Thoughts on my Christmas Ale Recipe

PhillipPugh

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Hello World! I would appreciate your feedback on this recipe. I want to get a little rum flavor in the beer along with the orange and cinnamon.. I think brown sugar will do it. The question is..... is this too much brown sugar.

FYI, this is a 2 gallon batch.

Many thanks for the feedback.

Phillip

FERMENTABLES:
2.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (63.5%)
0.375 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 80L (9.5%)
0.25 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (6.3%)
2 oz - Belgian - Biscuit (3.2%)
2 oz - German - Caramel Pils (3.2%)
1 oz - United Kingdom - Black Patent (1.6%)
0.5 lb - Brown Sugar (12.7%)

HOPS:
0.25 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 35.05
0.2 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 5.94
0.2 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 3.56

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4 qt
2) Sparge, Temp: 168 F, Time: 15 min, Amount: 4 qt
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.125 oz - irish moss, Time: 10 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
0.225 oz - Orange Peel Sweet, Time: 5 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil
0.03 oz - Cinnamon stick, Time: 5 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil
 
Interesting, following the feedback here
What are you expecting for a FG?
 
You 100% on your sazz hops maybe something more earthy than floral with a rum orange flavour? Maybe Fuggles or willamette? I've no idea how to get that rum flavour but I'd go talk to the distilling guys and see how they do it (Oak chips Rum essence)? Brown sugar may lighten the body a bit I'm guessing that caramel malt will cover this and give a nice full mouthfeel. Good luck interested to hear how it comes out and others comments on this Christmas brew;).
 
Brown sugar contains iron , be careful you don't end up making beer that tastes like nails instead of rum .

Festivus beers here tend to be very crushable , i can expect temps of 110 F here for the red suited home invader so will be thinking more along lines of a bo pils as my holiday beer
 
You 100% on your sazz hops maybe something more earthy than floral with a rum orange flavour? Maybe Fuggles or willamette? I've no idea how to get that rum flavour but I'd go talk to the distilling guys and see how they do it (Oak chips Rum essence)? Brown sugar may lighten the body a bit I'm guessing that caramel malt will cover this and give a nice full mouthfeel. Good luck interested to hear how it comes out and others comments on this Christmas brew;).
Brown sugar contains iron , be careful you don't end up making beer that tastes like nails instead of rum .

Festivus beers here tend to be very crushable , i can expect temps of 110 F here for the red suited home invader so will be thinking more along lines of a bo pils as my holiday beer
Good point!
 
Good feedback! Thanks. I like the idea of rum soaked oak chips. I am also wondering if I simply added rum, or rum extract instead of brown sugar. The rusty nails taste could be an issue that would not be too festive. I will do a bit more research on the Hops too.
 
As mentioned, I'd stick with English hops.I've had great success with UK Phoenix. Not always easy to find, but adds nice hint of orange along with some herbal/floral/mint notes. If you really want rum flavor add rum extract....or just eliminate some of the fermentables (brown sugar) and add rum to the batch before bottling/kegging. One pint of 80 proof boosts a 5 gallon batch 1 % ABV.
 
On a forum over here in the UK a guy actually put Christmas Pudding into a Festive beer!,no idea how it came out mind you.
Don't know about the brown sugar,too much would surely thin the beer down!. I have made Invert N02 sugar to add to a heavy'ish stout.
It's not hard to make either. I used Golden Syrup and Molasses and just used the chart below for my amounts.
Put into a pan with a little water and gently heat,bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes making sure the pan does not burn and gently stir.Obviously not a rum flavour,more licourice.
How about adding some star annice,cloves,nutmeg or some ginger or perhaps some raisins soaked in rum or even some uncrushed coffee beans soaked in some rum:D
Regards hops i would have thought something like goldings,fuggles or perhaps styrian goldings might be more in order:)

Making Brewers Invert | half a cat
 
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On a forum over here in the UK a guy actually put Christmas Pudding into a Festive beer!,no idea how it came out mind you.
Don't know about the brown sugar,too much would surely thin the beer down!. I have made Invert N02 sugar to add to a heavy'ish stout.
It's not hard to make either. I used Golden Syrup and Molasses and just used the chart for my amounts.
Put into a pan with a little water and gently heat,bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes making sure the pan does not burn and gently stir.Obviously not a rum flavour,more licourice.
How about adding some star annice or perhaps some raisins soaked in rum!

Making Brewers Invert | half a cat
Hmmm... the raisins soaked in rum is interesting
 
Rum before packaging is how I would do it. I usually pull a measured amout of beer off and add some rum until I find the taste I desire. Then calculate up to the batch size and add the rum.
 
Thanks again for the feedback. I brewed this weekend with a modified recipe based on the feedback received here. I did not use any brown sugar and I used East Kent Golding with Simcoe for a pine aroma. It smelled and tasted fantastic. I am really happy with the results so far.

I plan to brew the same recipe this weekend and add rum soaked oak chips to a secondary. Although here in Texas I could use mesquite chips. I will have to think on that a bit. I am thinking on my third trial I add either ginger or cardamom.

I am finding that small batch brewing is really nice because I can do a lot of trials in a short amount of time. Not to mention, if the spice is overkill, I am not dumping whole cases of beer.
 
Thanks again for the feedback. I brewed this weekend with a modified recipe based on the feedback received here. I did not use any brown sugar and I used East Kent Golding with Simcoe for a pine aroma. It smelled and tasted fantastic. I am really happy with the results so far.

I plan to brew the same recipe this weekend and add rum soaked oak chips to a secondary. Although here in Texas I could use mesquite chips. I will have to think on that a bit. I am thinking on my third trial I add either ginger or cardamom.

I am finding that small batch brewing is really nice because I can do a lot of trials in a short amount of time. Not to mention, if the spice is overkill, I am not dumping whole cases of beer.
That is one reason that i do small batches.If it's a really goodun it can always be repeated:)AND i get more brew days in:D
 

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