I made 2 casks of Christmas Ale today. One is for The Orcadian Newspaper’s christmas party next month. They were kind enough to sell me some printing equipment for a good deal and were hoping tyo get some more beer money for their party. I am sure my 2007 Orcadian Christmas Ale will do the trick. DONT YOU JUST LOVE BARTERING!!! The other cask will be for our Christmas season.
Recipe: I used some darker malts – chocolate and crystal as well as pale malt. I threw in some northern hops at the start and fuggles towards the end. And to finish I used some crystalised ginger, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, extra sugar (had no honey) and a dab of cranberry sauce -which was probably a dumb move because it might have some bacteria that fights the yeast . . . but we will see. My buckets are in front of the heaters for a few days so I wont feel bad about leaving the heaters on.
Related: Shetland’s Island Bere
Technorati Tags: beer
As someone interested in making ale, do you have any pointers on where to start?
I sure wish I could try one of your Christmas Ales this year Andrew! Our Heather Ale last year was great, wish I could be making it with you again. Hope it turns out for you.
Brian
sounds good – i’d always recommend a bit of smoked malt in a dark beer, but never mind – hope the cranberry sauce works out ok…
actually, thinking about it, for a sweet spiced ale, maybe smoked malt would be a bit odd…
andy – i think i have a yeast problem and that cranberry messed it up because i didnt sterilise it first.
do you think i should bring the whole lot back to a boil to kill off germns and then try a second yeast?