# Festivus Golden Ale



## Hambone (12/10/17)

Thinking of starting with a Golden Ale kit and maybe adding in some spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg for a Christmasy feel.

Any thoughts?
Cheers Hamo


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## koshari (12/10/17)

i say go for it, i had a beer at the harbury beer festival in the UK that had vanilla and rhubarb in it, it actually want to bad, hardly a session beer and pretty potent but none the less tasty.

the amount you put in is likely where you need to pay some attention, dont want it to be overwhelming, just a hint of flavour i would say.

good luck.


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## goatchop41 (12/10/17)

You'll find that those flavours would be easier to incorporate in to a darker style of beer, but it would be worth a try in a lighter style, to fit with xmas during the Aussie summer. I think that you'd have to be very restrained in your use of the spices though, without a heavy malt backbone to the beer like you would get with a stout/xmas ale


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## Hambone (12/10/17)

That's my dilemma. They can be strong flavours but I was trying to get some Christmas flavour in there somehow.


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## droid (12/10/17)

What yeast are you thinking of?


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## good4whatAlesU (12/10/17)

Will there be an Aluminum pole and 'feats of strength?


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## Tony121 (12/10/17)

Not sure about you, but Australian Christmas to me is about cold, crisp beer and cooking a BBQ in the searing heat whilst bushfire embers drop around you.


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## Hambone (12/10/17)

No idea what yeast.


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## Hambone (12/10/17)

Tony121 said:


> Not sure about you, but Australian Christmas to me is about cold, crisp beer and cooking a BBQ in the searing heat whilst bushfire embers drop around you.


Yeah totally agree but I'm just trying to think of something out of the box.


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## Tony121 (12/10/17)

Hambone said:


> Yeah totally agree but I'm just trying to think of something out of the box.


Completely understand. You brew to your tastes and to what type of beer you want - not for anybody else. Sorry if I came across as a knob, not intentional.


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## Hambone (12/10/17)

Not at all mate, didn't take it that way.


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## shacked (13/10/17)

Maybe you could take the golden ale kit add some simple sugar and spices and ferment hot with saison yeast. 

Spices in saison play pretty well with the yeast, however I’d be going light on with the spice additions. Belle saison is a good strain and you can push it pretty high (28C) and it’ll finish out nice and dry. 

Ive always got a keg of saison on during summer!


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

shacked said:


> Maybe you could take the golden ale kit add some simple sugar and spices and ferment hot with saison yeast.
> 
> Spices in saison play pretty well with the yeast, however I’d be going light on with the spice additions. Belle saison is a good strain and you can push it pretty high (28C) and it’ll finish out nice and dry.
> 
> Ive always got a keg of saison on during summer!


Yeah that sounds good. I've never used Saison, I'll check it out.
Cheers


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## Markbeer (13/10/17)

All preferences but spices to me go better in a dark beer but as Shacked said Saison would a light style to do this with.

In a light beer, I have used orange peel with great success and it was in a Saison.


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

Ok thanks mate. I'm reckon I'm starting to put a plan together.
Cheers


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## shacked (13/10/17)

If you can find it, grab a bottle of Saison DuPont and see if you like it. Otherwise Nomad do a saison with coffee beans and botanicals - I think it's called something like long drive saison


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## droid (13/10/17)

A Belgian Saison would be a tasty option.


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

Will check it out


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

droid said:


> A Belgian Saison would be a tasty option.


So do you mean a Belgian Ale fermented with Saison?


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## shacked (13/10/17)

Hambone said:


> So do you mean a Belgian Ale fermented with Saison?



Pretty much anything fermented with saison yeast!!!


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

Hambone said:


> So do you mean a Belgian Ale fermented with Saison?


Oh ok great thanks.


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

shacked said:


> Pretty much anything fermented with saison yeast!!!


Ok great thanks


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## goatchop41 (13/10/17)

Good idea......a saison or Belgian wit base beer would be great! Wit already has the coriander seed and dried orange peel. Some cinnamon, cardamom and even grains of paradise would go well


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

goatchop41 said:


> Good idea......a saison or Belgian wit base beer would be great! Wit already has the coriander seed and dried orange peel. Some cinnamon, cardamom and even grains of paradise would go well


Sounds awesome. I've just put down a Hefeweizen so I'll follow it up with the Wit on Saison. Cheers


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## droid (13/10/17)

Hambone said:


> So do you mean a Belgian Ale fermented with Saison?



To me Belgian yeast has those flavours that taste a bit like Christmas.

