Winter Seasonal Beer Christmas Ale (Great Lakes Clone)

[IslandLizard]

Really nice beer. I've brewed the other thread's recipe and sliced the ginger thin. Here are some of my notes and findings:

Use real cinnamon, not Cassia (the 1/16"-1/8" thick single curl bark) which is often sold as cinnamon in the (Indian) spice stores.

Next time I brew this, I will use more fresh ginger 3-4 ounces (sliced) plus real cinnamon, adding honey (or light Belgian sugar syrup) after primary ferm has slowed down. I used brown sugar last time and won't do that again, the molasses leaves a weird taste IMO.

I'm on the fence when to add the spices. I feel boiling them makes the flavors (too) dark, losing the fragrant high notes. Perhaps steeping after flame-out at 190°F for 10-20 minutes will be my next approach, like a hop stand. Or a combination boil/stand.

 

[DonnieZ]

Really nice beer. I've brewed the other thread's recipe and sliced the ginger thin. Here are some of my notes and findings:

Use real cinnamon, not Cassia (the 1/16"-1/8" thick single curl bark) which is often sold as cinnamon in the (Indian) spice stores.

Next time I brew this, I will use more fresh ginger 3-4 ounces (sliced) plus real cinnamon, adding honey (or light Belgian sugar syrup) after primary ferm has slowed down. I used brown sugar last time and won't do that again, the molasses leaves a weird taste IMO.

I'm on the fence when to add the spices. I feel boiling them makes the flavors (too) dark, losing the fragrant high notes. Perhaps steeping after flame-out at 190°F for 10-20 minutes will be my next approach, like a hop stand. Or a combination boil/stand.

So when I compiled my ingredients, I have the curled sticks as you describe.. Is this necessarily bad? Would ground cinnamon work?

What's the downside of the Cassia?

 

[two_hearted]

Cassia is the more common "cinnamon" that you'll find at the store. It will work just fine, but the flavor is not as delicate and sweet as real Ceylon cinnamon. Cassia is a little harsher and peppery.

Real cinnamon is more expensive and slightly harder to find. I would bet that 9/10 people that have brewed this have used cassia and enjoyed the beer. Ceylon cinnamon might give you a smoother cinnamon flavor.

 

[IslandLizard]

So when I compiled my ingredients, I have the curled sticks as you describe.. Is this necessarily bad? Would ground cinnamon work?

What's the downside of the Cassia?

Although they are similar and could be used interchangeably, Ceylon cinnamon tastes better, more subtle and fragrant. I'd say cinnamon powder would be fine, particularly if you know it is made from real Ceylon cinnamon. Powder flavors faster as it disperses more quickly, so be careful how much you add.

I'm leaning toward adding the cinnamon and ginger at the very end of the boil to keep those high fragrant notes better. They need some time to extract but boiling excessively changes it into deeper, darker flavors. Perhaps adding them to the fermentor or using a "dry spice" treatment, like dry hopping, in addition to the boil.

The beer changes quite drastically over time. It's gorgeous when it's fresh, then mellows and enriches into a different species while aging. I brewed it in February and now 7 months later, we have 2 bottles left, after we split one a few days ago. The alcohol (8.7%) has become more integrated, and it has the characteristics of a well rounded liquor.

 

[DonnieZ]

Finally finished brewing this up. Let me tell you, brewing in a condo sucks. No room to do anything and it easily adds an hour on to my brewing day - started at 9:00A and finished up at 2:30P. (I did end up cleaning out and sanitizing the inside of my fermentation chamber, which added 30-40 minutes..) Ok... Rant over.

I think this was my best AG brew day so far. I think I've got my Brewsmith equipment numbers dialed in and I hit most of my numbers exactly - volumes and gravities, except for FG which I missed by about 5 points according to my new refractometer (Using Beersmith Brix to SG conversion, not the scale on the refractometer).

The brew smells awesome and looks to be a deep golden color (as expected). Brewing this one up for our Homebrew club's December competition, which is BJCP class 21A. I think I might have a winner with this one. Thanks for the recipe - I'll definitely let you know how it placed.

 

[IslandLizard]

Finally finished brewing this up...

Congrats with your new brew. It is a marvelous beer.
Some pubs (Chili's) serve it with cinnamon and sugar on the rim. My wife likes that.

