Xmas

[jimbo1982]

Can anybody recommend me a christmas beer kit? Looking to get one on this month in plenty of time for christmas.

I was thinking of doubling up on the brewferm winter ale but not sure.

 

[HSD]

Brewferm Christmas ale is excellent just a few bottles left brewed 15 moths back, great at 9 months. I have one bottled for next Christmas brewed November. The muntons winter warmer looks good, yet to brew it though, Brupaks Belgian Christmas ale also on the radar but seems harder to find, also some of the Coopers recipes look good on the site if you want to add ingredients. I tend to do occasional kits and smaller mini mash brews, like the idea of splitting a premium 2 tin kit and doing two different Xmas brews with steeped Christmassy flavours better get my skates on!

 

[jimbo1982]

Brewferm Christmas ale is excellent just a few bottles left brewed 15 moths back, great at 9 months. I have one bottled for next Christmas brewed November. The muntons winter warmer looks good, yet to brew it though, Brupaks Belgian Christmas ale also on the radar but seems harder to find, also some of the Coopers recipes look good on the site if you want to add ingredients. I tend to do occasional kits and smaller mini mash brews, like the idea of splitting a premium 2 tin kit and doing two different Xmas brews with steeped Christmassy flavours better get my skates on!

Do you think doubling up the brewferm kit would be OK? Really want more than 7 litres.

 

[jimbo1982]

Also am I right in thinking the Christmas ale is now named winter ale?

 

[HSD]

Yes now winter ale, I don’t think doubling up would be a problem but can’t claim to be an expert a lot to learn, pitch both sachets of yeast and maybe even do a starter to get it going faster? I managed a steady temperature and it seemed to brew out ok. I bottled in 330ml’s, bit too much for me in pints. It’s a nice drop, their other dubbel and trippel are also excellent

 

[Graz]

The Brewferm Christmas / Winter Ale (or whatever it's called now) is certainly a good contender and also a good idea to brew it now as the longer it has in the bottle the better it gets. I think I'd also double up if doing it again. Means having more of it to mature for longer then. Mine really came good the second Christmas after making it.

The other beer I have earmarked for a Christmas brew and long maturation is the BeerWorks / LoveBrewing Imperial Stout: Russian Imperial Stout - Beerworks Craft Brewery Series Beer Kit

Though it's out of stock at the moment.

I also made the Festival Belgian Dubbel for Xmas last year which was really nice though I didn't mature that for more than a few months.

 

[jimbo1982]

These breferm winter ale kits are turning out to be like looking for hens teeth.

 

[RustyV8]

Good thread as I’ve been thinking the same. I love those Christmas ales and they are very popular here in Nordics. Thankfully my LHBS seems to have the Brewferm Winter kits in stock at the moment so I may grab a few before they are gone.

What are good natural flavors to add? Orange peel, stuff like that? Any decent recipes out there using that kit as a base?

 

[HSD]

I’d brew the brewferm as is personally, it’s well balanced I’d doctor another, I think anything you’d happily put in a Christmas cake! ginger, cinnamon, fruits, peel, candi sugar, maple / honey / dark sugar etc added to a dark malty kit, like Youngs Scottish / Coopers dark or a porter? Either in a mini boil or as a tincture, brewed a little short with a good amount of yeast starter, all part of the fun of brewing experiment and tweak to your preferences I’m going to have to do this myself now!

 

[RustyV8]

@HSD thanks for that. For those types of additions, can you use normal off the shelf stuff you’d use for baking, or are there specific stuff for brewing?
Im guessing as it’s probably a miniboil that it gets sanitized anyway so probably not a major issue....

 

[HSD]

@HSD thanks for that. For those types of additions, can you use normal off the shelf stuff you’d use for baking, or are there specific stuff for brewing?
Im guessing as it’s probably a miniboil that it gets sanitized anyway so probably not a major issue....

From what I understand usual spices etc from supermarkets as fresh as you can get to impart most flavour, I’ve read a few blogs etc and they all seem to say go easy on the cinnamon and really strong flavours like treacle etc. Use 2-3 litres of your water to boil up the dme, add spices like vanilla, ground nutmeg, citrus peels, bit of maple/honey, couple tsp of cinnamon to that, any hops you fancy or dry hop later, taste to see if it’s in the right area and cool it quickly in sink bath, then kit brew as usual. I made a 1 gallon chilli porter and extracted the spice in 100ml of vodka and added 5 days into the brew a while back which was great.

I’ve a brewferm pilsner lurking on the shelf past it’s date, thinking of trying a gluhwein Christmas pilsner with some medium DME, a little honey, vanilla, sultanas, cardamom and a Belgian yeast, might be good or terrible!

 

[Clint]

I'd say brew something you like!
My Christmas brew last year was the forum choccy stout. It turned out very well indeed and was good to the very last pint...which was last night! To be honest I was a bit fed up with it...as it was a bit of a "special" brew I wouldn't normally have that amount...plus there was no one to give samples to as we had zero visitors..