Quick Christmas Beer Recipe

[Kilerclown]

Im looking for a recipe for a holiday beer that will be ready in time. Im assuming that I will have to go easy on any spices since they wont really have enough time to mellow out...any suggestions?

[Gravity Thrills]

Randy Mosher had a column in the January2K2 "All About Beer" Magazine called "The Twelve Beers of Christmas." A few of them are pretty involved and might require more maturation time than you are looking for. But his suggestion for a spiced brown ale might be what you're looking for. Hae says start with a base brew that is a soft brown (i.e., malty, lightly hopped w/no aroma hops, southern England vs. Northern Newcastle style). That's one of my fav "house styles" so I think I'll try this for the holidays as well.

His gingerbread grut (for 5 gallons), to be added at the very end of the boil, calls for 1 ssp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp star anise, 1/2 cup crushed juniper, and a pinch of black pepper.

If you give it a shot keep us all posted.

Brew Like You Mean It
Jim

[Kilerclown]

I have a clone recipe for Newcastle so maybe I will brew that and then add the cinnamon, a touch of anise and a bit of nutmeg...I will let you know how it turns out

[jayhawk]

I was going to brew a browny for Xmas, so I will give this one a shot too. What do you think, should I spice the mash?

[Gravity Thrills]

I'm sitting writing this while sipping some recently kegged mash-hopped wit, and I think I could really become a believer (Thanks, Mesa, for turning us on to this!).

Just remember to DOUBLE all those spice amounts and 1/10 to the kettle at the end of the boil to augment the aromatics (did I get it right, Mesa?). I actially went with 1/8 of all my spices in the copper for the wit, which seems to be have worked out well.

Cheers,
Jim

[jayhawk]

Did you through hops in the mash with wit, or just spices? My mash hopped PA really came around over the last couple of weeks. I think I will try the technique with a simple 2-row and hops recipe to really get a feel for how the hops come through. That's on the list after the gingerbread brown.
Chris

[Gravity Thrills]

I didn't add hops to the mash with teh spices, but only because the recipe called for bittering hops only with no flavor/aroma additions. if I needed late addition hops for the style I certainly would have put them in the tun.

I'm encouraged to hear your mash-hopped pale is aging nicely. I remember you initiallly thought the aroma componet wasn't there. I'f liek to hear more impression on that brew, and on any others you try.

Jim

[jayhawk]

I don't have plans for another mash hopper anytime soon, but I will probably do another one before the end of the year. It is an interesting technique, one that I would like to explore more. I do add comments to the recipe on this site. If you want to see them, search "Mash Hopper". I will probably add another comment this week to keep things updated.

[Azorean Brewer]

Go to the recipe page and search for Azorean, there you will find my recipes, I made the Christmas Cranberry Rye yesterday, and it tastes great before I add the yeast, I'll primary on the 17'th. and bottle on the 24'th, that gives me planty of time before the Holidays.

Good luck,
Paul.

[jayhawk]

Where do you source your rye malt from?

[Azorean Brewer]

I received mine from Hombrew Adventures in Charlotte, I also read that rye can be sticky, so it is not recommended to use over 10-15%.