Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

[Raysfan08]

Would using wyeast 1056 be ok with this Christmas ale?

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

**Update - Great Lakes changed the IBU's for this beer from 40 to 30**



10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 73.64 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 7.36 % (they use 45L, but i could only find 40L)
1.00 lb Wheat Malt 7.36 %
0.25 lb Special Roast 1.84 %
0.08 lb Roasted Barley 0.59 %

Hallertauer (60 min) 20 IBU
Cascade (10 min) 7 IBU
Cascade (5 min) 3 IBU

2 Cinnamon Stick (boil 5.0 min) Misc
1. oz Ginger Root (boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 lb Honey (Flame out) Sugar 9.20 %
1 Pkgs London Ale (Wyeast Labs #1028) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.018
Alcohol by Vol: 7.53 %
30.0 IBU
11.6 SRM C


Mash Profile

60 min 154.0 F

All great lakes beers are carbed at 2.5Volumes.

A letter from a brewer at the GL

"Chris,



I’m sorry, I was going through some old emails and it looks like I neglected to answer this one. The recipe looks perfect. Did you brew it yet? I was just wondering how it turned out. Sorry again for not getting back to you. Let me know if I can help you with any other questions.



Cheers!



Luke Purcell

Great Lakes Brewing Company

Brewer/Field Quality Specialist"

What are the weights of the hop additions?

 

[Sippin37]

That's going to be different depending on the AA % of your hops. Try utilizing some of the free recipe software out there to figure out how much you'll need to get the same IBU's at each time addition.

 

[mainemike68]

Would using wyeast 1056 be ok with this Christmas ale?

1056 will work, however 1028 is waaay better. I have made it with both and prefer 1028 by a longshot.

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

What type of honey works best with this beer? Clover?

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

I'd like to add a bit of orange and lemon zest....how much would I add in a 5 gal batch? Or should I use lemon and orange peel?

 

[Beardo21]

What type of honey works best with this beer? Clover?

I used Buckwheat for mine.

 

[Beardo21]

Just brewed up a 5-gal batch this past Saturday. My batch last year, overall, turned out good with exception of a little too much ginger. I backed it off a touch this time around and also added an extra cinnamon stick. So far, she's a bubbling away and it smells wonderful.

 

[Sippin37]

Just brewed up a 5-gal batch this past Saturday. My batch last year, overall, turned out good with exception of a little too much ginger. I backed it off a touch this time around and also added an extra cinnamon stick. So far, she's a bubbling away and it smells wonderful.

That's exactly what I'd like to do next time around. The ginger has really toned down after being in the keg for 3 weeks, but I did add some extra ground cinnamon (1/2 tsp) to the keg as I could barely even detect the cinnamon. By doing this it definitely turned the color to more of a brown. I think the OP's recipe is very close to GL's Christmas Ale, but I think for my own tastes I like a little less ginger and a little more cinnamon.

 

[cpesko]

+1 on the hop weights for original recipe.

 

[Squad1Guy]

I just brewed this about a week ago. I only made it to a gravity of 1.064, but the wort smells fantastic! Equal amounts of ginger and cinnamon stick, and wildflower honey. My IBU's were pretty spot on and the color looks great! I decided to go with WLP011 because I wanted something a bit more malty and sweet. Any comments?
The fermentation is going, but pretty slowly. My fermenter is staying around 68-70F (measured on the outside by a non-contact IR thermometer). I definitely have yeast floating on the top, so I am figuring RDWHAH

 

[BullGator]

I'm cooling my wort now and have a question (nothing like waiting till the last minute huh?). I put the cinnamon sticks and ginger around 5 min to flameout. Do they go in primary? As in, do I pull them out after I cool my wort or leave them in so they end up in the primary fermentor?

 

[Sippin37]

I'm cooling my wort now and have a question (nothing like waiting till the last minute huh?). I put the cinnamon sticks and ginger around 5 min to flameout. Do they go in primary? As in, do I pull them out after I cool my wort or leave them in so they end up in the primary fermentor?

I dont think it matters either way. Whatever is easiest for you just go with it. Some people filter out hop trub and some people put it all in the fermenter, doesnt really matter.

 

[BullGator]

I dont think it matters either way. Whatever is easiest for you just go with it. Some people filter out hop trub and some people put it all in the fermenter, doesnt really matter.

I used a hop spider for the hops. I was referring specifically to the ginger and cinnamon sticks. I peeped and approximately quatered the ginger and I just threw the cinnamon sticks in whole. So after I removed the hop spider after cooling, they were the only thing in the wort. I went ahead and spooned them out as the wort was flowing into my fermenters.

