12 Beers of Christmas 2018 Edition

[BradleyBrew]

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!

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I'll fix the list when not on mobile

 

[anotherbeerplease]

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...

 

[BigCrazyAl]

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...

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!

 

[cmac62]

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

 

[fourfarthing]

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.

 

[BradleyBrew]

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.

 

[cmac62]

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.

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

 

[BigCrazyAl]

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.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

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.

 

[November]

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.

Did you follow the spice/herb stuff in mosher's recipe? I was debating a couple of tweaks, but I'm probably still a couple of weeks from brewing

 

[cegan09]

I have friday off of work, so I should be finally brewing the old ale, should be fun.

 

[cegan09]

Mash is going for the old ale. Smells great so far.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

^ That looks great, can't wait for that one.

My group 1 spiced dunkel weizenbock is on schedule for a mid May brew.

 

[Auger]

Fruitcake Old Ale brew day on the calendar for 4/8. Much later than I wanted to, but we have a ton of crap going on around the house...and my wife is pregnant, due early May so I need to get it done before then.

 

[cmac62]

The Juniper Rye bock tastes really nice, it is kinda light and the juniper is super subtle. I may kick it up a little just a bit so you get more of the juniper, but I'm thinking about keeping the ABV in the 6-7 range. I think we will have lots of big beers this xmas, so may as well throw in a lighter lager.

 

[TwistedGray]

Sad to have not made the cut

But fun to monitor!!

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Just refreshing the list again (I really hate not being able to just edit the OP anymore)


1) Caramel Quadrupel (@Scturo ) (@BigCrazyAl )
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel (@HawleyFarms ) (@btbnl)
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock (@MapleGroveAleworks ) (@Blackdirt_cowboy )
4) Juniper Rye Bock (@HopHeavy's brother) (@cmac62)
5) Fruitcake Old Ale (@cegan09) (@Auger)
6) Saffron Tripel (@TBC ) (@Yeroc )
7) Christmas Gruit (@BradleyBrew ) (@November)
8) Honey Ginger IPA (@biochemedic )(@Brewfessor)
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale (@dryboroughbrewing )(@mirthfuldragon)
10) Gingerbread Ale (@jerbrew ) (@fourfarthing )
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout (@gromitdj ) (@anotherbeerplease )
12) Abbey Weizen (@HopHeavy ) (@Zimm9)

Last edited: Feb 14, 2018

 

[cmac62]

Now that both lists are solid, are we going to adjust to have one list west coast heavy and the other east coast? That would sure save on shipping.

 

[cmac62]

My juniper Rye bock was very tasty. It spit at me last night, so now I can get to brewing a second variant to get a little more juniper into the mix.

 

[passedpawn]

Now that both lists are solid, are we going to adjust to have one list west coast heavy and the other east coast? That would sure save on shipping.

Consider a consolidator. Someone previously mentioned it and it's brilliant, and will save everyone a LOT of money. Consider this (and I'm not considering you've got two brewers for each style, so I'll use last year as an example):

• With 12 brewers, there is a total of 11x11 = 121 shipments. Don't worry about the cost, just consider that.
• Using a consolidator (which could be one of you), the total shipments would be 11 + 11 = 22 shipments.

OK, now consider the cost. That average cost of each shipment for me was $13. Do your own math there.

So what's a consolidator? Let's say Auger is the consolidator. Each brewer sends ALL of their beers (33) to Auger. That's 1 (big) shipment each. Auger gets them all, re-distributes them, then sends right back to each brewer 33 beers, but it's 3 from each of the other brewers.

Obviously, Auger would have much higher shipping costs, but that would have to be negotiated (include a check with your shipment to him).

Just a thought. It's a little kludgy, but it's mighty efficient and has the potential to save a lot of money for everyone.

 

[cegan09]

Added the fruit to the old ale last night. Added just enough boiling water to cover them, brought it back up to about a boil hopefully ensure sanitation. then let it sit covered for about two hours to cool. Tested the liquid before I dumped it in and it was at just about 1.07 OG. Was happily bubbling away again this morning. I'll let it sit another week and a half or so, rack to secondary to let it clear, and then bottle. Once it's carbed up I'll try it. I might brew it again after that if I find something I don't like. Or I might just brew it again anyway with some tweaks and come the end of the year ship the one I like better.

