Forum Christmas Brew

[jceg316]

I'm up for this. I've not brewed a Xmas ale before. It will be interesting to see recipes.

 

[samale]

What are you thinking about doing. Some sort of spiced ale.
I was looking along the lines of an imperial stout, oatmeal stout or a Belgian stout. Or is that too boring

 

[MmmBeer]

For me a Christmas ale should be malty, deep coloured and 'goodly strong' (in the 5.5-7% range). As for spice, it should be subtle, its far easier to ruin a beer with spice than improve it.

I remember having a few pints of a beer called Good King Senseless, the beer was as good as the name.

 

[An Ankoù]

@alefric LeHendz started a thread about G. H's Old Ale. Just a suggestion, but it looks like a decent starting point for a Christmas ale: strong, darkish without being a stout or porter, and Greg makes some suggestions about adding different spices to give it a festive "twang". I think alefric's fermenting his with a Voss, which should make it nice and fruity.

 

[samale]

I am always up for experimenting

 

[Joust]

For me a Christmas ale should be malty, deep coloured and 'goodly strong' (in the 5.5-7% range). As for spice, it should be subtle, its far easier to ruin a beer with spice than improve it.

I remember having a few pints of a beer called Good King Senseless, the beer was as good as the name.

That sounds like a fair description of Christmas pints I've had in pubs over the years.

Interesting out American cousins tend to use loads of spices and stuff in their Christmas beers.

 

[An Ankoù]

That sounds like a fair description of Christmas pints I've had in pubs over the years.

Interesting out American cousins tend to use loads of spices and stuff in their Christmas beers.

I agree with @MmmBeer. Christmas beers in pubs or in bottles are usually horrible. Finding something subtle that doesn't try to taste like Christmas Pudding is the way forward, I think. In fact, I suspect they're trying to make the beer taste like mulled-ale without the option of warming it.

 

[Clint]

I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!

 

[An Ankoù]

I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!

That's the way, Clint, half a batch and twice as strong.

 

[wheelsofsteel]

I'm another in agreement with @MmmBeer. I've got an imperial stout in the fv at the moment with some vanilla steeping in whisky for the secondary with oak chips.

This will be aged until Christmas as I have another imperial stout in the kegerator on tap.

Would love something malty and festive though so thumbs up for the suggestion.

 

[user 18729]

If people want to do a ‘festive’ spiced Christmas beer then I’ll go along with that I guess, but as already said I don’t want to brew 50 odd pints of something and have it sat around for ages.

I’ll post a few styles/recipes later when I get home that we can vote on, but they will all be what I would describe as drinkable. A big impy stout, Black IPA, ESB, Dubbel or even a vintage beer recipe from Ron Pittinsons book could be on the cards...

 

[Cowman]

@alefric LeHendz started a thread about G. H's Old Ale. Just a suggestion, but it looks like a decent starting point for a Christmas ale: strong, darkish without being a stout or porter, and Greg makes some suggestions about adding different spices to give it a festive "twang". I think alefric's fermenting his with a Voss, which should make it nice and fruity.

+1 for this idea. Maybe have a vote on which spices to add and keep the grainbill the same?

 

[samale]

I like the sound of an old style aye. It's not something I have brewed before.

 

[user 18729]

Here we go, I'm suitably lubricated after getting back from the shops and enjoying a couple of beers in the garden!

Option 1

1848 Barclay Perkins IBSt
Imperial Brown Stout

Grist
Pale Malt (2 Row) | 61.22%
Brown Malt | 24.49%
Amber Malt | 11.22%
Black Malt | 3.06%

Hops
90 Minutes | EKG | 213g
60 Minutes | EKG | 198g
30 Minutes | EKG | 198g

Yeast
Wyeast 1099 / Wyeast 1098

Stats
OG 1101
FG 1031
ABV 9.26
IBU 200
SRM 41

(Recipe from The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer, Ron Pattinson)

Option 2

1821 Barclay Perkins TT
Porter

Grist
Pale Malt (2 Row) | 84.81%
Brown Malt | 12.37%
Amber | 2.83%

Hops
90 Minutes | EKG | 85g
30 Minutes | EKG | 71g

Yeast
Wyeast 1099 / Wyeast 1098

Stats
OG 1060
FG 1016
ABV 5.82
IBU 72
SRM 22

(Recipe from The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer, Ron Pattinson)

Option 3

Black IPA
Recipe based on @samale 's

Grist
Pale Malt | 75.8%
Light Munich | 7.6%
Caramunich I | 3%

Cold Steep
Carafa III | 7.6%
Carafa I | 1.5%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 4.5%

Hops
60 Minutes | Magnum | 40.1 IBU
10 Minutes | Simcoe | 7.9 IBU
10 Minutes | Mosaic | 7.4 IBU
Hop Stand | Simcoe | 12.6 IBU
Hop Stand | Mosaic | 11.9 IBU

Dry Hop | Simcoe | 50g
Dry Hop | Mosaic | 50g

Yeast
Crossmyloof Pia

Stats
OG 1060
FG 1011
ABV 5.6%
IBU 79.9
EBC 74.1

(The numbers were estimated so I'll update with Samale's actual IBU's etc if I can bribe him with another beer swap to share them...)

