Advice on Christmas beer

[mumuls]

Hey everybody!

As Christmas is not too far away,wanted to make some nice Christmas beer with spices.Normally I use brewing kits bought in supermarket,as they are pretty simple. Just pour everything in container,add some hot/cold water,yeast and after like week already can start bottling it.

So i want to know,which moment should i add spices like ginger/cinnamon/nutmeg etc?Right before bottling or at the beginning of brewing. And what should be amount of spices if i make like 22 liters?Any good recipes?

Thanks in advance!

 

[unionrdr]

I've never brewed a beer that can go to bottles in one week. That's def pushing it. Anyway,put the spices in a muslin hop sock & drop in the boil with 10-15 minutes left. This includes zests as well as spices. Whole spices are preferred.

 

[DocScott]

I've never brewed a beer that can go to bottles in one week. That's def pushing it. Anyway,put the spices in a muslin hop sock & drop in the boil with 10-15 minutes left. This includes zests as well as spices. Whole spices are preferred.

Good advice from Unionrdr. I've also never seen beer kits in the supermarket. I need to change where I shop I guess!

As for amounts, it really depends on a lot of things, not just volume produced. Base beer style, strength of spice desired, spices being used, even OG/FG in my opinion. My advice would be to err on the side of caution and use small amounts first.

Once fermentation is finished, you can taste the beer and see if it needs more and add them before packaging. To do this, you can either soak spices in vodka/rum/whiskey/etc for a few days to a week and add, or just add them to your priming solution and boil for a while to spice your priming sugar.

 

[VonAle]

I just bottled my Christmas ale, Brewed it even though I am not especially a fan of spiced beers.

A little spice goes a long way.

I used 1/4 tsp each of ground Cinnamon and ground clove, plus zest from one navel orange in 5 gal batch. I was very surprised at the impact of such small amounts. IMO it is just enough to let me know that it's got some spice.

 

[mumuls]

I just bottled my Christmas ale, Brewed it even though I am not especially a fan of spiced beers.

A little spice goes a long way.

I used 1/4 tsp each of ground Cinnamon and ground clove, plus zest from one navel orange in 5 gal batch. I was very surprised at the impact of such small amounts. IMO it is just enough to let me know that it's got some spice.

Nice to find some amounts at last.Did you put all of it directly in beer or did some boiling?

P.S

For those,who dont believe,that beer can be done so fast ,i can copy in instructions from the kit i have. Bottling after 6-8 days.Then 4 days in room temperature,then at least 10 in cold place and ready to drink.And tastes pretty good.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Just dip your ginger snaps in your beer instead of coffee and that should cover it.

 

[VonAle]

Nice to find some amounts at last.Did you put all of it directly in beer or did some boiling?

P.S

For those,who dont believe,that beer can be done so fast ,i can copy in instructions from the kit i have. Bottling after 6-8 days.Then 4 days in room temperature,then at least 10 in cold place and ready to drink.And tastes pretty good.

Added at 5 min. and did NOT strain into the fermenter.

 

[doornumber3]

Nice to find some amounts at last.Did you put all of it directly in beer or did some boiling?

P.S

For those,who dont believe,that beer can be done so fast ,i can copy in instructions from the kit i have. Bottling after 6-8 days.Then 4 days in room temperature,then at least 10 in cold place and ready to drink.And tastes pretty good.

The directions might say that but you would be a lot happier if you have it at least 2-3 weeks. Give the yeast time to clean it up a bit. For a normal beer I do 2 weeks before I even start to think about checking the gravity.

 

[bobeer]

Where do you shop that sells homebrew kits? That's awesome! I just brewed a Christmas beer on Sunday and I put in freshly ground ginger and a cinnamon stick in the last 7 minutes or so of the boil, chilled, then filtered it out.

Doornumber3 has a good point. If you let the yeast do their thing for a bit longer you'll have better tasting beer. Also, if you let the beer condition for a bit longer than 10 days in the bottle it'll also taste better too. Maybe give these ideas a shot this year and see if there's a difference? Good luck and Cheers!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I Shop at a local warehouse grocery that sells Mr Beer kits around the holidays. Perhaps that's what the OP is referring to?

 

[shawnbou]

I also would advise that spice tends to fade over time, and sometimes you lose a lot of it during fermentation with all the off-gassing of the yeast.

When making a spice beer, I always add spices at the end of the boil, but I also taste it before bottling and make sure the spice is still there. If it's not, make a "spice potion" by infusing a small amount of vodka (no more than 4-8 oz per 5 gallons) with spices and add that to the bottling bucket.

