12 Beers of Christmas 2020 Edition

Your in buddy. @PianoMan moved to the west coast group. You have the Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock.

 

I'm super happy to have that beer, too!

 

Any chance I could get the Christmas Gruit for the West Coast? Haven't done any trading on here but have shipped beer to friends.

 

I'm going to pick up my ingredients this wkend and brew next.

Last time I did this event, my cherry dubbel had too many cherries and ended up tart. I had to rebrew. Glad I brewed early that time, so doing it again. Worst case, it ages in bottle for a year.

Also, brewing this time of year means I can have it on tap while the weather is still cold (though it's in the 80's today, gah). I'm going to brew up a 10g batch.

 

I will be doing the same this weekend. Brewing a dubbel to test for the cherry beer. I might split the batch to do half with cherries and half without to both get a baseline and test the cherries.

 

The "without" version I made was super awesome! In truth, the cherries ruined it, for both early and delivered batches. I hate to tell you that, but if you can make a batch for yourself, don't add cherries!

 

What about reducing contact time?

 

Same feeling about anise in my stout back in 2017. The plain version was much more enjoyable... I leaned hard on the idea that Randy made us do it.

 

Less cherries is best. I went overboard and ended up feeding my back lawn with it.

 

I just brewed a Belgian dubbel and set aside 3 gal to do on tart cherries. I saved your recipe from the swap a few years ago as my baseline. For the three gal, I used four cans of tart cherries in juice, which really didn't do too much. I ended up adding another 24oz of cheribundi tart cherry juice as well. I'm bottle conditioning now, the gravity sample was pretty good. Subtle cherry flavor without being cloyingly sweet or overpowering...I'm hoping the bottle conditioning will help add a bit more yeast character and aroma as well and I think it will come together well.

 

While we are talking recipes, if I were to brew the spiced weizenbock again I would use just a little more of the spices, subdued is nice but just a bit more would say holiday beer. Perhaps if your spices are ultra fresh or freshly ground it would be enough.

 

For my 2019 Dubbel, I used 6lbs 8oz sour cherries and 8 lbs Trader Joe's dark cherries for a 5 gallon batch. While I liked the perception of the cherry flavor, I was disappointed to lose some of maltiness I was hoping for. If I was to brew it again, I might try adjusting the grain bill for more malt flavor in the end rather than reducing the cherries.

 

Good to know! I'll keep that in mind for mine.

 

I just checked my notes for Batch #1. For a 5g batch, I used 14.5# of Oregon-brand tart (Montmercy) cherries. The gravity of the beer BEFORE adding the cherries was 1.058, and I estimated the cherries would add 10 additional points. Although this was my target gravity, I thought it was too low for the style. Final gravity was 1.008, and it was pretty tart.

Batch #2, again 5g, came in at 1.095 before adding cherries. Instead of cherries, I added 32 oz. pure black sweet cherry juice (not tart). Final gravity was 1.019 (abv = 10.5%). "Cherry juice is just right. I can taste it, but it is not powerful. Beer seems extremely spicy due to, presumably, the high alcohol". I have another note that says "not cloying", though I would prefer to shave several points off that final gravity - seems a little high. I'd suggest shooting for somewhere in between, perhaps around 8% final ABV.

A pic of Batch #1, still in fermentor, and the result of #2.

 

BTW, here's a pic of the 12BOC lineup from that year (2017). Pretty sweet group there!

 

I used 4# Rainier and 1# Sour cherries in 4 gallons of Dubbel this year. I would add some caramel malt to get residual sweetness if I did it again and more sweet cherries.

 

Some great tips with the last few posts! Since we are talking recipes, has everyone that has done the dubbel previously used Mosher’s recipe?

It sounds good but I’ve got 5lbs of dark candi syrup that is itching to be used. Some is ear marked for my westvleteren clone but I feel like a dubbel might be a good use for it.

 

I've made several Cherry Quads. I prefer Tart cherries over sweet. Seemed to give it a lambic sense. My $.02

 

When it comes to cherries, I prefer a 50/50 split between sour and sweet. My $.02

Enough of these opinions, and someone might be able to buy a gumball.

 

I think I based off of JZ’s

 

I’m fine with it. Does anyone participating in the West Coast group have any concerns?

 

Fine with me.

 

Bump this to the top! There are only 5 spots left in group 2. Don’t delay, signup Today!!

 

Wyeast Belgian Abbey - getting yeast ramped up for this years offering to you guys & gals. They look excited!