Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

[Bramstoker17]

I emailed the brewery last year and they told me that they put the spices in for the entire 60 minute boil. This is the only way I've brewed this and I have been VERY pleased with the results...

Awesome, thanks!

 

[slurring_troobadour]

I've been following this thread since last year and have read all of the pages many times - just brewed my 25 gallon batch yesterday. Threw the ginger and cinnamon sticks in with about 40 mins left in the boil. My brewhouse efficiency went up after I re-milled the grain, my OG was 1.088. My LHBS didn't mill it good enough for me so I ran it through my mill when I got home. Between that, a 75 min mash and a 75 min fly sparge I think I got just about all of the sugars out of the grain. Anyway, my fermenters are bubbling away at 68 degrees. Hopefully, I can get down to 1.018 or so. I'll let you all know how this turns out. Thanks again for the post. Michigan - the great beer state.

 

[veritas524]

I've got this in the boil kettle right now. I hope I didn't start this brew too late!

 

[MMJfan]

I think you're more than fine. I'm not planning on brewing my first batch until a week from this coming Sunday. My time frame is this needs no more than 2 weeks in primary and then it's time to bottle with a couple of weeks of conditioning in the bottle. I know some in here think it needs more time to condition or more time to sit in primary before bottling/kegging, but in my experience, this brew tasted damn good just the way I've been doing it so I see no reason to have to wait longer for it to age...

Btw, I love this recipe so much, I make sure it's in stock all winter long, not just thru x-mas like Great Lakes does. One more advantage of homebrewing is that I can have this on hand all winter long...

 

[veritas524]

This is the best smelling boil I've ever had in my life!

 

[Sippin37]

This is the best smelling boil I've ever had in my life!

+1, think I made the same statement like a year ago, haha!

 

[MMJfan]

Oh that smell! I have a friend coming over when I brew this a week from Sunday and he's going to brew a batch of it as well. I think we're going to make the whole neighborhood smell like cinnamon and ginger!

The wonderful smell of the boil is yet another great reason to boil the cinnamon and ginger for the full 60 minutes!

 

[Nicegirl]

I plan on brewing this recipe this coming weekend to insure it's ready for Christmas enjoyment.
I did check the Great Lakes website which states that they use Mt. Hood and Cascade for their hopping schedule so that's what I'm going with. I'm going with the Mt. Hood for bittering and the Cascade for aroma.
After reading through all of the posts in this thread, I think I'm going to cut the ginger root back to 3/4 oz. and use the full measure of cinnamon placed in a hop bag and boiled for the entire 60 minutes.
Can't wait to brew this one. I have only been brewing for 7 months and have had good success at all grain brewing but have never brewed a Christmas ale before so it should be interesting.
If anyone who has brewed this recipe has any tips they can share, I sure would appreciate it.

 

[RMP]

I brewed up my batch of this last night.

I badly miscalculated my boil off rate so I wound up with a gallon more in the primary than I wanted. I think this caused my OG to come in a bit low (1.070 rather than 1.077) so I added a bit of extra honey to the primary to boost the ABV. Hopefully most of the honey ferments out and this doesn't affect the final flavor.

I also went lighter on the ginger this year (.75oz cut into two chunks). The cinnamon stick and ginger both went into a muslin bag and boiled for exactly 60 minutes before coming back out. I figure I can also do the 'spice tea' method if it's too light. Easier to add than to take away...

 

[Nicegirl]

I did indeed brew this recipe over the weekend. BeerSmith calculated the O.G. at 1.069 and I hit it spot on. Used 3/4 oz. of ginger root cut up into about 6 cubed pieces. Placed the ginger root along with 2 cinnamon sticks, which I broke up, into a muslin bag and boiled them for the entire 60 minutes.

Used Mt. Hood for my bittering hop and Cascade as my aroma hop.

The finished wort had a beautiful color as well as aroma. Used a half a whirlfloc tablet at 8 minutes left in the boil and pumped ice water through my immersion chiller to chill everything quickly to get a good cold break. Made a 1000 ml starter for the Wyeast 1028 and had the start of fermentation in about 3 hours after pitching.

Now the long wait begins!

 

[elatowski]

Can anyone assist us extract brewers and confirm that the conversion on page2 is still accurate and not in need of any updating? I've seen little in the way of replies by those brewing the extract recipe and want to make the best version possible.

 

[MMJfan]

Can anyone assist us extract brewers and confirm that the conversion on page2 is still accurate and not in need of any updating? I've seen little in the way of replies by those brewing the extract recipe and want to make the best version possible.

I don't know about any updating but that is the recipe I used when I was still extract brewing. The only suggestion I would have is regarding the addition of the cinnamon and ginger and the amounts.

