All-grain · 20 L (5.3 gal)
Christmas Ale Recipe
BJCP 30C · Winter Seasonal Beer
A dark amber, malty ale with caramel and toasted bread, plus a touch of cinnamon, clove, orange and ginger that complements the beer without covering it up.
Christmas Ale recipe by the numbers
- Batch size
- 20 L (5.3 gal)
- Original gravity
- 1.067
- Final gravity
- 1.016
- ABV
- 6.7%
- Bitterness
- 26 IBU
- Color
- 15 SRM (30 EBC)
- Mash
- 67 °C (153 °F) for 60 minutes
- Boil
- 60 minutes
- Fermentation
- 19 °C (66 °F) for 14 days
- Bottling
- 5.5 g of sugar per liter (0.7 oz/gal)
About 205 kcal per 330 ml (11 oz) bottle, worked out from its original and final gravity.
Christmas Ale recipe: ingredients and steps
Recipe for 20 liters (5.3 US gallons) into the fermenter.
Malts
| Malt | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Maris Otter malt6 EBC (3 °L) | 5.00 kg (11.02 lb) | 82.0% |
| Munich malt15 EBC (6 °L) | 0.60 kg (1.32 lb) | 9.8% |
| Crystal (caramel) malt120 EBC (46 °L) | 0.40 kg (0.88 lb) | 6.6% |
| Chocolate malt900 EBC (338 °L) | 0.10 kg (0.22 lb) | 1.6% |
Hops
| Hop | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| East Kent Goldings5.5% alpha acids | 40 g (1.41 oz) | 60 minBittering |
| Fuggle4.5% alpha acids | 20 g (0.71 oz) | 15 minFlavor |
You will also need
Yeast: Dry English ale yeast, such as S-04: one 11.5 g (0.4 oz) packet (or two, if you want to play it safe at this gravity).
Spices: 1 cinnamon stick of about 3 g (0.1 oz), broken up, with 5 minutes left in the boil.
Spices: 3 whole cloves, with 5 minutes left in the boil.
Spices: 10 g (0.35 oz) of fresh sweet orange peel, just the colored zest with none of the white pith, with 5 minutes left in the boil.
Spices: 10 g (0.35 oz) of fresh ginger, thinly sliced, with 5 minutes left in the boil.
Water: About 30 L (7.9 gal): 18.5 L (4.9 gal) for the mash and 11.5 L (3.0 gal) for the sparge.
Priming sugar: 5.5 g of white sugar per liter bottled (0.7 oz/gal): about 105 g (3.7 oz) for 19 L (5 gal). Moderate carbonation, so the malt comes through.
Hops: pellets, kept in the freezer until brew day.
Step by step
The spices are kept light on purpose: they should stay in the background, not cover the malt, and clove in particular gets overpowering fast. If you want it spicier, don't increase the boil additions: at bottling, add a tincture (the same spices soaked for 3-4 days in 50 ml (1.7 oz) of vodka, then strained) a teaspoon at a time, testing first in a glass with a measured amount of beer and scaling the dose up to the batch.
To change the character, adjust one spice at a time: more ginger makes it spicier and fresher, more orange makes it brighter, and less clove makes it softer. If your Goldings isn't 5.5% alpha acids, use 40 × 5.5 ÷ your percentage, in grams.
The style: Winter Seasonal Beer (BJCP 30C), with its history, its numbers and other ways to brew it.
Different setup? Recalculate with the water calculator, the IBU calculator and the priming sugar calculator.
Rating recipes and keeping a brew log need an account, which is only available in Spanish for now. English accounts are coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
How strong will this Christmas Ale be?
About 6.7% ABV: it starts at 1.067 and finishes at 1.016, and (OG − FG) × 131.25 gives that percentage.
How long until it is ready?
One brew day, fermentation at 19 °C (66 °F) for 14 days and about two weeks in the bottle: give it a little over a month.
Can I use a different bittering hop?
Yes. What matters is keeping the bitterness: if you use another hop instead of East Kent Goldings at 5.5% alpha acids, work out the grams from its alpha acids (or with the IBU calculator) to stay at about 26 IBUs.
What if my system does not get 72% efficiency?
Your gravity will come out different. Scale the base malt up or down (or add a little dry malt extract to the boil if you fall short) and recalculate the water with the calculator.
