Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

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A question I had though is that why is the OG from Brewsmith so much lower than the OP's? The OG from Brewsmith is 1.063 but the OP's gravity is 1.075!

What that means is that he got better efficiency than you did. You could have entered in all the ingredients(using his numbers) and then used the gravity adjustment tool and entered your expected efficiency. This would have upped the amount of grain that you would have needed but you would have hit closer to his numbers. Hope I explained this clearly...not quite sure that I did.
 
The calculations are also very dependent on equipment and setup. I almost never use recipes "as is." I make adjustments based on my equipment and setup, and target the specified OG, IBU, etc while also matching the grain & hop percentages as much as possible.
 
Looks good. Planning on trying this out on Saturday.

Seems like there is conflicting information about where/when you add the cinnamon and ginger. Do you add at the last 5 min of the boil? Transfer to primary? Or just add to secondary?

Anybody? OP?
 
I brewed this 4 weeks ago and threw in the fresh ginger with 10 mins left in the boil. As far as the cinnamon goes, I brewed up a "cinnamon tea" (boiled 3 sticks in 2 cups of water) and added that to the secondary. Just bottled this past weekend and boy, gotta say the sample tasted great! :rockin:
 
Hmm I just happen to have all these ingredients on hand, minus the London Ale yeast. I have the option of US-04, US-05, or a Bells yeast slurry from a batch currently fermenting. What do you think would be the best for GL Xmas Ale?

I think I found this weekend's brew. Thanks OP!
 
Hmm I just happen to have all these ingredients on hand, minus the London Ale yeast. I have the option of US-04, US-05, or a Bells yeast slurry from a batch currently fermenting. What do you think would be the best for GL Xmas Ale?

I think I found this weekend's brew. Thanks OP!

US-04 would be a good substitute.
 
Here is what Mark Hunger, Manager of Brewing and Quality Control said to me on October 5, 2009 in regards to Christmas ale:

Honey, ginger, and cinnamon are all added in the boil. We use enough honey to raise the O.G. by about 2 degrees Plato.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WiseEyes
Do you think that the honey goes in the secondary rather than flame out at the brewry
I asked them that but they wont tell me.
I asked them that but they wont tell me.
 
Here is what Mark Hunger, Manager of Brewing and Quality Control said to me on October 5, 2009 in regards to Christmas ale:

Honey, ginger, and cinnamon are all added in the boil. We use enough honey to raise the O.G. by about 2 degrees Plato.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WiseEyes
Do you think that the honey goes in the secondary rather than flame out at the brewry
I asked them that but they wont tell me.

Dude. Nice!
 
I brewed this about 4 weeks ago and had my first taste last night. I made a cinnamon/ginger tea and added liquid and cinnamon and ginger to secondary for 4 days. I might have overdone it on the ginger because the ginger taste is pretty overwhelming. Ill give it a couple more weeks to let it die down. I have a keg of the real thing coming on Monday so I will have no problem waiting for mine to mellow out.
 
I brewed this about 4 weeks ago and had my first taste last night. I made a cinnamon/ginger tea and added liquid and cinnamon and ginger to secondary for 4 days. I might have overdone it on the ginger because the ginger taste is pretty overwhelming. Ill give it a couple more weeks to let it die down. I have a keg of the real thing coming on Monday so I will have no problem waiting for mine to mellow out.
an entire keg?!?!?! What time do you want me to come over? :tank:
 
So looks like this isnt going to be as much of a clone as I thought. Only had 10 lbs of pale malt (I do 10 gallons batches), so I had to substitute. Added 5 lbs of Munich and 2 lbs of light DME to get to 1.073. I think I should have dropped the crystal but its already been crushed and mixed so I'm stuck with it. Sparge is heating now.

Even if its not a GL Christmas, I think it should make a nice malty festive beer!
 
Just checked mine after a week in primary and the gravity was at 1.012 (my starting gravity was 1.064). BTW, these numbers are spot on for what Beersmith said. Should I wait to secondary it for another week or pull it now? I don't want the gravity to go down any further.
 
I did cinnamon sticks whole with fresh chunked peeled ginger. Cin taste is pretty strong, but I expect that to condition into a great beer. Been awhile since I had the original, but I think this beer will rock. Thanks for the recipe OP!
 
Here is what Mark Hunger, Manager of Brewing and Quality Control said to me on October 5, 2009 in regards to Christmas ale:

Honey, ginger, and cinnamon are all added in the boil. We use enough honey to raise the O.G. by about 2 degrees Plato.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WiseEyes
Do you think that the honey goes in the secondary rather than flame out at the brewry
I asked them that but they wont tell me.

