# Christmas Beer



## Tony (13/6/07)

Hi all.

I have been thinking of brewing a Christmas Ale for....... you guessed it...... Christmas.

I am only going to do a small batch, 10 or 12 liters and have been doing some research.

I got a great book recently from america filled with nothing but home brewing recipes. Its called coast to coast home brew favrouts or something like that.

It has a fair few recipes for xmas beer, i looked up some on the net and found the same. Most of them seem to be based on porter/stout/barley wine type beers.

I figured that in the states when its cold a few xmas flavoured stouts would go down a treat around the fire but here is australia, its a bit warmer, we will be standing around a BBQ or an airconditioner or a pool (or all 3 at my place  )

I have gone with a lighter beer with a lower SG than the 8%+ beers in the recipes.

I have kept the spices true to what seems to be the norm.

have a look and see what you recon. any coments welcome.

Some advice i would like is when people recomend i add the spices, i am torn between in the mash and last 15 min of boil. I cant decide.

cheers

2007 Xmas beer

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 12.00 Wort Size (L): 12.00
Total Grain (kg): 3.00
Anticipated OG: 1.062 Plato: 15.10
Anticipated EBC: 14.0
Anticipated IBU: 32.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
43.3 1.30 kg. IMC Pilsner Australia 1.038 3
43.3 1.30 kg. Weyermann Munich I Germany 1.038 15
6.7 0.20 kg. JWM Wheat Malt Australia 1.040 4
3.3 0.10 kg. Golden Syrup Bees Arse 1.042 30
3.3 0.10 kg. Honey Bees Arse 1.042 0

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
26.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 29.2 40 min.
14.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 3.6 5 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.10 Oz Irish Moss Fining 10 Min.(boil) 


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast S-04 SafAle English Ale




Notes
-----

1 cinnamon stick, broken up

1/4 tspoon nutmeg

1/4 tspoon allspice

1 tspoon fresh ginger root grated

2 whole cloves

zest of 1 orange


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## Trent (13/6/07)

Tony
I would probably back off just a touch with the spices, I generally find that less is more when using them. I would aim at half of what you are going to use, and taste again after primary, if you feel it needs some more, then heat up some water, add the rest of the spice that you were gonna use originally, and steep that in for a few mins, then put into secondary and rack on top. I judged in the specialty category of last years state comp, and some of the spiced beers were too full on. I feel that if you acn pick the spices individually, you have used too much, and if you cant taste the base beer underneath, you have also used too much. It is much easier to add more, than take it back out.
The base beer looks pretty good, I personally would up the wheat a touch, but that is just me. Let us know how it turns out
All the best
Trent


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## bconnery (13/6/07)

Tony,

I made one last year and you are spot on thinking about now because it took 5-6 months to balance out. At christmas, and just before, it was pretty much perfect, and I bottled it in mid-June. 

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=171

I went for a pale ale base to suit an Aussie christmas and a similar spice amount to what you have there, possibly a little more. 

Mine was an extract but I actually boiled the honey and spices in a separate pot, following advice from some article somewhere, and added them at the end. 

Anyways, have a look. The beer went through many stages, with one spice dominating. For a couple of months all I could taste was cinammon! They all balanced right in the end though. You could taste most of them without one dominating over another. 

I think your malt bill and sugar choices will suit it perfectly, as will the hops. 

I would also recommend, based on my 1 experience, T58 as a dried yeast choice but that's just my opinion of course.


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## Tony (13/6/07)

Great thanks guys.... looks like im on track.

Trent.... i was thinking i wanted it to beas you said, be able to taste the base beer but also taste the spices. Your recomendation of adding more if needed is a good one, thanks.

BC, i have used the T-58 before and didnt mind it, it was in a BElgian Pale Ale and it had a great spicyness. I have S-04 in the fridge , thats why i chose it as well as its a good malty yeast and will leave the character in the beer im after. 

I want it to be a big beer but lite enough to be able to enjoy a couple, not one and pass out.

I looked closley at the recipes published by others in the book and on the net and when devising the recipe for mine i actually halved the beer volume and quartered the spice amounts as lots of them said the spice was strong and thats not what i want.
Sone recipes used 6 cinemon sticks, full teaspoons of nutmeg and all spice, 4 orange zests, 4 to 6 table spoons of ginger. It all sounded too much.
I want a strongish malty beer with a secondary Xmas taste that makes people go..... oooooo thats interesting. 

I dont want it to taste like fruit cake, i can make fruit cake for that duty.

