Winter Seasonal Beer Holly (Christmas Ale)

[cherbhy]

You'll be fine with the sweet. I added bitter to the boil and have sweet for the tea at bottling.

Good. That makes me feel more confident.

Just took a gravity reading and sample, I'm at 1.012 and the beer tastes great! So my ABV is about 7.5%. Might give it a day or two to see if it drops a couple more points. I Definitely want to get it in the bottle by Monday so that it will have at least four weeks to condition before our family christmas party on the 26th. Most people here recommend at least five weeks; alas, I've told the Uncles it's going to be ready. There's no turning back!

 

[giorgio-alemani]

I'm not an AG brewer yet so I made a PM of the Special B, chocolate, crystal, and wheat last night. I held the mash for 45 minutes starting at 150 and varied between that and 160. Added 6lbs DME and used chinook to bitter and at flameout in hopes of adding a piney aroma to this holiday brew. I forgot the honey but still achieved 1.064 at 65 degrees. Pitched rehydrated S-04 and it was bubbling strong 12 hours later. Got the bitter orange peel. Now off to find vanilla beans.

 

[Carros]

Well my yeast doesn't want to quit on this one. I was really hoping to bottle today but it went from 1.013 on Friday to 1.012 today. Guess I'll be waiting until next weekend, unless I decide to pull a late night bottling session after work one night this week.

 

[Sbarnard80]

I posted my recipe and spice concoction back on page 38. Finally got to bottling yesterday. Despite pouring in some more S-05 a week in to further the fermentation, seems the alcohol didnt give it a chance. Only got down to 1.021 but I went ahead and bottled anyway. Going to use a yeast starter for any future high gravity beers. But I ended up with 7% which isnt too bad.

And wow! This is the best green beer of mine I've ever tasted. Even my wife agreed:rockin: Tasted sweet and could taste all the spices - right at the level I like. Can't wait for this to carb up and try. Will update on final tasting.

 

[kirbfucius]

Sbarnard, I had the same issue of a high final gravity. I chalked mine up to low efficiency on the front end (had a low initial gravity) and not enough yeast during fermentation. I'll probably toss two packs of yeast next time since I don't have the stuff for starters just yet.

 

[Sbarnard80]

Sbarnard, I had the same issue of a high final gravity. I chalked mine up to low efficiency on the front end (had a low initial gravity) and not enough yeast during fermentation. I'll probably toss two packs of yeast next time since I don't have the stuff for starters just yet.

Probably still a little green, only been in the bottle for 6 days, but want to at least try it. Brought in 1 to work to share with a few others. Am crossing my fingers. Hopefully that higher FG results in an even better sweetness - and not too sweet.

Used a yeast starter on my Punking clone which is also a little higher gravity, will know this weekend when I transfer to secondary on that one if the starter has done its job and got me down to the mid teens.

Incidentally, all this got me to making a homemade stir plate I learned about in some other threads. Going to make it out of a sweetwater 12-pack beer box which should be kind of fun.

 

[balauru_327]

Hello, i`ve done this recipe,i tasted the beer when priming with honey but i can`t feel the orange/vanilla or cinnamon only the ginger.
I had respected tea method, but i guess the spices bought from Romania aren`t so strong. Maybe will be better after ageing.
Anyway, it feels great with that ginger, wonder how it felt with vanilla/cinnamon/orange .
When i`ved done mine recipe i used what i had, PaleAle grains instead of Pilsner/2Row and Tettnager and EastKent Goldings hops instead of Cascade( is very hard and expensive to buy this type of hop, it can be found only in UK or SUA). I hope that isn`t the reason for not feel those spices.

Sorry for my english, hope to make myself understood.

 

[Sassav]

Just bottled this finally yesterday. I added the spice tea (added 1 tsp all spice and used powdered ginger) to the secondary being as I was a bit worried that the spices wouldn't have enough time to mellow before I debuted it to my friends for the holidays. After trying some while I was bottling I was glad I went with this option however I would probably do the spice tea differently next time. Using fresh ingredients is definitely a must, more cinnamon and vanilla bean likely as well.

