Warm You Up Winter Ale

2011

This is, by far, my favorite brew to date.  This beer had a ton of flavor to it, but was very easy to drink.  I didn’t take long at all to go through all 50 (or so) bottles of this.

I think this brew will have to become an annual tradition.

2012

Brew day: 24Nov

This beer is now an annual tradition   This is my second time brewing this beer.

Brewing Notes:

This year, I crushed the cinnamon sticks before adding them.  There is a much stronger cinnamon smell than I remember from last time.  We’ll have to see if this flavor comes out stronger in the beer.  I also didn’t read my own directions and tossed all of the adjuncts in to the beer at the start of the boil instead of at 40 minutes.

Kegging Day:

Yes, that says “kegging”, not “bottling”.  This is the first beer in which I have upgraded to kegging.  On first taste, my fears about the cinnamon did not come true.  The beer has a nice, slightly spicy (like a nice wintry spiced pie, not like a hot cinnamon fireball spice) taste to it.  There is a slightly bitter aftertaste that reminds me of dark chocolate.  It has a little stronger of a flavor to it than the original batch, which is likely due to me messing up the timing of adding the spice.  But this is still extremely drinkable and very tasty.  My favorite winter treat is here again.

As for the kegging, I tried setting the regulator to 30psi and shaking the keg to force the CO2 into the beer.  I’m going to toss it in the fridge, set at 10psi and see if it fully carbonates.

It took about 45 minutes (including a first cleaning of both of the kegs in my system) to keg the beer.  This is much improved from the hours it takes to bottle.  So far, I’m very happy with the decision to move to kegs.

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.019
ABV:  5.5%

 

2013

Brew Day 9Dec13

Its that time again; time for the annual winter ale.  Nothing really changed from last year.  I did clarify the orange peal as bitter.   As it is beyond cold, I had to return to brewing in the kitchen with a partial boil.  From setup to final cleaning, it took just under 5 hours.  Looking forward to when this is ready.

OG: 1.055

2015 – 18Oct2015

It’s getting cold, which means it’s time to brew this beer.

A couple of substitutions for this year.  The new homebrew store in town did not have the Amber DME that I like to use, instead I used Pale DME and added 1/4 lbs of Crystal 80L (actually, about 1/8lbs of 60L and 1/8lbs of 90L, because they ran out of 80L).  The color going into the frementer looked fine.  Also, they did not have the WLP008 that this beer calls for; I substituted the WLP090 (San Diego Super Yeast) as it was the closest thing they had on hand at the time.  According to White Labs, the 090 is similar to the 001, which is similar to the 008.  We’ll see how it turns out.

I brewed two beers simultaneously today,  which means I was in a hurry.  Because of this, I did not get an OG measurement.  So, the ABV will be a mystery.

I got a little sloppy with this brew, from a sanitation standpoint.  After cooling the 2.5 gal wort, boiled in my 10 gallon pot, with my coil chiller, I dumped it into a bucket and added cold tap water.  This brought it to a nice 71*F.  I called this good and pitched.  Hopefully the addition of straight tap water doesn’t cause any issues.

About 90 minutes after pitching, I already have a bubble coming out of the air lock.  This “Super Yeast” might live up to its name.  Given the quick start, I think it will cover up any nasties that may have come from the tap water.

30Oct2016

Another year, another batch of this beer.  Today was abnormal weather for the fall, 85*F and sunny.  Why not brew on a day like this.

I decided to do an all grain version this year.  The recipe is below.

Two bits of misfortune today.  First, I had a boil over at about 55 minutes (5 minutes in).  I lost a good portion of my hops.  Now, this beer doesn’t rely heavily on hops so it should be a huge impact.  Second, just as I finished cooling my wort, I found a large maple leaf in it (the hazards of brewing in the fall…).  Hopefully what ever contaminants were on the leaf are overwhelmed by the San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090).

The primary fermentation for this brew will be done in my temp controlled fermentation chamber (mini fridge) and kept at 67*F.

 

All Grain Version

Grains

3.5 lb 2-row
4.0 lb Maris Otter (I used this because I had it.  This could be 2-row as well.)
1.25 lb Crystal 80L
0.5 lb Wheat Malt
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt
0.25 lb Carafa

Mash Schedule

3.3 gal @ 168*F (Target 154*F Mash)
6.0 gal of sparge water at 170*F

Hops

60 min – 1.5 oz Hallertau
30 min – 0.75 oz Hallertau
15 min – 0.75 oz Hallertau

Spices

Same as extract recipe.

Style Information