Hey guys,
I am looking for recipe insight on brewing a Goose Island Christmas Ale Clone, but I want the beer to taste like it did pre-2009. The pre 2009 the Christmas Ale was darker, maltier, and smoother. There was another big change, they stopped selling the beer in 6 packs (now only 4 packs and bombers). The label design also changed.
Does anyone remember this?
Well back in '08, I e-mailed e-mailed Goose Island and John Hall replied with the below.
"While I can’t give you our exact recipe (Ratios / hopping rates) I do think I can give you a shopping list of ingrediants to get you started.
Malt bill. (All Briess malt) Pale malt as base. Caramel-120, Briess Extra Special, and a small amount of Dark Chocolate malt. Color target is approx. 30 (or a nice Garnett)
Hop Bill (2009) Columbus for bittering. Columbus and Mt. Hood in the whirlpool. Target BU’s around 55. Last year hopping was a mix of Glacier (bittering) Willamette and Tettnang(Whirlpool)
We use our standard Goose Island House ale strain for fermentation and hold its temp at 67"
So what do you guys/gals think in terms of percentages for the malt bill?
Base- 80%
Cr 120- 12%
Ex Sp Rst- 6%
Chocolate- 2%
Then use 002/1968
OG: 1.063
FG: 1.014
The beer was somewhere around 6% ABV.
My biggest question is percentage of Crystal 120. Most sweet brown ales have crystal malt are 10%+, but shooting for 1.060+ beer put me at 1.75 lbs for a 6 gallon batch, which seems really high.
Is 12% crystal too high for a 1.060+ beer, or should I pull the trigger on what I posted? I’ve also never used Ex Sp Roast, but having tasted just the grain at my LHBS, I don’t think I want to go too high with either since it’s pretty intense.