Great Lakes Christmas Ale

[Squad1Guy]

I'm making this recipe tomorrow, thanks for sharing! How much priming sugar should I use when it comes time to bottle?

From what I understand, GL uses 2.5 volumes for all of their beers. I used Beersmith to calculate mine, but I am sure there are other free calculators out there. (It was 1.81 oz for 2 gallons if I remember correctly)

Here is one free calculator
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[dhathazy]

I bottled mine on Saturday. Sample tasted really good, color looks dead on! OG of 1.070 and FG of 1.018. Going to try one after three weeks which is Dec 22. Can't wait!

 

[remman4]

Bottled mine yesterday and it tasted good!

 

[remman4]

Three weeks wasn't quite long enough for carbonation on this batch, but the flavor is spot on the GL recipe from a few years back

Good recipe!

 

[BeardedMan]

Just cracked one open yesterday. Very good but a bit too sweet for my liking. Maybe ill use a little less honey next time! Happy with it either way!

 

[HomebrewMTB]

Just cracked one open yesterday. Very good but a bit too sweet for my liking. Maybe ill use a little less honey next time! Happy with it either way!

Honey adds flavor but will completely ferment out so it isn't sweet. Sweetness comes from residual unfermentable sugars. What was your final gravity? If its too high, I would add more honey or other simple sugar to dry it out.

 

[BeardedMan]

Honey adds flavor but will completely ferment out so it isn't sweet. Sweetness comes from residual unfermentable sugars. What was your final gravity? If its too high, I would add more honey or other simple sugar to dry it out.

FG was 1.023. No clue what made it taste sweet to me.

 

[MMJfan]

FG was 1.023. No clue what made it taste sweet to me.

I will say, it does tend to mellow out with age. My first batch I made of this recipe was very sweet tasting about 2-3 weeks after bottling and it mellowed more and more the older it got. The one issue I had in my first batch was that the ginger seemed to be a tad strong so for my second batch I cut the ginger back from 1.25 oz. to .75 oz and that made a HUGE difference.

 

[BeardedMan]

I will say, it does tend to mellow out with age. My first batch I made of this recipe was very sweet tasting about 2-3 weeks after bottling and it mellowed more and more the older it got. The one issue I had in my first batch was that the ginger seemed to be a tad strong so for my second batch I cut the ginger back from 1.25 oz. to .75 oz and that made a HUGE difference.

It's only been in the bottles for a little over 2 weeks. I will wait and see if it mellows out. Ill have to cut down the ginger next time I brew it!

 

[dhathazy]

Started drinking mine on Sunday. Really good! Maybe just a tad sweet but I understand that will mellow out. Not a dead on taste to GL, but a great beer, dare I say even better haha?!

 

[MMJfan]

Started drinking mine on Sunday. Really good! Maybe just a tad sweet but I understand that will mellow out. Not a dead on taste to GL, but a great beer, dare I say even better haha?!

Yeah, it's not dead on, but I do like mine better as well!

I just brewed a version of this recipe AG doing BIAB over the weekend so it will be interesting to see how much different it turns out than this extract recipe...

 

[dhathazy]

Well anyway, thanks for putting this recipe together MMJFan! It will definitely be a yearly tradition!

 

[MikeyPipes86]

For all you fellow Ohioans, I recommend trying Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas (out of Akron) if you haven't already done so. One of the earlier posters commented on how it seems GL Xmas Ale has lost some of its luster...I'll argue that 12 Dogs is partly responsible. For a few weeks in early December it was completely sold out everywhere here in Cleveland while GL was bountiful on the shelves. Rumor has it one of the original brewers at GLBC is now the head brewer at Thirsty Dog.

I personally think the 12 Dogs has a much better finish & aroma...and is north of 8% ABV.

 

[TVlamis82]

I brewed up this recipe yesterday, and followed it pretty much exactly. My boil size was only 3 gallons, but my total batch size was 5.5 gallons. I ended up with an OG of 1.103. I have no idea why it could have been so high. I plan on letting this thing sit for 4-6 months, but I'm kinda worried that its gonna end up really sweet. Anyone have any idea why my gravity started so high?

 

[remman4]

My hypothesis is that your reading was off due to incomplete mixing

How did you mix and take your reading?

