Seasonal Beers

There are times when only a certain beer will satisfy. A nice barleywine or other "big beer," with lots of alcohol, are nice in the winter. In the summer, on the other hand, a nice, crisp wheat or light lager is a perfect thirst quencher.

I know the first seasonal beer I'll do will be a Jul Øl ("Yule Ale"). I got the recipe from a Zymurgy magazine a few years ago. Here's the recipe that I used:

Jul Øl

1 lb 20L Crystal malt
1 lb 90L crystal malt
2 oz roasted barley
7 lbs amber DME
4 oz malto dextrin
1/2 lb brown sugar
1 oz Chinook 10% AA for 45 minutes
1 oz Chinook 10% AA for 1 minute
2 vanilla beans, chopped
1 tsp crushed Cardemom seed

Steep the grains in 2 gallons at 155 F for 30 minutes. Strain. Add DME and matlodextrin and boil for 15 minutes. Add 1 oz hops. Boil 30 minutes. Add 1 tsp of Irish moss. Boil 14 minutes. Add 1 oz hops. Boil 1 minute. Turn off heat and add vanilla bean and cardmom. Cool wort and pitch with Wyeast 1056 or 1272.

Unfortunately, in my records I don't have any stats for this. I remember this as a very nice beer. I would have preferred a bit more vanilla flavor in it, but otherwise, it was perfect!