Winter Warmer

[brew]

So who has a recipe for a Winter Warmer that they really like?

I know Kyle's from last year was good...

Jake - did yours turn out OK?

[pliny]

This is something I found on BYO. Made it last year in time for the holidays:

Harpoon Winter Warmer clone
5 gallons/19 L. all-grain; OG = 1.056; FG = 1.014; IBU = 23; SRM = 23; ABV = 5.4%

9.33 lbs. (4.2 kg) 2-row pale malt
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) crystal malt (90 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.23 kg) CaraPils malt (15 °L)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)
6.25 AAU Clusters hops (60 mins)(1.25 oz./35 g of 5% alpha acids)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast

Mash at 154 °F (68 °C). Boil wort for 90 minutes adding hops and Irish moss at the time indicated. Ferment at 70 °F (21 °C).  
**Add cinnamon and nutmeg in secondary.

[brew]

Looks nice - I may try something similar with a bit higher OG and Challenger hops for some extra spice... How do you think it would work with 1084?

[pliny]

Yeah, mine came out OG 1.063 with a 5.9ABV. So yeah jack it up.

I think the 1084 would be just fine. Although these Christmas ales are considered malty profiles and the 1084 is described as a "Full bodied, dry clean flavor", I've used the 1084 in many stouts, Irish reds and some porters even. I would go with the 1084 if you have it on hand and healthy.

[Richard]

Jake's recipe was real close to Pic's

[brew]

Was that this one? viewtopic.php?f=54&t=889

[Jake]

no Brew that was my Christmas ale ... it was decent, but I recall I made a real tasty winter warmer ... I'll take a look to see and post if I can find

[Jake]

This is the one. http://nbcba.org/forum/index.php?topic=871.0&hilit=Winter+Warmer

[brew]

Very cool Jake. Do you prefer a non-spiced WW or a spiced version? Also, I see you used both Crystal 150 and 240 - I know Richard asked before, but we do have an EBC 150 and 240 from our supplier which translates to crystal 60L and 100L - just wanted to make sure - where'd you pick up your crystal? Someplace online?

[Jake]

Yea my bad ... it's the medium and the dark, so I believe that would be the C60 and C110; i get all of mine in our orders.

I prefer the non-spiced from the little experience I've had. I think I may have over-spiced my Christmas Ale (to my taste). I'll likely do another spiced WW again, but only for the Holidays. The recipe I proposed was pretty smooth and I made a couple batches that lasted pretty well all Winter. Great stuff!

I think I'm going to try running it here very soon again, but plan to add a pound or two of Munich (more perceived maltiness) and use the Irish Ale Yeast for a higher FG hoping for more body. I found the only thing that I never enjoyed so much was it was too thin, and I would have liked it alot more if it finished around 1.018. I find this is hard to do when using SO5 because it's such a beast that'll chew through anything and everything.

[Jake]

This thread really got me in the mood for some winter warmer ... guess what I'm brewing tonight? ...

so much for dinner and a movie with the girlfriend. I blame all of you

[Richard]

[brew]

Cool Jake - thanks for the info - might go the crystal route for mine also... Be interesting to see how 1084 does with it - I'm putting a note in my calendar to be in your neighborhood with my beer glass in 3 or 4 weeks...  :mrgreen:

[pliny]

That darker crystal can be nice in reasonable quantity of course - it gives a bit of a raisin kind of taste.

[Brian_S]

I second Jake's WW recipe...awesome stuff.  I made 4 batches last winter ( one of them only lasted 4 hours....damn student parties.)

B