Christmas time is near...

[Cheesefood]

If you haven't brewed your Christmas beer yet, what are you planning on brewing up?

 

[Dude]

If you haven't brewed your Christmas beer yet, what are you planning on brewing up?

Well, I'm not a fan of Christmas beers at all, so I'm brewing up an autumn recipe with pumpkin this year. I need to get going on that sucker.

 

[RichBrewer]

I will be brewing something for the holidays but I'm not sure what. I tried a Christmas ale once that had Cinnamon and orange peel in it. It sat in the bottles for about 2 years before I threw it out. To me it rated right up there with fruit cake. I think I will do a straight forward beer like a stout or something.

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Ha, I should totally figure out some kind of Jew-Beer, for those of us with varying aversions to Xmas trees. Sort of like "He-Brew", but less suck-ful.

 

[alemonkey]

I'm brewing an imperial stout on Wednesday. Should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.100, so I'll probably let it condition until December or so.

Here's a related question - for these really big beers, is it better to let it condition in the secondary or tertiary fermenter, or is bottle conditioning better? I'm thinking I'll bottle with champagne yeast, since the high ABV might kill off the ale yeast.

 

[Desert_Sky]

Well, I'm not a fan of Christmas beers at all, so I'm brewing up an autumn recipe with pumpkin this year. I need to get going on that sucker.

Yea what he said. Ive been keeping an eye on all the pumpkin recipes i see. and hopefully Ill get around to it in a couple weeks. I think Ill do a partial mash and throw the pumpking into the tun with the grains, unless someone has a better method.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

I've got a recipe for Anchor's Christmas beer that I'm going to do again this year and give out to my friends. I went by the book last year, but I'm thinking of changing it up a bit this year. It was awesome last year.

 

[edost]

Can you post that recipe for the Anchor beer? Also, I do not have a bottling setup as I went right to kegs. If I want to condition for a few months, what would be the best way to do it?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[magno]

..."He-Brew"...

HAHAHA That is what one of SWMBO's friends calls me. Funny to see it up here.

I will also make a stout for the holiday season.

- magno

 

[Chillibeerman]

I am going to try my hand at a Caramel Porter. I like the Saranac Version, but they wouldn't give me any tips towards developing a recipe. Maple Porter is always good too. I have brewed it a couple of times.

 

[nosnhojr]

Can you post that recipe for the Anchor beer? Also, I do not have a bottling setup as I went right to kegs. If I want to condition for a few months, what would be the best way to do it?

Thanks,

Eric

I'm in the same boat. I started homebrewing a couple of months ago and went straight to kegs. I'm making a Kolsch at the moment and plan to lager it in a corney keg at low temps until late summer.

I'm also interested in the Anchor recipe. I've always enjoyed both the Anchor Christmas Ale and SN Celebration Ale during the holidays, and I'd like to brew clones of both.

BTW, I was surprised to read that SNCA is a straight IPA; I'd always assumed it had some adjuncts in it. I've found that my beer-tasting perceptions are really changing (maturing, I hope) since starting to homebrew, and I'm looking forward to trying the SNCA this year!

I guess it's time to get serious about Christmas beer recipes. I usually drink them from mid-October through January.

 

[mysterio]

Theres a recipe in Papazian's book involving ginger and cinnamon which looks tasty -- I might try an all-grain version of that.

 

[david_42]

I'm still drinking my 2003 barleywine and have another keg made in Dec. 2005, so no brewing of holiday ale for me this year.

 

[jeffg]

I always brew a Sierra Celebration style ale for Christmas--something about piney chinook hops and the Christmas tree go well together...as does 7+% abv.

I used to do an Imperial Stout for the New year but have not done one in years and have never done one all grain--I probably should.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

Can you post that recipe for the Anchor beer? Also, I do not have a bottling setup as I went right to kegs. If I want to condition for a few months, what would be the best way to do it?

Thanks,

Eric

Yeah, I'll try to get to it tonight.

Nothing special on the bottling. Just the standard procedure.

 

[Spyk'd]

Ok, for better or worse, here's my Holiday Spiced Ale for all the world to see:

Extract:
6 lbs. Light DME

Specialty Grains:
1 lbs. CaraPils
1 lbs. Special "B"
1 lbs. Crystal Malt (80 Lov)

Additional Flavorings:
1 oz. Ginger root (not Mary Ann...please, although...)
.25 oz. Cinnamon Stick
.25 oz. Nutmeg
.10 Sweet Gale (she's sooo nice!)

Hops:
.5 oz. Wilamette @ 60 mins.
1 oz. Saaz @ 30 mins.
.5 oz. Wilamette @ 15 mins.

Yeast:
WY#1028 London Ale

Clarifier:
.83 oz.Irish Moss @ 15 mins.

There you go, for all you stuckers. Hope you give it plenty of time to mellow. Enjoy!

