Christmas beers, any good recipes?

I can't really help with your question since I am not much of a fan of spiced beers. But, you should do some googling about ginger in beer since there are a couple different forms (whole, powered, candied,...) and each will likely provide different effects.

FWIW, based on Anchor's Very Special Ale (or whatever their xmas beer is called), spices seem to fade over time. I'm not sure I would be aiming for "really good next year".

good luck

 

Hate Christmas spice beers.

I would brew a big beefy carmely long boil wee heavy for Christmas. Or a monster American Barelywine. For me personally I like big beers for Christmas beers. No spiced beers for me.

 

I like Super Saisons that use a bit of biscuit and caramel malts, and some darker candi syrup. Light spicing is good, too.

 

I'm planning a Wee Heavy or Old Ale for the holidays. Hoping to get a ferment chamber soon so lagering might even be possible. Any tips are much appreciated.

 

The sooner you brew it the better. The stronger ales are always better after a good long aging (especially if you're doing an Old Ale...by definition (not to mention tradition), it should be old when it's consumed. Both my Wee Heavy and my Old Ale get at least 8 months (or more) of lagering. It makes all the difference. In these types of beer, time and patience are definitely your friend.
My holiday ales are of the more traditional type (ie., NO SPICES) and I try to brew them at least by late February or early March (or earlier if possible), as I've done every year since 1991 (with a percentage of saved ale from every year since then blended into to the current year's batch, in a kind of half-assed solera style. Lately I've been doing 10 gallon batches since I give a lot of it away to those on my ever expanding gift list, and still really don't have enough.

I shoot for an OG of around 1.090 or more with a fairly straightforward combination of pale, caramel, and Munich malts, as well as some flaked corn and muscovado sugar; for bitterness I use whatever hops I have on hand (but it's usually a combination of Clusters, Bullion, and Columbus) and I aim for about 50 IBU. I ferment with either the house yeast I've kept alive since the mid '80s, or with BRY 97. This year's went into secondary (with the 1991 to 2014 saved stock ale added at that time) to bulk age for 8 months, after which it will be kegged with dry hops and aromatic hop oil while conditioning under pressure for another month. Then, most of it will be bottled (bright and fully carbonated) from the keg.
Every year I have wished that I made a bigger batch. I'm already planning a 15 gal batch for next year's, which will mark 25 years since my first batch.
And it probably still won't be enough. :-/

 

Imperial coffee/smoked stouts are probably my favorite 'cold weather' beers. But, a wee heavy is a great idea for a christmas beer. I personally love spiced beers as well. Experimenting with a spiced wee heavy could be interesting. Give it a go!