When Winter Brews: The Art of Homebrewing a Heartwarming Christmas Beer

When winter settles in and the air fills with the scent of mulled wine and roasted almonds, many brewers celebrate the cold season in their own way - by crafting a beer that embodies the flavors and feeling of winter. 
For us, it’s always winter beer season – quite literally, thanks to the Winter brothers. They don’t just share a last name, a birthday, and a workplace - but also a passion: brewing beer. After hours, you’ll often find them experimenting with new recipes, surrounded by the comforting scent of malt and hops. Their EasyDens and SmartRef are never far away - giving them the insight to guide and refine every stage of fermentation. For the first time, the brothers also brought our newest device into play — the pH2Go, a portable pH meter that helps them check mash pH for optimal enzyme activity and wort pH for even more control throughout the brewing process. It’s a useful addition to their setup and a perfect complement to the EasyDens and SmartRef. 

The Magic of Winter Beer

The tradition of winter beers (also known as Holiday beers) goes back centuries, when brewers crafted stronger, darker beers to bring warmth and nourishment during the colder months. Today, the idea remains the same: a full-bodied beer that captures the comfort and spirit of winter in every sip.
These brews often start with a higher original gravity, meaning more sugar to be converted by yeast and, eventually, a richer body and slightly higher alcohol content. Monitoring the fermentation curve is especially important for a beer like this - it’s a careful balance between temperature, yeast, and time. The Winters use their EasyDens and SmartRef to follow this rhythm, watching the numbers tell the story of transformation from wort to beer.

“It’s fascinating to watch how the beer changes with each measurement,” says T. Winter. “You really start to see the science behind the process — and how small adjustments make a big difference in taste.”

How to Brew Like the Winters – Our Favorite Recipe

To show how science and the art of brewing go hand in hand, the brothers share their favorite winter beer recipe - of course, tested in our Anton Paar show brewery.
The Winters rely on instinct and experience when creating new brews, but they also like to keep an eye on the details. “We use the EasyDens to see how fermentation is coming along” explains M. Winter. “It measures the extract content in the wort and shows us how that value drops as fermentation progresses. By tracking those changes in the Brew Meister mobile app, we can see how the wort turns into beer, and the app even estimates the alcohol content based on the original and final gravity.  We can track the process from start to finish - and step in at just the right moment to get the result we want.”

Winter’s Winter Ale – Recipe for 13 L (3.4 gal)

Style: Strong, malty ale with a hint of spice
ABV: ~5.8 % vol.
Original gravity: 17 °P / 1.070 SG20/20

Ingredients

Malts and Grains: Pale Ale malt (3,000 g), Pilsner malt (800 g), Munich malt (1,000 g), Barley flakes (230 g), Chocolate malt (150 g)
Hops and Spices: Hallertau Blanc (9.0 % α): 10 g at start, 10 g 10 min before end, 10 g at flameout.
Add 4 g cinnamon and 3 cloves 5 min before end of boil.
Yeast: SafAle S-04, rehydrated in wort at 35 °C for 30 min
Water: 15 L main mash, 8 L sparge water

Brewing Process

Mashing

Mash in at 68 °C and hold for 60 minutes, then raise to 76 °C for 10 minutes and mash out. At this stage, the brothers also take a quick pH reading with the pH2Go to ensure the mash sits in the ideal range for enzyme activity (pH 5.3).
Original extract after mash: 19.3 °P / 1.080 SG20/20

Lautering

Sparge with 8 L of water at 75 °C.
Extract after lautering: 13.3 °P / 1.054 SG20/20.

Boil (60 min total)

Add hops and spices as indicated above.

Fermentation

Cool the wort to below 30 °C and pitch the rehydrated yeast.
Ferment at 20 °C until final gravity is stable — use EasyDens & SmartRef with the Brew Meister mobile app to monitor progress and follow the fermentation curve.

Maturation

Allow the beer to mature for 1 week at 20 °C.
ABV: measured 5.5 % vol.
Fermentation Level: 57 %.
Final gravity: 7.3 °P  / 1.029 SG20/20.

Tincture

cinnamon: 12 g cinnamon + 50 mL vodka.
clove: 5 g clove + 50 mL vodka.

Bottling

Added

• 3.6 g sugar per 0.5 L Beer for carbonization
• add 1 mL cinnamon-tincture per 0.5 L Beer
• add 1 mL clove-tincture per 0.5 L Beer
  

Allow the beer to mature for 1-2 weeks at 20 °C and afterwards for 1-2 weeks at 3 °C - 6 °C. The cold temperatures improve flavor quality.
Final ABV: 5.8 % vol. When describing their brew, the Winters smile: “After just a couple of days, the aroma of apple strudel filled the room.”
The finished beer is deep amber with notes of caramel, roasted malt, and a hint of spice – warm, festive, and unmistakably winter in character. 
Thanks to the EasyDens and SmartRef Combo, the Winters can even determine the alcohol content (% ABV) of their beer directly with an accuracy of ± 0.5 % v/v. 

A Toast to Tradition and Technology

For the Winters, brewing is more than a hobby – It’s a celebration of craftsmanship and science.
Whether you’re brewing in a professional setup or at home, precision brings consistency – and consistency helps you recreate the beer you love, time after time.
With tools like the EasyDens and SmartRef, every brewer gains deeper insight into their brewing process, making it easier to fine-tune each stage and achieve the desired result.
Because great beer doesn’t just happen — it’s measured, tested, and perfected.
So, here’s to winter: to warm fires, shared stories, and a perfectly brewed beer.
Cheers – from T. Winter, M. Winter, and the whole team.