Winter ale ready for Christmas?

[stanzela]

Howdy folks,

Last night I brewed up a 5gal batch of a winter ale, based off of a clone of Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome. I went like so:

11.5lb Canadian 2-row (about half was 10min toasted - biscuity)
0.75lb Crystal 60-80L (home roasted from the 2-row)
0.6lb Crystal 20L (also home roasted, as above)

Mash: 90min @ 153F, Sparged for about 25mins with water at about 170 (large surface area)

0.5oz fuggles (90min), 0.5oz Kent goldings (80min), 0.5oz Kent Goldings (15min), 0.6oz Kent Goldings (1min)

I also added 10oz of molasses at about 60min, 3 sticks of cinnamon at 30min and 0.25tsp of each ground ginger and nutmeg at 10min.

I plan to let it ferment until the 10th or 11th and then bottle. That leaves a meagre 15 days in the bottle before the 25th. I have a warm room and am able to keep the bottles at 75F consistently. Just wondering how things will be that early on. It's probably going to be a 'big' beer, so I'm wondering what I'll be looking at on Christmas day.

Thanks!

 

[Piratwolf]

Sounds tasty! Love SS Winter Welcome!

My concerns would be the molasses flavor integrating and the ABV. If it's high gravity, carbing will be close. Still, something to look forward to!

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[stanzela]

Yeah - I suppose it can't hurt to crack a bottle at Christmas and see how it is. Doesn't mean I've got to drink the whole batch. Will be nice if it's ready, but if not there will be plenty of cold days ahead to make holding off worthwhile.

 

[Piratwolf]

Yeah - I suppose it can't hurt to crack a bottle at Christmas and see how it is. Doesn't mean I've got to drink the whole batch. Will be nice if it's ready, but if not there will be plenty of cold days ahead to make holding off worthwhile.

Exactly! I like tasting over a period of time to get a sense of how the beer changes. Cheers!

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[Seven]

Yeah - I suppose it can't hurt to crack a bottle at Christmas and see how it is. Doesn't mean I've got to drink the whole batch. Will be nice if it's ready, but if not there will be plenty of cold days ahead to make holding off worthwhile.

Let us know how it turned out once you crack a bottle on Xmas. I hope it turns out for you.

 

[stanzela]

Thanks all. The advice and feedback are much appreciated. Will be sure to update on taste-day.

 

[captainL]

I read your post a couple of weeks ago and it sounded good to me. So I just brewed a similar recipe. I did BIAB and only got 63 % eff but thats good enough for me. Same grain bill. I started with 8 gallons ended with 4.5 so I topped up to almost 5 gallons and got an SG of 1.060. IBU's to 25 due to AA% difference. Changed up the spices, I added:

1 cin stick @ 25
1 cin stick @10
1 TBSP fresh chopped ginger @ 10
1 tsp coriander @10
1/5 tsp allspice
skin of 2 small cuties clementine tangerines @ 10


I did all the hops and spices in a mesh bag. On my Wit beers I would just put the orange and coriander in the wort and then let it sit for in the trub during fermentation. Did you add the spices in a bag or in the wort. Did you remove them for fermentation?

the creative side of me added about 1 oz of brown sugar before I decided I don't want to add anymore variables...being my first spiced beer.

I could definitely taste the cinnamon in the wort.

I pitched this on 12 oz of my yeast cake (us 05) from a centenial blonde. Bubbling away within 8 hours.

Guess your about to bottle soon. How is it coming along?

 

[Mk010101]

Yeah - I suppose it can't hurt to crack a bottle at Christmas and see how it is. Doesn't mean I've got to drink the whole batch. Will be nice if it's ready, but if not there will be plenty of cold days ahead to make holding off worthwhile.

Remember, Christmas starts on Christmas day...and is 12 days long! So plenty of time!

 

[stanzela]

Guess your about to bottle soon. How is it coming along?

It's coming along pretty nicely. I took a grav reading a couple of days ago and things were sitting at about 1.020 which is where it should have finished off if all went to plan. I took a wee taste and couldn't detect any of the spices, so I may make a little tea and add it to the bottling bucket. The beer came out quite dark, and I feel like a bit of a tit because I made a nutbrown as well, and it's looking more like a nutbeige in comparison.

I like your ginger addition though, and the orange should really give it a christmas kick!

In any case, I thought it could have tasted a bit better, but it's pretty hard to tell right now. My OG was close to yours, IIRC, and so I should be looking at about 6.5%abv. I think it will be a nice beer, but I may make some tweaks if I attempt this again.

I'm going to wait until Monday to bottle, as that will be the three-week mark. Fermentation is done, but I figure with a it being a bit of a heavier beer, the extra time will be worth it. I'll give an update after I've bottled because I know I'll be drinking at least a little bit on bottling-day....you know, quality assurance!

 

[stanzela]

Remember, Christmas starts on Christmas day...and is 12 days long! So plenty of time!

I like the way you think! On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me....a beer.

 

[stanzela]

I caved and cracked a bottle tonight, one week after bottling. It is a really nice beer. Poured a crystal-clear, reddish brown and tasted sweet and malty. If anyone has tried Upper Canada Dark, it had an almost identical aroma with a coppery-metallic sort of nose, but the flavour was richer and more caramelly.

It wasn't totally what I'd expected (I wanted something like St. Peter's Winter Ale), but I think this is my best output so far. No signs of off-tastes or haze. The spices didn't really come through. Perhaps a better-trained and more refined palette would pick them up, but mine's used to gulps, not sips, and I couldn't find it.

Really happy with it. I just wish I had a Sam Smith to compare it to. Damn this having-no-money thing.

 

[RM-MN]

I'd suspect that with a little more time for the flavors to meld that the spices may become more prominent. Give some of it about 2 more months and then call me to come help you sample.

 

[stanzela]

Well, I've been sipping away at this beer pretty regularly now. The molasses is coming through more and more, but I'm enjoying the flavour. Certainly not overpowering. I hope I can be strong and save some bottles for the 2 month stretch...