Christmas Beer suggestions?

[Curious Brew]

As in you doubled up on kits to make a double batch?

yeah, you can get 2 kits in one fermentor, just add the req amount of suger per tin x2 and you end up with a grand beer.

i used proper 'candy sugar', however there are those who say this is no different to table sugar - which i know goes against the general thinking when it comes to home brewing, however it was a stonking pint, and one which i feel is comming on for this year.

How much sugar per kit and light or dark?

[Chris The Fish]

light, and i think it recommends 500g per kit.

I added 2 tins, plus

1kg of light candy sugar
250g of wheat spray malt
250g of Glucose

for yeast i used 2x WB06 and it went from 1080 to 1008 in 11 days, giving a winter warming 9.3% (give or take a point)!

hope this helps

chris

[Curious Brew]

l9.3% (give or take a point)!

Hotdamn!

[Prozac]

last year i did a double batch of brewferm's grand cru.

a spanking beer and i may just repeat the same for this year.

Drinking right now in a large wine glass, just 4 weeks after bottling, a fabulous beer. Will be doing a double mix as suggested next, and leaving for Christmas.

John

Not from Brum are you Dunno?

[Waffty]

Tried my Bruferm's Abbey last night (made up with two kits & Candi sugar) & I have to say, it's everything a Chrismas brew should be i.e strong, dark & full of flavour.

Deffo a thumbs up

[Waffty]

Tried my Bruferm's Abbey last night (made up with two kits & Candi sugar) & I have to say, it's everything a Chrismas brew should be i.e strong, dark & full of flavour.

Deffo a thumbs up

[Curious Brew]

As my local HBS's suggestion of a Santa's Winter Warmer seems to have been some sort of sick joke that I didn't get, I've just ordered two Brewferm Grand Crus from H&G.

Two times kits plus a couple of pounds of sugar comes out about the same as the box would have cost me anyway!

[Chris The Fish]

I've just ordered two Brewferm Grand Crus from H&G.

your in for one hell of a home brew.

I tried my Triple and that is great already, and has only had about 10 days!, also tried a great pint of brewferm abbey from fellow poster/rugby team mate and all round yorkshireman Sheepy, it too was fantastic (you know, when you go for a sip and realise youve already drank it and theres no more - what a bummer!)

ive got a bock on the go at the mo, i short watered it and upped the glucose giving me 1060 (along with using S23 and a lagering plan). Im really getting into these european beers in general.

Im also thinking of bastardising an Ambiorix and making it short with some candy sugar in an attempt to make a saison type beer (i found the ambiorix to have an almost sour not when i tried it last). all i have to do is id the yeast and do some thinking.

cheers

chris

[arturobandini]

Hey Chris,

My 18l Brewferm Diabolo Christmas beer is reaching it's 9th day today and a check on the 6th and 8th days revealed readings of 1020. I've read alot about consecutive readings meaning bottling time but is this a little high? A few things to note are that I used 1kg of light Candi in this brew and the Brewferm instructions reccomend that when using Candi you add extra as it apparently produces less alcohol than other sugars. Also the testers I've taken off have both been fairly gassy. The first tester on day 6 was producing so much foam it was a while before I could get a clear hydro reading in the tube. The second less so but when I decanted it into a champagne flute (Yes, I was feeling especially decadent) the fine bubbles where clinging to the glass and a fairly steady stream of tiny bubbles where popping to the surface. Does this indicate that fermentation is still progressing and I should leave it going despite the static gravity readings? Or is this a natural tailing off of the process and if I want good bottle carbonation I should get on with the secondary fermentation? Cheers for all feedback and I'm hoping this will make a fair old splash this Christmas!

[Chris The Fish]

ive not got my notes to hand, it seems a bit on the high side, although off the top of my head my diabolo finished high.

ill have a look and get back to you.

chris

[Chris The Fish]

ive just had a look and this is what i did...

2x Cans
500g Table Sugar, 1.3kg of Glucose
2x sachets of T58
SG 1074
FG 1010
10 Days in fermentation, giving 8.3% on the richter scale.


How much yeast did you pitch?

[arturobandini]

Hi Chris,

I pitched both sachets of yeast that came with each kit and doubled up everything including the sugar. But reading those Brewferm instructions about having to add more Candi when using it instead of other sugars do you reckon my brew has run out of fermentables or something? I'll give it another test tonight and if it stays at 1020 I suppose I'll botttle. Not that I'm unhappy with the current ABV I was just trying to get things a little more "correct" with regards the balance of the beer on my debut brew.

[Chris The Fish]

i wouldnt have thought it has run out of fermentables, candy sugar will pretty much ferment out and doesnt contain that much in the way of unfermentables.

how long has it been at 1020? a gentle stir may bring you a few more points, but if its been there for a few days now then it may not drop any further.

if its stuck at 1020 for a few days then you could bottle it, if the yeast has given up the ghost you shouldnt get any bottle bombs, a gentle stir as metioned above could confirm this - if it drops after a stir then great, if not then you know its not going to drop further in the bottles and therefore you wont get any alcoholic incendries.

if it makes you feel any better, ive bottled a brewferm brew at 1020 before and had no problems with taste or carbonation.

chris

[arturobandini]

Cheers Chris,

A 10th day check last night showed it has dropped down to 1012 for some reason. If I get a similarly good reading tonight then I'll bottle it up. Any recommendations for how to prime? I'm leaning towards batch priming in a secondary fv as my original doesn't have a tap. What sugar works well? More Candi or regular cane?

[Marts]

That's my prefered way of priming - dissolve sugar in 100-150ml of hot water and blast it in the microwave then tip it into the second fv. Then add the beer - it mixes nicely with the sugar water this way.

I've never used candi sugar, but I would be tempted to say normal cane sugar is fine.