Regardless though, this has been an excellent recipe to try. I'm definitely going to keep this one in the books and tinker with it in the future.

 

[Hello]

I need to bottle mine for sure if it will be carbonated by Christmas.

 

[Carros]

I need to bottle mine for sure if it will be carbonated by Christmas.

I agree. My gravity is finally stable, but I had no free time whatsoever this weekend to bottle. Guess I'm going to have to spend some time one evening this week and get it done.

 

[funkadelicturkey]

I kegged mine this past weekend. OG 1.062 (forgot to add the honey) FG 1.012. I bought my vanilla beans from Vanilla Products USA on Amazon. Tasted the "tea" made with the vanilla bean, ginger root, cinnamon and bitter orange peel (I used an ounce). It tasted very bitter. I'm sure it'll taste better diluted in 5 gallons of beer and given a little time to mellow.

Now what to brew/make with the remaining beans, maybe a vanilla porter or some Creme brulee.

 

[plankbr]

Tasting great! Vanilla is starting to come back and ginger/orange is mellowing out. Should be excellent for Christmas! SWMBO approves:

 

[Sbarnard80]

Just after a week in the bottle, opened up a few for others to try. Wow, this is good. It still tastes a tad bit young but its pretty easy to tell its just going to get better and better. Despite being the season, will try to hold off a litttle longer to give it some time to come into its own. Definitely a recipe to keep. The spice flavor is all up in your face which I tend to like, but does not overpower it. Can't even think of anything I would change about the spice mixture. Maybe a little more orange next time. But overall, the best christmas beer I have every tasted.

 

[Carros]

And it's finally bottled. Now I just have to wait a couple weeks to see how this turns out when it's carbed.

 

[Broham1]

Kegged this on 11/17 and it's a pretty tasty Winter Warmer, but the spices aren't coming through at all. What does everyone think about "dry-hopping" in the keg for a couple weeks?

 

[Carros]

Kegged this on 11/17 and it's a pretty tasty Winter Warmer, but the spices aren't coming through at all. What does everyone think about "dry-hopping" in the keg for a couple weeks?

That would probably work. You could also make more of the spice tea and add that to the keg. That should get it tasting the way you want quicker.

 

[giorgio-alemani]

Made my tea yesterday and bottled...man, it smelled good. I ended up drinking half a pint that wouldn't fill a bottle and loved it. No one spice dominated the others, all were subtle nuances that were detectable on the finish. I hope it stays that way. Also using chinook to bitter was a good decision in my opinion. i added just a touch at flame out as well - i hope that will creep through as well. Wish I hadn't planned on giving this away as gifts - seems a shame. But if I keep them all myself I'm bound to find coal in my stocking this year. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[bdhobbs]

I made this recipe. I did a quick sample of the ale before adding the tea, and it was delicious as-is. With the spices, it is a great Holiday beer. I may remake it just for the ale, but I will make this again next Christmas as well. Thanks a lot for sharing!

 

[Disintegr8or]

Brewed 3 gallons of this on Tuesday. The US-05 is still churning away at it today. From reading all the reviews, I can't wait to try it.

Well, I gave in and tried a bottle today.

Only 2 weeks in the bottle, and it is great! I can only imagine how the flavors are going to mellow out once it hits it's peak hopefully at Christmas time. :rockin:

 

[Hello]

I finally got to bottle this today. I made the tea with less beer than recommended because my french press isn't going to hold 32 ounces of liquid. I added my priming sugar to the tea and I hope that is okay. I only managed to get about 42 bottles after the trub loss.

I used 1.5 tsp of powdered ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla beans scraped
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
and 1 oz of sweet orange peel. It smelled so amazing. It tasted very good, I was very happy. I'm really cutting this close but it will be carbonated by 12/25 which is when I plan to drink it. Hopefully it is good.
It is such a great recipe that I will rebrew after the new year.

Mine did finish at 1.020. I am not sure why it didn't get lower, but it was very stable over the last week.