My vote is for a blend, starting with a Trappist/Abbey and finishing with a Saison.


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## droid (13/10/17)

^with some wit influence as mentioned by @goatchop41


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

droid said:


> To me Belgian yeast has those flavours that taste a bit like Christmas.
> 
> My vote is for a blend, starting with a Trappist/Abbey and finishing with a Saison.


Ok sounds great. Best I can do is extract (not a AG Brewer yet). So is that achievable?


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## droid (13/10/17)

Hambone said:


> Ok sounds great. Best I can do is extract (not a AG Brewer yet). So is that achievable?


For sure, it doesn't matter how you make your wort

I think the coriander and orange zest would lend itself to any and all of the above. 

To get that Belgian flavour I'd look for a quality liquid yeast and put a fair amount of effort into that if poss.


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

droid said:


> For sure, it doesn't matter how you make your wort
> 
> I think the coriander and orange zest would lend itself to any and all of the above. But to get that Belgian flavour I'd look for a quality liquid yeast and put a fair amount of effort into that.


Ok thanks mate. Wilco.


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## Hambone (13/10/17)

250g Caramalt Grain Pack
2.5kg Light Liquid Malt Extract
1kg Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
30g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 60min boil
15g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 30min boil
15g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 15min boil
18g Orange Peel, – 5min boil
10g Coriander Seed – 5min Boil
2x Cinnamon sticks - 5min Boil
(Maybe add in cloves?)
WY3724 Belgian Saison or Belle Saison Yeast


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## shacked (14/10/17)

Looks good mate. I’d add some sugar to the mix to get it to dry out. Maybe bail on the 30 min hop addition as you’d be probably looking for your spices to play a prominent role, so less bitterness might be the play.


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## Hambone (14/10/17)

If I want spicy herbs should I change to saaz ?


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## shacked (15/10/17)

Saaz will give you some spice. So too will other hops like goldings (EKG, styrian, whitbread), but I suggest you seek spice from your spices and keep hops in the background.


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## Hambone (15/10/17)

shacked said:


> Saaz will give you some spice. So too will other hops like goldings (EKG, styrian, whitbread), but I suggest you seek spice from your spices and keep hops in the background.


Ok thanks for that.


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## goatchop41 (15/10/17)

droid said:


> To get that Belgian flavour I'd look for a quality liquid yeast and put a fair amount of effort into that if poss.



I would respectfully disagree - Mangrove Jacks have dried Belgian yeasts that are actually very good. I've used their Belgian Wit and their Belgian Abbey, both giving the exact yeast character to the beer that I was expecting. I'm pretty sure that they also have a Belgian tripel yeast, which would probably be great as well, based on all of the experiences that I've had with their range of yeasts.
Their French saison yeast is a winner also - push it up to between 25 and 30o then let it go silly


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## droid (15/10/17)

goatchop41 said:


> I would respectfully disagree - Mangrove Jacks have dried Belgian yeasts that are actually very good. I've used their Belgian Wit and their Belgian Abbey, both giving the exact yeast character to the beer that I was expecting. I'm pretty sure that they also have a Belgian tripel yeast, which would probably be great as well, based on all of the experiences that I've had with their range of yeasts.
> Their French saison yeast is a winner also - push it up to between 25 and 30o then let it go silly



...and that's it...all personal experience, but you're not disagreeing (are you?) more-so saying you don't have to go Liquid Yeast, which is fair enough. In my personal experience I would take my advice.....


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## shacked (15/10/17)

Wyeast 3711 is a really good saison yeast; probably my fav. Having said that, I recently won the Belgian category of a brew comp with a Saison that I used belle saison for and I’m drinking a Saison tonight that I brewed with the mangrove jack saison yeast at 32C and it’s delicious. Maybe brew 2 batches and play around with some different yeasts!!!


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## goatchop41 (16/10/17)

droid said:


> ...and that's it...all personal experience, but you're not disagreeing (are you?) more-so saying you don't have to go Liquid Yeast, which is fair enough.



Exactly, not disagreeing, merely saying that it is no longer true that you have to use a liquid yeast to get a good saison or Belgian beer. There are great dry options available.



droid said:


> In my personal experience I would take my advice.....


