Forum Christmas Brew

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Please choose your favourite recipe for the Forum Christmas Brew

  • Option 1 - 1848 Barclay Perkins IBSt

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Option 2 - 1821 Barclay Perkins TT

    Votes: 1 3.2%
  • Option 3 - Black IPA

    Votes: 6 19.4%
  • Option 4 - Imperial Stout

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Option 5 - Chocolate Stout

    Votes: 14 45.2%
  • Option 6 - Belgian Dark Strong Ale

    Votes: 7 22.6%
  • Option 7 - Old Ale

    Votes: 9 29.0%

  • Total voters
    31
  • Poll closed .
I'm up for this. I've not brewed a Xmas ale before. It will be interesting to see recipes.
 
What are you thinking about doing. Some sort of spiced ale.
I was looking along the lines of an imperial stout, oatmeal stout or a Belgian stout. Or is that too boring
 
For me a Christmas ale should be malty, deep coloured and 'goodly strong' (in the 5.5-7% range). As for spice, it should be subtle, its far easier to ruin a beer with spice than improve it.

I remember having a few pints of a beer called Good King Senseless, the beer was as good as the name.
 
@alefric LeHendz started a thread about G. H's Old Ale. Just a suggestion, but it looks like a decent starting point for a Christmas ale: strong, darkish without being a stout or porter, and Greg makes some suggestions about adding different spices to give it a festive "twang". I think alefric's fermenting his with a Voss, which should make it nice and fruity.
 
For me a Christmas ale should be malty, deep coloured and 'goodly strong' (in the 5.5-7% range). As for spice, it should be subtle, its far easier to ruin a beer with spice than improve it.

I remember having a few pints of a beer called Good King Senseless, the beer was as good as the name.
That sounds like a fair description of Christmas pints I've had in pubs over the years.

Interesting out American cousins tend to use loads of spices and stuff in their Christmas beers.
 
That sounds like a fair description of Christmas pints I've had in pubs over the years.

Interesting out American cousins tend to use loads of spices and stuff in their Christmas beers.
I agree with @MmmBeer. Christmas beers in pubs or in bottles are usually horrible. Finding something subtle that doesn't try to taste like Christmas Pudding is the way forward, I think. In fact, I suspect they're trying to make the beer taste like mulled-ale without the option of warming it.
 
I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!
 
I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!
That's the way, Clint, half a batch and twice as strong. acheers.
 
I'm another in agreement with @MmmBeer. I've got an imperial stout in the fv at the moment with some vanilla steeping in whisky for the secondary with oak chips.

This will be aged until Christmas as I have another imperial stout in the kegerator on tap.

Would love something malty and festive though so thumbs up for the suggestion.
 
If people want to do a ‘festive’ spiced Christmas beer then I’ll go along with that I guess, but as already said I don’t want to brew 50 odd pints of something and have it sat around for ages.

I’ll post a few styles/recipes later when I get home that we can vote on, but they will all be what I would describe as drinkable. A big impy stout, Black IPA, ESB, Dubbel or even a vintage beer recipe from Ron Pittinsons book could be on the cards...
 
@alefric LeHendz started a thread about G. H's Old Ale. Just a suggestion, but it looks like a decent starting point for a Christmas ale: strong, darkish without being a stout or porter, and Greg makes some suggestions about adding different spices to give it a festive "twang". I think alefric's fermenting his with a Voss, which should make it nice and fruity.
+1 for this idea. Maybe have a vote on which spices to add and keep the grainbill the same?
 
Here we go, I'm suitably lubricated after getting back from the shops and enjoying a couple of beers in the garden!

Option 1

1848 Barclay Perkins IBSt
Imperial Brown Stout

Grist

Pale Malt (2 Row) | 61.22%
Brown Malt | 24.49%
Amber Malt | 11.22%
Black Malt | 3.06%

Hops
90 Minutes | EKG | 213g
60 Minutes | EKG | 198g
30 Minutes | EKG | 198g

Yeast
Wyeast 1099 / Wyeast 1098

Stats
OG 1101
FG 1031
ABV 9.26
IBU 200
SRM 41

(Recipe from The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer, Ron Pattinson)

Option 2

1821 Barclay Perkins TT
Porter

Grist

Pale Malt (2 Row) | 84.81%
Brown Malt | 12.37%
Amber | 2.83%

Hops
90 Minutes | EKG | 85g
30 Minutes | EKG | 71g

Yeast
Wyeast 1099 / Wyeast 1098

Stats
OG 1060
FG 1016
ABV 5.82
IBU 72
SRM 22

(Recipe from The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer, Ron Pattinson)

