Into the bottle it goes
Posted by ebrius on October 20, 2008
Yesterday I bottled my Christmas Ale, it was in the primary for about 2 weeks, and in the secondary for 2 weeks. I was impressed with how much sediment fell out of it in the secondary. My stout had little to no sediment in the secondary, so I was surprised how much was in this one. It wasn’t a lot, but I’m sure it will help the clarity of the beer.
On to the beer. It was a dark amber color, smelt of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, with also a little piny smell from the hops. It had a medium body that was spicy and bitter, maybe a little more bitter then I would want. For being a beer with 8 ABV, there was little warmth to the beer, which I was actually hoping would be there. If it ages well, I think this will be a very very good beer.
I have to once again say how impressed I am with liquid yeast over dry yeast. This beer tastes so much cleaner then my other beers. There is still a slight yeast taste in my other beers, but this one has none. It also cleared better, and actually got down to the expected FG. I don’t think I will ever go back to dry yeast
Also, I originally said that I was going to prime with molasses, I decided to not risk it and I used brown sugar instead. I’d heard that the flavor that molasses imparts is not very pleasant
Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew 
synicalkaos said
I’ve been thinking about doing a Christmas Ale and giving it out as gifts. I’m not too confident in my ability yet however. Maybe I’ll try one this spring to see how it turns out.
I hope yours ages well. Cheers!
jmann86 said
If you do a Christmas Ale, I definitely recommend making it at least 3 months before you plan to give it out, depending on what spices you use. I have a feeling that mine is going to take at least a month to properly mellow, maybe longer.