Christmas Brew.

Godsdog · Nov 2, 2015

Right,gonna brew my Xmas brew this week,I have 7 kits which are
1.coopers India pale ale
2.coopers Irish stout
3.coopers English bitter
4.black rock riwaka pale ale
5.black rock NZ company bitter
6.black rock pale ale
7.john bull best bitter
I have 1 kg of muntons beerkit enhancer and 1 kg of wilkos brewing sugar along with a can of Lyle's black treacle,planning on getting some hops to dry hop.so any of you want to suggest which one I brew and what percentage of the fermentables to use along with what hops bearing in mind I love citrusy and toffee flavoured after tones.over to the forum

H0PM0NSTER · Nov 9, 2015

I would try using the Coopers English Bitter as a base for this. I've brewed it before with added black treacle on top of the usual 1kg of dried malt. I turned out quite a nice pint but I would add extra hops next time.

Here's the winter ale recipe I've just bottled:
Coopers Dark Ale kit
40g fresh orange zest
175g chopped prunes
225g black treacle
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground all spice
1kg dark dried malt extract

Brewed with the kit yeast to 20ltrs.

It's early days so I can't guarantee success, but I tried one bottle after a week of warm conditioning just to check the carbonation (and because I'm too impatient!) and it was quite drinkable already. No taste of prunes so I would increase this next time or add raisins instead. There are definite spice flavours - most notably the ginger but I'm hoping the cinnamon comes through as it conditions. Oh and it has plenty of orange tones - like Christmas pudding in a bottle!

Godsdog · Nov 9, 2015

thanks hoppy

Parksy · Nov 13, 2015

Does using treacle not make the FV difficult to clean afterwards?

H0PM0NSTER · Nov 13, 2015

Parksy said:
Does using treacle not make the FV difficult to clean afterwards?

No, not at all. Dissolve the treacle with the dried malt extract in a pan of water and then use this to mix with kit malt in the FV (or easier still - add the kit malt to the pan as well, then add the whole lot into the FV and then top up with cold water)