This year we’re coming back with an English style Christmas beer using Maris Otter. No spruce tips this year. We weren’t sure we’d have orange peel this year, so we pulled out some cherries we had frozen for the cherry stout we never ended up making earlier in the fall. But the grocery store had some orange peel, so this year will be a cherry orange Christmas beer.
Mashing at 150°After an hour mash, temp was basically the sameUsed this much fresh gingerChopped up the gingerCrushed the allspice Added two pounds of pitted cherries to the fermenterThe spice addition, added to the boil for 5 minutes and left in during wort coolingAdding to fermenterCouldn’t find the beer thief, so only a refractometer reading . 1.077 for the OGStashed the beer in the corner of the kitchenOn bottling dayVery clear coming through the lineFinal gravity about 1.020
The first sip on bottling day, pretty spicy. Matt mentioned Underberg. So we’ll see if it mellows out in the next month.
A year later
Trying the beer a year later on November 16, 2025, definitely mellowed out. Aroma is one of the best cherry scents we’ve had. Smells like fresh cherries. Kind of a metallic aftertaste. ginger and orange peel come through in a balanced way. Whatever other spices are in there, they are playing an accompanying role. There’s definitely some spice in there, but it’s not distinct. There’s a bit of a medicinal taste, but it’s not off putting. Overall, this is a really good Christmas beer. It has a nice balance of spices that don’t overwhelm. The cherries come through in a pleasant way. Cherries are a clear characteristic that makes this year’s edition unique, but it’s not something that needs to make an appearance regularly.
Pretty good looking hops for the second year of these vines of Cascade hopsAlmost filled a 5 gallon bucket with 4 pounds of hops from four vines of CascadeGravity is 1.059Managed to shove in all 4 pounds of the fresh hopsJack Jack is doing final quality inspections
Apparently did not document this brew day very much, so there’s a random picture of the mash tun with Jack.
Gravity is 1.022. Quite a bit higher than the expected 1.014.
Gravity during Kegging was a bit high. Maybe that’s because the beer is at 55°, but probably still too high. Hopefully it will finish fermenting in the keg.
The final brew before the fest. Sticking with our usual grain recipe for hazies. We ran out of our domestic two row, so we’re using the Weyerman Bohemian Pilsner for the base.
Got the mash up to 149° after a false start at 145°. We heated the strike water to boiling and added about a quart to bring the mash up to 149°.
After a 60 minute rest, the gravity was 1.056.
Added a small amount of bittering hops before a 60 minute boilPre-boil gravity was 1.056Added an ounce of each of these to the 170° hop stand for 15 minutes Decanted about half of the yeast starter before adding to the wortLooks hazyGot pretty foamy during the transfer. Had to pause for about five minutes before adding the rest of the wort.Hydrometer read a bit over 1.050, call it 1.052.This one gave about 1.059
Kegging day
Added a bunch of hops after three days fermenting. Kegged after a week of fermenting. Gravity was only 1.020, and we’re aiming for 1.012, so hopefully it will finish up in the keg.
Going with an American brown ale as we head in to summer weather. The fermentation fridge is currently full of lagers, so we’ve got to do an ale this time.
Here’s my notes on the style from Designing Great Beers
Notes from DGB don’t quite line up with the style guidelines given in Brewfather for bitterness, so I went with 27 IBUs to be kind of in the middle. Brown ales shouldn’t be too bitter, but the crystal should add some sweetness.
Brew Day
Called an audible and did a 50-50 mix of C-40 and C-80. Brough the SRM up a little bit, but not much.
Also we ran out of regular pale 2-row and had to top up the recipe with Maris Otter. So, we’ll call this one an English American brown ale.
Hit the target mash temp of 153°Came out pretty clear with a good looking brown color. Jack Jack is supervising.Light brown frothy head1.050 OG 1.051-ish
Kegging Day
First time filling the 2.5 gallon keg. Beer looks kind of orange more than brown.Gravity is about 1.012
Did a single rest at about 150°Wort is super clear
Doesn’t take a lot of high AA hops to hit the target IBUs.
We just did a single hop addition at 60 minutes. I saw some recipes calling for small flavor and aroma additions, but it seems like the style doesn’t call for anything too complicated.
