Wanted belgian christmas brew

[Deebee]

Hi all.

I will be placing an order in the next few weeks for the stuff i need for my christmas brews.

I really love the belgian dubbel i made and have a tast for the blonds as well so think that one of the Christmas brews this year should be in the belgian style.

Traditional Christmas beers in Norway are darker than their normal Pils ( i suspect they add som black malt or something to (redden" it up a bit), but taste wise are much the same as everything else.

I am looking for something around 6.5-7%, relative low IBU ( as per style really) that is tasty, and packs a punch but that is not cloying. I am interested in adding spices that will add to the christmas feel. I am thinking something relatively dark in keeping with a christmas beer here.


Having only ever made one belgian ( which i had loads of help with from Barley Water amongst others) I do not feel experience enough to make this on my own. Work have asked me to make something for the christmas do so i want it to be good.

Anyone have an idea for a recipe. i can adjust any variables to suit my system.

Thaks as always

[Deebee]

What are your thoughts on this one gents.


25 litre brewlength

Fermentables

6355 belgian pilsner
318 belgian aroma malt
300 special B
230 biscuit
230 honey malt
500g clear Belgian rock candy or soft brown sugar.
250 g raisins 8 they came out great in my last belgian
Hops

Challenger ( 9.4 ibu) @60 minutes
Styrian goldings 5,3 ibu @15 mins
Styrian goldings 1.4 ibu @5 minutes

1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon@15 minutes

Not sure which yeast but something along the lines of WL 0500

Thoughts please gents. I intend to order soon.

thanks

[monkeyboy]

I don't have an answer, 'cos I've never brewed a Belgian beer before. Was just about to post a similar 'request for opinion' thread on a Belgian Pale and saw this. Even for Belgian ale, that seems like very slow IBU - I think most dubbels are around 20. Be interested in how it turns out though!

[Deebee]

I don't have an answer, 'cos I've never brewed a Belgian beer before. Was just about to post a similar 'request for opinion' thread on a Belgian Pale and saw this. Even for Belgian ale, that seems like very slow IBU - I think most dubbels are around 20. Be interested in how it turns out though!

i thought so too.... but beersmith style guid shows this


obviously i am on the lowest end of the scale and can up it soewhat. but i guess this will allow a malty brew to come through?

[Deebee]

gonna order in the next couple of weeks so thoughts would be appreciated.

hope to brew around early september so it should be tip top for the festive season!

[smdjoachim]

I would use a cinnamon stick .Less harsh
Cinnamon powder gives clarity issues.I also felt it made the beer feel gritty in the mouth.

[Deebee]

Thnks. A whole stick for 15?

[Deebee]

Hi all.
Would like to bump this.
Have gotten everything i need.
Am just wondering about spice additions though.

Instead of powder i will use a cinamon stick at 15. Should i have it in whole? I also wonder if anyone else has added spice to a brew for that christmassy taste.
Does anyone else have any suggestion as to amount,timing and what? I don't want massive taste but do want to taste it. Am thinking maybe 3-4cloves as well as cinamon at say 10-15.
Thoughts appeeciated.

[50quidsoundboy]

i'm planning something very very similar in a week or so but i'm steering clear of any actual spices. until i'm more knowledgeable about such things i'm going to let the Belgian yeast and aromatic fermentables do all the work in terms of spice + fruit flavours. i'd be very uneasy about dumping a whole cinnamon stick into the boil and ruining the lot but maybe that's just me.....i probably will use some raisins though.

having said that, Hardknott Brewery's "Rhetoric" is a Belgian-style quad, spiced with a little star anise, and that's truly an amazing beer although I couldn't drink more than one.

have you read Brew Like a Monk? i've just finished it and i'd strongly recommend it if you're planning a Belgian brew.

[PaddyX21]

Very few cloves go a long way so I'd be careful with those!
As for whole cinnamon stick, as long as it stays whole it shouldn't be too strong, but having said that it's a natural product so no two sticks will give the same strength...
I'd go for it myself, but then I get these experiments wrong as much as I get them right

[Barley Water]

Ok, here is a way to add spices while reducing the risk of over doing it. Figure out what you want to add then get some cheap vodka and throw the spices in there for a couple of weeks. The stuff will act like a solvent and pull the flavor out of the spices. Once it's done, run the liquid through a coffee filter to get the junk out. Once the beer has fermented out, pull a sample and slowly add the spiced liquid to the sample until you like the taste (keeping track of how much you added so you can scale the process up to the entire batch). Once you get the taste you want, just do the math and add the spiced liquid to the rest of the batch.

I have actually brewed my Christmas beer for 2013 already. It's an Olde Ale with an O.G. of 1.082. My plan is to age it in a corny keg for a year then make another batch, blend half the old with the new (which I'll bottle) and then let the remaining beer sit for another year. I figure if I keep doing that, after a few years I'll either have some serious swill or hopefully some really great aged beer. This trick works really well for my sour stuff so I'll give it a whirl and see what happens. This year's Christmas ale is going to be an Imperial Brown Porter with vanilla and bourbon (and I may also oak it) but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[Deebee]

Have no vodka. All spirits sre really expensive here.
I do have about 200-300ml 96% moonshine that can be watered down to say 45%
Would this work?
I gues that say adding 1 ml to say 200ml wouls be a start?
Theoretically i would multiply this by 5 for the litre and then multiply this again for the bath?

[Barley Water]

Oh yeah, I wouldn't even bother to water it down. I just suggested vodka because it's fairly neutral and cheap (over here at least). I would take about at cup of the stuff and soak the spices in it. You might want to get an eye dropper to actually dose the beer with though because the resulting tincture is going to be pretty concentrated so it won't take much. Let' say you have a 190ml sample of beer and it takes 5 drops to get the taste you are looking for. Assuming your entire batch is 19 liters the math gets pretty easy.