When to brew christmas beers?

[hilljack13]

My question is when is the latest I would want to get started on brewing a christmas beer? I have a few kits that I ordered I need to get brewed. I'm more worried about some of the ingredients not being as fresh more than anything. Would these that have some spices benefit from longer aging? It's getting almost unbearable to sit in the garage and have a brew day now so waiting until mid-late October if I can, but will these be good for christmas? Thanks!

 

[lumpher]

Completely depends on the ingredients and spices used in the beers. Some may need to be brewed in March or April, some can wait till October. As a rule of thumb, the lighter and weaker they are the shorter time they need. To give a solid answer to what is usually considered a "Christmas Beer" with nutmeg, allspice, cloves, etc, the latest you'd want to brew 1 of those and give it time to blend is early October. I feel the heat pain. I'm in Texas, and today it was 96 with 110 heat index. Brewing? Solid "NOPE!!!"

 

[Bramling Cross]

If you post the recipe, that'll help a ton.

"Christmas Beer" can mean just about anything. North America, the UK, Belgium, parts of the German brewing sphere of influence, they all have wildly different concepts of "Christmas Beer."

There is no Christmas beer style, just a lotta recipes from all over the world.

 

[worlddivides]

If you post the recipe, that'll help a ton.

"Christmas Beer" can mean just about anything. North America, the UK, Belgium, parts of the German brewing sphere of influence, they all have wildly different concepts of "Christmas Beer."

There is no Christmas beer style, just a lotta recipes from all over the world.

So true. Christmas beers can range from relatively normal lagers to spiced brown ales and very rich stouts. It's really subjective too since you could just make a beer that could be drank at any time of year and just label it a "Christmas beer" (and that's not a theoretical, that's actually how it often is in areas that don't have a tradition of specific beers labeled "Christmas beers." I've even seen rice lagers labeled as "Christmas beers").

That said, I personally tend to think of "winter beers" (not specifically Christmas beers) as being darker and maltier, but that too differs from location to location. Come to think of it, when I lived in Los Angeles, Christmas day might be too warm to ferment most beers at ambient temperature...

 

[hilljack13]

I have three kits, all from AIH. Winter Warmer, A Christmas Ale, and Great Lakes Christmas Ale. All are close to 7%ABV. Two of them came with spice packs and a jar of honey.
These are new to me but sound interesting. My only experience with christmas beer was in Germany, Weihnachtsbier. To me just another name for their lagers as noted above. Usually 5.5%