12 Beers of Christmas 2020 Edition

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Quick question for @yoop89. I am brewing the Christmas Gruit for the East Coast on Thursday (yeah I know it's getting a little late to brew this), but did you crush the juniper berries or leave them whole? Thanks!
 
@j1laskey I'm on my second brew of this one. The first time around I did 2 oz roughly crushed(food processor with a plastic blade) @ 15' and I feel the juniper was there but I found myself wanting a little more of it. I am actually brewing it again this weekend and am changing up my spices a little. I am either going to double the juniper addition or move the 2 oz to earlier in the boil.

Any other questions let me know!

edit: also i feel that my first try really hit its stride at 4 mo but have not tried it since.
 
I still have to get around to bottling the lambicky ale BUT I created the labels and ordered them last night! Still haven’t decided if I will do anything with the caps.
 
Hey everyone, just wondering what programs or companies you all use for designing and printing your labels. I've never made a label in the 15 years I've been brewing, usually keg and if I bottle from the keg it just gets a piece of tape for a label on the bottle.

Thanks!
 
Hey everyone, just wondering what programs or companies you all use for designing and printing your labels. I've never made a label in the 15 years I've been brewing, usually keg and if I bottle from the keg it just gets a piece of tape for a label on the bottle.

Thanks!

Last year I used Leapin Lizard Labels, which I heard about here. Kind of expensive, but very high quality...too high, actually--they don't come off with oxyclean like most other labels. This time around I'll look for a cheaper alternative but if nothing jumps out I'll go with them again.
 
Hey everyone, just wondering what programs or companies you all use for designing and printing your labels. I've never made a label in the 15 years I've been brewing, usually keg and if I bottle from the keg it just gets a piece of tape for a label on the bottle.

Thanks!

I use beerlabelizer.com
 
Hey everyone, just wondering what programs or companies you all use for designing and printing your labels. I've never made a label in the 15 years I've been brewing, usually keg and if I bottle from the keg it just gets a piece of tape for a label on the bottle.

Thanks!
I use a program called Microsoft Publisher. It’s easy to manipulate images and text and stuff. Then I print on my home printer (color laser jet) and cut them out and paint them with milk and Stick them on the bottle. Easy and free.
 
I design labels in on The home computer print them out, cut them up and apply to the bottle with a glue stick. Cheap, cheap, cheap am I.

I do this also. I use photoshop for design and an inkjet printer with basic copy paper, so not water resistant. Glue stick works great and labels slide off with soapy water.
 
Juniper Rye Bock, East:

IMG_20200805_204048336.jpg
 
Anyone else we can lock into the West Coast group???? Do we still have four spots left?
 
Bump this up! There’s still a few more openings if anyone is interested. See the group 2 list below.

Here is the list of Beers:

GROUP 1 (East Coast)

1) Caramel Quadruple @passedpawn
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel @CaddyWampus
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock @imasickboy
4) Juniper Rye Bock @jack13
5) Fruitcake Old Ale. @Hoppy2bmerry
6) Saffron Tripel @HopHeavy
7) Christmas Gruit @j1laskey
8) Honey Ginger IPA @CarLock Brewing
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale @TBC
10) Gingerbread Ale @satph
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout @wstbrewing
12) Abbey Weizen @fourfarthing


GROUP 2 (West Coast)

1) Caramel Quadruple @jerbrew
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock @grampamark
4) Juniper Rye Bock
5) Fruitcake Old Ale @Yeroc
6) Saffron Tripel
7) Christmas Gruit @yoop89
8) Honey Ginger IPA @JAReeves
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale @RPh_Guy
10) Gingerbread Ale @Ultryx
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout @gunhaus
12) Abbey Weizen
 
My batch of brews has been done for a little bit. Had a bit of a life change and moved 2 states away for a couple months. I'll be back home at the end of September, but I'm still ready to ship all my beers out when the time comes! Looking forward to swapping with everyone!
 
About to brew v2 of the cherry dubbel. As long as I can do as well as the previous version, and not any worse, I’ll be good to go.
 
I have all the ingredients, just dialing in some new processes. Upgraded to a stainless fermenter with cooling system, discovered that my new water filter didn't handle the chloramine (yay! band-aid-flavored stout!), so should be able to get to it sometime in September so it has time to age and I think, for this beer, bottle condition.
 
West coast group:
Do any of you have a preference on cranberry vs cherry for the fruit lambic? No one has picked up the cherry dubbel, so I could easily fill that void. I don't know of any crabapple trees around me...

With cherries I would use TYB207, Brett with a tropical sweetarts flavor.
With cranberries I would use WY5526, Brett with a cherry pie flavor, so there will be cherry flavor regardless. I'm a sucker for cherries!

I'm planning to use Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes as the Saccharomyces, which I find to have low-moderate flavor intensity compared to a lot of other strains I use.

I'll be brewing this maybe 2-3 weeks before shipping.

