere. I have a good handle on how I wanna play this (and a minor tweak to my thoughts already), but it can't hurt to follow the guidance of others.

 

Christmas Gruit has been brewed... wort has a great aroma from the spices / juniper berries... nice warm swamp cooler for the French Saison yeast. Adding some buckwheat honey after primary fermentation has started.

 

Earlier in the thread, post #21, I think has all of the recipes listed.

 

Group 2 Quad, attempt 1: I bottled this today and it ended up at 1.019 from 1.092 in about 4 weeks time. This makes it 10%+. I got 52 12oz. bottles out of this. I'll try one of the test bottles in a few weeks to check carb and everything.

The sample tasted pretty good although the alcohol gave a bit of a kick (I know it's young). The caramel taste was there but I'm not sure if it will be more pronounced as it ages.

I am toying with trying this again due to my OCD and wanting to hit all the numbers but I'll wait a couple weeks to see if the 1st attempt smooths out a bit with some carbonation.

 

Finally got some good weather and some time, so LAMBIC TIME! Today was a very wonky brew day. I took the base recipie, did a bunch of research on sours, fell down a rabbit hole, and came out the other side. Grainbill for ~12g was 7# of wheat malt and 14# of pilsner. Goal was to mash at 158-159, then mash out at 170. I mash-in using a chugger pump and back-flow through the false bottom, which generally means less heat lose. However, this time I forgot to close the valves, so after I mashed in, the mash water flowed back into the HLT (I keep my mash tun on saw horses, with my HLT and BK on burners at a lower level, for a hybrid gravity/pump system). Long story short, I wound up doing a screwy turbid mash kind of thing by heating all my mash-in water to 170°. If this had been a hop-heavy (read: expensive) IPA, I would have dumped it then and there. However, since this was a sour that traditionally called for starch- and dextrine-heavy unconverted turbid mash, I went for it. I left the mash tun open to cool the mash, and let it ride. I did not have the ability to add in cooler water to reduce the mash temperature because all my water here is chlorinated, and I de-chlorinated by filling water jugs a week ahead of time, and all my water was heating in the BK and HLT. Yeah, it was a screwy day, and long story short, right now I have a pair of fermonsters with ~5.5g each, yeast pitched, so we will see what happens. One femonster got Gigayeast's Sour Cherry Funk, and the other got Wyeast Lambic Blend, so we will see how they turn out in a few months.

Target OG was 1.050, but with the over-sparge and my increased efficiency from using a BIAB in the mash tun and double-crushing grain, I ended up at 1.060 (at this point I need to adjust my recipes). So I will see how they develop over time.