More recipes
- BJCP 18B · American Pale AleBeginner American Pale Ale5.3% · 38 IBU · 8 SRM · OG 1.052Clean, hoppy and easy to nail. It forgives small mash mistakes and is a good way to learn to control fermentation.
- BJCP 21A · American IPAAmerican IPA6.9% · 55 IBU · 7 SRM · OG 1.065Dry and bitter, with a tropical, resinous aroma that jumps out of the glass. Lots of hops at the end of the boil and in the fermenter.
- BJCP 15B · Irish StoutIrish Stout4.2% · 33 IBU · 30 SRM · OG 1.042Black, dry and light, with the bitter coffee of roasted barley and a creamy head. Less alcohol than it looks.
- BJCP 10A · WeissbierWeissbier5.3% · 12 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.052The Bavarian wheat beer: hazy, with a big head and banana and clove aromas that come from the yeast, not from fruit.
- BJCP 13C · English PorterEnglish Porter4.8% · 32 IBU · 23 SRM · OG 1.049Dark brown, with chocolate, caramel and a gentle roast, without the sharpness of a stout. Low carbonation, the English way.
- BJCP 24A · WitbierWitbier5.0% · 16 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.048The Belgian white beer: pale, hazy and refreshing, with raw wheat, coriander and bitter orange peel.
- BJCP 18A · Blonde AleAmerican Blonde Ale4.6% · 24 IBU · 5 SRM · OG 1.045Golden, light and easy drinking, with a hint of malt and a floral touch of Cascade. The simplest recipe for your first all-grain beer.
- BJCP 5B · KölschKölsch5.1% · 23 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.048The golden beer of Cologne: pale, clean and dry, with a light fruitiness from the yeast. It's fermented like an ale and cold-conditioned like a lager.
- BJCP 5D · German PilsGerman Pils5.0% · 34 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.047Pale, bright and dry, with firm bitterness and the floral, spicy aroma of German hops. A true lager: it needs cold temperatures and patience.
- BJCP 19A · American Amber AleAmerican Amber Ale5.9% · 31 IBU · 11 SRM · OG 1.058Coppery amber, with a base of caramel and toasted bread and a citrusy American hop that balances without burying the malt.
- BJCP 21C · Hazy IPAHazy IPA6.8% · 32 IBU · 5 SRM · OG 1.066Hazy and silky, with a tropical juice aroma, lots of hops and little bitterness. Oats and wheat for body, and almost all the hops at the end and in the fermenter.
- BJCP 16B · Oatmeal StoutOatmeal Stout4.6% · 28 IBU · 29 SRM · OG 1.051Black and silky, with chocolate, latte and a smooth finish. The oats give it a creamy body that a dry stout doesn't have.
- BJCP 20C · Imperial StoutImperial Stout8.9% · 65 IBU · 38 SRM · OG 1.091Black, dense and strong, with coffee, dark chocolate and dark fruit. It needs lots of yeast, good oxygen and months of patience.
- BJCP 25B · SaisonSaison7.3% · 25 IBU · 6 SRM · OG 1.060The Belgian farmhouse ale: dry, highly carbonated, with spice and fruit from the yeast. It ferments warm, which makes it ideal for summer.
- BJCP 26B · Belgian DubbelBelgian Dubbel6.9% · 21 IBU · 15 SRM · OG 1.065The abbey double: reddish and malty, with raisin, plum and dark caramel from the candi sugar, and a drier finish than you'd expect.
- BJCP 26C · Belgian TripelBelgian Tripel8.9% · 32 IBU · 5 SRM · OG 1.078Golden, strong and very dry, with fruit and spice from the yeast. The white sugar and high carbonation hide its alcohol well.
- BJCP 15A · Irish Red AleIrish Red Ale4.5% · 26 IBU · 12 SRM · OG 1.045Reddish, smooth and easy to drink, with caramel, a hint of roast at the finish and low bitterness. A no-fuss pub beer.
- BJCP 6A · MärzenMärzen5.7% · 22 IBU · 9 SRM · OG 1.055The original Oktoberfest beer: golden amber, with lots of toasted bread from Munich malt, a dry finish and gentle bitterness. It's a lager, so it needs cold.
