12 Beers of Christmas 2017

[Easycreeper]

OK. The numbers are in!

Volume:. 5.5 gallons
OG:. 1.109
Brew House Efficiency: 88%

Deviated from the recipe ever so slightly, but I won't tell if you won't... Just a couple of small additions. Hopefully they'll come through in the finished product. Time will tell...

It was a brew of several firsts. First time building a water profile. First time roasting malt (a couple of weeks ago - amber malt from Maris Otter). And first time making caramel/toffee (again, a couple of weeks ago - kept it in the fridge).

If you haven't tried roasting malts, I highly recommend it. Makes your house smell awesome! And they smell great on their own when you finally get around to using them. Had to roast the amber malt a little longer than called for to get the desired color. Think it had something to do with my not draining it well enough before tossing it in the oven.

 

[Easycreeper]

We have liftoff! Hope 2 gallons of headspace will be enough... I've had other batches where it blew the stopper out with another half gallon of space. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[JDXX1971]

Fruitcake Old Ale is mashing right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JDXX1971]

6 gallons of 1.071 wort into the fermenter!!!! Missed my target by ten points but all is good. This stuff taste great, cant wait to try the end results. Now to get the fruit for it. I am thinking figs,cherries and ?????

 

[Easycreeper]

Just how much headspace does WLP530 need?? It has nearly 40% more volume over the wort volume and it's still not enough...

 

[jerbrew]

I fell sometimes that if you give krausen room it'll get 20 ft tall in some cases. Can't wait to try all these beers.

 

[HopHeavy]

Just how much headspace does WLP530 need??

..all of it!

 

[Easycreeper]

..all of it!

...And then some!

I feel violated. 530 has had its way with me today. Twice it filled the airlock this morning before work (within 15 minutes of each other) and then it ejected the blow-off tube setup while I was away. Sure didn't do this the first time I used it. Must have really under pitched my first ever brew, keeping it on its best behavior.

Now I get to clean my ferm chamber again. Oh joy!

Here's to hoping something miraculous emerges from the carboy.

 

[JDXX1971]

I picked up the fruit for the Old Ale today. One pound each of preservative and oil free cherries, figs and apricots. I am pretty excited about this beer!!! The spiced wort smelled and tasted fabulous, fermentation took off like a rocket and is already slowing down.

Do you all think I should rack it to secondary on top of the fruit or just dump the re-hydrated fruit into the primary? The latter would be my preference really.

 

[CadiBrewer]

Edit - Mispost

 

[Easycreeper]

I picked up the fruit for the Old Ale today. One pound each of preservative and oil free cherries, figs and apricots. I am pretty excited about this beer!!! The spiced wort smelled and tasted fabulous, fermentation took off like a rocket and is already slowing down.

Do you all think I should rack it to secondary on top of the fruit or just dump the re-hydrated fruit into the primary? The latter would be my preference really.

Hey, it's your beer! You know your process and what works best for you, so do what you know. We'll all judge you accordingly no matter what you do... Ha just kidding.

You'll see quite a few posts that yeast scrub flavors of stuff pitched into primary, but there are others that warn of the risk of oxidation from racking to secondary. There are special circumstances that should be considered with each line of thinking, however, so who knows which is best?

Personal experience has had me adding hops, fruit, coffee, vanilla, bourbon, etc. to secondary. I've also added hops to primary with a barleywine and they seem to have given an acceptable level of aroma. No data points of the same beer with the additions to either primary or secondary respectively.

Hard to get an accurate measure of which is better because of the variability of the processes before the fermentation phase and the subjectivity of perception person to person. The results have to be repeatable time after time to truly say a hypothesis is correct or incorrect. At the homebrew level, that kind of repeatability is difficult to come by.

Take the above as my personal opinion only. I say do what's best for your process. We're looking forward to trying your beer when it comes time. Good luck!

 

[biochemedic]

I picked up the fruit for the Old Ale today. One pound each of preservative and oil free cherries, figs and apricots. I am pretty excited about this beer!!! The spiced wort smelled and tasted fabulous, fermentation took off like a rocket and is already slowing down.

Do you all think I should rack it to secondary on top of the fruit or just dump the re-hydrated fruit into the primary? The latter would be my preference really.

I would say it depends on what you're fermenting in... I *had* to rack onto the fruit b/c there was no f-n way I would've gotten all that rehydrated fruit into the neck of a Better Bottle!!!

If I had been doing the primary in a bucket or a big mouth bubbler, etc., I would've definitely added to primary...

 

[JDXX1971]

Thanks for the replies guys,

We have 30l Speidel fermenters (3 of them) so getting the fruit in is not a problem. Problem is they are all full (bad problem huh?) so I have nothing to use as a secondary. We do also have 20l Speidels but I am sure all the fruit and 5-5.5 gallons of Old Ale will not fit in one. So I am not sure what I want to do. I know that I want as much flavor from the fruit additions as possible so if that means getting it off the trub then I will figure out something. Otherwise I am just gonna dump it in and hope for the best.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

I love this idea. I'm obviously new to the forum but I may try to brew one or two of these myself for Christmas this year in hopes to participate in years to come. I'm still getting my equipment broken in and will soon convert to all grain.

I can't wait to see how these turn out.

 

[JDXX1971]

Today I racked the Old Ale on top of one pound each dried Figs, Apricots and Cherries. Fermentation had pretty much stopped and the fg was on the money. I racked on top of the still warm re hydrated fruit and fermentation took of almost instantly. I still have to try and work out the sugar additions from the fruit to calculate the abv. I am guessing around 8% though. I cant wait for Christmas now!!!