 

[63belair]

OG is always (99.999%) of the time way off on partial boil extracts. Basically, you are doing a partial amount of water with the full amount of fermentables, which results in a higher OG than the 5 gallon recipe calls for. Then you are diluting it with water to bring the volume up to 5 gallons and the expected OG down to target. It is really hard to mix the partial boil and the top off water perfectly to evenly distribute everything, which is why your sample showed such a high OG. Don't worry though, as long as you used the amount and number of extracts in the recipe, you will be spot on. It will mix more as the yeast does its thing.

Cheers!

 

[TVlamis82]

I mixed basically by shaking my carboy back and forth. And took my reading with a wine/beer thief and hydrometer. I'm thinking that it definitely wasn't mixed well enough. I'm gonna need a better system for mixing in the carboy.

 

[63belair]

I mixed basically by shaking my carboy back and forth. And took my reading with a wine/beer thief and hydrometer. I'm thinking that it definitely wasn't mixed well enough. I'm gonna need a better system for mixing in the carboy.

That should be good enough. Shaking the carboy for a couple minutes will get you good mixing and also good aeration for the yeast. You can invest in an aeration system to get more 02 into the wort, but I wouldn't worry about it right away, especially if you're using dry yeast and having good results.

When doing extracts, it is pretty foolproof to get your target OG. The extracts all add a guaranteed amount to the gravity, so as long as you're putting them in, no need to worry about what OG reading you get from your hydrometer (although it is still fun to check and taste the reading sample!). If you start doing all grain batches, OG becomes a more important measurement.

 

[FlannelExpert]

How do you do that? I don't see anything that allows me to add to the recipe dropdown.

Here is my updated version of the recipe:

CHRISTMAS ALE RECIPE:

RECIPE SPECS:
--------------------------------------------------
BATCH SIZE: 5.50 GAL.
BOIL SIZE: 6.75 GAL.
ESTIMATED OG: 1.075
ESTIMATED FG: 1.018
ESTIMATED IBU: 29.4
BOIL TIME: 60 MIN.

INGREDIENTS:
--------------------------------------------------
9 LBS. 3 OZ. PALE LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
1 LBS. WHEAT LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
14 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 40L GRAIN
3 OZ. CARAMEL/CRYSTAL MALT 60L GRAIN
1 OZ. ROASTED BARLEY

1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (60 MIN.)
1.5 OZ. HALLERTAU (4.3%) HOPS PELLETS (30 MIN.)
1.0 OZ. CASCADE (5.0%) HOPS PELLETS (5 MIN.)

1.25 OZ GINGER ROOT (SKINNED AND CUBED) (60 MIN.)
1.25 OZ CINNAMON STICKS (60 MIN.)
1.0 LBS. HONEY (FLAME OUT)

YEAST - WYEAST 1028

Hey, I'm new to home brewing, I have only done one recipe kit brew, so sorry if this is a stupid question. Do you steep the Crystal Malts and Roasted Barley when you add the extract before the boil?

 

[adamgram]

Hey, I'm new to home brewing, I have only done one recipe kit brew, so sorry if this is a stupid question. Do you steep the Crystal Malts and Roasted Barley when you add the extract before the boil?

Hey, we're brewing the same beer! We should probably compare notes. I'm actually using this recipe:

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/glbc-christmas-ale-clone

Converted to extract by my local homebrew store guy:

1lb US Caramel (crystal) Malt 40°L
1lb US (Breiss) Special Roast 50°L toasted malt sim amber/brown
1lb US (Rahr) Unmalted Red Wheat 2.65°L non gelatinized

10 lbs Breiss CBW Golden Light LME

60 min - 2 oz Hallertau/Gr 3.9% Alpha Acid
10 min - 1 oz Cascade/US 7% Alpha Acid

0 min - 1 oz Cascade/US 7% Alpha Acid
0 min - 1.5 lbs honey - diluted in 4 pints of water and boiled in a separate pot before being added to the brew kettle
0 min - ⅓ cup fresh chopped ginger

2 sticks of cinnamon added to the secondary

To answer your question, yes, you steep the speciality grains in hot water at about 160°F for about 15 minutes, squeeze as much juice as you can out of the grain in the bag, add your LME, and bring the water to a boil.

I'm going to make this beer three times in a row. I'm kegging my first attempt tomorrow night, adjusting and trying again, then brewing a third time to give out as Christmas presents. For my second attempt I'm going to dissolve the cinnamon, ginger, and maybe some nutmeg in about a 1/2 pint of Bushmills Irish Whiskey, then add it all to the secondary fermenter.