12 Beers of Christmas 2017

[anotherbeerplease]

This is such a cool idea. New to the forums but following this one - can't wait to see how they come out!

 

[passedpawn]

I re-brewed the Belgian Spiced Cherry Dubbel yesterday. New one is 1.095 (before cherries) - probably not a dubbel anymore. With the Trappist High Gravity I'm using, and with a couple of pounds of brown sugar in there, this should be a phat beer.

Took lots of grain Actually, I made a few beers yesterday, and that's most (but not all) of the spent grist from them.

 

[passedpawn]

BTW, I think I'll send one of the original brews out with a couple of the bigger beer. It's not bad, and the dubbel before I added cherries was excellent, but it's too much cherry and the fruit dominated. You'll see.

 

[JDXX1971]

BTW, I think I'll send one of the original brews out with a couple of the bigger beer. It's not bad, and the dubbel before I added cherries was excellent, but it's too much cherry and the fruit dominated. You'll see.

Maybe it will fade?

 

[passedpawn]

Maybe it will fade?

Naw I don't think so.

 

[JDXX1971]

Naw I don't think so.

Good to hear, because I like how the Cherries taste in the fruitcake old ale.

 

[passedpawn]

Version 2 of this beer that I plan on sending to you boys...

It's gone from 1.092 to 1.017. Woof, that's right at 10% ABV. I just added black cherries to half (I made 11g). It's dark, with the dank belgian character. There's a little spice, maybe the cinnamon. I'm trying to keep the cherry from becoming too prominent. It's been in the fermentor for 3 weeks. Next week I'll probably coldcrash, filter, and keg it.

 

[JDXX1971]

I am getting my kit together for bottling from the keg. I will have the Fruitcake Old Ale bottled up by the end of the month. I need the room in my kezzer anyway. Then I am going to have to figure out how to make some labels or find somewhere to order some. Does anyone know where a guy could do that?

 

[passedpawn]

I am getting my kit together for bottling from the keg. I will have the Fruitcake Old Ale bottled up by the end of the month. I need the room in my kezzer anyway. Then I am going to have to figure out how to make some labels or find somewhere to order some. Does anyone know where a guy could do that?

Labels? Just print something on paper and use milk and a paintbrush to put it on the bottle. If that sounds ludicrous, it's not.

You have to print with a laser printer (not an inkjet). If you have an inkjet, or no printer, just go to Kinkos or other office supply store) with a USB thumb drive and they will print for you.

I use an old program called publisher to make some pretty neat labels. Cut out your label, paint the front and back with milk, apply to the bottle.

 

[JDXX1971]

I just looked that up and sure enough lots of info on using milk as an adhesive. I dont have a program on which to make labels nor the skills, maybe someday. For now I am going to have to find some help. I may know someone locally who can help me, I will have to bring her some home brew and see where that gets me.

 

[passedpawn]

I just looked that up and sure enough lots of info on using milk as an adhesive. I dont have a program on which to make labels nor the skills, maybe someday. For now I am going to have to find some help. I may know someone locally who can help me, I will have to bring her some home brew and see where that gets me.

You don't ever NEED a label. I'm not planning on putting labels on my bottles that I send.

 

[HopHeavy]

I just looked that up and sure enough lots of info on using milk as an adhesive. I dont have a program on which to make labels nor the skills, maybe someday. For now I am going to have to find some help. I may know someone locally who can help me, I will have to bring her some home brew and see where that gets me.

My method for identifying beer is simplistic. I use a stamp alphabet set with STAZ-ON ink on my caps... I limit beer names to such things as 'WIT' or 'IPA' or 'RIS' as I am limited to 3 capital letters in the cap's width. But who knows? Maybe I will kick it up to a label for the Christmas beer.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I'll likely write something on the caps, if you are lucky it'll be legible, more likely it'll resemble the drunken scrawling of a madman.

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

Did anyone ever take the dunkle?

 

[Auger]

Did anyone ever take the dunkle?

Yeah, HopHeavy's bro is brewing it for us.

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

Well will have to watch this thread next year

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I need to brew the big version of this thing, hopefully the weekend after this I should have some time/ferm chamber space. 26 lbs of pils and 7 pounds of panela. Depending upon how well my house cultures have ripped into the combined pico-brewed test batches by bottling time I may include some bottles of the soured version on Montmorency cherry juice.

 

[passedpawn]

Version 2 of this beer that I plan on sending to you boys...

It's gone from 1.092 to 1.017. Woof, that's right at 10% ABV. I just added black cherries to half (I made 11g). It's dark, with the dank belgian character. There's a little spice, maybe the cinnamon. I'm trying to keep the cherry from becoming too prominent. It's been in the fermentor for 3 weeks. Next week I'll probably coldcrash, filter, and keg it.