 

[Broham1]

That would probably work. You could also make more of the spice tea and add that to the keg. That should get it tasting the way you want quicker.

Thanks! I took your advice and did another spice tea and I now have the spiced Christmas ale I was hoping for!

 

[cbrobertson]

BAM!!
Nothing new to add, just more kudos to the recipe.
IMO aging really helps. Bottled the whole batch; OG 1.075 using BIAB; FG 1.018. Boiled 10/6, bottled 11/13. First beer on 12/4 a little bitter. The ginger was at the front from first sip to finish.
Second beer 12/10 and man this is a complex, crisp, flavorful brew. I dislike cold. I find it so much better after 5-10 min's of warming. Def a sipping beer and two is about all I can handle for an evening. This is truly a fantastic recipe that I will make an annual custom. So to the initial poster I say Cheers my friend. Well played.

 

[tiwaricd]

Brewed this up with fresh hops from ZZ Hops Farm, and served it up for a party we had last weekend... Keg went really quick.

The real vanilla bean really makes the difference.

Mine turned out OG 1.82 and fg at 1.01 9.5% ... being higher alcohol it really gave you a warm feeling... will be brewing this again really soon.

 

[lawlessamps]

I am drinking my first holly and it is fabulous. Brewed beginning of November and bottled 3 wks ago. My FG was only 1.018 for a abv of 8.4% which I am happy with. The spice tea is lacking but I am happy with that. The malt flavor is perfect. As everyone says.......should have made a double batch!!!!!!

 

[shortyz]

this brew is by far one of my favs, ive only brewed 4 times but this one kills it. Incase anyones doing some extract brewing i replaced the 13lbs of 2 row with 6.25lb of extract. Abv worked out to like 7.1, a little lower then original recipe but i think its good. Could probably kick the extract up a bit to bring the abv up i guess.

Oh on another note i added some brown sugar after primary, no idea why i did this but its good lol

The spice tea makes this beer glorious! next brew i might go with 2 fresh vanilla beans because i found the vanilla is a little hidden behind the orange zest.

Bottled this and popped the first one a week later (couldnt resist) Decent carb, so i bet in 3 weeks itll be awsome.

 

[BrewCityBaller]

this brew is by far one of my favs, ive only brewed 4 times but this one kills it. Incase anyones doing some extract brewing i replaced the 13lbs of 2 row with 6.25lb of extract. Abv worked out to like 7.1, a little lower then original recipe but i think its good. Could probably kick the extract up a bit to bring the abv up i guess.

Oh on another note i added some brown sugar after primary, no idea why i did this but its good lol

The spice tea makes this beer glorious! next brew i might go with 2 fresh vanilla beans because i found the vanilla is a little hidden behind the orange zest.

Bottled this and popped the first one a week later (couldnt resist) Decent carb, so i bet in 3 weeks itll be awsome.

I bottled mine with brown sugar and it turned out GREAT!

 

[bdhobbs]

this brew is by far one of my favs, ive only brewed 4 times but this one kills it. Incase anyones doing some extract brewing i replaced the 13lbs of 2 row with 6.25lb of extract. Abv worked out to like 7.1, a little lower then original recipe but i think its good. Could probably kick the extract up a bit to bring the abv up i guess.

Oh on another note i added some brown sugar after primary, no idea why i did this but its good lol

The spice tea makes this beer glorious! next brew i might go with 2 fresh vanilla beans because i found the vanilla is a little hidden behind the orange zest.

Bottled this and popped the first one a week later (couldnt resist) Decent carb, so i bet in 3 weeks itll be awsome.

I wouldn't add more vanilla...just let it age a month or so. As it ages, the orange and ginger calm down and it leaves a nice vanilla flavor.

 

[shortyz]

ah, alright. i better stash some bottles before i drink it all

 

[Bradthoc]

Turned out great, a big hit

Thanks for the recipe jmo88


View attachment 90015

Love the label!



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[DagoBrewer]

Ive got another case of this stuff that I brewed in September last year sitting in storage that I completely forgot about!! Time to open in up and see whats crackin!!