12 Beers of Christmas 2020 Edition

[JAReeves]

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.

 

[RPh_Guy]

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.

 

[yoop89]

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!

 

[TBC]

I have the cranberry lambicky ale bulk aging. All I have to do is bottle it and slap on the labels.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I’m ready to package.

 

[gunhaus]

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.

 

[TwistedGray]

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.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

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.

 

[gunhaus]

thank you

 

[Ultryx]

Really sorry for your loss @gunhaus. We'll catch you in the 2021 thread!

Looking forward to swapping with everyone else soon!

 

[Ultryx]

@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]

@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.

 

[TBC]

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

 

[passedpawn]

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.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

As long as you're sending out messages, might as well start compiling the home address list.

Mr. Passedpawn, are you shoulding here?

 

[passedpawn]

Mr. Passedpawn, are you shoulding here?

Sorry, I don't know what that means.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Sorry, I don't know what that means.

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

 

[passedpawn]

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.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

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!

 

[TBC]

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.

 

[TBC]

As long as you're sending out messages, might as well start compiling the home address list.

That’s a pretty good idea, wasn’t even thinking about that. I will work on that also

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

Thanks, @TBC - hopefully my brewing skills are better than my reading abilities!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

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.

Yeah, you even liked TBC’s post yesterday where he said he would PM everyone in 2weeks. Raising kids and running a biz makes you a leader.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

in the recipe for #11, are you supposed to add the full 8+ ounces of Vodka/Bourbon/spice tincture into the fermentor? Seems like quite a bit to me. Also, what's the purpose of the Vodka? I've never made a tincture so I'm a little confused by it. Sorry for asking what is probably a dumb question, I just want to make sure I'm even capable of this before I commit to the exchange and ask my wife if I can spend $200 on it...fortunately she likes Stouts lol

edit: wife says no..I'll be ready to roll for next years exchange though. Cheers!

 

[yoop89]

Should be bottling this weekend or next. Label is getting some final touches and sent to the printers soon too! Looking forward to this exchange.

 

[fourfarthing]

I can probably do the Abbey Weizen for the expanded group, assuming it comes out as planned.

 

[RPh_Guy]

For what it's worth, I'm fine having the smaller west coast group.

 

[satph]

@fourfarthing and I are going to ship and receive together. I had a gingerbread brown over the weekend and I am happy the spices are mellowing. Now I need to get the labels printed.

I brewed the Saffron Tripel last year for the East Coast last year and still have a case of it I can share with the expanded group.

 

[grampamark]

For what it's worth, I'm fine having the smaller west coast group.

As am I.

 

[JAReeves]

I'm good with whatever the rest of the West Coasters decide. This is my first share, so I'll just sit in the corner and let the adults talk.