Winter Seasonal Beer Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

[sejasba]

I used the WLP013 and it is going crazy. I'm glad I put a blow off tube on it. My bucket top was bulging even with the tube.

Oddly enough I had the complete opposite experience. 4 days into fermentation and I didn't even think it had started yet. Checked the gravity and it was almost complete. Must have had a bad seal on this bucket, it's 4 years old. Got a new bucket and made an imperial IPA in the new one with the same blow off tube I used for the xmas ale. No real sign of activity, and it went from 1.090 to 1.022 in 3 days. Both buckets had one thing in common -- the same blow off tube connected to the airlock. Not sure where there is a leak, but oh well, there must be.

 

[tnorman93638]

Been Fermenting now for 10 days and very little activity on the blow tube. Do I need to increase the temp to get the fermentation to start up? OP says 14 days primary and 14 days secondary.

 

[MMJfan]

Been Fermenting now for 10 days and very little activity on the blow tube. Do I need to increase the temp to get the fermentation to start up? OP says 14 days primary and 14 days secondary.

I just keep mine in the fermenting bucket until I rack it to my bottling bucket. That's pretty much what I do for all my brews.

Fermentation is generally done in the first week so you're beer should be done fermenting if it's been 10 days. I usually bottle this beer about 14 days after I brew and mine always turns out great!

 

[tnorman93638]

Thanks MMJfan. I usually do about the same but I just wanted to make sure with this beer. 1st Christmas beer I've made.

 

[bgburdman9]

Just brewed the recipe almost exactly as listed on the first page, but did a 7.5 gallon batch. I plan to keg 5 gallons and age the last 2.5 gallons on some bourbon soaked oak.

 

[Sippin37]

Brewed this bad boy again this year and used powdered ginger instead of fresh, still delicious as ever. I also threw the ginger and cinnamon in at the end of the boil this time, didn't notice any difference. I tossed in some extra cinnamon when kegging and really think it is the best batch I have made yet. Cheers!

 

[MMJfan]

Brewed this bad boy again this year and used powdered ginger instead of fresh, still delicious as ever. I also threw the ginger and cinnamon in at the end of the boil this time, didn't notice any difference. I tossed in some extra cinnamon when kegging and really think it is the best batch I have made yet. Cheers!

For me, it's not so much about the flavor difference, but the aroma difference!

Smelling that ginger and cinnamon during the boil is just to die for! I could just stand over the kettle and take in that smell for the whole 60 minutes!

One thing I might do for my next batch is up my cinnamon addition a tad. I've tried Fat Head's Holly Jolly for the first time this year and, IMHO, it is like Great Lakes USED to taste back in the day! So much more flavor with more cinnamon notes than GL's Christmas Ale so I'm going to try to get a tad more cinnamon flavor for my next batch!

 

[fimpster]

Last night I cracked open the first bottle (or two!) of this batch. It has been in bottles for 18 days and is carbed up perfectly. I've never had the original, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. I am very pleased with how this turned out!

I was a little surprised at how subtle the ginger and cinnamon are. That's not a bad thing though, its just that the smell coming off the boil and even the sample at bottling, had me thinking it would be stronger. At one point I was even worried that using the full 1 oz of ginger would have been too much, but it turns out that it was perfect. As I posted earlier I just chopped it into 4 chunks and threw it in for the full 60 min. I'm sure grating it would have been too much. Next year I would probably use the same ginger but add another cinnamon stick. I break the cinnamon sticks in half.

I also posted earlier about forgetting to add honey at FO. What I ended up doing was boiling a pint of water for 5 minutes then adding the honey to that at FO. After chilling it to ~65° I carefully added the honey mixture to the fermenter. This was done on day 2 of fermentation while the krausen was still high, but just starting to back off. I've since read on other posts and websites that adding honey to the fermenter is a legitimate technique to help preserve some of the delicate aromas from the honey. Well in my case I can just barely detect the honey is in there, which has always been my experience with honey anyhow. I don't think that adding it to the fermenter had any negative impact at all.

Overall I am quite pleased with this batch so far. Mine came in at 7.4% ABV, so it will definitely warm you up. I am looking forward to how this ages and expect it to get even better toward the end of the year. I will definitely brew this one again.