How did you implement the spice additions? Everything at flame-out? How much of each?

I'll have to compare this recipe with the one in the other thread I used. Time to brew it again.

 

[DonnieZ]

Congrats with your new brew. It is a marvelous beer.
Some pubs (Chili's) serve it with cinnamon and sugar on the rim. My wife likes that.

How did you implement the spice additions? Everything at flame-out? How much of each?

I'll have to compare this recipe with the one in the other thread I used. Time to brew it again.

Going along with the "more ginger surface area = more ginger flavor" thougt process, I cubed up about 1.75 ounces of ginger into about 8 pieces. I figure I can always add more.

Tossed about two and a half of the short curled cinnamon sticks and the ginger in at knockout. Poured the honey in shortly after and let it sit for about 5 minutes before putting the water through the immersion chiller. All of that went into the fermenter. I think the honey dropped right to the bottom, so that might be where the gravity points went. After I chilled it I didn't take another sample, I'm figuring by that time the honey had been homogenized with the rest of the wort.

The wort definitely smelled of ginger all through the cooling process and just a few minutes ago when I pitched the yeast. Our water doesn't get cold enough to get the wort down to pitching temps, so I threw it in the fermentation chamber to cool off for a couple of hours. The smell is wonderful!

 

[NewJersey]

Brewed this yesterday. I changed it up a lil.
I did 2oz us hallertau first wort hop.
The 10 and 5 min additions I did .3 cascade/.3 perle for both.
I zested .8 oz of fresh ginger and added as per the schedule.
Also added .5 oz of vanilla bean cut in half.
Deleted the honey and upped the 2 row to 14 lbs.
I ended at 1080 and have high hopes for this one.
I pitched one packet of s04 and wl0013 at the same time.
Great recipe though! It was this or a sierra celebration knockoff and I chose this.

 

[NewJersey]

so i checked it today and gravity is at 1020. is that as low as its gonna go?
if i add the vanilla bean and cinnamon as a "dry hop" how long should i leave it in?

 

[jimyson]

What are you all targeting your water ions at on this one?

 

[birdley123]

went down to my lhbs and got all the ingredients for this; except the yeast!

They were out of wlp013; I was told that wlp004 Irish was just as good?

Yes?

thx,

 

[salb29]

Great Lake brewing Co. told me that they boil the cinnamon/ginger the whole 60 min. has anyone boiled the 2 cinnamon sticks and 2oz of ginger for the whole boil?

 

[Ghost]

Made this at 1st go round OG was at 1.060. I hope that it will not affect the final product. Local Brew store out of yeast so ended up using a dry english ale yeast, Safale 04. What does anyone else think.

 

[Randy0002]

I'll be brewing this on Monday. Any last minute tips or advice? I made a different Xmas ale last year and butchered it, so I want to try and redeem myself with this one! (I added way too much cinnamon and it ended up tasting like some I could clean my car's engine with)

 

[keithslater]

Just finished brewing this. Came in real low on my batch size at 4 gallons. OG was 1.070.

 

[blawson327]

I brewed this last week, my OG was 1.062 and real close to 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

This was my first brew ever! My brother in law has been brewing for a year or so, so I just jumped straight into all grain with his help. Looking forward to the finished product

 

[Randy0002]

I just finished brewing this and loved the initial sweetness of it, however I think the ginger may be too overpowering (I used about 2.7oz.) Is there a way to soften this by adding honey into the secondary or something? Or will it naturally soften as its in the primary and secondary? Thanks a lot!

 

[jimyson]

I have this bottle conditioning! Tasting during the bottling was awesome. Can't wait to drink the final product. In regards to the time in which to add the cinnamon and ginger, I did it at flameout. I also decreased the total amount of ginger but during my tasting thus far, the ginger is perfect. Any more and I may be turned off. The cinnamon though, I may try my next batch for the 60 minutes.

 

[IslandLizard]

I just finished brewing this and loved the initial sweetness of it, however I think the ginger may be too overpowering (I used about 2.7oz.) Is there a way to soften this by adding honey into the secondary or something? Or will it naturally soften as its in the primary and secondary? Thanks a lot!