First of all, cut back on the ginger by about a 1/2 oz making it about 3/4 oz.

Second of all, I would suggest placing the cinnamon and ginger into a hop sock and add it for the entire 60 minute boil.

This was a good brew but it is not an exact clone of GL's Christmas Ale. Also, when I brewed it, I think I was still going with the full amount of ginger (1.25 oz) which may have thrown it off a bit as well.

 

[RMP]

I brewed the extract version last year and agree with MMJfan. The ginger is too strong in the extract recipe as written. The color is also way off, but I think that's due to the liquid extract and I'm not sure there's much you can do to correct for it. Mine turned out dark brown rather than a nice reddish color of the GL.

 

[elatowski]

My main concern is how the hop schedules differ. The AG version has only two additions, Cascade at 60min and Hallertau at 10min. The extract version has the aroma and bittering hops flip flopped and also has two extra additions of Cascade. The extract version also incorporates Crystal 60L and an additional .5 lb of honey, whereas the AG recipe does not.

 

[RMP]

Here is the exact extract recipe that I used last year. Like I said, I'd adjust the ginger down, but otherwise leave everything else the same. You won't get the color right, but I think that's inevitable. Adding most of the liquid extract late or at flame out might help.

I did a full boil that resulted in a 5 gallon batch. You can adjust the hop additions depending on the AA of your hops, but basically you want your final product to come out at 30IBU.

Fermentables:
9.3lb gold LME
0.6lb wheat DME
1lb Crystal 40 (steep)
.25lb Special Roast (steep)
.08lb Roasted Barley (steep)
1.25 lb Honey (Flame out)

Hops:
1.8oz Hallertauer (60 min)
1.3oz Cascade (10 min)
0.7oz Cascade (5min)

Other:
2 Cinnamon Stick (boil 60.0 min)
1. oz Ginger (boil 60.0 min)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1028

 

[MMJfan]

My main concern is how the hop schedules differ. The AG version has only two additions, Cascade at 60min and Hallertau at 10min. The extract version has the aroma and bittering hops flip flopped and also has two extra additions of Cascade. The extract version also incorporates Crystal 60L and an additional .5 lb of honey, whereas the AG recipe does not.

I also forgot to note another thing I found when I emailed Great Lakes last year about cloning X-Mas ale. When they emailed me back, they did tell me that they use 3 hop additions with Hallertau being their first two additions and Cascade being their 3rd addition.

When I found this out, I changed my hop schedule to the following:

1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (60 min)
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (30 min)
1.0 oz Cascade (5.0%) (5 min)

Some have noted above that the GL website now lists Mt. Hood as their bittering hop, so take that fwiw. I've chosen to continue to use Hallertau for my recipe.

As for the extract incorporating 50L and an additional .5 lb of honey, I have no idea what the line of thinking is there.

 

[elatowski]

Thanks for the info

 

[jimyson]

Have the all ready for the morning. I will be using Mt Hood for bittering and WLP013. Looking forward to this one.

 

[BullGator]

I also forgot to note another thing I found when I emailed Great Lakes last year about cloning X-Mas ale. When they emailed me back, they did tell me that they use 3 hop additions with Hallertau being their first two additions and Cascade being their 3rd addition.

When I found this out, I changed my hop schedule to the following:

1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (60 min)
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (30 min)
1.0 oz Cascade (5.0%) (5 min)

Some have noted above that the GL website now lists Mt. Hood as their bittering hop, so take that fwiw. I've chosen to continue to use Hallertau for my recipe.

As for the extract incorporating 50L and an additional .5 lb of honey, I have no idea what the line of thinking is there.

I'm about to brew this now. Did you brew with this hops schedule? How did it turn out?

 

[MMJfan]

I'm about to brew this now. Did you brew with this hops schedule? How did it turn out?

Yes. When Great Lakes told me about using 3 hop additions of Hallertau and Cascade I decided to change up my hop additions to what I posted above.

And IMHO I feel like it tuned out great.

 

[bg1414]

so you had no off flavors from boiling the ginger and cinnamon 60 minutes?

 

[MMJfan]

so you had no off flavors from boiling the ginger and cinnamon 60 minutes?

Nope...

 

[Nicegirl]

I brewed this recipe almost 5 weeks ago and just racked it from primary to secondary last weekend. It had a fantastic aroma to it and the S.G. at racking put it at about 7.3% ABV. Truly a winter warmer for sure!
Going to give it 2 weeks in secondary and then put it into cold storage for the last 2 weeks of the secondary period to help "round off the edges" a bit and to cold crash it in preparation of bottling the weekend of 11/24. Can't wait to try it!

