Christmas/Winter Ale

[Dearnley]

I was wondering how long before Chrismas/Winter would you brew a strong ale in order to give it time to mature in the bottle.

Do you have any favourite recipes (or kits) you'd recommend?

 

[Rodcx500z]

In a word, now and it might be ready depending how strong and what's in it

 

[chrisb8]

I am planning on brewing my Christmas ale at the end of the month to give 2-3 weeks in the fermenter and a full 3 months conditioning. I have done one before mid September with good results but bear in mind that these are not that strong at 5-6%.

 

[An Ankoù]

I was wondering how long before Chrismas/Winter would you brew a strong ale in order to give it time to mature in the bottle.

Do you have any favourite recipes (or kits) you'd recommend?

Thank you, Dearnley, for reminding me I must get my pink, fluffy, butt in gear and put mine on, too.

 

[Slid]

I suspect that half of my festive beer has been sat in a 10L carboy in the garage for the last 7-8 months. I will blend / nurse this along to be OK for the brief festive period.

In fact, any attempt of mine at a Xmes beer with spices etc has been a bit of a disappointment, on the whole. A year further on has seen a bit less of a disappointment.

Doing a GH Old Ale or perhaps a Cornish Tin Miners Ale, or a GW clone of a strong beer like Moonraker or Old Peculiar, or a Belgian Dubbel would be a better, safer, bet at this stage, perhaps?

 

[Dearnley]

I suspect that half of my festive beer has been sat in a 10L carboy in the garage for the last 7-8 months. I will blend / nurse this along to be OK for the brief festive period.

In fact, any attempt of mine at a Xmes beer with spices etc has been a bit of a disappointment, on the whole. A year further on has seen a bit less of a disappointment.

Doing a GH Old Ale or perhaps a Cornish Tin Miners Ale, or a GW clone of a strong beer like Moonraker or Old Peculiar, or a Belgian Dubbel would be a better, safer, bet at this stage, perhaps?

Nice idea - love Moonraker, but will need to invest in a copy of GW's book.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I was wondering how long before Chrismas/Winter would you brew a strong ale in order to give it time to mature in the bottle.

Do you have any favourite recipes (or kits) you'd recommend?

wilkos do a winters ale which is especially nice once pimped

 

[Slid]

Nice idea - love Moonraker, but will need to invest in a copy of GW's book.

The underlying point of the "Strong British" style is that it is the very best ingredients available, so Pale Malt plus Goldings and little else, so for 23L:
Pale Malt 7.26kg
Goldings 60g @ First Wort and 20g around 10mins.
The GW recipe also has 200g Chocolate Malt, but this is going to be for colouring primarily and you would need a very sensitive tongue to find any difference it makes.

The GW book is interesting, now, in that it paints a picture of just how uniform British beer styles really were, for all the number of breweries. The differences between their output would mainly be driven by the quickly evolving yeast strains, as they adapted to the specific peculiarities of the breweries.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I suspect that half of my festive beer has been sat in a 10L carboy in the garage for the last 7-8 months. I will blend / nurse this along to be OK for the brief festive period.

In fact, any attempt of mine at a Xmes beer with spices etc has been a bit of a disappointment, on the whole. A year further on has seen a bit less of a disappointment.

Doing a GH Old Ale or perhaps a Cornish Tin Miners Ale, or a GW clone of a strong beer like Moonraker or Old Peculiar, or a Belgian Dubbel would be a better, safer, bet at this stage, perhaps?

Moonraker is a cracking ale, well i love it

 

[Thebiggestal]

wilkos do a winters ale which is especially nice once pimped

I made the wilko winter warmer last October. Wasn’t too fussed. Found a couple of bottles in the garage and had them this week. It was superb

 

[gavp1979]

Think I will be doing the chocolate stout again from last years forum Christmas brew thread, not starting it yet though it I will drink it all before Christmas

 

[gavp1979]

Just had a look and I brewed it at the start of October last year so will probably aim for the same time again this year

 

[nickjdavis]

I've got two beers for Xmas this year...

One is a 9.5% spiced Belgian Ale that was bottled a month ago and might be on the young side for this Xmas but should be well matured by next year,

The other is a more drinkable 6.5% beer originally based on Greg Hughes Christmas Ale in Home Brew Beer but developed over several years now which will be brewed towards the end of this month and will be drinkable well into the New Year.

 

[Redwulf]

Last year I did mine in the last week of October and it was good for drinking by mid December, I split it between the keg and some bottles and it was all pretty good as I recall.

 

[sifty]

No help at all because I can't find a recipe for it, but Emersons (NZ) do a fantastic spiced seasonal brew called Taeri George. Tastes like plum pudding/hot cross buns in a bottle...

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I want to make some (10 litres) Moonraker for Christmas, can't decide whether to use Maris otter or Chevallier, what do those in the know think?

 

[Clint]

Whatever you brew...if its something new or wild and wonderful just pause before you start and think...a few pints of a speciality beer might be OK.. 40 might not.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I'm considering doing this Wilko Winter Ale as it gets good reviews.

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-limited-edition-beer-kit-3kg/p/0468411
Edit: they apparently don't keep it in stores it has to be bought online and delivered, so I left with my first Wherry kit instead. Hopefully it'll be good