I will add the spices and honey/golden syrup with 10 to 15 min to go in the boil

another twist i thought of is to make a 100% ale malt beer and add cherries to it with the spices ect....... that could be good too. I might have to make a couple of different beers.

cheers


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## bconnery (13/6/07)

Sounds like we had differrent aims. I wanted christmas pudding in a glass almost, so I kept those sort of amounts in there. It all depends on how long you are going to have it aging for before christmas too. At 4-5 months a lot of the spices will have blended and faded so quartering might be a little too far...

It's all a matter of experimenting anyway. I would still consider upping your amounts a little as the maltiness of an AG beer with Munich will balance out the spice levels. 

But I could of course be wrong!! That's the beauty of this obsession hobby.


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## Tony (13/6/07)

ha ha very true mate.

It will be kept for this xmas, thats why im only making a small batch.

I may up the spices a bit cause as you said, they will fade and mellow.

Speaking of this i have to get to and make the xmas pudding too to hang and mature.

As for the cherries, do you recon can cherries would be good? and how much in a 10 to 12 liter batch? It would be good to get a nice red colour.

Do you add them into the boil or the mash? boil im guessing, last 5 min to add some colour but mushed up in the mash would mean i dont have to try to remove them.

cheers


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## bconnery (13/6/07)

Haven't used cherries myself but I've got a recipe at home from someone on the site who did. 

I've generally done fruit in primary but am going to use the secondary next time. 

The recipe used can cherries definitely and by all accounts was pretty good..

PM me if you want so I remember to look it up at home. Maybe not tonight though...


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## lokpikn (13/6/07)

I done a xmas beer with much the same malts and added some spice.
Here is what i added. I done a 40ltr final volume
400gm honey
peel of 7 oranges
peel of 3 lemons
5 cinnamon sticks = to 18grm
1grm of all spice
3grm cloves
150 grm fresh grated ginger

I think all the spice excpet for the cinnamon was great there was way to much cinnamon i would go for about 10grm in my next one.


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## DarkFaerytale (13/6/07)

hey Tony give the jamil show a listen, they did a show on spice beers and another show on specialty beers (in which they used canned cherry's). you might pick up a few tips

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/jamil.php

-Phill


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## Tseay (13/6/07)

The Brewers Publications "Brown Ale" series has a Xmas Ale starting point recipe using Allspice, Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamon and grated lemon peel added 5 minutes before the end of the boil with 1tbs of steeped grated lemon peel. Presumably they mean adding it a flame out. 1-3 month aging.


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## bconnery (13/6/07)

Tony,

Here's the cherry beer recipe. As I said, I haven't made it, but it was tinned cherries...

Recipe: D& D Wit
Brewer: Bob Robinson
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 24.00 L 
Boil Size: 29.67 L
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
3.00 kg Wheat Malt [Powells] (1.5 SRM) Grain 48.7 % 
2.25 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (2.0 SRM) Grain 36.5 % 
0.20 kg Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3.2 % 
0.20 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 3.2 % 
0.11 kg Caramalt (Joe White) (25.0 SRM) Grain 1.8 % 
40.00 gm Saaz [4.00%] (30 min) Hops 11.7 IBU 
40.00 gm Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.00%] (30 min) Hops 5.9 IBU 
10.00 gm Tettnang [5.20%] (30 min) Hops 3.8 IBU 
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc 
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 
2.04 kg Cherries in Sugar syrup (Secondary 7.0 dayMisc 
5.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 30.0 min) Misc 
10.00 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 30.0 min) Misc 
0.40 kg Sugar, Raw (3.0 SRM) Sugar 6.5 % 
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Wheat 


Mash Schedule: My Mash with Protien Rest
Total Grain Weight: 5.76 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time 
Step Add 6.13 L of water at 66.8 C 52.0 C 40 min 
Step Add 12.25 L of water at 76.5 C 66.0 C 75 min 
Step Add 12.25 L of water at 96.7 C 77.0 C 40 min 


Notes:
------
Put the cherries and syrup into a zipped washing bag into 2ndry, it is SO pink! Not the colour above


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## Screwtop (13/6/07)

bconnery said:


> Tony,
> 
> Here's the cherry beer recipe. As I said, I haven't made it, but it was tinned cherries...
> 
> ...




Thats Bindi's Kriek, it was great on tap very similar to Belgian Bellevue.


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## Tony (17/6/07)

made it today.

Its chilling in the laundry tub now.

It smelt FANTASTIC in the boil. I cant wait to try it.

Im going to firment it with S33. I have never used this yeast but from what i have read it will be interesting.

I have no idea what temp to use so it will go in at 18 deg to start with.

