Christmas Beer

[tteknulp]

Christmas beer

Im planning this one for weekend

3kg plain light malt extract
450g light honey (maybe clover type)
225g crystal malt
60g black malt
40g cascade hops in boil
20g saaz finishing
30g grated ginger root
10g ground cinnamon
Grated zest of 4 oranges
Safele s04 yeast

planned o.g 1058
f.g 1014

I think this will make an good seasonal beer addapting it from a book i own,

was thinking of adding some cloves but not sure amount to add when taking into account other ingriedients ?open to suggestions in ways i could improve it, thanks in advance

[seymour]

Sounds good to me, except many members will insist you don't have enough aging time left before Christmas. I'd do it anyway, though.

Have you read the Sensible Mole website? Yours looks a little like Sensible Mole's "Twelfth Night At Toad Hall":
http://www.sensiblemole.com/twelfthnightattoadhall.htm

[twentyfootwilf]

Yeah I've just put a christmas beer in the FV, I'll be lucky if its ready for Christmas. Maybe it'll be ready for christmas 2014 One other thing I notice is your preference for maybe clover honey. Frankly if you can tell which honey you've used you should be a wine taster or tea taster by profession or something of that nature. I made a Coopers English Bitter recently using two jars of honey and 200g molasses and I can't even tell that it's got honey in it let alone what type of honey. Personally in a Christmas beer I would use soft dark brown sugar instead of honey and I can recommend 200g of molasses, it would give a very subtle christmas cake/pudding hint to the aroma, only a suggestion mind. You go for honey if you fancy it. It'll still be a tasty brew.

[tteknulp]

Sounds good to me, except many members will insist you don't have enough aging time left before Christmas. I'd do it anyway, though.

Have you read the Sensible Mole website? Yours looks a little like Sensible Mole's "Twelfth Night At Toad Hall":
http://www.sensiblemole.com/twelfthnightattoadhall.htm

Yeah it does look very similar indeed,i dont think finishes(5.8%) as strong as the toad hall one so might condition a bit quicker, i adapted it from a book called joy of homebrew (charlie papazian), thanks for the link some good recipes in there

[tteknulp]

Personally in a Christmas beer I would use soft dark brown sugar instead of honey and I can recommend 200g of molasses, it would give a very subtle christmas cake/pudding hint to the aroma, only a suggestion mind. You go for honey if you fancy it. It'll still be a tasty brew.

i might try some brown sugar , as honey is 95%-97% fementable so little flavour is remaining , what about a clove addition ? how much

[twentyfootwilf]

I've not done a christmas beer before,mine is my first attempt so I've no idea how it will turn out. I took my ideas from the Coopers website how to brew section and their recipe for Julebryg (christmas brew) http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... g/julebryg it gives some ideas and is not a definitive recipe but useful as a guide.

[Greatcthulhu]

Personally in a Christmas beer I would use soft dark brown sugar instead of honey and I can recommend 200g of molasses, it would give a very subtle christmas cake/pudding hint to the aroma, only a suggestion mind. You go for honey if you fancy it. It'll still be a tasty brew.

i might try some brown sugar , as honey is 95%-97% fementable so little flavour is remaining , what about a clove addition ? how much

Careful with the cloves. I made a TC with 5 cloves in and it was very clovey- mellowed out after a couple of months, but wasn't my best effort.

[ryanshelton]

Quick question, how much you looking at brewing? I'm looking for a Christmas recipe and this looks great but I wouldnt want 25l just incase I don't like it

[tteknulp]

Quick question, how much you looking at brewing? I'm looking for a Christmas recipe and this looks great but I wouldnt want 25l just incase I don't like it

its a 20 ltr from the book i adapted from , the author say he won awards with it ? and a seasonal family favourite etc... , i am doing out of curiosity as something different

[tteknulp]

Personally in a Christmas beer I would use soft dark brown sugar instead of honey and I can recommend 200g of molasses, it would give a very subtle christmas cake/pudding hint to the aroma, only a suggestion mind. You go for honey if you fancy it. It'll still be a tasty brew.

i might try some brown sugar , as honey is 95%-97% fementable so little flavour is remaining , what about a clove addition ? how much

Careful with the cloves. I made a TC with 5 cloves in and it was very clovey- mellowed out after a couple of months, but wasn't my best effort.

i might try a few , but thanks for info as i havent a clue on cloves as not in original recipe , but i thought it would be a nice addition

[tteknulp]

I've not done a christmas beer before,mine is my first attempt so I've no idea how it will turn out. I took my ideas from the Coopers website how to brew section and their recipe for Julebryg (christmas brew) http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... g/julebryg it gives some ideas and is not a definitive recipe but useful as a guide.

Thanks for that recipe link it looks a nice festive one also, if its like pudding or x-mas cake it will be a hit

[ryanshelton]

Thanks looks like I'll be another one to brew this

[tteknulp]

Christmas beer

I put this on today , changed amounts on a few items

3kg plain light malt extract
390g light honey
500g Muscavo brown sugar
225g crystal malt
60g black malt
40g cascade hops in boil
20g saaz finishing
30g grated ginger root
3g ground cinnamon
Grated zest of 3 oranges
Safele s04 yeast

i did`nt quite get 1058 as i brewed to 23ltr even with additional 500g brown sugar which
was`nt in the original recipe, but as mentioned above by 20foot i thought id add it , i got an o.g of 1052 so overall very happy with it.

it smelt bloody delicious in the pot , i have a good feeling about this one , should be interesting