snowboarda42
Member
Finishing up drinking my half of this beer, turned out epic. We followed the ingredients to the letter, kinda spendy after all that candi syrup! But totally worth it!
Winter Seasonal Beer Christmas in Belgium
- Thread starter Poobah58
- Start date
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OP
OP
Yea, but the dark syrup makes the beer!
VulgarCelt
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I am nearly through the entire batch now and here are my thoughts:
I began drinking this at about a month old. It tasted very strongly of ginger and little else. I nearly called this one a one time brew from there. However I let this sit another month for a total age of around 9 weeks maybe. At that point this was one of the better home brews I have ever made. The flavors balanced wonderfully. The ginger receded nicely and suddenly the vanilla was very present, as were the "lesser" ingredients. The myriad flavors in this brew worked amazingly well together. The only possible detractor I can come up with is I think the orange peel gets a little lost in the mix. But that's really splitting hairs.
I will be brewing this again and again. I will start earlier next year so I can get some more age on it and still drink it around Christmas. This is a deceptive beer. The alcohol is so difficult to detect that you are 5 pints in and half in the bag before you know what hit you.
This is possibly the best recipe I have ever pulled off these forums. Well done!
I began drinking this at about a month old. It tasted very strongly of ginger and little else. I nearly called this one a one time brew from there. However I let this sit another month for a total age of around 9 weeks maybe. At that point this was one of the better home brews I have ever made. The flavors balanced wonderfully. The ginger receded nicely and suddenly the vanilla was very present, as were the "lesser" ingredients. The myriad flavors in this brew worked amazingly well together. The only possible detractor I can come up with is I think the orange peel gets a little lost in the mix. But that's really splitting hairs.
I will be brewing this again and again. I will start earlier next year so I can get some more age on it and still drink it around Christmas. This is a deceptive beer. The alcohol is so difficult to detect that you are 5 pints in and half in the bag before you know what hit you.
This is possibly the best recipe I have ever pulled off these forums. Well done!
OP
OP
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed. I felt the same way about the ginger the first time. It does mellow after a few weeks and blends in nicely. I have cut it back the last few beers and some of my buddies yelled at me!!!
GatorWayne
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This really sounds like a great beer and I am a real fan of European beers, particularly Belgians. I want this ready for next Christmas and plan on bottling it and setting it in a closet. When would be a good time to brew up a batch of this? Currently I have a batch of hefeweizen to drink this month until my Chimay clone is ready next month. I have lots of fermentation space as I got a bit crazy about grabbing free food grade buckets from grocery stores. Yeah, I have about 70 gallons of fermentation space!
Anyways, I want to give this beer a chance to really condition and enjoy some awesome brews at Christmas. Do you think April or May would be a good time to brew it and then bottle after proper fermentation time?
Anyways, I want to give this beer a chance to really condition and enjoy some awesome brews at Christmas. Do you think April or May would be a good time to brew it and then bottle after proper fermentation time?
OP
OP
That might be a bit early IMO. It'not the ABV of a tripel or quad. I think august/sept would be perfect.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
GatorWayne
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Thanks! I will put it on the calendar for august.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app
What kind of Pilsen malt are you using?
OP
OP
Last week of Sept for me... Gotta do my Pumpkin Saison first!
That sounds good! I'm doing a pumpkin ale after this x-mas brew
46binder
Well-Known Member
Could I use crushed cardamom instead of ground? I have all ingredients except for this. Brewing this on Monday hopefully.
OP
OP
46binder
Well-Known Member
Should by an awesome beer, got 5 gallons on the nose after the 90 min boil, and got OG of 1.76, perfect!
OP
OP
Sweet!
Well. I really mangled this recipe but we will see what it delivers. Couldn't locate whole cardamom locally so I went with some ground. Totally forgot about the ginger so none there and I didn't get the dark amber candi syrup due to mental retardation. I did put extra amber candi in since I had two. Only hit 1.068.
I'll add some ginger to the secondary and hope for good flavor on the final product.
I'll add some ginger to the secondary and hope for good flavor on the final product.
46binder
Well-Known Member
The sweet smell coming from the oneway is amazing, already smells like a great belgian!
46binder
Well-Known Member
Racked to secondary, sample was at 1.008, tasted amazing, then I effed up. Added 2.50 of candied ginger instead of the 1.33. All other additions after that were correct. Read past posts about too much of a ginger taste, how bad is the amount I added, and will it dissipate by December? Add another vanilla bean to offset?
OP
OP
Depends how much you like ginger. At 1.008 you can keg anytime if too much ginger is a concern. It's done.
46binder
Well-Known Member
Bottled this today, smells so fruity, but has a heavier alcohol taste now than when I secondaried. This will be great for Christmas!
OP
OP
Just brewed mine up last night!!
OP
OP
Why take it off of primary so soon if you're not sure it's finished?
I am going to definitely wait until it finishes and hits FG but I don't think that's going to take 2 weeks
moved mine to secondary today - took a little taste and it's great so far. I did ferment mine a little higher (72) for more banana flavor. Seems like the 1214 has banana flavor anyhow from reading about it though.
Anyways, pretty anxious for this beer.
Anyways, pretty anxious for this beer.
OP
OP
Kegged mine yesterday...Yummy! I used WLP500 this year.
46binder
Well-Known Member
I caved in and tried a bottle too early, not even a month! A little green, too much ginger, but that was my fault on the secondary addition. Some delicious hints of fruit notes.
OP
OP
It will get better!
balauru_327
Active Member
I did this recipe to, now i am in secondary, and the raw taste is incredible. I had 1.078 OG and 1.014 Gravity after primary fermentation.
I used a yeast that i harvest from a comercial beer (Pater Lieven - Bruin ) because i didn`t had other solution.
Olso i used Saphir hops instead of Spalter ( out of stock at my local shop) and some Magnum to achieve the recipe bitternes.
Instead of candy syrup i used home made candi sugar, and because of this my color isn`t so dark.
Can wait to feel it after secondary finish.
Thanks Poobah58 for sharing this great recipe.
I used a yeast that i harvest from a comercial beer (Pater Lieven - Bruin ) because i didn`t had other solution.
Olso i used Saphir hops instead of Spalter ( out of stock at my local shop) and some Magnum to achieve the recipe bitternes.
Instead of candy syrup i used home made candi sugar, and because of this my color isn`t so dark.
Can wait to feel it after secondary finish.
Thanks Poobah58 for sharing this great recipe.
