Brewing a Christmas beer

The timetable: brew early

A Christmas beer is drunk at Christmas, not when it comes out of the fermenter. For a 7 to 8 % beer to drink on 24 December:

• Fermentation: 2 to 3 weeks (high gravities take longer, and the yeast must be allowed to finish).
• Bottle conditioning: 3 weeks minimum at 20 °C to take on its gas.
• Ageing: 3 to 6 weeks for the spices to blend in and the alcohol to round off. A young Christmas beer smells of alcohol and raw spices; the same beer a month later is round.

That is 8 to 12 weeks in total: brew between late September and early November. Brewed at the end of November, it will be drinkable at Christmas but better in February. In the app, you can ask Krausi to put these reminders (racking, bottling, first tasting) in the calendar from the date of the batch.

The profile

The malts

• Base: pilsner or pale ale malt for 75 to 85 % of the grist. That is the classic Belgian base.
• Roundness: Munich or Vienna malt, 10 to 15 %, for toast and colour.
• Caramel and dried fruit: caramunich or cara amber 5 to 8 %, and above all 2 to 3 % of Special B, the malt that gives the raisin and plum of dark Belgian beers. Above 10 % caramel malts in total, the beer becomes cloying.
• Colour without roast: a little dehusked chocolate malt or Carafa Special (1 to 2 %) darkens the beer without a coffee taste, which does not go with spices.
• Sugar: 5 to 10 % of dark candi sugar, brown sugar or white sugar. It raises the alcohol without weighing down the body and gives, for dark candi, notes of caramel and rum. It is the secret of the drinkability of strong Belgian beers.

The hops

A single bittering addition at the start of the boil, with a neutral hop (Magnum, Hallertau Magnum, Northern Brewer, Target), for 25 to 30 IBU. A small aroma addition at the end of the boil with a noble or English hop (Saaz, Styrian Goldings, East Kent Goldings) is possible, but pointless if you spice. No dry hopping: fresh hop aromas clash with the spices and disappear during ageing anyway.

The spices: less than you think

Basic rule: you should guess at the spices, not identify them one by one. The doses below are for 20 litres, added in the last 10 minutes of the boil (heat extracts the oils, and 10 minutes are enough) or steeped in a little neutral spirit added at bottling, which lets you taste and adjust the dose.

Choose three spices at most. A combination that works: cinnamon, orange peel, a little coriander. Belgian yeast, fermented a little warm, already brings banana and clove: many renowned Belgian Christmas beers have no added spice at all.

The yeast and fermentation

An abbey or strong Belgian yeast (attenuation 78 to 85 %, tolerance 10 to 12 % alcohol), or an English yeast if you want a rounder, less fruity beer. For a gravity of 1.070 and above, a single 11 g sachet of dry yeast underpitches: plan for two sachets or a starter, calculated with the yeast pitching rate tool. Start fermentation at 18-19 °C for the first three days to limit fusel alcohols, then let it rise freely to 22-24 °C: Belgian yeasts finish better in the warm. Check the final gravity over three days before bottling: a strong beer that has not finished in the bottle means the risk of exploding bottles.

Worked example for 20 litres

Assumptions of the tools: efficiency 72 %, volume in the fermenter 20 L, boil gravity 1.072, hop pellets. Figures to recalculate with the site's tools at the time of publication.

• 5.0 kg pilsner malt
• 0.6 kg Munich malt
• 0.4 kg caramunich (120 EBC)
• 0.15 kg Special B
• 0.3 kg dark candi sugar, added 10 minutes before the end of the boil
• 25 g Magnum at 12 % alpha acids, 60 minutes
• 1 cinnamon stick, 20 g orange peel, 10 g coriander, 10 minutes
• Strong Belgian yeast, two sachets or a starter

Mash at 66 °C for 60 minutes for a beer that finishes dry despite its gravity; 68 °C for more body. A 75-minute boil with pilsner malt (DMS, see off-flavours).

Variations

• English version, Winter Warmer: no spices, pale ale and crystal malt, English yeast, 6 to 7 %, a little more hops (30 to 40 IBU).
• Light amber version for meals: gravity 1.060, 6 %, spices halved.
• Version with dried fruit or honey: 300 g of honey at the end of the boil replaces the sugar, with the same effect on alcohol (the priming by sugar type tool for sugar equivalences).

Common mistakes

• Too much spice, or ground spices, which cloud the beer and dominate everything.
• A single sachet of yeast on 1.075: slow fermentation, acetaldehyde, high final gravity.
• Brewing too late, and serving at Christmas a beer that smells of alcohol.
• Too much caramel malt: a sweet, heavy beer you do not finish.
• Bottling before the end: with 7 to 8 % alcohol and 2.8 volumes of CO2, an unplanned refermentation breaks the bottles.