Batch 43: Christmas Tree Ale
     
 
 
Previous Batch 
 Next Batch
 
     
 

 

Original
Gravity
Final
Gravity
Alcohol
By Volume
Mash
Efficiency
Primary Secondary Keg
1.070 1.010 7.8 % 72 % 28 days 21 days 14 days

 

rewed on Saturday, January 5th, 2008
No yeast starter was needed since the Fermentis Safale US-05 dry yeast is being used. I used the motorized mill to double crush the grains to help improve my efficiency. All whole hops are being used from Freshops and they really work well as a filter in the boil kettle on top of the fase bottom. The flame out hops I alowed to aroma hop steep for 10 min. before starting the chiller. The ambient temperature for fermentation is 60 F in the basement so no further control is necessary. The primary fermeter is a plastic bucket, and I'll wait about a month before dry hopping in the secondary.

All Grain
5.00 gal Batch Size
6.41 gal Boil Size

 

Amount Item Price
14.00 lb Briess Pale Malt (2 Row) (2 L) $17.50
1.00 lb Briess Crystal Malt - 60L (60 L) $1.55
1.00 oz Chinook Hops (14.30 %) at 60 min $1.70
0.25 oz Chinook Hops (14.30 %) at 30 min $0.43
0.50 oz Cascade Hops (6.80 %) at 7 days (Dry Hop) $0.80
0.50 oz Centennial Hops (8.60 %) at 7 days (Dry Hop) $0.80
1.00 oz Cascade Hops (6.80 %) at 0 min $1.60
1.00 tsp Irish Moss at 30.0 min $0.10
1 pkgs Fermentis Safale US-05 (US-05) $1.99
    $26.47

 

Time Step
2:00 PM Sanitized equipment
2:30 PM Heated 5.00 gal strike water to 195 F, preheated mash tun
3:25 PM Doughed in at 167 F, mashed at 152 F for 60 min, 152 F for 30 min, 150 F for 0 min
  Heated 3.50 gal sparge water to 190 F
4.30 PM Lautered 7 gal of wort, 1.041 @ 135 F = 1.056 SG, 72% Mash Efficiency
5:20 PM Boiled, added hops on schedule
6:30 PM Heat exchanger and wort wizard, cooled to 60 F
6:45 PM Pitched yeast, 1.070 @ 61 F = 1.070 OG (Estimate: 1.071 OG)
7:00 PM Cleaned equipment

 

acked to Secondary on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
After a primary of one month the Christmas Tree Ale was racked and dry hopped with pellets in the secondary. The fermenter is a glass carboy and it will be ready to keg in a couple weeks. Primary fermentation temperature was 60 F in the basement.

 

egged on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
After three weeks dry hopping in the secondary fermenter the Christmas Tree Ale was racked into a 5-gallon keg. The keg is going straight into the kegerator at 40 F to carbonate at 12 PSI. The dry hops settled out well in the fermenter and the beer was very clear and appeared a nice amber color.

Measurements:
1.010 @ 60 F = 1.010 FG
7.8% ABV

 

asted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008
This batch of Christmas Tree Ale is one of the best beers I've ever made. The whole hops used in this recipe really have a wonderful aroma and flavor. The hop bitterness is there but not very strong as compared to the commercial example by Sierra Nevada. The color is a deep amber red and clear from cold conditioning. The aroma is grapefruity and strong from the dry hopping. It tastes balanced with a nice alcohol flavor melded nicely with the citrusy hop flavor and very clean from cool fermentation with a neutral yeast. I compared with a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale to do a side by side tasting, and they were similar with the homebrew having a fresher hop flavor and aroma while the commercial beer had more bitterness.