Like unionrdr, I prefer whole spices. Cinnamon sticks, fresh grated nutmeg, hand crushed allspice or star anise, whole cloves (prob no more than 1 per gallon - cloves are STRONG), minced candied ginger, etc.

 

[unionrdr]

The whole stuff does seem to work quite well & is less messy,soaking out of hop sock,et al.

 

[Phil_Ozzy_Fer]

I would say that, while it is definitely possible to bottle within a week, it isn't advisable for something like a Christmas beer. This is more for things like milds and simple pale ales. I don't know what kind of kit you're using, but adding spices adds to the complexity of the beer and you would be best advised to let it sit and ferment in your carboy (or whatever you normally use) for more than a week prior to bottling. Maybe 2 or 3 weeks and then bottle. Just my two cents.

 

[conan71]

I used a Midwest 20 minute nut brown extract kit as my base for my Christmas beer. I added 1 tsp each of granulated all spice, ginger, nutmeg, and clove in a 5 gal batch and I pitched them 10 minutes from boil off. I racked it from the fermenter to keg last night and sampled some. It’s got a very good hint of gingerbread without being over-powering.

Only thing I would do different is use whole spices in a steeping bag rather than granulated next time as the granulated spices really cloud the beer. I’ll see how much better it is after cold-crashing it. It’s also the first time I’ve force carbed in a keg. I like the preliminary results well enough, I’m seriously considering brewing another batch.

 

[mumuls]

As i am complete beginner,i dont about what kind of boiling do you all guys talk about? My brewing kit`s instructions never said anything about boiling. i just fill all the things and water in the batch and wait till it is ready..

Just wonder,can i put all the spices directly in the batch and wont it kill the brewing process..

 

[mumuls]

Where do you shop that sells homebrew kits? That's awesome! I just brewed a Christmas beer on Sunday and I put in freshly ground ginger and a cinnamon stick in the last 7 minutes or so of the boil, chilled, then filtered it out.

Doornumber3 has a good point. If you let the yeast do their thing for a bit longer you'll have better tasting beer. Also, if you let the beer condition for a bit longer than 10 days in the bottle it'll also taste better too. Maybe give these ideas a shot this year and see if there's a difference? Good luck and Cheers!

Thanks for advice.Maybe the patience really is the key here..

 

[mumuls]

i make beer the way this guy does it on his tutorial.



the only boiling there is one gallon of water in pot and then pouring it into fermenter.

 

[unionrdr]

That's Craig Farraway from Craigtube. Been doin it some 25 years or so. The way he does it in that video is the Cooper's process. I got away from that after my 1st one with the OS Lager kit that came with my Microbrew kit. Just sub in a 20qt (5 gallon) kettle & boil some 2.5 to 3.5 gallons of water. Add some 1.5-2lbs plain DME to the boil,& do some hop additions,spices,et al. Then add the Cooper's can at flame out. Since the wort is still boiling hot at that point,& pasteurization happening about 160F in seconds,it'll work just fine. This should be a simple way to add spices,etc to your beers. Spices in a hop sack @ 10-15 minutes left in the boil should do it.

 

[mumuls]

That's Craig Farraway from Craigtube. Been doin it some 25 years or so. The way he does it in that video is the Cooper's process. I got away from that after my 1st one with the OS Lager kit that came with my Microbrew kit. Just sub in a 20qt (5 gallon) kettle & boil some 2.5 to 3.5 gallons of water. Add some 1.5-2lbs plain DME to the boil,& do some hop additions,spices,et al. Then add the Cooper's can at flame out. Since the wort is still boiling hot at that point,& pasteurization happening about 160F in seconds,it'll work just fine. This should be a simple way to add spices,etc to your beers. Spices in a hop sack @ 10-15 minutes left in the boil should do it.

like at the moment i dont have any big kettle,so still have to do like tutorial says. Still thinking ,can i put table spoons of ginger,cinnamon directly into fermenter? How can it affect the taste and the whole process?

 

[unionrdr]

I think more in terms of teaspoons,& use hop sacks to keep the fermenter cleaner. Not to mention the bottled beers. & wait till FG is reached & it settles out well to give the spices a better chance at providing flavor. Some secondary for this,some don't. it's your call there.

 

[scutly]

just today picked up a good cheer christmas beer kit and these are the ingredients of the spice pack
3 whole cinnamon sticks
1/2 oz sweet orange peel
1/2 oz allspice
1 tsp. cloves
1/4 oz crystallized ginger
recipe instructions call for placing spices in a boiling bag and added for ten minutes after 45 minute mark of boil. kit also came with a pound of honey to add for the last 2 minutes with the finishing hops

 

[unionrdr]

Even 10-15 minutes left in the boil will work too. That's the way I do it.