It fades over time and deeper darker notes become more prominent. The beer keeps changing and after 6 months it's a whole different animal from the fresh beer. I found the young beer had a prominent alcohol taste, somewhat of a bite, but that mellowed/rounded out with aging very well.

I substituted the honey with brown sugar.* I added 4 oz of Honey Malt, which tends to give me more of a honey flavor since I rarely get the taste of honey from honey in kettle/primary additions.

* Next time, which will be in the next couple days, I'll use a light candy syrup, no brown sugar. Molasses in beer doesn't do it for me.

2.7 oz of fresh ginger sounds like a bit much, but it also depends on how much surface there was, like grated, sliced thinly or a few cubes.

I did 4 ginger additions, all thinly sliced, and sampled the hot wort as I went along:
0.75 oz @ 60'
0.6 oz @ 45'
0.6 oz @ 10'
0.5 oz @ 5'

What were your OG and FG? [EDIT] Ignore that, you just brewed it.
Extract or AG?

 

[Randy0002]

I don't have my notes in front of me, but I added about 1.5oz of thinly sliced ginger and 1 cinnamon stick at the beginning of the boil (60min total) and the remaining ginger and cinnamon stick at flameout.

After it was chilled and I tasted it, there was still a hint of sweetness, but the ginger spice was too overpowering in my opinion. I'll try the malt honey or syrup when I transfer it. I hope the spice flavor dulls over time.

 

[jeff62217]

Giving this a go today as my first all grain. LHBS was out of 1028 London ale yeast so I'm going with 1335 british ale 2 as I have this on hand.

Ended up at 1.052, not sure if my sparging was to blame, however I heated my strike water to about 160 in anticipation of ~5 degree drop... ended up dropping about 15 degrees to about 145 so I think I missed the proper mash temp. I also wish I would've read the whole thread as I did my ginger and cinnamon at flameout instead of boiling them. Lessons learned, I'm sure the beer will be plenty drinkable.

 

[bestbuds]

Brewing this now - hit 75% efficiency with BIAB, which I am very happy about. This boil smells great!

 

[Randy0002]

I just transferred this into the secondary today and the ginger spice/bite has died down a bit. I added about 12oz of honey in hopes it'll sweeten it up a bit. We'll see.

 

[birdley123]

I just transferred this to secondary, and tossed a little more ginger and a couple more cinnamon sticks into secondary, but I have never seen this question answered; what is the best/favorite priming sugar to use at bottling time?

Thx, B.

 

[two_hearted]

I just transferred this to secondary, and tossed a little more ginger and a couple more cinnamon sticks into secondary, but I have never seen this question answered; what is the best/favorite priming sugar to use at bottling time?

Thx, B.

Wish I could help. I keg all my beers now. When I bottled I never used anything other than corn sugar.

 

[blawson327]

just bottled this tonight, smelled great. cant wait until its ready to drink! So far I'm very happy with how my first brew turned out!

 

[jeff62217]

Have just force carbed for 1.5 days and wow.. what a nice changeup this beer is. I think I'm most impressed with the ginger flavor. I used 2 oz at 0 mins and 2 more oz in secondary for 5 days. I have to attribute some of the good flavor to wyeast 1335 which got this beer down to 1.010, but let the cinnamon and ginger through nicely.

Thanks for the recipe, will make this again for sure.

 

[antelope1027]

Does anyone have an extract recipe? I love this beer and want to brew it but only have ability to do an extract. Thank you
I looked everywhere here and could not locate an extract recipe. I want to brew 5.5 ish gallons

 

[PuppetmanInBC]

After brewing it 6 weeks ago.

I brewed 3 gallons, not six, and found the cinnamon a bit overpowering, and the ginger not very noticeable.

It's not bad, but it definitely needs adjustment. I am going to brew a couple of gallons of a pale-and-caramel malt beer, with just ginger, and use a clean yeast to mix it in to see if I can re-balance the flavours....

There are different varieties of cinnamon - not sure what mine was, but I wish I had paid more attention...

 

[Ghost]

Finished brewing and bottled this. I used approx. 5 oz. of priming sugar for the 5 gal. will test in a week or so as made it for x-mas party. It had nice color, smelled ok, but taste was not the best so we'll see what some bottle conditioning does.