Santa Claws - It's Christmaaaas

As Noddy Holder once said.....

OK, so the Claws is now ready. It is as thick and black as I had hoped. The first thing you get is spice; cinnamon, cloves and ginger -possibly too much cinnamon. Then there is a dark treacle thing too - sweet but bitter/burned at the same time. Finally, there are lots of hops here. Nice counterpoint, but I was hoping for something sweeter. Letting breath a bit really opens the aroma out, and softens the taste a little - probably because this is the first pint drawn.

With the hops there, this does not feel like a 7% beer, but there is a great vinious feel to the beer, possibly from lactose and alcohol. Could be a winner for next year.

The Claws - Half way through

Three weeks in, thought I had better crack open the Festive Brew. It started out like the mild; I wondered whether there was an air lock, gave it a shot of gas, and poured a glass of dark evil.

Conscious of what happened last time, I am not so worried about the lumpiness at present. But, man, what a taste. Great thick head, which is retained, but the beer has bits of spicy warmth, plenty of hop balanced by a treacle/fudge sweetness, probably from the brown sugar. No orange that I could taste, and, perhaps too much hop, so I perhaps need to go easy on my hop bill.

But, there are three weeks to go. This can only get mellower, but the warming richness of a beer over 7% should ensure a Merry Christmas!

The Ginger Tom

I've shared my space with a cat from an early age. Very early. In fact, there was one in the house when I was born. So, my next brew is in memory of him....and he was real ginger tom. 

Well that's not true really, but it made a better opening to the post than 'I'm going to try ginger beer'!

I want something like non-alcoholic ginger beer, (but alcoholic)perhaps something like the stuff my mom used to make in summer. For this she used a 'ginger plant', and it struck me that this tee-total woman was secretly brewing beer, like women of the Black Country and elsewhere, in days past. Granted, alcohol content was very low - we drank it sweet, only partly fermented (hence exploding bottles), and I am sure all the sugar killed the yeast after a time anyway. Still, it was good!

No, wanted something sweetish and gingery, but still wanted to use malt and hops. Did a bit of research. Looks like maltodextrin and lactose do not REALLY do a lot re sweetness, just give the beer body. However, if I used crystal malt, which you can now get light (think GB needs to be yellowish!?), that should sweeten it. Also, I need to drop the smallest amount of hops in - may even dry hop. And finally, you use a low attenuating yeast i.e. it doesn't ferment all the sugar.

So, here's what I came up with!! Oh, I also think I'm going to give bottling a crack with this one too, just to make it more complicated!

Twas the sixth week before Christmas

The 'Claws is all kegged and primed. Added 175g of lactose too, it was just a bit too dry and bitter, not what I wanted. Bottom of the mild tastes great. Looks like the beer should be ready just on Christmas.

Have to say, I was worried. It sat at 1012 for a few days, and it was getting smellier and smellier....rather sour/old ale. But it tastes fine, perhaps that is what happens when you use Belgian Ale yeast. In the keg it smelt fantastic, cloves and oranges......can't wait for Christmas as this smooths out in the cask.

Fermentation...in a week!

Well, gone back to the brew after a week, and it's plummeted to 1012, 4 points lower than predicted. This suggests it weighs in at >7%.

The down side is that most of the sugar has turned to alcohol, so I am left with quite a bitter, dark beer. The spice seems to have disappeared under the hops. However, I seem to recall that all my brews were hoppy on being kegged, and the softened in the barrel. I hope so, because this will be difficult to drink at that strength and bitterness!

Biggest problem of all, is that I still have mild left in the keg....that's tonight's mission sorted, then!

Santa Claws is coming to town

Enough of the poor puns, already...

As suggested, Sunday saw the need to brew something different. Something a bit more on the fly. Something not in Wheeler's book!

Looking through a range of seasonal beer recipes on 'Hopville', I managed to find a few that seemed what I was aiming for. Strong, sweet, and with all those Christmas spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clementines.... Without sounding too Heston like, it was about getting a Christmas experience in a glass - spice, oranges, and something strong enough to provoke a fight - proper Christmas, like. Decided holly and ivy were no goers, but, on reflection, I could have used an old sock as the hop bag!

The recipe is here. Have to say, it was a bit more involved, almost took three hours start to finish. Huge amounts (comparatively speaking) of hops just to balance the 2kg of sugars I got in there. But it smelt great, and the wort tasted good, even now. Definite spice tastes, good rich malt and dark caramel, with some hop balance.....oh, and it could weigh in at >7%. Yoiks.

First outing for the immersion chiller, and, after a bit of jiggery pokery outside, managed to get it all working. Might need to redesign all the hosing for kitchen use (need to work out how I get the pipe on the tap in the kitchen!!)....but it chilled the wort in about 20 minutes.

Looks like it's starting slowly. A lot of the boiling and chilling was done outdoors, and, although I made sure everything was clean and/or covered, I am a bit worried about contamination....

Why do smart kids grow up to be heavier drinkers? - The Week

Why do smart kids grow up to be heavier drinkers? - The Week.

Explains so much....