 

[Shambolic]

I like the sound of some of the spiced christmas ales that people brew (I like the idea of a beer that tastes a bit like a dark fruit cake).
Unfortunately, it tends to be about 35-40 degrees celcius over here around christmas time - not exactly the weather for strong, dark beers...

 

[edost]

Ok, for better or worse, here's my Holiday Spiced Ale for all the world to see:

Extract:
6 lbs. Light DME

Specialty Grains:
1 lbs. CaraPils
1 lbs. Special "B"
1 lbs. Crystal Malt (80 Lov)

Additional Flavorings:
1 oz. Ginger root (not Mary Ann...please, although...)
.25 oz. Cinnamon Stick
.25 oz. Nutmeg
.10 Sweet Gale (she's sooo nice!)

Hops:
.5 oz. Wilamette @ 60 mins.
1 oz. Saaz @ 30 mins.
.5 oz. Wilamette @ 15 mins.

Yeast:
WY#1028 London Ale

Clarifier:
.83 oz.Irish Moss @ 15 mins.

There you go, for all you stuckers. Hope you give it plenty of time to mellow. Enjoy!

Okay I have a really stupid question. When you see a recipe like this, how much water do you use for the boil?

 

[chask31]

Yes and how long do you steep the grains? I have been wondering the same thing edost.. Not enough details for a newbie like me

 

[Robbw]

I've got my Imperial Stout which is one of the Holiday beers I plan to stock. That gets bottled this week. I'm also going to do a double cream stout. I'll bottle that as well. Not a fan of the weird holiday beers with herbs and things like that in it. It's like smoking a Lars or Acid cigar when a nice aged Cuban will do.:rockin:

 

[cweston]

I've been thinking of doing a big oatmeal stout w/ coffee and maybe a little chocolate for Christmas drinking and giving. Along the lines of Founders Breakfast Stout.

 

[Cheesefood]

Ha, I should totally figure out some kind of Jew-Beer, for those of us with varying aversions to Xmas trees. Sort of like "He-Brew", but less suck-ful.

 

[alemonkey]

Well, my schedule got moved up - I'm brewing my imperial stout tonight. 22 lbs of grain Should be a monster.

Damn, Cheesefood's avatars keep getting better all the time!

 

[Spyk'd]

Okay I have a really stupid question. When you see a recipe like this, how much water do you use for the boil?

My batches are always for 5.5 gallons ending amount. I do full boils and start with anywhere between 6-7 gallons depending on who's stove I'm using and the evaporation rate. The slower the stove, the more evaporation.

Yes and how long do you steep the grains? I have been wondering the same thing edost.. Not enough details for a newbie like me

I always steep my grains @ 155 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I have a large grain bag and usually only use a couple pounds of grain and drain the bag, but don't necessarily rinse the grains(this may change soon!). If I use a ton of grain and stuff a little too much in my grain bag, I'll rinse(sparge) the grain bag with 170 degree water. I do this for my stouts and porters.


Sorry about the lack of detail. Sometimes you take things for granted when you've been doing them awhile.

Hope this helps!

 

[Toilet Rocker]

I'm considering soaking some oak chips in bourbon and letting an ale sit on that in the secondary for a holiday brew. Thinking maybe a good stout would work well (kind of like Weyerbacher's Heresey)...

 

[alemonkey]

Ok, I've got 1/2 hour left on the boil of my imperial stout. I had to collect about 7 gallons and boil it down to get to my target (1.100 after boil is over). That worked out to about 2 hours of boiling. This is all assuming I hit my target volume (5 gallons) at the end. Unfortunately, I broke my brand new hydrometer right after I started the boil, so I have to use promash to calculate gravity after boiloff rather than take an actual measurement. That's two hydrometers in two brew sessions - this is getting expensive.

It smells awesome so far, but I'm exhausted. The runnings were still around 1.040 when I finished collecting wort - if I wasn't so tired I'd be able to get another decent beer out of this grist. Next time I brew something this big I'll do it during the day on a weekend.

 

[Glibbidy]

I'm thinking about making a barleywine, and a Westmalle Trippel Clone. I'm just wondering how the heck I'm gonna fit all that grain in my mash tun for a 10 gal batch! :cross:

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

I just put up an experimental gallon of cinnamon-allspice-cardamom mead (metheglyn), if it turns out all right after six months, I'll do a full 5-gal batch in late December and let it age all year.

 

[edost]

I decided I'm going to brew the Affligem Noel Christmas Ale from Beer Captured. Going to brew it this weekend and let it age until the holidays.

 

[MattMacLeod]

I'm brewing a 'Christmas Pudding' Stout. It's an idea I tried last year, but screwed it up. Too many spices.

This year I am going to make a solid stout base (90% pale malt, 10% roasted barley) and flavour with vanilla and cinnamon.

Not sure yet of yeast or hop schedule.

If I get it right, I think it will go very well with those rich desserts we eat around Christmas time.