Option 4

Imperial Stout

Grist
Pale Malt | 79.5%
Medium Crystal | 6%
Brown Malt | 5.3%
Special B | 2.6%
Roasted Barley | 1.3%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 5.3%

Hops
60 Minutes | Target | 54.7 IBUs
5 Minutes | EKG | 3.1 IBUs
5 Minutes | Target | 6.8 IBUs
0 Minutes | EKG | 50g

Yeast
WLP002 or yeast of your choice.

Stats
OG 1.099
FG 1.039
ABV 8%
IBU 64.6
EBC 71.3

Option 5

Hopsteep's Chocolate Stout

Grist
Pale Malt | 69.2%
Pale Chocolate Malt | 10.4%
Flaked Oats | 6.9%
Light Crystal | 2.3%

Adjuncts
Invert No.3 (Homemade) | 6% | Added in the boil
Lactose | 5.2% | Added in the boil
Cacao Nibs | 200g (for a 30L batch) | Added to primary at start of fermentation

Hops
60 Minutes | Fuggles | 17.7 IBUs
60 Minutes | Target | 14.1 IBUs
10 Minutes | Fuggles | 2.8 IBUs

Yeast
Ringwood / Wyeast 1187

Stats
OG 1.062
FG 1.020
ABV 5.6 %
IBU 34.5
EBC 57

Option 6

Belgian Dark Strong Ale

Grist
Pale Malt | 81.4%
Caramunich II | 3.4%
Aromatic Malt | 2%
Carafa Special I | 1%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 12.2 %

Hops
60 Minutes | Magnum | 28.5 IBUs
10 Minutes | Hallertauer Hersbrucker | 2.7%

Yeast
Wyeast 1214 or similar

Stats
OG 1.098
FG 1.017
ABV 11%
IBU 32.8
EBC 32.8

Option 7

Old Ale

Grist
Pale malt 4.8kg
Munich malt 1.6kg
Dark crystal 300g
Chocolate malt 100g

Adjuncts
Dextrose 650g, last 5 mins of boil

Hops
Boil 70 mins
Goldings (5.5%) 76g at start of boil
Goldings (5.5%) 76g 10 mins

Stats
ABV 6.7%
Bitterness 55 IBU
Colour 32.6 EBC

Mash 1 hour at 68°C
Wyeast 1028 English Ale
Conditioning 11 weeks at 12°C



Edit- I've added a poll to the thread so please feel free to vote!

The recipes are just guidelines for people to follow, as I say this is just going to be a bit of fun! The winning recipe can be modified slightly in terms of IBUs or percentages of grain used, yeast selection etc. I think it will be really interesting to see what people brew using the same target recipe.

I will make sure that the winning recipe is converted into an extract version so that everyone can have a go!

 

[MmmBeer]

I liked the suggestion by @An Ankoù, of using an Old Ale recipe and tweaking to suit. I guess I'm just not a fan of stouts, porters and other overly dark beers.

 

[user 18729]

I liked the suggestion by @An Ankoù, of using an Old Ale recipe and tweaking to suit. I guess I'm just not a fan of stouts, porters and other overly dark beers.

Send me a rough recipe and I’ll add it to the poll

 

[Clint]

Can you choose more than one?

 

[MmmBeer]

Send me a rough recipe and I’ll add it to the poll

Greg Hughes recipe is as follows:

Pale malt 4.8kg
Munich malt 1.6kg
Dark crystal 300g
Chocolate malt 100g

Dextrose 650g, last 5 mins of boil

Boil 70 mins

Goldings (5.5%) 76g at start of boil
Goldings (5.5%) 76g 10 mins

ABV 6.7%
Bitterness 55 IBU
Colour 32.6 EBC

Mash 1 hour at 68°C
Wyeast 1028 English Ale
Conditioning 11 weeks at 12°C

 

[Clint]

11 weeks!
Kveik....4 weeks.

 

[DavidHatton]

I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!

I would probably do 10 litres or less, as I have 2 xmas monsters conditioning.