 

[Extra330SC]

I agree, I brewed this with lme, and used powdered spices, I found this beer more aromatic than spicy on the pallet, but of course I just bottled it tonight.
I bet it will be well balanced.
C ant wait used S05 , took it from 1.065 to 1.010. Maybe a little dry, however I enjoy a beer that keeps me coming back to it during a Nor Easter.

 

[MMJfan]

Well, I just cracked open a bottle from my first batch of the year last night and it was delicious. What I said above about adding more cinnamon on my next batch... Well, I think I will just stick with what I did. I should have known that conditioning would bring out the flavors more and boy, did those flavors ever come out!

Brewing up batch #2 next weekend!

 

[Extra330SC]

And the bubbles come threw for the win..completely changes the character. Really happy with this recipe.

 

[SteveFTC]

We brewed this last night. Put in the cinnamon and ginger for the full 60 minute boil. It didn't smell as good as we thought (from reading this thread). Going to pitch the yeast soon and it still doesn't give off that holiday ale smell.

Should we add cinnamon/ginger while it's fermenting? Or maybe the smell/flavor will come out later.

Just seemed like everyone here loved how great it smelled while brewing.

Thanks..

Steve

 

[altimate_one]

What did everyone use for priming sugar? Any benefit in using Honey? Also, did everyone shoot for 2.0 volumes of CO2? I'm bottling tomorrow and don't remember seeing anything about this in the thread. Thanks guys.

 

[fimpster]

What did everyone use for priming sugar? Any benefit in using Honey? Also, did everyone shoot for 2.0 volumes of CO2? I'm bottling tomorrow and don't remember seeing anything about this in the thread. Thanks guys.

I used Dextrose and went for 2.2 vol.

 

[altimate_one]

Thanks... I used corn sugar and went to about 2.2% as well.

 

[fimpster]

I just thought I'd post an update on my batch of this for anyone who's interested. I guess it's mostly for my own benefit since I end up copying these type of notes into my beersmith.

I have 2 bottles left of the batch I brewed 10/18/2014 and bottled 11/08/2014. I cracked one of them open tonight and my first impression was just how bright it was! It's been in the fridge for weeks now so I guess it's no surprise. I'm not picking anything interesting up in the nose. Mouthfeel is full, enjoyable. After a quarter bottle (640ml) I can detect the ginger, but I think it's because I know it's there. I don't really detect cinnamon. If you told me the style was winter warmer, I'd agree with you. After all, it is warming my belly. Of course I already knew the style.

I have kept several of these bottles on hand to sample every so often since the holidays when I went through most of them. I have detected changes all along the way. I think this beer peaked around Christmas which was almost 10 weeks after brewing and 7 weeks after bottling. I'm surprised it didn't age as well as I thought it would for a 7.4%. Not that it's bad now. It's perfectly fine, but it was noticeably better around the holidays.

I'm actually glad to know this because I was worried that I was late in brewing it mid October to be ready for the holidays. Seems I chose the perfect time. Good to know for this coming year.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's tasting notes this long after brewing it.

EDIT to add: BTW my best friend, who is a giant craft beer snob (like me) but not a homebrewer, said this was his favorite beer of mine. That meant something to me.

 

[jeff62217]

Shinglejohn, thanks for the recipe.

This recipe was my first entry to any competition ever, had joined the AHA a month or so before signing up for the NHC... and I had some bottles of this that had around 3-4 months age on them.

Well I sent two for the first round and ended up getting third place in the sacramento region for category 21. The beer scored 36 and 39, a combined score of 37.5. I was completely taken back by my placing third.. and had consumed the rest of the batch before seeing these results.

So I did a re-brew and it came out similar but with less age on it. As I drink one now, I know my chances in the finals would've been better if I had been able to age it longer. I didn't place, but was facing nearly 7x the amount of competition from the first round.

Ever since my first time making it, this beer has netted me a lot of praise. Hence the reason I entered it into competition. Thanks again for the recipe.. it's a winner.

 

[brewprint]

I just wanted to reply so that I get this brew going soon.

Looks like it needs to age a bit so I better get on it now.

