Christmas Ale Beer Kit - Extract
Brand : Label Peelers
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- SKU:
- LPXMasAle
- UPC:
- 810194951107
- Shipping:
- Calculated at Checkout
Description
Your Christmas Ale kit gives you a dark amber beer with a light tan head and aromas of pine and bready malts accented by nutmeg and ginger from the spice pack. The full-bodied flavor balances sweet caramel malts from the crystal malt and chocolate malt against spicy hops from the Magnum and Cascade additions, with subtle cinnamon and nutmeg notes rounding out the profile.
Your Christmas Ale kit never sits on a shelf. Your grains are crushed to order. Your ingredients are packed fresh and you don't pay for a flashy box. It's all about providing you with the freshest ingredients for you to make your best beer.
Beer Specifications
- ABV: 8.3% - 8.9%
- Original Gravity: 1.085 - 1.095
- Final Gravity: 1.020 - 1.028
- IBUs: 68
- SRM: 28
Ingredients
Malt Extracts and Sugar
- 9 lbs Amber Dry Malt
- 1 lb Panela Sugar
Specialty Malts (combined into one bag)
- 1 lb Crystal Malt
- 8 oz Chocolate Malt
Hops (substitutions based on availability)
- 1 oz Magnum Hops
- 2 oz Cascade Hops
Yeast (substitutions based on availability)
- Packet of Dry Yeast (SafAle S-33)
Spice Pack (added in the last 20 minutes of the boil)
Also Included
- 5 oz. Priming Sugar
- Irish Moss/Energizer Combo Packet
- 2x Muslin Grain Bags
Instructions
Hop Schedule
- 1 oz Magnum (60 minutes)
- 1 oz Cascade (60 minutes)
- 1 oz Cascade (10 minutes)
- Heat 2-3 gallons of water to 150°F.
- Place grains in a grain bag and steep in the hot water for 30 minutes.
- Remove the grain bag, sparge (rinse) with warm water into the wort, and discard.
- Add the malt extract and Panala sugar, then stir until fully dissolved.
- Bring the wort to a rolling boil.
- Add the hops according to the hop schedule.
- Boil for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- With 20 minutes left in the boil, add your spice pack using the additional grain bag provided.
- At 15 minutes add Yeast Energizer / Irish Moss Combo Packet.
- Terminate boil and remove the spice pack.
- Cool the wort to 70°F. An immersion chiller or ice bath works well for this.
- Transfer the wort to a sanitized fermenter and top off with clean, filtered water to 5 gallons.
- Pitch the yeast and seal the fermenter.
- Ferment at 68-70°F for 10-14 days. *Consider using a large blowoff tube instead of an airlock. This beer is known to ferment very vigorously.*
- Transfer to a secondary carboy after fermentation has slowed enough to do so and allow to condition for 2-4 weeks.
- Transfer to a bottling bucket and stir in 5 oz. priming sugar. Mix until evenly distributed and bottle your beer.
- Once bottled, allow 2 weeks for carbonation in a cool, dark room. Enjoy!
Overall rating: 5.0 / 5 from 9 reviews.
Reviews
Outstanding Holiday Ale
"This was my first Christmas ale and after reading the reviews I did use a blow off tube and they were right, it even blew the krausen through the tube and into my pan of water. I brewed this is June and waited until September to try it and it was outstanding. One of my friends said that it reminded him of a sugar cookie. I can hardly wait to trot it out for the holidays, this will be an annual tradition for me."
WOW!
"I brewed yesterday, pitched about noon - added a bit of nutmeg, pinch of crushed clove and a few juniper berries based on other spiced holiday ales I had made, and having read previous reviews plumbed to a blowoff vessel instead of using a bubbler. I double pitched since I had another packet of 33 getting old in the fridge. It was bubbling nicely by 1800, and by 2200 was blowing almost constantly. This morning it was a constant stream but petered down to occasional burps by 1200. OG was 77, now at about 33. Beware - this could blow the lid off if you don't use a large bore vent. Now preparing to rack and hope we get down into the mid to low 20s before it gives up."
Beer
"Best place for home brew needs, hands down."
Blowoff tube is a necessity!
"My ale is still in primary so I can't review the product, but I want to stress the absolute need to use a blowoff tube. I have never seen a brew ferment so intensely! Foam and bubbles required me to use a half-full bucket of water, which churned and agitated for a full 24 hours. I also put weights on top of my fermenter because, even with the blowoff tube, the lid was bulging and looked like it would pop. This beer means business!"
Wow
"I was looking around for a nice Christmas Ale to make this year when I found this listing. We made a different recipe last year and I just wasn't blown away with the outcome. I called Label Peelers this year after seeing this recipe listed on their website and they explained it was a more robust and flavorful brew than the standard kits they stock. I decided to give it a try and I am so happy I did! I was impressed with the amount and quality of the ingredients and the clarity of the instructions. I will echo what several other reviewers have posted...make sure you use a "blow off" system to vent your primary fermenter. I have never had a batch ferment as vigorously as this and I am glad I didn't use any yeast energizer! We opened our first bottles Saturday night to check on the carbonation (they had been bottled for 13 days) and everything is as it should be. The color is dark and luscious as is the aroma and overall appeal. Even though this beer is young, the taste is fantastic with just the right amount of Christmas spice flavors. I know this ale will improve further with time, but I doubt we can resist drinking all of it before it has a chance to age!"
another great product!
"I have not tasted this one yet, but with the ingredients in it I can't wait! They tell you to wait a year before drinking to get the best results, but I don't see that happening with my group of friends. I will advise to use a blowoff not an air lock, as the fermentation is vigorous. For this price I will probably buy another kit and make it soon for next year. Great Lakes goes for $13 a 6pack, so you are really saving quite a bit of money here. Blows the Brewers best kit out of the water ingredient wise!"
Fantastic Christmas Ale
"Found Label Peelers completely by accident...ordered this kit and my daughter who lives by the store picked it up. Easy to follow instructions, and very clear which is especially important when you drink a few during brew time. During the brew, I decided to throw all the spices in a hop bag for the full boil. Partly becasue GLBC does that for their Christmas Ale. Let me tell you, the aroma of this brew was ridiculously good! I pitched the yeast at about 8pm. At 3 am, I hear a loud bang come from downstairs. I get up to investigate to find the lid blew off my fermentation bucket! Mess everywhere. Tip: USE BLOW OFF! I did primary 10 days, secondary 3 weeks. Bottled 5 days ago and popped one open just now to test. WOW. What a Christmas Ale. I imagine it will improve with age, I just couldn't wait to try one. Fantastic stuff! Thanks label peelers!"
Merry Christmas Ale
"We have only made this since mid-summer, but we have 3 batches ready for the holidays. Well, most of 3 batches, because we could not help but taste a few just to make sure they were ok. We will be brewing at least a couple more before Christmas because they will go fast. I think it is just as good a few weeks after bottling as it is aged for a couple months, so we will probably be making it right up to Christmas. A blow-off tube and bucket is definitely a good idea for this stuff."
A Great Christmas Beer
"This is the second year that I have made the Label Peelers Christmas Beer. Last year I made it two months before Christmas and it was incredible. This year I am making it six months ahead of time so that it can have a longer time to age. I am expecting that it will be just as great or even better. I highly recommend this beer. A word of warning, the fermentation process is very internse I use a blow off tube on my fermentation bucket. Without one, the bubbler will fill up with foam and make a big mess."