 

[WiseEyes]

brewing this tomorrow, anyone use 1056 or s-04. I have a yeast cake of each to throw this on. Which one would you guys use and why?

 

[Shinglejohn]

Id go for the 04 but im sure either will produce a good beer!

 

[WiseEyes]

Ya, thats what i was thinkin I used london ale last year and imho it was way better than last years X-mas ale

 

[MMJfan]

I'm cooling my wort now and have a question (nothing like waiting till the last minute huh?). I put the cinnamon sticks and ginger around 5 min to flameout. Do they go in primary? As in, do I pull them out after I cool my wort or leave them in so they end up in the primary fermentor?

I mentioned this before, but I emailed Great Lakes about this recipe and their response was that they put the cinnamon and ginger in for the entire 60 minute boil and then remove them. I peel and cube my ginger and put it along with the cinnamon sticks in a hop sack and just throw it in my kettle for the entire boil fwiw...

 

[WiseEyes]

Well made this Saturday to a gravity of 1.070 and put it on a s-04 cake. Instead of taking it to the basement I decided to leave it upstairs to keep the temperature in the upper 60's. Put it in the carboy at 530 and went to a wedding got home at 1:30 am and found beer all over the floor and beer on the ceiling!

 

[Squad1Guy]

I just brewed this about a week ago. I only made it to a gravity of 1.064, but the wort smells fantastic! Equal amounts of ginger and cinnamon stick, and wildflower honey. My IBU's were pretty spot on and the color looks great! I decided to go with WLP011 because I wanted something a bit more malty and sweet. Any comments?
The fermentation is going, but pretty slowly. My fermenter is staying around 68-70F (measured on the outside by a non-contact IR thermometer). I definitely have yeast floating on the top, so I am figuring RDWHAH

After 2 weeks in the primary, I checked the gravity to see how things were progressing. I was showing a gravity of 1.010, which puts me at 7.1% ABV - better than I had hoped for!

The color and clarity were beautiful, and the taste was pretty great. Cinnamon and honey dominated, ginger was pretty muted. It had a nice malt-forward taste, which is what I was looking for (and the reason I went with WLP011). I will let it go for another week and then bottle.

This is my third AG batch, and I am very happy with the results. I just have to dial in my equipment and process and I will be happy. BTW...this was a 2 gallon batch (bottling volume). Thanks for a great recipe Now I will have to buy a 6-pack of the commercial beer and compare. But based on the hydro sample, I think mine will come out on top!

 

[RUNningonbrew]

Just made this last week, gravity ended at 1.011, lower than I wanted, I mashed at 154, wonder why it ended up so low? Any suggestions next time? Also has anyone primed this using honey?

 

[mikeroche56]

Thanks for posting. Hope to try this next!

 

[Beardo21]

Bottled my batch yesterday. My OG was 1.078 and it has stayed steady at 1.023 for the past couple weeks. I would have liked to get a couple points lower but, as is the abv is at 7.22% so I really can't complain. Also, it tasted pretty damn good. Excited for this to finally be ready. Cheers.

 

[swackattack]

Tasted decent out of hydrometer but after 4 days in the keg is full of hot alcohol. Ideas?

 

[Sippin37]

What was your OG and FG? Also, give it time in the keg. I wouldn't worry until atleast 3 weeks in the keg if it were still tasting bad. I thought mine was too much ginger but after 6 weeks in the keg it is fantastic!

 

[swackattack]

Og was 1.079. Fg was 1.015. Finished a little lower due to lower mash temp I think.

 

[Sippin37]

That makes sense, so yours will just need a little more time to smooth out I bet. Good thing is that there is still plenty of time before Christmas and a whole lot of winter left in general!

 

[WiseEyes]

Tasted decent out of hydrometer but after 4 days in the keg is full of hot alcohol. Ideas?

give it a month it will mellow out just fine

 

[cbehr]

Gonna grab my ingredients today so I can hopefully have this ready for Christmas...I know I'm rushing it but I think I should be ok @ 3 weeks in primary and 3 in bottles.

 

[DrRay11]

Hi guys - we tried this a couple weeks ago and I'm ready to bottle it. Original recipe does not include priming sugar - I'm assuming there's enough left from the honey to get CO2? Can anyone help this new-to-brewing guy?

Thanks.

EDIT: Looks like I should use 4 oz. or so of priming sugar regardless, correct me if I'm wrong.