 

[depper]

Brewed this recipe on Saturday....it smelled amazing!! Nailed all my numbers BUT at the end of my cooling session, I noticed my IC was dripping into my wort the WHOLE TIME!! I would say at least 20 minutes.....DAMN! My OG came out right on and my volume was up a little. I keep telling myself it will be ok, as when I did extract I always added water to bring up to 5 gallons. Time will tell.....

 

[depper]

So I looked at my fermenting brew today and it looks "muddy" to me. I know fermentation is in full force, based on the rapid bubbling in the blow-off tube but the coloring looks way off. For those of you that have brewed this before, does the coloring look off with this? It didn't look this "muddy" when it went into the fermenter, which makes me think it's just due to fermentation, but then a small part of me fears it has something to do with water dripping into my wort while chilling. Or maybe it's from the cinnamon that was used.......

FWIW....I followed this recipe exactly as the OP had it. I used 1 oz of cinnamon sticks and 0.75 oz of ginger. Everything else was the same, including the yeast.

 

[jjbrewhouse]

Brewed the extract version of this last year, added the ginger and cinnamon at 60 and a pound of honey at flameout. It was very good. Scored a 36 at the local homebrew competition

 

[depper]

So I tested mine today after 1 week in the primary and the gravity is reading 1.012, which makes this beer an 8.2% one-and-done beer!! My favorite kind for the holidays!! The taste is amazing. I taste the cinnamon then quickly followed by the ginger. It's amazing how close they are together. They are not overpowering, just noticeable....what you would expect from a holiday beer. The color seems more muddy brown than what the GLCA looks. Overall, I'm very happy how this beer is shaping up. I'll let her sit for another week and then keg her and let her sit until November. I'm sure the flavors will blend even more and will be perfect on a cold winter's night. Great recipe!

 

[depper]

I decided to keg this beer last night. I was amazed at how much the cinnamon and ginger taste died down some. It's still there but not as prominent as a week ago. This makes me very happy as it tells me this beer will only get better the longer she sits! I did bottle 6 from this batch to test along the way as I don't plan on tapping this keg until late November. This is a GREAT recipe and I would do it again the exact same way next time. Cheers to all!

Tim

 

[brewprint]

I decided to keg this beer last night. I was amazed at how much the cinnamon and ginger taste died down some. It's still there but not as prominent as a week ago. This makes me very happy as it tells me this beer will only get better the longer she sits! I did bottle 6 from this batch to test along the way as I don't plan on tapping this keg until late November. This is a GREAT recipe and I would do it again the exact same way next time. Cheers to all!

Tim

Did you do this recipe to a T?

 

[depper]

Did you do this recipe to a T?

I did, except I used 1 oz of cinnamon sticks and 0.75 oz of ginger, and added them at 60 min. Everything else was exactly as OP.

 

[fimpster]

...so, not to a T...

 

[depper]

...so, not to a T...

Lol....Well I guess not to a T, if we're splitting hairs, but the ingredients were the same with no substitutions.

 

[drays14]

I've never had this beer before but it seems like everyone loves it. What is the difference in taste as opposed to Harpoons Winter Warmer? I had that last year and really enjoyed it but looking at the clone for that and the clone for this I'm thinking I should do this one instead. I like that this one uses real ginger and I'm also curious about using honey at flameout since I have never done it before.

Just wondering what people think who have had both

Also, any pictures of what it looks like in the glass?!

 

[stedy]

I'm confused, which hop additions should i use?

Cascade (60 min) 27 IBU
Hallertauer (10 min) 3 IBU
Or
Hops:
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (60 mins)
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.3%) (30 mins)
1.0 oz Cascade (5.0%) (5 mins)

and one more thing. It look like Special Roast is difficult to get in Europe. Could I use Biscuit instead?

Edit:
Found an article www.cleveland.com/drinks/index.ssf/2014/07/christmas_ale_brewing_begins_a.html.
-Sliced ginger
-Honney added prior to boil.

 

[rmyurick]

Stedy, I think the first option is closer to what they making at glbc. I would oven roast some pale malt over using biscuit, but a darkish crystal malt would probably be good as well.