Seasonal beers?

[ChrisHughes]

As winter is kicking in, and possibly it's now starting to get to late for a Xmas ale. What other seasonal beers should I consider making or should I start to think about spring? If so what recipes have you in mind for March/April?

[seymour]

You can't go wrong with a strong, deep amber ESB/English Old Ale kinda thing like Samuel Smith Winter Welcome. Porters and Stouts are delicious winter warmers too. Hell, I love to drink those year-round.

[RobWalker]

Anything malty really!

[seymour]

Anything malty really!

+1 !

Case in point, regarding store-bought seasonal beers, here's my everyday drinker lately:

Magic Hat Snow Roller Hoppy Brown Ale
Magic Hat Brewing (a Peter Austin/Alan Pugsley brewhouse installation) in South Burlington, Vermont, USA
ABV: 6.2%
Grainbill: Pale, Victory Malt, Chocolate Malt, Cara 40L Malt, Cara 120L Malt
Hops: Apollo, Columbus
IBU: 27
Colour: reddish brown with sudsy beige foam
Yeast: Proprietary Ringwood brewery dual-strain yeast: which founder Peter Austin brought from Hull Brewery, which had gotten it from Stone Trough Brewery in Halifax, possibly related to Samuel Webster originally. The following commercial yeasts are believed to be one of the dual-strain Ringwood yeast, but will not perform the same singly: NCYC 1187, Wyeast 1187, White Labs WLP005.

http://www.magichat.net/elixirs/snowroller/

[Clibit]

Any ideas on the chocolate and cara percentages?

[seymour]

Any ideas on the chocolate and cara percentages?

I wish, but no, that's all I know. I haven't plugged it into a calculator, but I'd probably increase the percentages until I hit a deep reddish brown colour.

If I had to guess, I'd start around 8% Cara 40, 4% Cara 120, 4% Chocolate.

As you may know, Ringwood Brewery dual-strain yeast is crazy attenuative, so you can use way more caramelized and roasted malts than usual and mash at a higher temp than usual to preserve some residual sweetness and body, yet still ferment down to surprising dryness. It's really amazing in that way. Check out my Simcoe Mild recipe for instance: even 14% unmalted Torrified Wheat failed to slow that yeast down.

[Clibit]

Yes my recent Mauribrew Weiss beers have all attenuated down to 1.006 and I've realised they couldve done with more Caramalt. I like the dryness, the beers are great, but I'll up the cara in future to compensate, a bit less dry would be preferable.
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[seymour]

OR...

Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale (Strong Burton Ale)
Samuel Smith Old Brewery (historic, 1758-present) in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, UK
Style: English Strong Ale
OG: 1056
ABV: 6.0%
Grainbill: 86% Maris Otter, 7% Mild Malt, 7% Dark Crystal Malt (add gypsum)
Hops: Goldings (90 min), Fuggles, Goldings (15 min)
IBU: 32
Colour: deep reddish amber
Yeast: proprietary Samuel Smith open fermented Yorkshire stone square English ale strain, available in bottle-conditioned Stingo, possibly available as BrewLabs Yorkshire 1 or White Labs WLP037

[RobWalker]

Some nice recipes in here! I'll add my 2c...

Winter Oatmeal Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.350
Total Hops (g): 50.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (°P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.62 %
Colour (SRM): 21.9 (EBC): 43.1
Bitterness (IBU): 33.1 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 66
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.000 kg Pale Malt (74.77%)
0.500 kg Flaked Oats (9.35%)
0.280 kg Chocolate (5.23%)
0.250 kg Flaked Corn (4.67%)
0.250 kg Wheat Malt (4.67%)
0.070 kg Roasted Barley (1.31%)

Hop Bill
----------------
30.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
20.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.7% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Chocolate Malt + Roasted Barley cold steeped in 3L water for 24 hours.
Fermented at 20°C with Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

If you plan to spice a beer this late in the year, less is more!

[ChrisHughes]

That winter welcome ale sounds good.

Some good looking recipe ideas as well