Xmas beer advice

[DrDaz]

I've been thinking about my choice of kit to brew for christmas.

I think I'm going to do a spiced version of the John Bull Best Bitter I did earlier in the year. I brewed it with BKE and it was quite malty, very tasty indeed. I thought at the time that it was robust enough to take some spicing up.

I'm going to add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, will probably use the amounts used in this thread (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45262&p=475699&hili ... rs#p476657, by BigG)

WIll I need to add any extra fermentables to balance out the spices or will the BKE be enough on it's own? I do remember it being quite malty as it was.

Darran

[sbond10]

Maybe 250g of dark brown sugar ??

[DrDaz]

I'll put some in when I make it in the next week or so.

I want to get this brew on soon so it can have plenty of time to condition in the bottles.

Cheers

Darran

[St. Ailbhe's Brewery]

May I recommend the addition of some fresh orange and lemon juice? I've put them in my Christmas brews and they never let me down, lovely flavour.

[DrDaz]

Nice idea, I add some juice and maybe zest also. And idea on amounts for a 19/20L brew

[St. Ailbhe's Brewery]

Nice idea, I add some juice and maybe zest also. And idea on amounts for a 19/20L brew

I used 2 oranges and 3 lemons for 20l, the juice and zest of both.

Boiled all of may additives together and then strained them in muslin. Into the FV with it then.

It mightn't be such a bad idea to leave a bit of the peel in the FV, I can't foresee any problems (but the experts here can advise you better on that).

[DrDaz]

Thanks, I'm gonna get this brew on this week. Can't wait!

[gxprice]

Beer-Meisters,

Just ordered a Coopers English Bitter kit and will brew it up to a Christmas brew (hence my coming across this thread).

I'll use 1kg of Muntons Enhancer and possibly another 250gms or dark brown sugar (as per this thread). To add the spice element, I would just like to clarify the process since up until now I've been a pure "kit" person (which has turned out well so far... - just wanted to try something different).

If I am considering (as written above) oranges, lemons, nutmeg, ginger and a cinnamon stick (add as appropriate, I'd appreciate any advice!), how would I get them in to the brew? Based on what I've read, I'm assuming it's something like this:

- scrape zest off oranges (*2)and lemons (*2)
- Squeeze oranges, lemons out
- crush (slice? dice?) the cinnamon, likewise with the nutmeg and Ginger (?)
- add all to a saucepan with some water (how much?)
- boil for some minutes (how long? covered or not? )
- allow to cool then pour through a filter (muslin or similar)
- add (filtered) liquid to FV with fermentables, malt, water etc. up to required volume
- add yeast and brew kit as per usual.

Does that sound about right or have I completely missed something in this process? Any comments / help / additions welcome First time with any additives!

BTW, I don't mean to hijack the thread in any way, just thought it was close enough to hang off the coat tails of ...

Best,

Gary.

[simon50]

i have no idea, but should someone really not take into account the acidity of lemons when adding the juice to wort? (effect on the ph and yeast or something?).

i am all for steeping spices, but adding the cooked juice of citrus fruit to beer wort just seems wrong, i made some TC with fruit juice containing citrus fruits and it was VERY astringent tasting (couldn't taste the fruit) although that was with cider yeast.

[St. Ailbhe's Brewery]

i have no idea, but should someone really not take into account the acidity of lemons when adding the juice to wort? (effect on the ph and yeast or something?).

i am all for steeping spices, but adding the cooked juice of citrus fruit to beer wort just seems wrong, i made some TC with fruit juice containing citrus fruits and it was VERY astringent tasting (couldn't taste the fruit) although that was with cider yeast.

I've done it three times.

It gives a nice sharpness, but I wouldn't call it astringent. Not with a couple of lemons in a 20l batch.

[spud]

All these ideas - I have seen Christmas beer kits available on a few websites Milestone Doner & Blitzed, Dasher the Flasher are these any good? What about the 3.6k Muntons Santa Winter Warmer (bit more pricey though) Don't really want to add oranges and lemons to my brew in case it gets ruined!

[Mr Fuggles]

Never made a Christmas Beer Kit, would like to hear from anyone that has mad either the doner and blitzed or the dashe the flasher

[HantsBrewer]

I've never made Doner & Blitzed, or Dasher the Flasher, but I can heartily recommend the Muntons Santas Winter Warmer. Nice and smooth out of the keg.

I've had bad experiences with Brewferms Christmas beer before, but this year I thought I'd give it another chance. I bottled it two months ago. I tried one at the weekend and I think it's actually going to turn out to be a little belter. I'm a big Brewferm fan so am very pleased by this.

[Pinto]

I've had bad experiences with Brewferms Christmas beer before, but this year I thought I'd give it another chance. I bottled it two months ago. I tried one at the weekend and I think it's actually going to turn out to be a little belter. I'm a big Brewferm fan so am very pleased by this.

Looking forwards to my first one too - it was bottled in February and will reside in a dark corner of the man cave until the 21st of December to celebrate the not-ending of the world according to the aztec calender

Or perhaps they actually predicted how bad my Brewferm Xmas would turn out and thought it would be like the end of the world ?

We shall see

[rootsbrew]

Really like the idea of citrus - with cinnamon, it's very seasonal!

Keep seeing this acronym: TC. What is it?

By the looks of what everyone else is doing/has done, I'm a bit concerned that I've left it too late to make anything for this Christmas. This is loosely based on the Cooper's Julebryg recipe - 20l @ ~ 6%. (Thanks to lovelldr for alerting us to/reminding us about the original recipe, with the recent thread about diastatic malt as an accidental(?) substitute for Amber LME)
Base:
1.7kg Coopers wheat kit - for viscosity and acidity
1.5kg Coopers Amber LME - as per recipe
0.5kg Black treacle - for colour, skip brown sugar
20g Fuggles

Aromatics:
1 star anise
1 vanilla pod
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 zested & juiced oranges
2 zested & juiced lemons

Assuming 3 weeks from pitch to bottle, would I get away with this recipe, in time for Christmas? Working backwards, the earliest I would be able to bottle this would be about 20th Oct. Otherwise, I'll hold fire and put it on in March-ish so it has time to condition properly.

Are there any ingredients or techniques that might enable the brew to condition within two months? I guess hold the spices till the 2nd FV and stretch it from 20 to 22.5 or 25 litres, with water and a little medium DME, while accepting it'd be a slightly thinner beer, is one option?