The 'C' Word

[MarkA]

Do you have a 'go to' Christmas beer recipe? Do you go for something light and drinkable? A warming stout? A strong Belgian with loads of cinnamon, ginger and orange peel added?

Please add your recipes below, I need some inspiration.

I know no-one really wants to think about it yet but these things need planning in advance!

[MarkA]

I've brewed this a couple of times and it turned out at just over 8% and very warming;

Mash 67deg 90 mins
Boil 90 mins
Ferment @21 degrees

•6kg Pale Ale Malt
•230g Crystal 60L
•180g Biscuit
•230g Roasted Barley
•230g Chocolate Malt
•100g Vienna Malt

•30g Northern Brewer Hops @ 90 minutes
•20g Northern Brewer Hops @ 60 minutes
•20g Northern Brewer Hops @ 20 minutes
•15g Northern Brewer Hops @ 5 minutes

•1 Clove @ 10 minutes
•1 Cinammon Stick @ 10 minutes
•50g Root Ginger @ 10 minutes
•90g Mixed Peel @ 10 minutes

•200g Black Treacle @ Flame Out

'Dry-Hop' with;

(soaked overnight in Vodka)
•30g Mixed Peel
•1 Vanilla Pod
•2 Cinammon Sticks

•Safale S-o4 yeast (I think I changed this the second time, but can't remember what for)

[drjim]

I did this last year - JCB or Jim's Christmas Beer...

Winter Seasonal Beer
6.3% / 14.1 °P
Recipe by
Jimbrew

All Grain

BIAB (No sparge)
67% efficiency
Batch Volume: 30 L
Boil Time: 60 min

Mash Water: 37.26 L
Total Water: 37.26 L
Boil Volume: 33.77 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.042

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU (Tinseth): 35
BU/GU: 0.62
Colour: 86 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 70 °C — 60 min

Malts (6.45 kg)
5 kg (67.1%) — Crisp No19 Floor Malted Maris Otter Malt — Grain — 6.2 EBC
700 g (9.4%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC
500 g (6.7%) — Crisp Dark Crystal 400 — Grain — 450 EBC
250 g (3.4%) — Crisp Torrefied Wheat — Grain — 5 EBC

Other (1 kg)
1 kg (13.4%) — Cane (Beet) Sugar — Sugar — 0 EBC

Hops (110 g)
10 g (9 IBU) — Centennial 10% — Boil — 60 min
20 g (11 IBU) — Centennial 10% — Boil — 15 min
80 g (15 IBU) — Centennial (Whole) 10% — Aroma — 60 min hopstand

Hopstand at 80 °C

Miscs
2 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min
30 g — Ginger Root — Boil — 10 min
1 tsp — Mixed spice — Boil — 10 min

Yeast
Norwegian Farmhouse Kveik #1 Sigmund Gjernes, Voss 80%

Ginger and spice worked really well, but I suspect knowing me I put about double the ginger in! Used centennial because I always have it in, and I quite like it.

It tasted really good, neighbours loved it so not just my opinion!

[MarkA]

Ginger and spice worked really well, but I suspect knowing me I put about double the ginger in! Used centennial because I always have it in, and I quite like it.

It tasted really good, neighbours loved it so not just my opinion!

Sounds good, cheers Jim. I've not used Centennial yet (too many hops, too little time). Can you put too much ginger in?

[drjim]

I also like Northern brewer, so your recipe has its attractions too.

No you can never have too much ginger for this sort of thing, need to be cautious on the spice/clove aspects but ginger is a guaranteed win!

[MarkA]

Definitely! I once made chilli wine and added loads of ginger, it was BLM!

[D215Aquitania]

I've a 'table beer' planned for this Christmas. For the days in between when I'll be having a beer on days I wouldn't normally.

14L batch
500g Vienna, 500g light Munich, 250g carared, 100g caramunich
Hops - Mittelfrueh 10g 35min, 20g 10 min, 10g FO
MJ M15
Est 1.7% abv

[Goosey]

Est 1.7% abv

Blimey! I don't think I've ever seen a beer that weak, let alone tasted one.

[MashBag]

It's going to be light and bright. Served cool?

[D215Aquitania]

It's going to be light and bright. Served cool?

Yes, it'll go in the fridge so much cooler than usual.

[D215Aquitania]

Est 1.7% abv

Blimey! I don't think I've ever seen a beer that weak, let alone tasted one.

I've made a few around 2% - usually quite pale & slightly hoppy but surprisingly drinkable. Trick is to mash warm & pick a low(ER) attenuation yeast.

[JamesF]

I've made a few around 2% - usually quite pale & slightly hoppy but surprisingly drinkable. Trick is to mash warm & pick a low(ER) attenuation yeast.

Might have to have a go at that myself. As I've just posted elsewhere I've been experimenting with "small beer" this year. I find commercially-produced low/no-alcohol beers to be seriously lacking in body (not to mention ridiculously expensive) and brewing my own seems to be quite an improvement. The difficulty is getting the process right as there doesn't seem to be very much information on the full process. (And let's face it, what can be bad about getting two batches of beer out of a single batch of ingredients? )

James