Thanks, this site is awesome...
 
Just checked mine after a week in primary and the gravity was at 1.012 (my starting gravity was 1.064). BTW, these numbers are spot on for what Beersmith said. Should I wait to secondary it for another week or pull it now? I don't want the gravity to go down any further.

I would pull it now if you don't want the gravity to go down much further.. By pulling it of the yeast cake you will slow down Fermentation. If you can it might be beneficial to cold condition it as well.
 
I would pull it now if you don't want the gravity to go down much further.. By pulling it of the yeast cake you will slow down Fermentation. If you can it might be beneficial to cold condition it as well.

You cant exactly stop fermentation by pulling it off the yeast cake. There will still be yeast left in suspension that will eat away. Additionally you are asking for trouble by attempting to stop fermentation if you are planning on bottling. The yeast will pick back up and you have bombs on your hands.

Best to let it go where it will go. You fix FG by proper mashing techniques and proper yeast selection and pitch rates.
 
So looks like this isnt going to be as much of a clone as I thought. Only had 10 lbs of pale malt (I do 10 gallons batches), so I had to substitute. Added 5 lbs of Munich and 2 lbs of light DME to get to 1.073. I think I should have dropped the crystal but its already been crushed and mixed so I'm stuck with it. Sparge is heating now.

Even if its not a GL Christmas, I think it should make a nice malty festive beer!

Sounds good to me!
 
Just transferred to secondary after 10 days (my gravity was getting too low) and the taste was great! I'm leary about adding more spice for fear of overdoing it, so I think I'll leave it as is.

WiseEyes, I've never cold conditioned before. When should I drop the temp in my fermenter, and to what temp?
 
Just transferred to secondary after 10 days (my gravity was getting too low) and the taste was great! I'm leary about adding more spice for fear of overdoing it, so I think I'll leave it as is.

WiseEyes, I've never cold conditioned before. When should I drop the temp in my fermenter, and to what temp?

Its dependent upon the yeast strain, but with nearly all ale yeasts if you get it into the forties your going to significantly slow if not completely stop fermentation and this will also clear your beer 2 or 3 weeks at those temperatures really helps my beers clear up
 
How are people processing the ginger? I'm thinking of using a "hop bag" for the ginger and cinnamon to make it easy to separate. Should the ginger be sliced? chopped? micro-planed?
 
How are people processing the ginger? I'm thinking of using a "hop bag" for the ginger and cinnamon to make it easy to separate. Should the ginger be sliced? chopped? micro-planed?

I actually quartered and crushed the ginger in mine. And I did indeed use a hop bag to facilitate removal of the ginger. The sticks I just threw in as they were easy enough to find, and did not pose a hazard of being drawn through the ball valve into the fermenter!

:mug:
 
Just transferred to secondary after 10 days (my gravity was getting too low) and the taste was great! I'm leary about adding more spice for fear of overdoing it, so I think I'll leave it as is.

WiseEyes, I've never cold conditioned before. When should I drop the temp in my fermenter, and to what temp?

Transfering to secondary does not stop fermentation, make sure this thing is fully attenuated before bottling or your bottles could explode. It doesnt matter if the final gravity is a few points off.

also, go easy on spices.
 
Trying to do a BIAB partial mash. I've got a 20L stockpot and I do 3 gallon boils. Along w/ 6.6lbs of Pale LME, Beersmith says:


Mash or Steep Grains

Mash Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2 lbs 5.5 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 22.8 %
15.0 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
8.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.3 %
2.2 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.3 %
0.7 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 0.4 %

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 13.17 qt of water at 152.2 F 148.0 F 75 min


Does this look right?
 
Brewed my 2011 batch today. This time I used the updated recipe adjusting the hops to hit 30 IBU and adding ginger and cinnamon sticks with 5 left in the boil. I peeled the ginger and just cut it in half and threw it in. Honey at Flameout.
 
Shinglejohn said:
Brewed my 2011 batch today. This time I used the updated recipe adjusting the hops to hit 30 IBU and adding ginger and cinnamon sticks with 5 left in the boil. I peeled the ginger and just cut it in half and threw it in. Honey at Flameout.

Did you post pitch temp and fermentation temp? Sorry if I missed it
 
So after two more weeks in the secondary my ginger flavor was still overwhelming the cinnamon. I decided to add more cinnamon flavor by boiling three more sticks for five minutes in a cup of water. It currently is very spicy and I imagine will be for awhile. Thinking about bottling and busting out in July.
 
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