2007 Xmas beer

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 14.00 Wort Size (L): 14.00
Total Grain (kg): 3.30
Anticipated OG: 1.058 Plato: 14.30
Anticipated EBC: 13.8
Anticipated IBU: 34.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.4 1.40 kg. Weyermann Munich I Germany 1.038 15
39.4 1.30 kg. IMC Pilsner Australia 1.038 3
9.1 0.30 kg. Honey Bees Arse 1.042 0
6.1 0.20 kg. TF Terrified Wheat UK 1.035 5
3.0 0.10 kg. JWM Caramalt Australia 1.036 50

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 29.6 40 min.
20.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 4.5 5 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.10 Oz Irish Moss Fining 10 Min.(boil) 


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast S-33 SafBrew Specialty Ale




Notes
-----

1 cinnamon stick, broken up

1/4 tspoon nutmeg

1/4 tspoon allspice

1 tspoon ginger grated

2 whole cloves

zest of 1 orange and some juice, about 50 mls

3 cardomom seed pods, crushed

All mixed with 1 cup of boiling water and honey and added last 15 min of boil

Cheers


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## Tony (25/6/07)

pics of my little pot brew method.

cheers


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## bconnery (26/6/07)

That all sounds good Tony. Let us know how the s33 goes too as I'm thinking of using that one in a couple of brews shortly...



Cheers

Ben


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## Screwtop (26/6/07)

bconnery said:


> That all sounds good Tony. Let us know how the s33 goes too as I'm thinking of using that one in a couple of brews shortly...
> 
> 
> 
> ...




How about a recipe for your Xmas beer Ben, we should be thinking about making it soon, like all good xmas pud's, should be made about 3 months before xmas, they need time to mature.

I reckon Ben's recipe will be very similar to xmas pud, it tastes similar


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## bconnery (26/6/07)

Screwtop said:


> How about a recipe for your Xmas beer Ben, we should be thinking about making it soon, like all good xmas pud's, should be made about 3 months before xmas, they need time to mature.
> 
> I reckon Ben's recipe will be very similar to xmas pud, it tastes similar



Mine should actually be made 4-5 months in advance if you follow it just on. The spices took that long to blend just right...

The recipe is in the recipe section here... 

You'll need to adjust it to an AG one though...


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## Tony (26/6/07)

bconnery said:


> That all sounds good Tony. Let us know how the s33 goes too as I'm thinking of using that one in a couple of brews shortly...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I firmented it at 19 deg and it worked very well. The dried yeast was a sample MHB gave me about 2 years back and it fired up no worries.

Its finished firmenting and has droped crystal clear in primary 

I will rack it srait onto bulk priming mix and bottle without secondary, its that clear.

firmented from 1.058 down to 1.012 in a week.

Flavours............. well its hard to tell ATM with all those flower hops and spices in there but it all seems fairly clean with perhaps a touch of fruitiness but that could be the orange and ginger  

will give it a month and crack one to see how it is.

cheers


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## Tony (1/7/07)

bottled it tonight

here is a pic of the hydro reading from the primary

the S-33 packed down nice.

Its not as tight as S-04 in the cake but it did ok


cheers


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## bconnery (2/7/07)

Looking good Tony. Not planning one this year so will have to make do with reports of yours


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## Tony (7/8/07)

1 month in the bottle and its going great.

I had enough for a dozen 750ml champein bottles and 4 x smaller bottle for evaluation.

I have tried one every week or so to keep an eye on progress.

First week it started out a bit raw and very cloudy..... milky. I wasnt worried though.

second week gas was perfect, still couldy but better and starting to smooth out.

Third week i gave the bottle to my brother to try..... he loved it. said he couldnt wait to xmas

I just poured the last test bottle.

MARKED improvement  honey/cinamon sweetnes and spice in aroma, much clearer.... still a bit cloudy but i let a bit of yeast in.... bugger.
flavour is malt and spice well ballanced with a touch of hops.

the orange and honey are not prominent like i thought they would be but time will tell.

the yeast character of the S-33 is a bit hard to pick through the rest of the complexity but its there. cant really coment on it in this beer. there are too may things going on to tell.

I may have to crack one late october to try.

cheers


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## Hopnsandles (28/12/16)

Hi guys , I know I don't talk much here on this site but ........ I also have been wanting a 
Christmas pudding beer . The thing is I like to put what I'm wanting (pudding) In a Pale Ale 
I have made a wicked Cherry Beer a few years ago and used 2 trays of Rolleystone farm 
fresh cherries (WA), Belgian Candy Sugar on a Wheat Beer Base with tettenanger. It was 
Amazing and won a prize at Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival . fresh ingredients YUM...

I'm thinking of fermenting with a REAL Rotary club pudding ??? At 20litre batch all grain
With hersbrucker and or tettenanger at 20-30 IBU with alcohol at 5-7% . The pudding I was 
thinking mashing up in a pot ,cooling and adding to the fermenter . I know it will be muddy 
at the start but with time will drop and clear . 

Any ideas or comments please ...


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