Cheers

P.S. I can do custom spiced versions for anyone that wants that.
 
Ive got two kegs of the Gruit conditioning right now(same process/recipe with a different yeast), planning on chilling and tasting in a couple weeks and bottling.

No preference on the fruit either @RPh_Guy, really excited to try some of your beer!
 
I am sorry to do this at such late date, but i have to back out of the West Coast group. We had a house fire a few days ago and largely lost everything. This includes the now VERY insignificant brew gear in my collection. Apologies for the inconvenience but believe me I wish it were otherwise.
 
I am sorry to do this at such late date, but i have to back out of the West Coast group. We had a house fire a few days ago and largely lost everything. This includes the now VERY insignificant brew gear in my collection. Apologies for the inconvenience but believe me I wish it were otherwise.

Sorry for your loss! and here is hoping for a swift insurance settlement in your favor! Crazy times around these parts indeed.
 
I am sorry to do this at such late date, but i have to back out of the West Coast group. We had a house fire a few days ago and largely lost everything. This includes the now VERY insignificant brew gear in my collection. Apologies for the inconvenience but believe me I wish it were otherwise.
Oh my, I trust no one was hurt, and loosing all your stuff really is terrible, even knowing ”things” can be replaced. Be well, and I hope you get a decent adjuster to work with.
 
Really sorry for your loss @gunhaus. We'll catch you in the 2021 thread!

Looking forward to swapping with everyone else soon!
 
@TBC when will we lock in all the participants and prepare for shipment? Any ideas on pulling a few other people for the West Coast group?
 
@TBC when will we lock in all the participants and prepare for shipment? Any ideas on pulling a few other people for the West Coast group?

For shipment everyone should be ready to go around Thanksgiving. Hopefully ship sometime right after so everyone can have their beers for the Christmas holidays.

As for getting other people for the West group, maybe someone would be interested in joining last minute or their might be a slight possibility of combining groups if everyone is onboard. What I mean by this is the west group only has 7 to my knowledge and while the east group looks full at least 4 members have been MIA for awhile so there might only be around 14 total.

i will personally PM everyone in the next 2 weeks to see how many active participants we have in both groups.
 
There are still a few more openings if there are any last minute members interested. See the group 2 list below.

Here is the list of Beers:

GROUP 1 (East Coast)

1) Caramel Quadruple @passedpawn
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel @CaddyWampus
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock @imasickboy
4) Juniper Rye Bock @jack13
5) Fruitcake Old Ale. @Hoppy2bmerry
6) Saffron Tripel @HopHeavy
7) Christmas Gruit @j1laskey
8) Honey Ginger IPA @CarLock Brewing
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale @TBC
10) Gingerbread Ale @satph
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout @wstbrewing
12) Abbey Weizen @fourfarthing


GROUP 2 (West Coast)

1) Caramel Quadruple @jerbrew
2) Spiced Cherry Dubbel
3) Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock @grampamark
4) Juniper Rye Bock
5) Fruitcake Old Ale @Yeroc
6) Saffron Tripel
7) Christmas Gruit @yoop89
8) Honey Ginger IPA @JAReeves
9) Crabapple Lambicky Ale @RPh_Guy
10) Gingerbread Ale @Ultryx
11) Spiced Bourbon Stout
12) Abbey Weizen
 
For shipment everyone should be ready to go around Thanksgiving. Hopefully ship sometime right after so everyone can have their beers for the Christmas holidays.

As for getting other people for the West group, maybe someone would be interested in joining last minute or their might be a slight possibility of combining groups if everyone is onboard. What I mean by this is the west group only has 7 to my knowledge and while the east group looks full at least 4 members have been MIA for awhile so there might only be around 14 total.

i will personally PM everyone in the next 2 weeks to see how many active participants we have in both groups.

As long as you're sending out messages, might as well start compiling the home address list.
 
Pardon my poor attempt at some humor, I guess this psycho babble term hasn’t really made it into pop culture. Here is an article Shoulding Yourself

eh, I think I get it. I'm a bit of a controller, always telling people what they should do. Maybe that's the result of raising a bunch of kids and running a biz.
 
would someone be willing to send me the recipes for 2) Spiced Cheery Dubbel and 11) Spiced Bourbon Stout?

If they look like something I can handle I'll join in (against better financial judgement). My hesitation comes from the fact that neither of these are styles I typically brew and there is little time left for error. I would be greatly ashamed to send out mediocre beer knowing some of the names on the list are serious brewers!
 
would someone be willing to send me the recipes for 2) Spiced Cheery Dubbel and 11) Spiced Bourbon Stout?

If they look like something I can handle I'll join in (against better financial judgement). My hesitation comes from the fact that neither of these are styles I typically brew and there is little time left for error. I would be greatly ashamed to send out mediocre beer knowing some of the names on the list are serious brewers!

They are listed in the second post of this thread.
 
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