Christmas Ale

[Fiddler]

Hey,

I was thinking about making a beer for Christmas and I stumbled across this recipe on the Black Rock site.

1 can Blackrock nut brown ale. (Yeast under the lid)
1 Can Blackrock light unhopped light malt extract.
2 Cans Cherries in Heavy Syrup
3 Cups Honey
2.5 Teaspoons Ground Ginger
1.5 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Cloves
1 Teaspoon Pure Almond Extract

1. Thoroughly clean and sterilise all equipment
2. Remove the plastic cap and yeast enclosed under the cap of the Blackrock Nut Brown ale malt extract.
3. Stand both cans of malt extract in hot water for 10 minutes to soften contents.
4. Purée the fruit in a blender or food processor and set aside to add to brew later.
5. Place approximately 2 litres of water into a clean saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add the honey, stir well. Then mix in ginger,cinnamon,ground cloves and almond extract.
6. Add the contents of the saucepan to the contents of 2 cans of malt extract in your fermenter and dissolve.
7. Add pureed fruit and stir vigorously. Then make up to volume to 23 litres with cold water, making sure the final temperature is between 18 and 28 degrees celcius.
8. Open the yeast package, sprinkle yeast over the surface of the liquid and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir vigorously again, then screw the lid on with the airlock(half-filled with boiled and cooled water).
9. Ferment for a minimum of 2 weeks between 18 to 28 degrees celcius.

Any thoughts on how this would go or improvements? I'm not entirely sure what they mean by heavy syrup.

I've done a bit of reading and I know that 3 months in the bottle might not be enough but at least it will be great come winter next year.

 

[slcmorro]

1: Possibly the most significant improvement, would be to throw the kit yeast away. Use US05. It's $5 a packet, and your beer will be 5 times better for it.

2: Make sure your honey is not eucalypt based, that is, the bees didn't harvest the pollen from any species of the eucalyptus family. Eucalyptus in beer doesn't taste great, and believe it or not, the characteristics do show through in the finished product.

3: Your temperature range of 18-28 degrees is huge. I'd say 18 degrees is what you want to aim for. Brewing any ale at 28 degrees is going to taste like shit.

4: Your pureed fruit *might* introduce nasties like bacteria into your brew, and ruin the entire batch. Not sure if you'd want to boil the pureed fruit as it might change the flavour profile, but this is something to be aware of.

5: Forget the airlock. Don't rely on it to gauge if it's fermenting. If you're using it to just plug the hole in the lid, great, but don't ever rely on it to determine if your beer is sill fermenting or finished. The only way to get an accurate reading is to take an SG sample over 3 days. If it's the same over three days, it's finished fermenting.

6: You mention sprinkling the yeast on, and then letting it sit for 5 mins before putting the lid on? Why? Just throw the lid on when you've finished pouring the yeast. The less exposure time you can give your beer, the less chance you'll have of allowing bacteria to get in and spoil your party.

7: 3 months in the bottle might not be enough, but it'll be pretty close. Most new guys can't let it last 1 month in the bottle, so if you manage 3, you're doing well.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Why is it that so many kit and malt producers give such shit advice? Are they trying to sabotage themselves?

Pitch yeast and leave open for 5 min and then stir? Ferment up to 28C? FMD.

Every point SLC has made above is correct. I would have major hesitations undertaking a recipe with so many shitty recommendations.

Proceed with caution.

 

[Fiddler]

Oh yeah I took those instructions straight from the website and I know that they were shite. This will be my 7th brew so I'm well and truly getting the hang of it. But thanks for the advice anyway.

It's starting to get warmer here in Brisbane so without investing in a fridge I'm struggling to keep the fermenter at anything lower than 22 degrees. Would US05 still be the best option?

I'm a bit unsure about the extract too. I've read that extracts can often add unwanted artificial tasting flavours to a brew.

 

[slcmorro]

Do what I do, when my fermenting fridge is in use... rotate 4 x 3L bottles of ice around it. 2 in the morning and 2 at night. It's quite effective in a closed space like a cupboard.

Edit: Don't put the bottles IN the fermenter. Sit them on the outside, against the fermenter.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Oh yeah I took those instructions straight from the website and I know that they were shite. This will be my 7th brew so I'm well and truly getting the hang of it. But thanks for the advice anyway.

It's starting to get warmer here in Brisbane so without investing in a fridge I'm struggling to keep the fermenter at anything lower than 22 degrees. Would US05 still be the best option?

I'm a bit unsure about the extract too. I've read that extracts can often add unwanted artificial tasting flavours to a brew.

US05 seems to be pretty versatile and clean finishing even with higher temps so I would say that is a good move. 22C is not strictly ideal but it is pretty good. Wrap a blanket or 2 around the fermentor to limit the temp fluctuations- that is probably your main enemy.

If you are talking malt extract then dont worry- the kit is hopped malt extract anyway so using a tin of unhopped LME wont introduce any off flavours in comparison. The kit twang is probably less pronounced with LME and with all the other flavours you're introducing I dont think it will be an issue.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Do what I do, when my fermenting fridge is in use... rotate 4 x 3L bottles of ice around it. 2 in the morning and 2 at night. It's quite effective in a closed space like a cupboard.

Edit: Don't put the bottles IN the fermenter. Sit them on the outside, against the fermenter.

I have found the techni ice packs are great for that. You can wrap 3 of them around a fermenter and secure with bungy cord .
Now if my fridge is full, I use a 120L esky and chuck a couple of the ice packs in and get a pretty consistant temp.

 

[BeardedWonder]

I'm not sure how many cherries are in a can, but I would suggest putting your fv on a lean so that the tap remains clear of any fruit trub.

I did a raspberry beer which had a whooooole lotta fruit added (boiled down to a goop prior to adding it) and there was an additional layer of fruit crap on the trub that just kept clogging the damn tap.
Two cans of cherries might not produce enough stuff to worry about, but it might pay to consider it.

As to whether the fruit could contaminate the brew, I would have thought that a can of preserved fruit would have been produced and packaged in sterile conditions.

 

[Fiddler]

US05 seems to be pretty versatile and clean finishing even with higher temps so I would say that is a good move. 22C is not strictly ideal but it is pretty good. Wrap a blanket or 2 around the fermentor to limit the temp fluctuations- that is probably your main enemy.

If you are talking malt extract then dont worry- the kit is hopped malt extract anyway so using a tin of unhopped LME wont introduce any off flavours in comparison. The kit twang is probably less pronounced with LME and with all the other flavours you're introducing I dont think it will be an issue.

I meant the almond extract from the recipe.

 

[Fiddler]

Anyway I'm going to give this a crack this week.

I'm not sure if I should dry hop it or not. I was going to add maybe some fuggles but would that overpower the aroma from the spices?