X-Mas Ale 2023
Brewed: 12/03/2023 Kegged: 12/14/2023
Every year since I started homebrewing (way back in 2009), I've brewed an X-Mas Ale to have around the holidays.
Overall Impression from the BJCP Guidelines:
A pleasant enhancement of the base beer style with the characteristics from aging in contact with wood. The best examples will be smooth, flavorful, well-balanced, and well-aged.
I used my standard X-Mas Ale base, pretty much the same as the 2022 version.
On the homebrew level, I really didn't want to use a barrel or even really age it all that much, and decided to go with wood-spirals to obtain the wood character.
I knew I would drink most of this before it can be considered "well-aged", but I hope to remember to bottle a few bombers to drink in the future.
I planned to brew over Thanksgiving weekend, but ended up waiting until the first weekend of December.
The beer was being poured mid-December in plenty of time for Christmas.
It is a wonderful winter warmer. The wood character was there pretty early, but subtle. Provides a little dry accent to help balance out the sweetness of the winter warmer.
Great X-Mas Ale.
X-Mas Ale 2023 --- Batch 1 (347) |
Style |
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Wood-Aged Beer |
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Batch Size |
|
5.50 gal |
Type |
|
All Grain |
|
Boil Size |
|
6.60 gal |
Brewhouse Efficiency |
|
65.00 |
|
Boil Time |
|
60 minutes | Recipe Characteristics
Recipe Gravity |
|
1.061 SG |
|
Estimated FG |
|
1.013 SG |
Recipe Bitterness |
|
38.3 IBUs (Rager) |
|
Alcohol by Volume |
|
6.4 % |
BU : GU |
|
0.631 |
|
|
|
|
Recipe Color |
|
20.1 SRM |
|
|
|
|
Measured OG: |
|
1.061 |
|
Measured FG: |
|
1.011 |
ADF: |
|
81 |
|
Measured ABV: |
|
6.6 | Ingredients
Ingredients
Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
%/IBU |
Volume |
8.15 gal |
Denver, Colorado |
Water |
1 |
- |
- |
6.00 g |
Calcium Chloride (Mash) |
Water Agent |
2 |
- |
- |
2.00 g |
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) |
Water Agent |
3 |
- |
- |
2.00 g |
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) |
Water Agent |
4 |
- |
- |
0.50 tsp |
Lactic Acid (Mash) |
Water Agent |
5 |
- |
- |
11 lbs 8.0 oz |
Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) |
Grain |
6 |
80.0 % |
0.90 gal |
1 lbs 8.0 oz |
Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) |
Grain |
7 |
10.4 % |
0.12 gal |
8.0 oz |
Crystal, Ligth (Simpsons) (40.0 SRM) |
Grain |
8 |
3.5 % |
0.04 gal |
6.0 oz |
Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) (68.0 SRM) |
Grain |
9 |
2.6 % |
0.03 gal |
4.0 oz |
Crystal, Extra Dark (Simpsons) (180.0 SRM) |
Grain |
10 |
1.7 % |
0.02 gal |
4.0 oz |
Midnight Wheat Malt (Briess) (550.0 SRM) |
Grain |
11 |
1.7 % |
0.02 gal |
1.000 oz |
Magnum [12.60 %] - Boil 40.0 min |
Hop |
12 |
38.3 IBUs |
- |
1.00 Items |
Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) |
Fining |
13 |
- |
- |
1.00 tsp |
Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) |
Other |
14 |
- |
- |
1.0 pkg |
Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] |
Yeast |
15 |
- |
- |
2.00 Items |
American Oak Infusion Spirals (Secondary 7.0 days) |
Flavor |
16 |
- |
- |
Mash Profile
Mash Steps
Name |
Description |
Step Temperature |
Step Time |
Saccharification |
Add 32.61 qt of water at 157.5 F |
150.0 F |
45 min |
Heat |
Heat to 156.0 F over 10 min |
156.0 F |
20 min | If steeping, remove grains,
and prepare to boil wort Recipe Notes Water salts bring Denver
water profile (as defined by BeerSmith)
to Ca=100,Mg=15,Na=21,SO4=112,Cl=117,HCO3=104 Acid addition to bring
expected mash pH to 5.4 Mash as instructed. 60 minute boil making
additions as instructed in recipe. Cool wort to as close to 60F as possible.
Add to fermenter. Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 60F for 24 hours or
so. Try to keep fermentation between 60 and 65 for a couple days, then let the
temperature go where it want to. After 2 weeks of fermentation, transfer beer
to keg along with the wood spirals.
Brewing Record
Brew Date: |
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Strike Temp: |
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Mash Temps: |
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Pre-boil OG |
|
(1.055 SG) |
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Pre-boil Vol |
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(6.60 gal) |
Actual Mash Efficiency |
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Pitch Temp |
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Fermentation |
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Day 1: |
Day ... |
Day ... |
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