 

[passedpawn]

I have a proposal for you all (though mostly @Auger ). My brother Pete, a home brewer, has expressed an interest in brewing the 3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock and participating in this trade. However, he is not a member here (yet). I recognize this is a departure from the plan, but I can absolutely vouch for him and it may serve to simplify some of the shipping. I believe a similar arrangement was successful in the last incarnation in 2016. Let me know your thoughts on this so I can inform him.

Bumping this up to see if we can get one more to brew the Wiezenbock, otherwise if no takers, it can go to @HopHeavy 's brother if he's still interested and no one has issue with that.



Available:

3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock



Taken:

1) Caramel Quadrupel ( @Easycreeper )
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel ( @passedpawn )
4) Juniper Rye Bock ( @jerbrew )
5) Fruitcake Old Ale ( @JDXX1971 )
6) Saffron Tripel ( @dryboroughbrewing )
7) Christmas Gruit ( @Auger )
8) Honey Ginger IPA (@bobeer )
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale ( @HawleyFarms )
10) Gingerbread Ale ( @TBC )
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout ( @HopHeavy )
12) Abbey Weizen ( @b-boy )

well?

 

[JDXX1971]

well?

@HopHeavy , Bueller??? Bueller?

I hope somebody will do it. I think it would be exceptional to have all twelve brews in front of me for Christmas.

 

[biochemedic]

Today I racked the Old Ale on top of one pound each dried Figs, Apricots and Cherries. Fermentation had pretty much stopped and the fg was on the money. I racked on top of the still warm re hydrated fruit and fermentation took of almost instantly. I still have to try and work out the sugar additions from the fruit to calculate the abv. I am guessing around 8% though. I cant wait for Christmas now!!!

It's not too hard but you do have to crunch some numbers using the nutritional data on the packages (hopefully you didn't throw them out)...

I used the total ounces of fruit added divided by the serving size, and then multiplied the number of servings by grams of sugar per serving. I added up the grams from each of the types of fruit I used, then converted grams to pounds. I assumed a pppg of 1.046, and then added those estimated gravity points to my OG.

 

[JDXX1971]

It's not too hard but you do have to crunch some numbers using the nutritional data on the packages (hopefully you didn't throw them out)...

Yeah I actually bought the fruit out the bulk bins at a local grocery store. I imagine they have the nutritional info. I will have to look next time I am there.

 

[HopHeavy]

Hey all, Pete is good to go... Spiced Dunkel Weizenboch... All twelve beers accounted for!

I have been running around this weekend, hence the delay in my response. I am happy to report the RIS has finished right around 9%. Going to let this one bulk condition for a few months, then spice at bottling, hopefully at the same time I spice a smaller version.

 

[Auger]

Well, there we have it folks...all beers accounted for! I'd strongly urge people to brew these early, in cases where the beers are suitable for storage, or brew a test batch if you're at all uncertain about your methods. We had a few last minute drop-outs last year due to an infected batch, or just waiting until the last minute and ran out of time. I too was looking forward to a nice spread of all 12 beers last year, and was denied that, so I'm looking forward to the trade this year to see what we all come up with. Happy brewing!




The List

1) Caramel Quadrupel ( @Easycreeper )
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel ( @passedpawn )
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock (Pete, HopHeavy's brother)
4) Juniper Rye Bock ( @jerbrew )
5) Fruitcake Old Ale ( @JDXX1971 )
6) Saffron Tripel ( @dryboroughbrewing )
7) Christmas Gruit ( @Auger )
8) Honey Ginger IPA (@bobeer )
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale ( @HawleyFarms )
10) Gingerbread Ale ( @TBC )
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout ( @HopHeavy )
12) Abbey Weizen ( @b-boy )

 

[HopHeavy]

I haven't been this excited for Christmas since I was nine...

 

[b-boy]

Awesome. I'll be firing up the burners as soon as everything thaws.

 

[CU_tony]

Dam, I dont know how I missed this thread but I would have loved to have played a part in this! Let me know if someone bails, I may be taking a stab at the Juniper Rye Bock, sounds similar to the Rye Gin (Juniper) Bier I made last week!

 

[Auger]

Dam, I dont know how I missed this thread but I would have loved to have played a part in this! Let me know if someone bails, I may be taking a stab at the Juniper Rye Bock, sounds similar to the Rye Gin (Juniper) Bier I made last week!

I'll keep you in mind as an alternate

 

[jwelch1103]

Just saw this thread, keep me in mind as an alternate too please.

 

[JDXX1971]

Whoot..............This is gonna be EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CU_tony]

Maybe we can get enough for a second group? Even if we only got half a dozen it would still be fun!

 

[bobeer]

Sweet! All 12 beers accounted for!! I'm going to brew mine, the honey ginger ipa, during the summer and test it out. I think it'll be a nice refreshing summer beer as well.
The ris, old ale, and quad sound and look amazing. I'm stoked!

 

[BroomVikin]

Sweet! All 12 beers accounted for!! I'm going to brew mine, the honey ginger ipa, during the summer and test it out. I think it'll be a nice refreshing summer beer as well.
The ris, old ale, and quad sound and look amazing. I'm stoked!

Do you already have a recipe in mind to use? I'd love to give this a shot but wasn't sure which hops would go well with the ginger.