Christmas Beer

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TJ Brew
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Christmas Beer

Post by TJ Brew » Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:22 pm

This one is from"Homebrew Handbook" -D.Law, B.Grimes

OG 1046 [1.070 according to hopville]
Water 23L

Mash Roll Weight Percentage
American 2-Row Pale 3.4kg 54%
Vienna Malt 1.1kg 17.8%
Caramel Malt 453g 7.3%
Victory Malt 453g 7.3%
Caramunich 226g 3.6%
Belgian Dark Candi sugar 226g 3.6%
Honey Malt 226g 3.6%
Carafa I 113g 1.8%

Mash 1 hour @ ~66C

In the Boil Weight Time
Saaz 16g 60min
Hersbrucker 16g 60min
Styrian Goldings 16g 60min
Styrian Goldings 14g 15min from end
Hersbrucker 14g 5min from end
Star anise 10g 20min from end
Cinnamon sticks 3 10min from end
Whole cloves 7 10min from end
Fresh Ginger root (chopped) 30g 10min from end
Ground Nutmeg 1tsp 10min from end
Protofloc 1 tsp 15min from end

Boil 1 hour

Yeast - Belgian Ale - WY-1762

Target FG 1015
Target ABV 7.5%

What are everyones thoughts on this one? I will need to look up some substitutions for a few items, recommendations are welcome. Also the belgian ale yeast, anyone here used it?

Trevor

[EDIT] Added percentages for X. I think most of the recipes from this book are going to be wacky. Calculated gravities added.
Last edited by TJ Brew on Tue Oct 09, 2012 4:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.
On Tap "in bottles": winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
In Secondary:
In Primary: winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
Up Next:

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"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

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mr x
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by mr x » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:09 am

Just a quick glance at that recipe, looks like a lot of specialty malts, especially crystal. List those malts as a percent of total grain bill.

That's a lot of cinnamon too.

Those gravities are off too.

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amartin
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by amartin » Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:37 am

That's a lot of everything. I don't know why you would need so many spices when you're using a Belgian yeast.

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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by akr71 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:39 am

That is a lot of spices. If you want that much, then great, but I would switch to a clean yeast like us-05. I would rather be drinking a beer and want more spices next time I brew, rather than it be so in your face that you don't want to drink it. Any character you get from the Belgian yeast will be lost.

For X's sake, here's how your grain bill works out (roughly - I did some rounding off)
2row 54.9%
Vienna 17.8%
Caramel 7.3%
Victory 7.3%
Caramunich 3.6%
Honey malt 3.6%
Belgian Dark sugar 3.6%
Carafa I 1.8%

IMO - I'd dump the Vienna in favor of more 2row, combine (and maybe reduce to 10%) the Caramel and Caramunich and switch to c120. At 1.8% the Carafa isn't doing much except adding color - if you want to darken the beer, it might be easier to use more Belgian Sugar or add roast barley to the sparge.
Andy
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by canuck » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:56 am

FWIW, this is the Christmas Spiced beer recipe out of Brewing Classic Styles.

Marris Otter 19.5 lbs
Crystal 80 .75 lbs
Black Patent .25 lbs

Horizon 1 oz @ 60 mins

Cinnamon 1/2 tsp @ 1 min
Ginger 1/4 tsp @ 1 min
Nutmeg 1/8 tsp @ 1 min
All spice 1/8 tsp @ 1 min

WLP013, Wyeast 1028, or Nottingham yeast

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akr71
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by akr71 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:18 pm

^^ nice simple gain bill!
Andy
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by Stusbrews » Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:42 pm

That iz the same spice bill bcs uses for the the pumpkin ale as well, and its REALLY light. I doubled it at secondary after tasting, by making a tea and added to sec, and its still on the light side, but at least detectable.

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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by TJ Brew » Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:54 pm

canuck wrote:FWIW, this is the Christmas Spiced beer recipe out of Brewing Classic Styles.

Marris Otter 19.5 lbs
Crystal 80 .75 lbs
Black Patent .25 lbs

Horizon 1 oz @ 60 mins

Cinnamon 1/2 tsp @ 1 min
Ginger 1/4 tsp @ 1 min
Nutmeg 1/8 tsp @ 1 min
All spice 1/8 tsp @ 1 min

WLP013, Wyeast 1028, or Nottingham yeast
Thanks for the BCS recipe, it is nice and simple. I see what X means by the amount of cinnamon now in comparison to this one. I will have to be careful when using other recipes out of this book!
On Tap "in bottles": winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
In Secondary:
In Primary: winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
Up Next:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

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TJ Brew
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Re: Christmas Beer

Post by TJ Brew » Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:46 am

So I made two versions of this beer. I split the batch into two.

One used the hops and spices listed, the other used Bitter Orange and Fresh Ginger with some Target and Hallertau Hersbruck.

Neither used the grain bill I listed, I used 2-row, Crystal 60 and Honey with us-05.

I plan on brewing this one again using the following recipe, but again splitting the batch and using us-05 and the belgian ale WY1762.

Recipe: Winter Beer TYPE: All Grain/BIAB
Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer

SRM: 5.9 SRM SRM RANGE: 5.0-50.0 SRM
IBU: 29.0 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 0.0-70.0 IBUs
OG: 1.043 SG OG RANGE: 1.030-1.110 SG
FG: 1.007 SG FG RANGE: 1.005-1.025 SG
BU:GU: 0.667 Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz Est ABV: 4.8 %
EE%: 65.00 % Batch: 6.00 gal Boil: 7.52 gal BT: 60 Mins

Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 8.0 oz Total Hops: 2.50 oz oz.

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 83.3 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.8 %


Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 32.79 qt of water at 156.5 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.031 SG Est OG: 1.043 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 3 6.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 6.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 60.0 mi Hop 5 9.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Anise, Star (Boil 20.0 mins) Spice 6 -
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 15.0 mi Hop 7 4.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Ginger Root (Boil 12.0 mins) Herb 8 -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 9 -
3.00 Items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 10 -
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 11 1.4 IBUs

---NOTES------------------------------------
7 Whole cloves @ 10 minutes from end
1 tsp Nutmeg @ 10 minutes from end
On Tap "in bottles": winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
In Secondary:
In Primary: winter beer (spiced beer, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves)
Up Next:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

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