Very pale going into the fermenter OG 1.049Refractometer says 1.053Time for a 50° nap time
Kegging Day
Clear and lightHad some foam that got in the way for the picture, but it was about 1.010 if not a touch lowerCzech pils on the left, corn lager on the right
Brew day is getting started very early this time. I picked up a stir plate at the brew shop yesterday because I wanted to make yeast starters. I’m not sure it’s necessary for this beer, but here we are.
I checked online for suggestions on making a starter, and I got confused by all the talk about yeast cells and parts per billion and such.
I added 2 oz (57g) dry malt extract to a 2l Erlenmeyer flask and then added a liter of tap water. I gave it a few swirls to mix it up, but there were still clumps. Covered the mouth of the flask with aluminum foil, put it on a gas stove, and brought it to a boil. Foam started to build up as it began to boil and I turned off the gas. Foam went up to the top of the flask but somehow didn’t overflow. I let it boil for 15 minutes, then I let it cool down on the stove for a bit before transferring the flask to the fridge.
Once the wort was cool, I pitched the yeast along with the contents of the smack pack. Added the stir bar and placed a foam stopper in the mouth, both rinsed with star san. Topped it off with the foil, and set it on the stir plate. The two inch stir bar I first tried seemed to not line up well with the magnet in the stir plate, and it didn’t spin well or at all. I checked that the stir bar was centered in the flask when I put it on the plate, but not much success. I’ll have to test it out with plain water so I can see what’s going on. The wort with yeast was too murky to see. I ended up using the 1 inch stir bar that came with the plate, and that seems to work fine, although it does rattle around a bit at higher speeds.
Coming back the morning after, the liquid seems to be lighter in color and more opaque, so I assume the yeast are doing their thing. I’m going to run the plate all day today and tomorrow, so it will be a full 48 hours. Then I’ll put the flask in the fridge to let the yeast fall out and I can pour off the wort or keep it.
Starter has been going for about 10 hours at this point. Used Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils
Brew Day
Matt made 9.5 gallons of reverse osmosis water, so we’re starting from a clean slate. I saw a forum post that suggested adding 0.7 grams of calcium chloride per gallon, so I rounded up and added 7 grams to the water.
I read about a decoction mash. It sounded like the traditional way to add some color and flavor to the beer, but it also seemed very involved. After mashing in, we pulled out maybe a quart of grain and boiled it for a while, 15 minutes or so. After it started to get pretty dry, we added in a few more cups of wort and continued boiling. We added this boiled mix back into the mash tun.
Pretty cloudy, not as clear as the last lagerLooks like 1.060 to meThis one says 1.064Jack Jack approvesSleepy time for Mr. Beer
Kegging Day
At some point we dropped the fermentation fridge down to 33° for a cold crash. We left out at that temp for at least two weeks.
Pretty clear coming out of the fermenter.Looks like 1.016. Still has a ways to go. Hopefully it will get down a few more points before Weivenfest.
Aiming for a single mash rest at149°. Added 4 gallons of 164° water and it normalized to 147.5° in the mash tun with grain. Didn’t try to bring up the temp, 147° is close enough. After 1 hour, mash temp was 143°, so it will be interesting to see how that temperature deficit affects the final beer.
Added 3 extra gallons boiling water to the mash.
Very clear after cooling down1.065 OG on the hydrometer1.068 OG on the refractometer. We’re going to use the hydrometer OG as the officialMade a starter with Wyeast Oktoberfest lager and Proper Starter. Made the starter on Thursday night and brewed on Saturday, so ~48 hours.Ended up with about 4.75 gallonsKegging day. Beer is looking very clear.Looks like 1.012. Hopefully it will drop down a little more during lagering
Tasting
May 11th, had to try the festbier. Matt tried it the weekend before and said it was super clear. The rest of the lagers in the fridge have been fermenting at 50°, so that’s the temp as I’m trying this beer.
Super clear. Didn’t use anything to clarify beyond the Whirl-floc. Couldn’t even do a cold crash. Aroma is malty, caramel, and floral. Floral almost to the point I’d say it smells like soap.
Taste is slightly sweet with a light but noticeable bitterness.
Color is a great golden hue.
Couldn’t be happier with the way this one turned out.
Weiven Beer 