 

[cmac62]

Consider a consolidator. Someone previously mentioned it and it's brilliant, and will save everyone a LOT of money. Consider this (and I'm not considering you've got two brewers for each style, so I'll use last year as an example):

• With 12 brewers, there is a total of 11x11 = 121 shipments. Don't worry about the cost, just consider that.
• Using a consolidator (which could be one of you), the total shipments would be 11 + 11 = 22 shipments.

OK, now consider the cost. That average cost of each shipment for me was $13. Do your own math there.

So what's a consolidator? Let's say Auger is the consolidator. Each brewer sends ALL of their beers (33) to Auger. That's 1 (big) shipment each. Auger gets them all, re-distributes them, then sends right back to each brewer 33 beers, but it's 3 from each of the other brewers.

Obviously, Auger would have much higher shipping costs, but that would have to be negotiated (include a check with your shipment to him).

Just a thought. It's a little kludgy, but it's mighty efficient and has the potential to save a lot of money for everyone.

I was just thinking about having one list be West Coast heavy and one East Coast heavy. The consolidator is a good Idea, but I know I don't want to be one

 

[HopHeavy]

I was just thinking about having one list be West Coast heavy and one East Coast heavy. The consolidator is a good Idea, but I know I don't want to be one

Yes, while consolidating shipments would be the most economical, it results in an inordinate amount of work for a single participant and additional logistical concerns about arranging fair shipping expenses. A lot of moving parts to work out, even if we find two volunteers to consolidate shipments for two separate groups.

 

[cmac62]

Anyone else with feedback on the idea of consolidating the lists as best as possible to the left and east coasts?

 

[mirthfuldragon]

From Chicago to NY, shipping a 35 pound package at 17x12x11 to NY runs $51.48 or $56.60 for priority 2 day; to CA, $73.67 or $75.80 for 2-day. That would be for a full case (24 bottles). Might be a little heavy, but close enough.

Assuming 4 pounds for 2 bottles (~1 pound per bottle), shipping is $10.29 for a 2-day priority box to California, or $8.15 to NY.

So me shipping 11 boxes at $10 each runs ~$100-$110, and shipping an entire case to person A and the person A shipping each case out individually runs $100 to $150.

Looks like six of one and half a dozen of the other. Fedex or UPS might beat USPS, but the math is probably similar.

 

[TBC]

Anyone else with feedback on the idea of consolidating the lists as best as possible to the left and east coasts?

I’m all for saving money but I don’t think it will work to well. For example if there was a west coast heavy list the person brewing the fruitcake old ale (Auger and Cegan09) would possibly have to ship up to 11 packages to the west coast. I believe both of them are in the New England area. That wouldn’t be fair or save them any money.

I think the lists should stay as they are in fairness to everyone. Maybe next year there could possibly be 2 threads, one for each coast. This way if the east coast thread is full then I could signup for the west coast list knowing full well I’d be shipping everything across the country.

I’m not sure where everyone lives but last year I shipped double to hopheavy and Pete. Maybe there are some other members who are close enough to double up shipments to save some money.

This is just my opinion and if we do decide to have have heavy lists on each coast I’m fine with it.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

@BradleyBrew and I live 10 minutes from each other so we'll be combining our packages both to and from. That'll save group 1 one FedEx bill each.

 

[passedpawn]

Yea, I looked at it and it doesn't look like it saves as much money as I was hoping. Seems like it should, but I guess it's more about total weight than individual shipments count.

 

[cmac62]

I'm okay with doing either, I

I’m all for saving money but I don’t think it will work to well. For example if there was a west coast heavy list the person brewing the fruitcake old ale (Auger and Cegan09) would possibly have to ship up to 11 packages to the west coast. I believe both of them are in the New England area. That wouldn’t be fair or save them any money.

I think the lists should stay as they are in fairness to everyone. Maybe next year there could possibly be 2 threads, one for each coast. This way if the east coast thread is full then I could signup for the west coast list knowing full well I’d be shipping everything across the country.

I’m not sure where everyone lives but last year I shipped double to hopheavy and Pete. Maybe there are some other members who are close enough to double up shipments to save some money.

This is just my opinion and if we do decide to have have heavy lists on each coast I’m fine with it.

I did not take this into account. I'm good with how it is. I was just thinking and I know that can be dangerous.