Last night I brewed my first seasonal beer using Papazian’s recipe for something he calls “Holiday Cheer.” It uses 7lbs of light malt extract, 1/2lb of crystal malt, 2oz of black malt, 1lb of honey, orange peels, fresh ground ginger root, and cinnamon. It also uses Cascade and Saaz hops, but since I don’t have any Saaz I substituted Hallertauer instead.
After mashing the small amount of grains and boiling the wort, I added the malt extract and the honey and the Cascades. It was amazing to see how such a small amount o black malt can add so much color. The smell of the honey and the malt were quite noticeable. After the 60 minute boil I added the cinnamon, ginger root, and orange peels, and let them boil for 15 minutes. 2 minutes before the end of the boil I added the Hallertauers.
I aerated and pitched the yeast this morning, after taking the initial gravity, which came out to 1.052. So, this beer has the potential to be over 6% alcohol. My guess is that it will turn out to around 5.5%. Not too shabby. Definitely enough to warm you over the holidays.
My thanks to Robert for pitching in for this one. I’ll definitely make it worth your while!
Batch 19 is ready to brew as well, which is a Beamish stout clone. Oooohhhh, I absolutely love Beamish, so I’m really looking forward to that one.
1 comments
Suweet! I’m totally looking forward to this bad boy!