Have you actually tried any of those dried yeasts besides Belle Saison? Because if not, then your advice is only based on one side of the spectrum (not saying that it won't give a great result, just that OP might be able to make a great beer with a more easily available yeast)


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## droid (16/10/17)

goatchop41 said:


> Exactly, not disagreeing, merely saying that it is no longer true that you have to use a liquid yeast to get a good saison or Belgian beer. There are great dry options available.
> 
> 
> Have you actually tried any of those dried yeasts besides Belle Saison? Because if not, then your advice is only based on one side of the spectrum (not saying that it won't give a great result, just that OP might be able to make a great beer with a more easily available yeast)



oh man, I was making the point that we all give opinions based on either experience, hearsay or both...in my experience, limited as it is to one Dry yeast that I used in the early stages I would continue to explore liquid yeast strains, haven't said dry is bad or anything like that - and I'm not talking about you or anyone else or what I think is right or wrong, maybe what I said has been lost in translation - Based on my experience I would take my advice - was meant to mean, that is where I am at, that is what I know right now and so I will continue on that path

My advice isn't based on one side of the spectrum as I have used both dry and liquid

feck this is a bit too hard for a MOnday


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## goatchop41 (16/10/17)

droid said:


> oh man, I was making the point that we all give opinions based on either experience, hearsay or both...in my experience, limited as it is to one Dry yeast that I used in the early stages I would continue to explore liquid yeast strains, haven't said dry is bad or anything like that - and I'm not talking about you or anyone else or what I think is right or wrong, maybe what I said has been lost in translation - Based on my experience I would take my advice - was meant to mean, that is where I am at, that is what I know right now and so I will continue on that path
> 
> My advice isn't based on one side of the spectrum as I have used both dry and liquid
> 
> feck this is a bit too hard for a MOnday



Haha sorry, reading back through my reply, it does come off as a bit stand-offish. I absolutely get what you're saying, I wasn't meaning to having a crack or anything, just a poorly worded way of trying to say that maybe you should give the newer dried strains a try in the future, as you'd be surprised by the results!
I have actually been meaning to try out a few more of the liquid strains myself.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

Hambone said:


> 250g Caramalt Grain Pack
> 2.5kg Light Liquid Malt Extract
> 1kg Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
> 30g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 60min boil
> ...


So putting this down today, adding in some cloves too. See how it goes.
Cheers


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## homebrewnewb (24/10/17)

that is going to be spicy man.
best of luck to you.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

homebrewnewb said:


> that is going to be spicy man.
> best of luck to you.



Thanks. I'll leave it right to the end to see if the cloves even go in. 
Cheers


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## shacked (24/10/17)

Keen to see how this one turns out! What did you end up deciding for yeast?


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## homebrewnewb (24/10/17)

give the wort a sip, let us know how it goes.
i used 10g of coriander in 80+L boil. it's faint not sure how it's panned out yet.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

shacked said:


> Keen to see how this one turns out! What did you end up deciding for yeast?



I used the M29 Saison Yeast. I might need some yeast enhancer though.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

homebrewnewb said:


> give the wort a sip, let us know how it goes.
> i used 10g of coriander in 80+L boil. it's faint not sure how it's panned out yet.



Ok thanks for that. I might grind it up to release the oils.


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## homebrewnewb (24/10/17)

yeah i crushed my seeds too. good idea.
just popped em in a bag rolling pin, or in my case rubber mallet. worked well.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

homebrewnewb said:


> yeah i crushed my seeds too. good idea.
> just popped em in a bag rolling pin, or in my case rubber mallet. worked well.



Sounds good. Cheers


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## shacked (24/10/17)

Hambone said:


> I used the M29 Saison Yeast. I might need some yeast enhancer though.



I've used this one before and I like it! Don't be too shy about firing up the temp on this one! Kegging or bottles?


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

shacked said:


> I've used this one before and I like it! Don't be too shy about firing up the temp on this one! Kegging or bottles?


Bottles. Yeah I'm going to leave the temp to itself pretty much.


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

Well I substituted All Spice for the cloves. But it is still friggin spicy. Not sure how it will turn out. 
Cheers


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## Yuz (24/10/17)

I'm afraid I have to do this...


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## Hambone (24/10/17)

Hahaha exactly my thinking when I went for that name.


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## Hambone (26/10/17)

Well this took off. Put it down on Tuesday, OG 1044 and it's down to 1003 this arvo. Ave temp for the ferment is 28 degree C. Will give it a couple more days then cold crash prior to bottling. Smells super spicy though.


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## Hambone (19/11/17)

Turned out pretty good. Very drinkable beer, with a ginger ale sort of slant to it. Very refreshing on a hot summer day.


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## Ben Hardman (20/11/17)

Impressive mate looks great.


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## Hambone (21/11/17)

Ben Hardman said:


> Impressive mate looks great.


Thanks Ben. Turned out better than I thought.


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