Option 3

Black IPA

Recipe based on @samale 's

Grist
Pale Malt | 75.8%
Light Munich | 7.6%
Caramunich I | 3%

Cold Steep
Carafa III | 7.6%
Carafa I | 1.5%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 4.5%

Hops
60 Minutes | Magnum | 40.1 IBU
10 Minutes | Simcoe | 7.9 IBU
10 Minutes | Mosaic | 7.4 IBU
Hop Stand | Simcoe | 12.6 IBU
Hop Stand | Mosaic | 11.9 IBU

Dry Hop | Simcoe | 50g
Dry Hop | Mosaic | 50g

Yeast
Crossmyloof Pia

Stats
OG 1060
FG 1011
ABV 5.6%
IBU 79.9
EBC 74.1

(The numbers were estimated so I'll update with Samale's actual IBU's etc if I can bribe him with another beer swap to share them...)

Option 4

Imperial Stout

Grist

Pale Malt | 79.5%
Medium Crystal | 6%
Brown Malt | 5.3%
Special B | 2.6%
Roasted Barley | 1.3%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 5.3%

Hops
60 Minutes | Target | 54.7 IBUs
5 Minutes | EKG | 3.1 IBUs
5 Minutes | Target | 6.8 IBUs
0 Minutes | EKG | 50g

Yeast
WLP002 or yeast of your choice.

Stats
OG 1.099
FG 1.039
ABV 8%
IBU 64.6
EBC 71.3

Option 5

Hopsteep's Chocolate Stout

Grist

Pale Malt | 69.2%
Pale Chocolate Malt | 10.4%
Flaked Oats | 6.9%
Light Crystal | 2.3%

Adjuncts
Invert No.3 (Homemade) | 6% | Added in the boil
Lactose | 5.2% | Added in the boil
Cacao Nibs | 200g (for a 30L batch) | Added to primary at start of fermentation

Hops
60 Minutes | Fuggles | 17.7 IBUs
60 Minutes | Target | 14.1 IBUs
10 Minutes | Fuggles | 2.8 IBUs

Yeast
Ringwood / Wyeast 1187

Stats
OG 1.062
FG 1.020
ABV 5.6 %
IBU 34.5
EBC 57

Option 6

Belgian Dark Strong Ale

Grist

Pale Malt | 81.4%
Caramunich II | 3.4%
Aromatic Malt | 2%
Carafa Special I | 1%

Adjuncts
Table Sugar | 12.2 %

Hops
60 Minutes | Magnum | 28.5 IBUs
10 Minutes | Hallertauer Hersbrucker | 2.7%

Yeast
Wyeast 1214 or similar

Stats
OG 1.098
FG 1.017
ABV 11%
IBU 32.8
EBC 32.8

Option 7

Old Ale

Grist

Pale malt 4.8kg
Munich malt 1.6kg
Dark crystal 300g
Chocolate malt 100g

Adjuncts
Dextrose 650g, last 5 mins of boil

Hops
Boil 70 mins
Goldings (5.5%) 76g at start of boil
Goldings (5.5%) 76g 10 mins

Stats
ABV 6.7%
Bitterness 55 IBU
Colour 32.6 EBC

Mash 1 hour at 68°C
Wyeast 1028 English Ale
Conditioning 11 weeks at 12°C



Edit- I've added a poll to the thread so please feel free to vote!

The recipes are just guidelines for people to follow, as I say this is just going to be a bit of fun! The winning recipe can be modified slightly in terms of IBUs or percentages of grain used, yeast selection etc. I think it will be really interesting to see what people brew using the same target recipe.

I will make sure that the winning recipe is converted into an extract version so that everyone can have a go!
 
Last edited:
I liked the suggestion by @An Ankoù, of using an Old Ale recipe and tweaking to suit. I guess I'm just not a fan of stouts, porters and other overly dark beers.
 
Send me a rough recipe and I’ll add it to the poll 🍺
Greg Hughes recipe is as follows:

Pale malt 4.8kg
Munich malt 1.6kg
Dark crystal 300g
Chocolate malt 100g

Dextrose 650g, last 5 mins of boil

Boil 70 mins

Goldings (5.5%) 76g at start of boil
Goldings (5.5%) 76g 10 mins

ABV 6.7%
Bitterness 55 IBU
Colour 32.6 EBC

Mash 1 hour at 68°C
Wyeast 1028 English Ale
Conditioning 11 weeks at 12°C
 
I do like a festive ale. My sticking points are...
I don't think I need 40 pints of a spicy beer...even with my Xmas drinking head on I think I might get sick of it.
Strong beer....just knocks me about too early and mixing a couple into a session is dangerous!
I suppose I could do half a batch though!
I would probably do 10 litres or less, as I have 2 xmas monsters conditioning.
 
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