Winter Seasonal Beer Holly (Christmas Ale)

[mike_in_ak]

JMO you should edit the OP and put the yeast in there. I know I've looked through the thread for it at least a few times.

 

[BPhad]

I brewed this with wlp002

 

[jmo88]

JMO you should edit the OP and put the yeast in there. I know I've looked through the thread for it at least a few times.

Im guessing you are using the HBTalk app? The full site has it listed. For some reason the app doesn't show the recipe stats that you're required to fill in when submitting a recipe—like OG and yeast. I can't edit that info either.

It's listed as safale 05 but my favorite so far has been wyeast London III.

 

[mike_in_ak]

Thanks. I blame my iPhone. For everything.

 

[Lagerheaded]

I used wyeast 1728.
It made a fantastic Scottish Ale.
Got rave reviews.

 

[m_stodd]

I entered this in a competition and although I didn't place, it (Dr. Toboggan) scored a 41, so I'm super happy.

Cheers for the awesome recipe

 

[mike_in_ak]

I entered this in a competition and although I didn't place, it (Dr. Toboggan) scored a 41, so I'm super happy.

Cheers for the awesome recipe

How long was it aged?

 

[m_stodd]

How long was it aged?

Bottled the last week of 2012, tasted last week.

 

[mike_in_ak]

Holy smokes, that's not even old yet! What the hell are going to have 3-4 months from now?

Good show!

 

[DagoBrewer]

I just popped one of these last night... This beer definetly ages well!! I bottles this stuff october 1st 2012. I have a case of bombers left that ill be tasting one a month this year!!

 

[BPhad]

What would you say is the base style of this beer? Amber Ale?

 

[MedicMang]

I would say a dark and heavier red ale.

 

[AR-Josh]

Anyone ever try spicing this with pumpkin spice instead? I have five gallons aging and was thinking of splitting the batch and doing one spices as instructed and one as a pumpkin instead.

 

[DagoBrewer]

Anyone ever try spicing this with pumpkin spice instead? I have five gallons aging and was thinking of splitting the batch and doing one spices as instructed and one as a pumpkin instead.

I was actually thinking of trying this. I cracked one of these I brewed in late September last year with a friend of mine last night, holy crap this thing ages extremely well!! We were thinking of doing a split batch of this recipe making one a harvest pumpkin ale and the other will stay a Christmas ale!!

 

[atimmerman88]

i brewed this recipe up on Monday for this holiday season.

Recipe was as listed, hit 1.082 for 6 Galllons, 5 on WLP001 1 gallon on S04

 

[bolus14]

Thinking this might be my next brew. I have a porter fermenting right now. I'm thinking of using that yeast cake, WLP002, for this batch.

The other change I'm thinking of making is removing the honey and using the 270F syrup from https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/. I'm thinking that might bring out the vanilla and plum notes.

After tasting a couple of my home brews and a friends brews I have found that I'm not a fan of honey in beers. There's just something in the after taste that I don't care for. It's been there in each beer that the two of us have made with honey and for the most part it has been the only common thing amongst the recipes.

Any thoughts on this change?

 

[bolus14]

Two questions while I'm looking to get the ingredients rounded up, hopefully LHBS will have everything, so I can brew this weekend.
I'm planning to use the cake from the porter I have finishing up and will bottle this weekend, I used WLP002 for that. I'm just wondering how malty this is with a "clean" yeast and whether the 002 will over do it, I like a maltier brew so I'll probably stick with this decision. Just looking for thoughts.

Also, I don't have a french press, I know I could drop the $10 on one just not sure how often I'd use it so... Is there anything wrong with grabbing a quart of the beer, add spices and priming sugar, bring to a boil for about a minutes, steep for 15 minutes, make house smell like christmas , cover with sanitized lid, cool, and pour into the bottling bucket. What other advantage does the french press give you?

 

[jmo88]

The French press was used just to strain the tea ingredients from the liquid. It's just what I use for teas and coffees. It has no real advantage to putting the ingredients into a mesh bag and steeping in a pot.

 

[Fordzilla]

I'm brewing this on Sunday. I brewed it last year, and still have a few bottles around. This is great stuff!

 

[sfrisby]

Brewed it today and looking forward to it.

 

[Fordzilla]

Came in a little under on the OG, but that's fine with me. Looking forward to having this on tap!

 

[bolus14]

Removed pic, posted to wrong thread

 

[Nompton]

After reading every page of this thread, I decided to make this my holiday beer for 2013. Picked up grains/ hops for this today. I'll be doing a full-volume BIAB for this beer on Sunday. I had the grains milled twice and put on another pound of 2 Row to help efficiency. I went ahead and got WLP002 per a few recommendations in this thread.

Pretty excited for this brew. I think this weekend is my last weekend to brew this before it would be really pushing it for this to be ready for the holidays. I'll take a couple pictures and let everyone know how Sunday goes.

Thanks!

 

[atimmerman88]

Didn't find anything via searching the thread.

from those who've made this and aged and enjoyed it....

what volume did you bottle carb to?

Amber ale looks like 2.25 - 2.75

does this shine with high, medium, or low fizz

 

[jmo88]

Didn't find anything via searching the thread. from those who've made this and aged and enjoyed it.... what volume did you bottle carb to? Amber ale looks like 2.25 - 2.75 does this shine with high, medium, or low fizz

Low

 

[atimmerman88]

low like 2.0 or so

also, nice sig. Just noticed that.

 

[Nompton]

Brewed this today. This was my first attempt at a no-sparge BIAB and only my second all-grain attempt. Way easier than my first attempt.

I had about .5 inches of room during mash, which help keep temp steady during the entire mash. I didn't lose a single degree, which impressed the hell out of me. Mashed out at 170 for 10 minutes and boil was a breeze. Ended at 1.075 OG. About 79% efficiency. Pitched a 002 starter into primary.

Sample from hydrometer test was very good. Looking forward to cracking this open in December.

 

[atimmerman88]

Made my tea this morning using 1 tbsp of freshly ground ginger root, it's really strong and seams to over power the other spices in the sample I made.

I presume the strong ginger taste will fade and let the others through ?

 

[Earl_Grey]

I am looking to make a 2.5gal batch of this recipe and I feel confident after putting the grains in Beersmith that I will have something that will come out right. I am however concerned about the spice tea. Should I cut everything in half and make the tea? Also I dont have a french press so can I steep all this in a bag in the beer or just boil all this stuff in a quart of the beer for a few minutes?

 

[DagoBrewer]

I brewed this one month ago, gunna bottle it tomorrow. I used 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice in the last 5 of the boil this year. Also I'm leaving out the ginger root and replacing it with cocao nibs in the spice tea.. last years batch is still really tasty, I'm just not a huge fan of the ginger.