I kegged this a couple of weeks ago. Didn't carbonate yet as I was considering running through a plate filter. Thoughts?

 

[HopHeavy]

I kegged this a couple of weeks ago. Didn't carbonate yet as I was considering running through a plate filter. Thoughts?

I don't think you need to filter any more than @JDXX1971 needs to label...
But by coincidence, I racked the Spiced Bourbon Stout yesterday in an effort to clear some of the spice (which escaped my filtration effort.) The stout had been chilling/lagering for about 7 weeks. I am not sure I love the anise, but it looked pretty clear, running through the tubing, on its way to the new keg. I think it might just come down to your opinion of how a bright beer may or may not complement the style and taste. I am sure it will be a treat either way.

 

[boasist]

Awesome read everyone, look forward to reading more. Perhaps jumping in for next year.

 

[TBC]

Brewed up the gingerbread Ale. It's been fermenting for 3 days now and the blow off tube is bubbling about 45x per minute still. If it gets down to 1.011 it will be around 8.5%. I threw in a little honey at flameout just to jack up the ABV. It smelled incredible when I added the spices at flameout.

 

[TBC]

Gingerbread Ale just finished fermentation. Kegged it up. Sample was smooth and the spices melded together and hide the alcohol.

 

[Easycreeper]

@TBC Looking good!

@passedpawn Decided to rebrew the quad based on your input. Lower efficiency this time around, but I plan on making up for it with sugar additions in an attempt to reduce the body of the beer. Below is what it looks like going into the fermenter. Maybe I'll end up with a clearer beer this time... Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback on the first attempt!

 

[passedpawn]

@TBC Looking good!

@passedpawn Decided to rebrew the quad based on your input. Lower efficiency this time around, but I plan on making up for it with sugar additions in an attempt to reduce the body of the beer. Below is what it looks like going into the fermenter. Maybe I'll end up with a clearer beer this time... Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback on the first attempt!

My pleasure. I have had mine carbonating in keg for weeks and still haven't sampled. Notes coming soon.

 

[Auger]

Finally getting the Christmas Gruit going. I'm about 2 months behind where I'd like to have been, but life and all that. Wort in the kettle, and the spices are not in yet but smelling amazing after measuring them out.

I made one change in backing off the amount of juniper in the recipe. I used a half oz in the spiced stout last year, and it was a very forward, prevalent flavor. This recipe called for 4 oz! That seemed way over the top to me based on the previous beer. I backed it off to 1.5 oz and we'll see how it goes.

 

[passedpawn]

I still haven't even tasted my second attempt at the christmas beer. I made it back in May, kegged end of June, been on gas since that time, still haven't even sampled. Derp. Maybe later today after fishing.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Finally making the full size batch. (Busy summer). Couple of pictures keep in mind that's a 20 gallon kettle

View attachment 1504379655968.jpg

View attachment 1504379672762.jpg

 

[Auger]

So it looks like we're moving along well...by my count, the only things we need confirmation on are:

@b-boy - how are things looking for the abbey weizen?
@HopHeavy - is your brother on track with the spiced dunkel weizenbock?
@HawleyFarms - did you ever end up brewing back in March? Haven't heard much since then.

Also one thing to note, start gathering boxes now for shipping if you haven't already, unless you're just planning on buying them. I was scrounging last year so I've started collecting now. Another 2.5-3 months and we should be ready to start shipping stuff out! Can't wait.

 

[Easycreeper]

@Auger - Good advice on the boxes.

Just checked FG on the quad and it bottomed out at 1.024 again. OG was 1.109 after the sugar addition a couple of days into fermentation, so it's sitting at about 11.16% right now.

I've got a couple of packs of WLP001 in the fridge, so I may build a small starter with one and see if I can get a few more points out of it. We'll see...

Got some other plans for it once I'm done with that. Hopefully y'all will like the additions.

 

[bobeer]

So it looks like we're moving along well...by my count, the only things we need confirmation on are:

@b-boy - how are things looking for the abbey weizen?
@HopHeavy - is your brother on track with the spiced dunkel weizenbock?
@HawleyFarms - did you ever end up brewing back in March? Haven't heard much since then.

Also one thing to note, start gathering boxes now for shipping if you haven't already, unless you're just planning on buying them. I was scrounging last year so I've started collecting now. Another 2.5-3 months and we should be ready to start shipping stuff out! Can't wait.

I haven't chimed in in a while either. Sorry about that. Life with little kids flies by!
I haven't brewed my honey ginger IPA yet but I've brewed a honey IPA I like a few times and it always comes out well. I figured I'd steep some shaved ginger root in a quart of first runnings then add it back in with the yeast pitch. (I've done with method with a few different beers) Then depending on where the ginger flavor is at kegging time I'll dry-ginger it for a few days or so.
I want to brew a batch here soon so I can hammer the ginger down. It will be a fresh batch come xmas time!