Gotta start getting ready for the Holidays! One batch of Amber and one batch of Dark ale. Any of you homebrew guys have a special recipe for Christmas?

Nice to see another brewer out there! I have a nice imperial porter on route for thanksgiving, bottled it the other day. Looking forward to it
Happy brewing
Ryan

i've recently started my education of homebrewing. can't wait to start it up...i'm giving myself one year of studying.

for winter its gotta be nice and rich with high alcohol for me. So I'd agree with your dark ale....

on a side note...do any of you have experience with oak cask aging? obviously works best for bigger beers. I've had 2 stouts in my travels that were oak cask aged and were phenominal. I hope to experiement with that technique eventually. Oak dark ales, stouts and porters....i'd really like to try a Belgian double in oak...i can't wait to start the made experimenting!! although i probably have a couple years of simple brewing before I can take a swing at some off the wall stuff.

can't wait to start!

I used to brew up a batch of my "Chocolate-Covered Cherry Beer" every Christmas when I lived in Virgina, but I had to start it in March....it tasted pretty rank for the first six months (basically undrinkable), but after that, it transformed into something truly magical. Tasted just like a great dark full-bodied Ale, but had the aftertaste of chocolate covered cherry cordials.....pretty high alcohol content too.


It was primarily Papazian's basic Ale recipe (if you are a home-brewer, you know who Papazian is), to which I added five pounds of crushed cherries and two pounds of pulverized Baker's chocolate. Put them up in Grolsh bottles. They were always a great hit as Christmas presents.


BTW Bombardier: You should only use charred Oak barrels for any kind of aging,....you can use old Jack Daniels Barrels - just check their website. Adds a bit of additional "oomph" to the brew also.....but be prepared to store the stuff in a cool location for a minimum of a year before you sample it...and you will have to either re-bottle it a short time after it's tapped...or drink it all up quikly, otherwise it oxidises and tastes like ....well, nothing you would enjoy....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rbihari,

thanks for the tip rbihari....i'm still far far away from oak aging...lots of baby steps first.

I'm very interested in learning how to brew my own beer. Can someone point me the right way? What kit should I buy? What books should I read regarding brewing? Anything would help, thanks.

Hey Atlacatl! There are many books out there on home brewing. I started with "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing," by Charlie Papazian. I understand there is an updated version of this book out now. I read the book carefully and followed his instructions closely, and TAHDAH!
Great homebrew! It's easy and fun, but the moochers will start showing up at your house asking for a sample of your latest brew!

+ 1 on "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing,"....it's considered the "Bible" of home-brewers, and also written with a sense of humor. Any of his recipes make a terrific batch of home brew, and some are world-class (Wise-Ass Red bitter is phenomenal).

Before long, you will be playing around with various malts, grains, and hops to come up with your own concoctions. I always got tired of waiting for a good Lager, so I came up with a recipe for a top-fermenting Ale that was outstanding after a week, very nice after three days, but was actually pretty drinkable right out of the fermenting bucket!

And don't forget the cardinal rule of home-brewing: "Cleanliness IS really next to Godliness" ....unless you like cleaning sticky, smelly stuff off your ceiling.. (don't ask)

That's awesome. Thanks, I apreciate the help and hope to get started very soon brewing my very own beer.

Hey Brianbzed, you still homebrewing. I have been out of the game for a while making wine but I just started a new batch last weekend. Its a brown ale. Its right on point right now with 4.5%ABV and about 18IBUs of hops. Its an english pub ale style beer with fuggle and golding hops. I used crystal, chocolate, special roast, and pale 2 row malt extract. Should be a decent brew. I like to make browns because they are hard to screw up.