 

[tyrus]

I brewed this beer 2 weeks ago. Kept in the primary for one week. The sample did not impart much of any cinnamon/ginger character that the christmas ale has. Boiled 4 cinnamon sticks and 1 oz of ginger together in about 8 ounces of purified water then let it cool to room temperature (70°), strained it through a fine mesh sack, added the tea from the ginger and cinnamon and then added the raw ginger and cinnamon sticks to the fermenter and let ferment for another week. Very strong ginger and cinnamon character! I enjoy the flavor as it is much closer to the original christmas ale. If the ginger and cinnamon additions to the secondary were cut in half if would probably be excellent. I enjoy the spicy character though. I'm sure the flavors will mellow after a couple of weeks in the keezer. Good recipe overall.

 

[MMJfan]

I brewed this beer 2 weeks ago. Kept in the primary for one week. The sample did not impart much of any cinnamon/ginger character that the christmas ale has. Boiled 4 cinnamon sticks and 1 oz of ginger together in about 8 ounces of purified water then let it cool to room temperature (70°), strained it through a fine mesh sack, added the tea from the ginger and cinnamon and then added the raw ginger and cinnamon sticks to the fermenter and let ferment for another week. Very strong ginger and cinnamon character! I enjoy the flavor as it is much closer to the original christmas ale. If the ginger and cinnamon additions to the secondary were cut in half if would probably be excellent. I enjoy the spicy character though. I'm sure the flavors will mellow after a couple of weeks in the keezer. Good recipe overall.

Did you boil the cinnamon and ginger for the full 60 minutes and if so, how much did you use of each? I've brewed this recipe several times and have had to cut back on my ginger from over an oz. the first time I brewed it to around 3/4 oz and I get a very nice balance of cinnamon, ginger and honey.

 

[tyrus]

I didn't do the full 60 minute boil with the cinnamon and ginger. I followed the original recipe that had a 15 minute boil time on the ginger and cinnamon. I would definitely do the full 60 minute boil next time with the cinnamon and ginger.

 

[Flipadelphia]

What OG should I be shooting for before the honey? I'm assuming I shouldn't be aiming for 1.075 with just grain alone. Beersmith doesn't have a honey option so I don't know what OG to shoot for in BS.

 

[Squad1Guy]

Anyone ever use Honey Malt in this recipe? I like the idea of honey flavor coming through more and this seems to be the ticket.

I will be brewing this in the next couple of weeks (once I get my fermentation chamber up and running).

 

[DPlan00]

Anyone ever use Honey Malt in this recipe? I like the idea of honey flavor coming through more and this seems to be the ticket.

I will be brewing this in the next couple of weeks (once I get my fermentation chamber up and running).

I have brewed this twice. The second year, I substituted the real honey for 1% Honey Malt. I liked the first year with the real honey better. Not because I could taste it, but because the beer with the honey malt didn't dry out enough. The honey malt made the beer seem sweeter. I suppose that's the point of honey malt, but maybe I should've cut the Crystal Malt a bit. I liked the real honey because the fermentable sugar in the honey helped to dry the beer out.

It finished at 1.014 with the real honey. With the Honey Malt and no real honey it finished at 1.023. Both beers were fermented with Wyeast 1318, London Ale III because that's what they had when I made it the first time, and I liked it. Thinking about giving the regular London Ale yeast a go this year. I read that it has a higher attenuation.

I am going to try again, but will add the honey to the fermenter. I know, it will also get completely consumed, right?

 

[Squad1Guy]

I just finished brewing up my 2014 batch of Christmas ale. I made a few changes based on ingredients on hand: Subbed Victory for the Special Roast (only to discover I had a bag of Special Roast at home ) and used blackberry honey (because I had a pound of it lying around). I also used S-04 since I have gotten pretty fond of using dry yeast lately and it was suggested as a good alternate yeast. Brew day went pretty well, although my pre-boil gravity was a bit low (so I tossed on 3/4# of dry pilsen extract...which I had lying around...). I also tried wrapping a blanket around my pot to hold temps, but it didn't work very well....dropped from 154F to 150F over the hour so this year's will be a little drier. You can also see the volume markings (in Pic #2) I etched on my brew kettle earlier this year.

So I guess my attempt this year will be based off of the OP's recipe Also new this year: BIAB bags from Wilserbrewer and A fermentation chamber with an STC 1000 temp controller. (Which is SO nice! I pitched my yeast at 76F, popped it into the chamber and went to bed. In the morning the temp was a cool 64F and holding steady!) Wort smelled AMAZING!!!!!