Christmas ale base beer?

[drunken_snail]

Hello

I am from Australia a few mates and i have been talking about making a xmas beer for next july.

Most breweries nearly all breweries don't do Christmas beers in Australia.

I have checked out a few recipes on here with the spices. I suppose the beers are created off and idea rather than modifying a base beer.

What approx base beer would you suggest.

The two beers that we have in mind are spiced versions of I think it was a Scotch Ale and the other was an imperial wheat.

 

[giraffe]

Most spiced christmas beers are based on old ales/winter warmers, cause that was the british tradition. Weizenbock is another option. Pretty much as long as its alcoholic, malty, and amber to dark, you are good to go.

 

[m00ps]

Personally, I'd go for a dark saison. Saison yeasts can give off great spicy phenolics especially when fermented at lower temps. These could go great with traditional xmas spices

 

[Rosmucman]

How bout an English Barleywine, maybe with fruitcake spices like ginger.
Maris Otter would be a great base malt for something like this.

 

[JKaranka]

Traditionally old ales, barleywines. You can think about some of them as strong dark milds.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

My Brrr Clone would turn out to be a good base, I think. The recipe link is below:

Brrr Clone

It's a deep red, and very rich/malty, together with some good hop aroma. Strong too. If this type of beer doesn't float your boat, I'd shoot for a porter or a pumpkin beer with christmas spices switched out in place of the pumpkin

 

[JKaranka]

Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild is along the lines of a good base:
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=54603

 

[jtratcliff]

here's mine... based on somebody else's:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=436786

I've given it as Xmas gifts for the past 3 years.. Gets thumbs up from the giftees.

 

[drunken_snail]

Saison you say. never tried to brew a darker one before.

Completed six brews this year 4 have been saisons of various types but not darker.

I will keep this in mind.

 

[Cider123]

I bet you would do well with Biermuncher's Black Pearl porter as a base for building a christmas ale. I made it according to the original recipe last christmas and it was very festive You could have some fun adding some spices and other adjuncts to it.

 

[brownrice]

dark saison. Saison yeasts can give off great spicy phenolics especially when fermented at lower temps. These could go great with traditional xmas spices

i like the way you think m00ps!

i used lots of 2row, oats, and 2 big cans of pumpkin mixed into the strike water. and rice hulls. that orange glow is spectacular. i was thinking to try some munich or whatever but i don't wanna darken it at all if possible.

pretty sure i used honey as well. might as well throw some table sugar into the boil. i usually add simple sugars during primary fermentation but i didn't want to dry this out too much.

spice-wise, avoid cinnamon. use .5 tsp each of ginger, nutmeg, and ummm i forget the other one. but no cinnamon. and if you can, give it at least 2 or 3 months in secondary for the flavors to meld. the longest you can age it in secondary will pay off in spades, specifically for a spiced ale.