11 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Over here, DaBearsSox was talking about a Christmas beer and it pushed an idea out of my head that's been gurgling in there for awhile. I'm envisioning a reddish beer made with an English Ale yeast (DaBearsSox was thinking 1968, I'm thinking 1099... both could work well, I think) along with cinnamon and vanilla. I'm also thinking of using Special B as the only specialty grain to get a bright red color. Not sure exactly how BRIGHT it will be, but the 1099 should allow the beer to clear VERY nicely. I'm thinking about this...

7½ pounds American 2-row
1 pound Vienna
8 oz Special B (Mash temp 151-152°)
.4 oz Magnum @ 14.4% (about 5.75 AAUs) for 60 mins
1 tbsp ground cinnamon added to boil at flameout and steeped with the lid on for 15 mins
Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale yeast
Add 1 tbsp ground cinnamon and 2 split/scraped vanilla beans to small amount of Captain Morgans to soak for a day or 2, then add to secondary and rack beer on top. Leave in secondary for 2-3 weeks and keg.
I also saw something at the grocery store that I hadn't noticed before... cinnamon extract. This could be easy to add to secondary because it's probably got some alcohol in it. But how much to add? Thoughts on this recipe? Cheers & thanks for the inspiation, DaBearSox!

[Big Nake]

Made this beer today and my garage smelled like cinnamon toast crunch. My neighbors must think I'm making breakfast cereal over here. Aerated well and dropped about 250-300ml of thick, clean Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale yeast in there and it's slowly bubbling already. The color was pretty red, but I think I would need to play with the grain bill a little bit to get that BIG Christmas-red color. Cheers.

[chadm75]

Hey Ken, I've never brewed with vanilla beans before but have the idea for a light amber colored cream ale made with vanilla beans or vanilla extract. Anxious to hear how your experience with the beans goes. I'm brewing up my winter ale this weekend! 2-row, munich, and crystal malts and going to spice it with orange zest, ginger, and cinnamon...

[Big Nake]

Chad: I do have beans, but I also found some premium organic vanilla extract today and I may just cheat and use that. Make a mixture of vanilla extract and ground cinnamon, put it into a sealed container for a day or so and then drop that into the sanitized secondary and rack on top. Not sure yet, but I think it would be easier and possibly just as good. Cheers.

[ColdAssHonky]

I'm not normally into the spiced/holiday beers, but this one looks like something I could get behind. Your recipe is dutifully stolen and I'll let you know how my version turns out.

[Big Nake]

MBP: I made a couple of small changes and the final recipe is on my site. Click below, go to RECIPES and go all the way down to the bottom. This is not necessarily meant to be a "winter warmer" with 8% and all that... just a straightforward ale with some holiday spice. Cheers.

[chadm75]

Ken -I'm thinking about using your secondary spice addition in my Winter ale. Question for you though...my beer is already in the secondary so I'm wondering if I can add a cinnamon/ginger/vanilla extract to the keg and then rack the beer into the keg?Chad

[DaBearSox]

Ken - I'm thinking about using your secondary spice addition in my Winter ale. Question for you though...my beer is already in the secondary so I'm wondering if I can add a cinnamon/ginger/vanilla extract to the keg and then rack the beer into the keg? Chad

Well I am not a kegger yet but I feel I can still answer the question. You should be fine putting the spice mixture in when racking to a keg. People do that for dry hopping all the time. I would feel though that you might get spice particles in each pour unless you are just using a liquid extract. If you pour your extract through a cheese cloth or something that would probably work perfectly and also have a clear beer. Being a winter warmer though its probably pretty dark so the particles probably wouldn't really matter.

[Big Nake]

Chad: I would agree with DaBearSox that it should work, but it may be a little different. It seems to me that spice requires some time to mellow and my Holiday Schmoliday has been in secondary now for 3 weeks (on the spice) and will sit another week before it's kegged. If you're concerned about getting bits of spice in your glass, look into McCormick Cinnamon Extract... I saw it at the grocery store and it's possible that you could use that. But you want ginger too so not sure how to tackle that part. Either add the spice to the keg and then allow the keg to sit cold for awhile before serving (then the stuff will sink) or add it to the secondary RIGHT NOW and leave it until you keg it. I expect to get some amount of spice into the keg when I rack, but I'm hoping it will be minimal. Good luck & have fun with it!

[Big Nake]

I sent this beer to a keg this afternoon and it's in the fridge now. I plan to start carbing it tomorrow and by Monday night, I'll probably have it on tap for holiday drinking. I took a small sample while sending it to the keg and the spice level was right where I would want it. The balance may shift a little with the carbonation, but the 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon at flameout is in the background and then the 1 tsp added to the secondary is a little fresher and up front. It also clarified nicely and most of the spice either sat on the surface and wasn't racked or it sank into the yeast sediment and stayed there. The high-floccing yeast helped with that too. Cheers!

[Thirsty]

The color was pretty red, but I think I would need to play with the grain bill a little bit to get that BIG Christmas-red color. Cheers.

Should try adding some melanoidin, that reddens up my IPAs nicely, and I use it in my belgian dubbels w/ special B to get a nice ruby color.

[Daryl]

Ken, I just looked at this recipe and it looks tastey. I am not big on the winter beers, but thislooks like something I would enjoy. Let us know how it taste. I brewed a vanilla porter today and just spit a vanilla bean and added it the last 5 minutes of the boil. First time I have used a vanilla bean.