winter/holiday beer

[thisisbeer]

I have heard most holiday beers need to be brewed months in advance. Is that pretty accurate? For my 5th brew I was thinking about doing a holiday/winter beer. I want to make some for my friends and family that don't drink home brew or craft beers. Not that they wouldn't like them, they just don't know any better. Any suggestions on a partial extract recipe that most of them would enjoy?

 

[Beernik]

Many holiday beers are higher in alcohol and spiced or fruited in some way. So they need the extra time to ferment and to condition and mellow.

My philosophy is to either make one in the flavor of the holidays or make something that will remind me of summer days on cold winter nights.

I've made an extra spicy Belgian ale as a Christmas beer to give to family. I've made a pumpkin Ale for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I've made a big citrus-herb Saison.

 

[thisisbeer]

I was looking at making a pumpkin ale for halloween/thanksgiving. Any good recipes? I can't decide on what to make for Christmas. I have been wanting to make a barley wine ale

 

[BlackGoat]

It should be made well in advance if brewing something of a high gravity or something with dominating spices that might need some time to steep and/or mellow. People love brewing spiced brews for the holidays but I'm personally not a fan. With about 7 months of lead time right now I might suggest a good barleywine, an Old Ale, or a strong Belgian (perhaps a triple). Lots of recipes floating around and I'm sure some will recommend a particular one but just zero in on a good hearty style and go from there.

 

[unionrdr]

I've been thinking of brewing my Buckeye Burton ale again,but kicking up the #3 style in ABV. But mainly with various grains I've been reading up on. I used 2 different Cooper's cans,& a load of DME with hops. I'm thinking of taking out the DME & do it in my PB/PM BIAB style.
The point I wanted to make here is after reading up on grains on midwests' site,I found some that not just produce color. In bigger quantities,they make flavors like raisins,ripe fruit,darker fruits...all kinds of things like that. Gotta study it up some more. But I'm thinking lately that it is indeed possible to shorten the Burton brewers couple hour boil to get such flavors. Just use larger quantities of the right grains that can produce such flavors.
Then you could just add some spices that would go with desserts,for instance,that utilize rasins,figs,ripe fruits,etc. That's my new theory,anyway. Gotta try...

 

[thisisbeer]

Thanks. I'll keep looking for something. Its so hard to come down to one recipe there are plenty to chose from.

 

[RM-MN]

Here's another thought. Dark beers take longer to mature. High alcohol beers take longer to mature. Dark, high alcohol beers take longer yet to mature. A good Christmas beer is dark with higher than average alcohol so it needs time to mature but then we add spices. Spice flavors tend to diminish with time in the beer so we want to add the spices as late as possible. Now, figure out the best amount of time to balance those opposites.

 

[thisisbeer]

So is it recommended to bulk age and add spaces to secondary before bottling?

 

[thisisbeer]

I read a recipe where they added Vanilla, cinnamon, and orange extract to each bottle?

 

[BlackGoat]

adding anything to each bottle sounds like a hassle and probably unnecessary, I personally would never do that. When it comes to those kinds of additions, most of us add it to the secondary and age until the beer picks up the appropriate level of whatever it is that you are flavoring it with. If you wanted to add something at bottling, my preference would be to add the flavoring to the bottling bucket before racking the beer over (something I sometimes do with a little bit of strongly oaked brandy every once in awhile)

 

[unionrdr]

Some do indeed add spices,zest,& the like to secondary. Others in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil. Might be fresher & stronger in secondary though.

 

[thisisbeer]

Any body have a good recipe I can try? I would like to du a darker beer. Something with a high abv.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Maybe not holiday material, but look up the Deception Stout recipe. It looks good and I am thinking of brewing it soon to be ready for the holidays. For the cold of winter, anyway.

 

[matt08wrx]

Last year I made an imperial oatmeal stout with oak spirals and vanilla beans soaked in whiskey. Came out to 12.5% everyone loved it. Super smooth for the abv bit not too sweet. Took 6mo though and I still have a case aging.