- BJCP 4A · Munich HellesMunich Helles5% · 20 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.047Munich's golden lager: clean, with a soft bready, grainy flavor and almost no bitterness. It looks simple, but because it's so clean it can't hide any flaws.
- BJCP 16A · Sweet StoutMilk Stout4.3% · 21 IBU · 32 SRM · OG 1.053Black, creamy and sweet, with notes of latte and chocolate. Lactose doesn't ferment, so it leaves behind the sweetness and body a dry stout lacks.
- BJCP 22A · Double IPADouble IPA9% · 72 IBU · 6 SRM · OG 1.081An IPA taken to the extreme: golden, strong and dry, with loads of tropical fruit and pine from the hops. The sugar dries it out so the alcohol doesn't weigh it down.
- BJCP 19C · American Brown AleAmerican Brown Ale5.4% · 28 IBU · 20 SRM · OG 1.054Brown, with milk chocolate, caramel and nuts, and a touch of American hops that brightens it up. The midpoint between a porter and an APA.
- BJCP 25A · Belgian Blond AleBelgian Blond Ale7.2% · 24 IBU · 5 SRM · OG 1.065Golden and medium-bodied, with alcohol that barely shows, soft fruit and spice from the Belgian yeast and a dry finish. The easiest-drinking Belgian.
- BJCP 11B · Best BitterBest Bitter3.8% · 37 IBU · 8 SRM · OG 1.040The cask ale of English pubs: copper-colored, light and low in carbonation, with biscuit, soft caramel and earthy English hops. Made for drinking by the pint.
- BJCP 30B · Autumn Seasonal BeerPumpkin Ale5.9% · 17 IBU · 10 SRM · OG 1.059The Halloween pumpkin beer: an orange-amber ale with biscuit and caramel malt, roasted pumpkin in the mash and pumpkin pie spices, just enough to notice them without burying the beer.
- BJCP 2A · International Pale LagerEstrella Galicia Clone5.5% · 24 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.051A clean golden lager with a well-defined bitterness, built to taste like Estrella Galicia Especial: pilsner malt with a little Munich, flaked corn, and Nugget and Perle hops.
- BJCP 4C · Helles BockVoll-Damm Clone7.1% · 33 IBU · 7 SRM · OG 1.070A deep golden double malt at 7%, with body, a mouth-filling malt sweetness and a firm bitterness to balance it: the homebrew recipe to get close to Voll-Damm.
- BJCP 4C · Helles BockAlhambra Reserva 1925 Clone6.4% · 25 IBU · 8 SRM · OG 1.064An amber lager at 6.4%, with toasty malt, a touch of caramel and Czech Saaz hops at the end: the homebrew recipe to get close to Alhambra Reserva 1925.
- BJCP 2A · International Pale LagerEstrella Damm Clone5.4% · 22 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.050A light, very easy-drinking blond lager, with the dry edge that rice gives it: the homebrew recipe to get close to Estrella Damm.
- BJCP 2A · International Pale LagerMahou Cinco Estrellas Clone5.5% · 25 IBU · 4 SRM · OG 1.051A golden lager with a bit more body and bitterness than a light blond, brewed with pilsner malt, a little Munich and corn: the homebrew recipe to get close to Mahou Cinco Estrellas.
- BJCP 4C · Helles Bock1906 Reserva Especial Clone6.5% · 24 IBU · 8 SRM · OG 1.064A strong amber lager at 6.5%, with plenty of malt, a touch of caramel and Perle hops: the homebrew recipe to get close to 1906 Reserva Especial (now called La Milnueve).
- BJCP 9A · Doppelbock1906 Red Vintage Clone8.1% · 26 IBU · 10 SRM · OG 1.078An 8% reddish-amber lager, with lots of malt and a firm Nugget bitterness: the homebrew recipe to get close to 1906 Red Vintage, "La Colorada".
- BJCP 34A · Commercial Specialty Beer1906 Black Coupage Clone7.2% · 27 IBU · 46 SRM · OG 1.072A 7.2% black lager with notes of coffee, chocolate and licorice, four malts and Nugget and Sladek hops: the homebrew recipe to get close to 1906 Black Coupage.
Reference style: Winter Seasonal Beer in the BJCP guidelines, 2021 edition. Original recipe by Hacer Cerveza Casera, designed for a homebrew setup.